Note 99 — Chapter IX · THE SPREAD OF ISLAM IN INDIA.

One of the most famous of the Muslim saints of India and a pioneer of Islam in Rajputana was K͟hwājah Muʻīn al-Dīn Chishtī, who died in Ajmīr in A.D. 1234. He was a native of Sajistān to the east of Persia, and is said to have received his call to preach Islam to the unbelievers in India while on a pilgrimage to Medina. Here the Prophet appeared to him in a dream and thus addressed him: “The Almighty has entrusted the country of India to thee. Go thither and settle in Ajmīr. By God’s help, the faith of Islam shall, through thy piety and that of thy followers, be spread in that land.” He obeyed the call and made his way to Ajmīr which was then under Hindu rule and idolatry prevailed throughout the land. Among the first of his converts here was a Yogī, who was the spiritual preceptor of the Raja himself: gradually he gathered around him a large body of disciples whom his teachings had won from the ranks of infidelity, and his fame as a religious leader became very widespread and attracted to Ajmīr great numbers of Hindus whom he persuaded to embrace Islam.99 On his way to Ajmīr he is said to have converted as many as 700 persons in the city of Delhi.