Many Sufis trace their origin to Hazrat Khizr, who served as a pathfinder to Moses when he led the Israelites through the desert. Maulana Rumi was influenced by him, as was Khwaja Moinuddin Chishtri and the others of his ‘silsila’. Bibi Fatima Sam, who was a contemporary of Baba Farid Ganjshakar and Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia, too sought the support of Hazrat Khizr's mantle. Bibi Fatima belonged to Sam, a place on the Iraq-Iran border, but came to India in response to an inner urge. She eventually settled down in Delhi, where she later died. Her shrine is in Bapa Nagar (near Kaka Nagar). In the 13th century, the place was a wilderness. Bibi Fatima faith was eager for the final meeting with the Great Beloved. She did not ever marry but passed her life in the love of Allah through meditation and mystic experience. To those who came to her, she was a guide, philosopher, and friend. Her followers were both men and women. Nizamuddin Aulia called her 'Appa', a term endearingly used for an elder sister. People visited her after hearing reports of her purity and spiritual eminence. But Bibi Fatima was a simple woman who did not show off her saintliness. One visits the shrine of this remarkable woman saint with great expectations but is disappointed at how it is maintained. She is the Rabia of Delhi. Burqa-clad women and those with vermilion in their hair pray side by side at this inter-faith shrine. Bibi Fatima's 'Urs' is held at her death anniversary in February every year as she died in that month in AD 1246.
