"You shall have to stay in Delhi and suffer the persecution of the people." These were the words of Hazrat Nizamudeen Auliya (rahmatullahi alaihi) as he handed over the sacred relics of the Chishtia silsila to his successor and the last of the Big 5, Khwaja Nasiruddeen Chiragh (rahmatullahi alaihi). Thus did this great saint carried on the duties and upheld the blessed work of his illustrious predecessors under the most trying conditions and in the face of the greatest oppression. In his lifetime Khwaja Nasiruddeen Chiragh (rahmatullahi alaihi) witnessed the final ruin of the kingdom of Delhi and the fragmentation of the Chishtia silsila. Under his guidance, the sacred order managed to stay true to its principles of remaining above politics and the whims of kings, even though in his haste to combat the popularity of the silsila, the reigning sultan destroyed Delhi itself.

Khwaja Nasiruddeen Chiragh (rahmatullahi alaihi) was born in Ayodha in India, the son of Sheikh Yayha Mahmoud (rahmatullahi alaihi) and a descendant of Imam Hussain (rahmatullahi alaihi). As seems usual with the Big Five, he lost his father at an early age and the responsibility for his education was devolved upon his mother. From a very young age he was fired with religious devotion, and was very particular about punctuality in congregational salaat. Completing his external religious education and inspired with spiritual fervour, he forsook worldly wealth at the age of 25 and wandered with a dervish throughout the wilderness of northern India for eight years. At the age of 43 Khwaja Nasiruddeen (rahmatullahi alaihi) came to Delhi and became a mureed of Hazrat Nizamudeen Auliya (rahmatullahi alaihi). Ample testimony to his universally recognised humility is that when Hazrat Nizamudeen Auliya (rahmatullahi alaihi) saw him at his khanqah and asked him what he wanted, he replied "I have come to help the dervishes put on their shoes."

Khwaja Nasiruddeen Chiragh's devotion to his shaykh was so wholehearted that he soon endeared himself to all at the khanqah. Once, during the night, a visiting sufi had misplaced his clothes while making wudhu, and began to grumble loudly. Afraid that his complaints would awake Nizamudeen Auliya (rahmatullahi alaihi), Khwaja Nasiruddeen (rahmatullahi alaihi) took off his own clothes and offered them to the dervish. Khwaja Nasiruddeen (rahmatullahi alaihi) devoted himself to mujahedas in Allah's path for years following his initiation. Although he wished to go into the jungle for seclusion from his many admirers, he was ordered by his murshid to remain amidst the people and suffer their intrusions, for such was the way of great prophets and saints. He used to fast for days on end; at times when tortured by intense thirst, he used to drink only limejuice.

Towards the end of Hazrat Nizamudeen Auliya (rahmatullahi alaihi)'s life, he appointed Khwaja Nasiruddeen (rahmatullahi alaihi) his khalifa, in accordance with the divine will. Khilafat or successorship in sufi orders in done not through the will of the shaykh, but the will of Allah, as the appointment of Khwaja Nasiruddeen (rahmatullahi alaihi) shows. Though all possible qualifications for the title rested with Hazrat Nizamudeen (rahmatullahi alaihi)'s brilliant and devoted mureed Amir Khusro (rahmatullahi alaihi), the khilafat was given to Khwaja Nasiruddeen (rahmatullahi alaihi). AS Hazrat Nizamudeen Auliya (rahmatullahi alaihi) himself said, "my heart desires Amir, but Allah desires Nasiruddeen." Khwaja Nasiruddeen (rahmatullahi alaihi) took up the mantle of the order and acquitted himself brilliantly as the head of the silsila. Delicious meals used to be served at his khanqah, though he himself fasted daily. The great master used to take pleasure in serving his guests and mureeds himself, all the while giving them short sermons on Islam and Sufism. He used to say, "Eat for the sake of Allah, and expend whatever energy you get in devotion of Allah."

