India is a vast country comprising of n number of beautiful cities, each ready to tell you a story of its ethnicity. One such city located on the banks of the river Ganges in western Uttar Pradesh is Badaun, also pronounced as Badayun, the capital of the Delhi Sultanate.
It was the most important part of the northern frontier and saw several martyrs during the freedom struggle. Sultan Iltutmish ruled the city from 1210 CE to 1214 CE. Badaun is the heart of Rohilkhand, which played a major role in the freedom struggle against the British government.
Badaun, apart from playing a role in the rebellion against British rule, also held great importance among scholars as it was the centre of all spiritual learning or attaining nirvana.
It has given the world great Sufi saints like Hazrat Nizamuddin Awliya, dearly called Mehboob e Elahi, resting in his shrine located in the city of old Delhi, which is paid homage by the people of every religion.
Generally, it is believed that if a person wants to pursue something higher in life, they go to a place with greater opportunities, wider horizons and new skies to fly higher and higher.
Since ancient times, kings of Damascus, Yemen and Syria have been coming to the tiny city of Badaun in search of inner peace, the knowledge of the unknown to attain nirvana, preach and serve their religion for which their Lord had chosen them and guided them towards the city of Badaun.
The biggest city in the context of Islam is Makka which houses the Kaaba, where millions of pilgrims pay visits from time to time, known as umrah, or once a year, known as Hajj. The people from the land of enlightenment descended here to seek spiritual guidance and are now resting in the heart of the city.
By this, we got to know that Badaun was not just the centre of our freedom struggle but was also the centre and at the pinnacle of spiritual knowledge.
It is also home to one of the largest Khanqah or Ribat of the world, Khanqah Alia Qadriya, which shares a warm connection with the greatest Saint of the world and of all times, Hazrat Shaykh Abdul Qadir Gilani (Allah be pleased with him).
The Khanqah is more than 100 years old and is serving humankind through community services such as organising and distributing water in public places such as bus stations and railway stations.
It also distributed food in the hard times of COVID in 2020 amidst the shrieking heat of the Indian summers. The students of the Khanqah would go door to door to deliver the packets to the needy.
In a nutshell, Badaun is a city that has contributed and still is contributing to the whole Nation in one way or another.