8 Subh, Kabul: President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani wrote a letter addressed to Khwaja Mu’in al-Din Chishti Dargah and presented a chador for his tomb in Ajmer, India. Khwaja Mu’in al-Din Chishti was born in Chisht, Herat in 1142 AD and then went to India, where he founded the Chishti Order. Tahir Qaderi, Chargé d’Affaires of the Afghan Embassy in India, said the president’s move showed the depth of cultural ties between the two countries.
In his letter, Ghani wrote that as a student of the Sufi way, he had been fascinated by the personality and influence of Mu’in al-Din Chishti’s work over 50 years. He added that Chishti’s method was at a peak of prosperity in Afghanistan, and that the Sufi school had brought people from different civilizations and cultures together.
Salman Chishti, the head of the Chishti Foundation, told the Chargé d’Affaires of the Afghan Embassy in India by telephone that President Ghani’s gift as a “relic of Afghanistan” will always be on display to the people and followers of the Chishti Order.
Tahir Qaderi said that in 2019, the Afghan embassy in Delhi held a program called “Herat; Bridge between Ajmer and Chisht” which was held in the cultural hall of the embassy with the participation of Sufis from both countries, paving the way for a number of Indian Sufis to travel to Holy Chisht in Herat. According to Tahir Qaderi, Mohammad Ashraf Ghani was the first president from Afghanistan to write a letter and send a gift to Chishti’s tomb. Former US President Barack Obama and several other world leaders have done the same before.
The head of the Afghan embassy in India said that Khwaja Mu’in al-Din transferred the Chishti Order from Herat to India, creating a common heritage of India, Afghanistan, and the region, a reflection of the depth of cultural ties between the two countries.
The Chishti Order also has many followers in Afghanistan.