There are several stories as to how he obtained the title of Chiragh, or 'lamp'. One states that at the time of his building a water reservoir for his pir, sultan Ghyasuddin ordered all oil supplies to the khanqah to be stopped, so that the night work could not be carried out.

However, Khwaja Nasiruddeen (rahmatullahi alaihi) performed a miracle by transforming water into oil for the lamps, and the reservoir was built on schedule. Another tells that once he entered the mehfil of his murshid and other sufis, he did not want to sit where he was shown, as it would mean facing his back to some of those gathered. But Nizamudeen Auliya (rahmatullahi alaihi) told him, "a chiragh has no back; it sheds its light in all directions."

Khwaja Nasiruddeen (rahmatullahi alaihi) is the personification of magnanimity and forbearance among sufis. Once a soldier entered his cell and began attacking him to such an extent that blood flowed out of the door, although he did not disturb the great saints devotions at all. When Khwaja Nasiruddeen (rahmatullahi alaihi)'s mureeds captured the man, the wali emerged from his cell and ordered them not to harm him. Further he said, "If on attacking me you have experienced any pain, please do forgive me." His khulafah spread out across the length and breadth of India on missionary work, establishing centres some of which exist to this day.

Under Khwaja Nasiruddeen (rahmatullahi alaihi), Delhi was still regarded as the centre of spiritual and Islamic learning, and thousands came from near and far to perfect their knowledge. However, the great popularity and influence of the Chishtia silsila aroused the ire and suspicion of the sultan of the time, the brilliant but despotic and cruel Mohammed Tughlaq. At one time, the great saint was threatened with prison for refusing his demands. At another, Muhammad Tughlaq ordered that he leave Delhi for the Deccan in southern India to preach Islam there but again, Khwaja Nasiruddeen (rahmatullahi alaihi) refused. Sufi principles dictate that one should never get involved with politics or the rich, and in any case, Khwaja Nasiruddeen (rahmatullahi alaihi) had been ordered to stay in Delhi by his murshid. Faced with such opposition by numerous mashaaikh, Muhammad Tughlaq's position turned to open enmity.

Whilst harassing the sufis, he ordered the entire Muslim population of the city to emigrate to the city of Devgir. With this decision Delhi, the centre of Islamic learning, which was the envy of Baghdad, Jerusalem and Constantinople, where at every corner was a madressa or khanqah, became deserted; a ghost town entombed in its own dust. This dislocation, at the very headquarters of the Chishtia silsila, also disrupted the highly integrated organisation of the order. After the death of Khwaja Nasiruddeen (rahmatullahi alaihi), the many provincial khanqahs such as Ajodhan, Multan and Gujarat could no longer look towards the central point of Delhi for instruction. Though the Chistiyya silsila's work carried on throughout India, it lost a lot of its cohesion. Muhammad Tughlaq, however, came to an evil end, dying whilst campaigning in the north. Khwaja Nasiruddeen (rahmatullahi alaihi) told his son, Feroze Shah that if he did not treat the people with justice and fairness, the saint would pray for a more benevolent ruler. However, Feroze Shah proved a much better king that his father and, with the blessings of Khwaja Nasiruddeen (rahmatullahi alaihi), ruled for 40 years.

Khwaja Nasiruddeen Chiragh (rahmatullahi alaihi) died on the 18th Ramadaan 757AH, three years after the murderous attack on his life. Due to his foresight he realised the inevitable fragmentation of the silsila after his death, and thus appointed no khilafa-e-azam, or foremost successor. At the time of his death, he said that none of his mureeds would be able to carry the weight of leadership of so mighty a silsila on their shoulders, especially since Delhi had been ruined by Muhammad Tughlaq. He ordered the sacred relics of the silsila to be buried with him, and with his passing ended the most glorious epoch of the Chishtia order in India. His tomb at Chiragh Delhi stands still as monument to his great sacrifices and deeds in the service of Allah and Islam. May Allah bless him and keep him always.