Khwaja Baqi Billah, born in Kabul in 1563 CE, was a revered Sufi saint and spiritual leader in the 16th century. Little is known about his early life, but he received a thorough education in Islamic sciences and Sufism. Traveling extensively, he sought knowledge and spiritual guidance from various Sufi masters before settling in Delhi, India, where he became a revered spiritual figure. Khwaja Baqi Billah played a crucial role in revitalizing the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi Sufi order, emphasizing spiritual discipline, inner purification, and devotion to God. His teachings focused on sincerity, selflessness, and the importance of the remembrance of God in spiritual advancement. Khwaja Baqi Billah’s legacy endures through his profound spiritual influence and the continued reverence of his followers. His tomb in Delhi remains a significant pilgrimage site, visited by devotees seeking blessings and spiritual guidance.

Khwaja Baqi Billah Quotes

01. “Three things motivate the Mashaikh to educate and guide the people: First Divine inspiration, second, order of the Shaikh, third, kindness and compassion on the creatures. When the spiritualists see mankind going stray, they try to remove evils from them. Fear before the creatures is torment in Hellfire and terror on the Day of Judgment. Kindness is that the Mashaikh make it incumbent on them to motivate and exhort the public to adhere to Shariah, but not that to persuade them to aspire and seek unitive life which demands something else, but not kindness. It is something additional.”
— Khwaja Baqi Billah

02. “Unless you don’t get irradiation (sajalli) of His real Essence, you cannot be considered to have attained the state of Detachment (tafrid). The sign of this blessedness is that one becomes immune of all the temporal and celestial boons. And all kinds of inner states and contemplations are directed towards Abadiyya (abstract Oneness) and one is delivered from anxiety permanently. After the attainment of ‘Detachment’, it is futile to aspire contemplative ability.”
— Khwaja Baqi Billah

03. “Those who are God-wary, intuition does not benefit them. Intuition (Aashf) is also of two types. First is cosmic intuition which is totally worthless, the second is celestial which is enough for the job. No other kashf can vie with it.”
— Khwaja Baqi Billah

04. “The spiritual Guides after annihilation and subsistence become manifestation of the Knower (alim), the Wise (hakim), and Speaker as is written in the books of mystic path (tarigat). You should always remain humble and benefitted. The disciple always needs his Shaikh. And as someone says that such and such person does not need his Shaikh; it means he has attained union through light. At this stage; if the Shaikh withdraws himself from amid, it would not cause any harm to the disciple.”
— Khwaja Baqi Billah

05. “Khwaja Baqi Billah ascribes distance and remoteness to a superstition. He says: ‘When you come to know that this is the reality, you find that nearness and distances are creations of our imagination. There was no distance between you and God which necessitated an effort for coming near to Him, neither was there any separation which required an attempt for a union.'”
— Khwaja Baqi Billah

06. “May Allah Most High save us from the prison of ego and deliver us from the veil of self-conceit. To tease the hearts of auliya Allah and earn their displeasure, is a big cause for failure to arrive at His pavilion. The spiritualists have said that it is not so harmful to fall from the Divine Throne, as it is to fall from the eyes of a saint. In the mystical path, one has to be grieved (afflicted) too much. One has to become discipline incarnate. Selfhood and vainglory won’t do.”
— Khwaja Baqi Billah

07. “Do not associate with a person whose heart does not aspire gnosis (marifat) of Allah. And flee from such exoteric scholars who have made their learning means to get high rank, dignity, conceit, and renown, as you run away from a lion.”
— Khwaja Baqi Billah

08. “Favour and kindness of the spiritualists and their inner glance are the sum-total of all blessedness. It puts on track the distracted, and creates awareness in the God-wary people especially when their graceful glance is combined with their association.”
— Khwaja Baqi Billah

09. “To avoid illicit food and to be purified from all despicable qualities enhances yearning. Try always to shun illicit and doubtful morsel. Blameworthy traits of the lower-self, like anger, bad conduct, undue sexual appetite, and other sensual impulses should not appear. Unless you implore and seek Divine help, you cannot escape from such baneful desires. Therefore, always be humble and meekly.”
— Khwaja Baqi Billah

10. “Those who have bowed their necks in submission to God cannot see the calamity and calamity as a calamity.”
— Khwaja Baqi Billah

11. “Patience is called to get out of self-gratification and refrain from desirable and beloved things.”
— Khwaja Baqi Billah

12. “Continuity in meditation is a great wealth which causes popularity in hearts.”
— Khwaja Baqi Billah

13. “Contentment refers to getting rid of useless things and being satisfied with what is necessary and avoiding extravagance in food and living things.”
— Khwaja Baqi Billah