Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Aziz Ahmad, Islamic Modernism in 

India and Pakistan, 1857–1864 (London: Oxford Uni-

versity Press, 1967); Chiragh Ali, “The Proposed Politi-

cal, Legal, and Social Reforms.” In Modernist Islam, 

1840–1940: A Source-Book, edited by Charles Kurzman, 

277–290 (New York: Oxford University Press, Septem-

ber 2002).

Chishti Sufi Order

The Chishtis are one of the largest Sufi brother-

hoods in South Asia (i

ndia

,  p

akistan

, and b

an

-

gladesh

) and help give Islam in this region its 

distinctive identity. They take their name from 

a remote village called Chisht, which had been 

a Sufi center as early as the 10th century. It 

was Muin al-Din Chishti (d. 1236), a man from 

Chisht, who established the brotherhood in India. 

In genealogies of their Sufi masters, however, they 

trace their ancestry all the way back to m

Uhammad

(d. 632), a

li

 (d. 661), and the 11 other Shii imams 

and include such famous non-Indian Sufis as i

bn

al

-a

rabi

 (d. 1240), r

Uzbihan

 b

aqli

 (d. 1209), and 

J

alal

 

al

-d

in

  r

Umi

 (d. 1273). After Muin al-Din 

and his contemporary, Bakhtiyar Kaaki (d. 1235), 

the Chishti spiritual lineages consist predomi-

nantly of Sufi masters born in India, which makes 

this order distinct from most other Sufi groups in 

the region.

The foremost Chishti ritual practice is the 

dhikr

(zikr in local dialects), as it is in other Sufi orders. 

The Chishti dhikr combines repeated pronounce-

ments of the 

names

 

oF

  g

od

 (especially a

llah

,