Syed Shah Ata Hussain Fani Chishti (1816–1893), popularly known as Khwaja-e-Bihar was an Indian Sufi saint of the Chisti Order.
[3][4] Chishti was born as Syed Shah Abdul Razzak in 1816 into a family of saints of the Chishti Order at the home of his maternal grandfather, Khanqah Qadiriyya Mannaniyya, in Patna City, Bihar, India.
After his father's death, his paternal grandfather Ghulam Hussain Danapuri raised him before dying at the age of 86, 9 years after being made the successor of the ancestral Khanqah.
After his grandfather's death, Fani was nurtured by his maternal uncle Meer Qamruddin Husain Monami, with whom completed his worldly studies and spiritual teachings.
He was allegedly ordered by Muhammad spiritually to go back to India to spread Islam and accept the responsibility as a Qutub of Gaya where he lived, died, and was buried.
He was originally in the Chistia Khizria Munemia order[further explanation needed] and completed his Sulook in Abul Ulai order (of Syedna Ameer Abul Ula) from his uncle Syed Shah Qamruddin Munemi.
He also had spiritual connections with Abdul Qadir Jilani, Baba Farid, Nizamuddin Auliya and Sharfuddin Yahya Maneri.
Other titles are: Chishti married a descendant of Sharfuddin Yahya Maneri of Bihar Sharif.
When he died his son became Fani's successor and since then the Sajjada nashin remained with the descendants of Shah Qutubuddin.
It was a culture among the pandas (a caste amongst Hindus who perform a type of worship for the peace of the soul of the dead) that a devotee gave them a horse or any animal to them after they perform the worship for the peace of their relatives' soul.
Like his grandfather he was well-versed in all fields of education ranging from theology, history, Fiqh, engineering, Tib (Medical Science), Tassawwuf and jurisprudence.
After becoming the Sajjada nashin he went to the dargah of Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer to pay his homage before starting a new chapter of his life as the Sajjada nashin of the ancestral Khanqah founded by Tajuddin delhvi, the murid and khalifa of Moinuddin Chishti.
He was buried in his ancestral home at Danapur, Patna near the grave of his ancestors Syed-ul-Waseleen and Syed-ul-Majzubeen.
[citation needed] Matbua-Monamia is a publication house that published different manuscripts preserved in the ancestral library of the Khanqah.
He authored many books, including the biography of many great Islamic personalities like Jalaluddin Tabrezi and Maqdum Munampak.
[citation needed] In the early 19th century Wahabism arrived in India and many groups had come up against Sunni Islam and especially against the Khanqah of that time.
Hussainuddin founded a group of learned people and Islamic scholars who would fight against anti-Sunni activities rising in Bihar.
His son, Amir-ul-Mashaiq Syed Shah Ghulam-e-Mustafa Ahmed Chishti is the present Sajjada nashin of the Khanqah.
He had thousands of disciples and khalifa all over the Indian sub-continent who have carried his spiritual teachings forward.
He received his education at Dars-e-Nezamia on the Khanqah campus and from his eldest brother, Shah Hussainuddin Safi.
He was serving as the Chief librarian of the Jamia Millia Islamia when Hussainuddin called him in 1938 to give him all the responsibilities of the Khanqah.
[citation needed] He left for Pakistan in 1958 after making his nephew, the son of Shah Hussainuddin Safi the new Sajjada nashin of the Khanqah.
His mausoleum is erected just adjacent to Fani, as the location of the tomb was revealed to the eldest grandson of Amir-ul-Mashaiq.
He was married to a descendant of Abdul-Qadir Gilani, the eldest daughter of Hakeem Abdur-Rahim Qadri, Amjhar Sharif, Aurangabad, Bihar.
One major reason for the loss of information regarding many of his Khalifas was that it was lost during India's First War of Independence in 1857.
He was once listening to Sema in the Manpur locality of Gaya district and a man who was looking for a Pir after completion of all his studies came to him respectfully and requested him to make him his disciple.
When he became the murid of Shah-e-ata he would to visit his master in the Khanqah everyday on foot, covering a distance of five to seven kilometers across mountain and rivers.