In the entire history of the Chishti Silsilah, Baba Fariduddin Ganjshakar was the only saint who had the unique honour of receiving blessings from his master and the master of his master together.
It so happened that on a visit to Delhi, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti saw the young Farid practising austerities at the hospice of Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki. Immensely pleased, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti asked his disciple Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki to bless Farid. Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, however, denied out of a sense of modesty, saying that he could not bless anybody when his master was present before him in person.
At that point, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti took Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki along, and they then together blessed the young Farid. The unique event prompted the 14th-century writer Amir Khwurd to compose the following in the honour of Fariduddin Ganjshakar:
Bakshish-i kaunain az shaikhan shod dar bab-i tu
Badshahi yaftiz in badshahan-i zaman.
Translation:
Both the worlds have been granted to you by the two sheikhs,
You got a kingdom from these two kings of the age.
(Reference: Siyar ul Aulia)
In the Picture: Detail of Baba Farid from a Guler painting showing an imaginary meeting of Sufi saints
© Neelesh Chatterjee / Talking History
Aal-e-Qutub Aal-e-Syed Abdullah Shah Ghazi 