Hazrat Khawaja Moinuddin Chisti (Rahmatullahi alaihi) popularly known as Khawaja Ghareeb Nawaaz (The Supporter of the Poor) is the mujaddid (reviver) of the Chistiya Order of Sufis. The Chistiya Silsila is one of the most popular and influential Sufi orders in Islam. It derives its name from Chist, a village near Heerat, Afghanistan, where the founder of the Order, Khawaja Abu Ishaq (Rahmatullahi alaihi) of Syria, settled. Hazrat Khawaja Moinuddin Chisti (Rahmatullahi alaihi) brought the Silsila to India at the close of the 11th century A.D. and established its centre in Ajmer, once the order spread far and wide in India and became a force in the spiritual life of the Muslims. at a place called Sanjar, in Sijistan (Persia or present day Iran). He was in direct lineage of the Beloved Prophet Muhammad (Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam) being paternally descended from the Beloved Prophet’s grandson, Imam Hussain (RA) and maternally from the Beloved Prophet’s grandson, Imam Hasan (RA). Thus he is a Hasani and a Husayni Sayyad. He was brought up in Khorasan, Iran and received his early education at home from his father, Hadrat Sayyad Gheyasuddin (Rahmatullahi alaihi) At the age of 9 ; he committed the Qur’an al-kareem to memory. He was 16 yrs old when his father passed into the realm of Divine Beauty; he inherited a grinding stone and an orchard, which formed a source of his livelihood.
