Signs from Allah: History, Science and Faith in Islam
46. Sufi Shaykhs of India andPakistan- Part 1 of 3
By Prof DrNazeer Ahmed, PhD
Concord, CA
In the words of Muhammed Iqbal, the philosopher-poet of India-Pakistan, Islam is like a balloon. When it is squeezed in one direction, it bulges out in another. Within a hundred years after Genghis Khan, Islam conquered the conquerors. The Mongols who had destroyed Bukhara and Baghdad themselves became the standard bearers of the new faith. The westward thrust of Islam carried it into Europe. To the east, it put down new roots in India and Indonesia. The center of gravity of the Islamic world shifted from Cairo and Damascus to Lahore and Kuala Lumpur.
After the conquest of Sindh by Muhammed bin Qasim in 711, the borders between the Baghdad Caliphate and India were relatively stable for 500 years. Islam made limited inroads into the subcontinent along the coast of Malabar in southern India and in southern Pakistan. Political Islam had reached equilibrium and was preoccupied as much with internal debates as with external threats. For almost 200 years, Fatimid chieftains controlled Multan and Sindh. Propagation of the faith took second place to the global struggle between the Sunnis and the Fatimids and later between the Muslims and the Crusaders. This situation changed towards the end of the 12th century with the dissolution of the Fatimid Caliphate in Cairo (1171), the defeat of the Crusaders at the Battle of Hittin (1186) and the conquest of Delhi by Muhammed Ghori (1192).
The Islamic penetration of the subcontinent accelerated in the 13th century. Several reasons may be cited for this change. First, the establishment of the Delhi sultanate enabled Muslim scholars and traders to travel freely throughout India under the protection of the political authorities. Second, India was a beneficiary of the Mongol invasions (1219-1261) that devastated Central Asia and Persia. Many noted scholars fled the Mongols into the security of Hindustan. Third and perhaps the most important element, was the establishment of Sufi orders throughout the vast subcontinent. Indeed, Islam spread in India and Pakistan not by the force of conquest or the elaborate arguments of mullahs and kadis but through the work of the great Sufi shaykhs. In this respect, Muslim India is different from the Arab countries where Islam was introduced during the classical period (665-1258) through the work of the muhaddithin and the mujahideen.
The process by which a faith enters the hearts of the believers has a profound impact on the way religion is felt and followed by them. In the Arab experience, the solidification of Islamic life took place during the imperial days of the Baghdad Caliphate and was tilted heavily in favor of the exoteric aspects of religion. By contrast, the Indo-Pakistanis, Indonesians and Africans were exposed more to the esoteric and spiritual dimension of Islam.
The Sufi shaykhs of the 13th century were not missionaries. They were not merchants of faith peddling their religion. They were men drunk with the love of God, giving of themselves for no gain but the prospect of divine pleasure, serving humanity irrespective of creed or nationality and sharing their spiritual bounty with whoever would partake of it. Proselytizing was not their goal; it was a byproduct of their selfless service. The Sufi way strove to mend human behavior and to open up human vistas to the sublime peace that comes from proximity to God. Their “miracles” were the transformations of human hearts. The Muslims needed this spirituality as much as did the Hindus and the Buddhists. When a Muslim experienced a spiritual rebirth through a Sufi, it was called an awakening. When a non-Muslim was similarly transformed, it was called conversion.
India, whose social structure was fossilized by the caste system, was ready to accept a universal religion like Islam. In a predominantly Hindu society, the position of a person was determined at birth. The Brahmans reserved for themselves the exclusive privilege to recite the mantras and propitiate the gods. The warrior Rajput class whose princely privileges were also guaranteed by birth backed the status quo. The vyasyas tilled the toil and paid the taxes. At the bottom of the social ladder were the shudras or the untouchables. To quote a well-known Indian writer V.T. Rajshekar: “These untouchables were denied the use of public wells and were condemned to drink any filthy water they could find. Their children were not admitted to schools attended by the caste Hindu children. Though they worshiped the gods of Hindus and observed the same festivals, the Hindu temples were closed to them. Barbers and washer men refused to render them service. Caste Hindus, who fondly threw sugar to ants and reared dogs and other pets and welcomed persons of other religions to their houses, refused to give a drop of water to the untouchables or to show them one iota of sympathy. These untouchable Hindus were treated by the caste Hindus as sub-human, less than men, worse than beasts . . .” In this social matrix, the message of Islam with its emphasis on the brotherhood of man and the transcendence of God found a ready reception.
But the most important reason for the success of the Sufis lay in the spiritual bent of the Indian mind. Every culture produces an archetype that personifies the ethos of that culture. For instance, in contemporary America, it is the businessman who personifies the ethos of the American culture. During the industrial revolution in Europe it was the empiricist and the inventor. During the Dark Ages in Europe it was the monk. In medieval Japan it was the Samurai. In the Muslim Middle East, it was the traditionalist. In India, it was the sadhu and the rishi. Gautama Buddha personified this archetype; so did Shankara Acharya and Tulsi Das. These men of faith enjoyed and continue to enjoy an honor and respect that is the envy of kings and emperors. As Islam entered the subcontinent, it adapted its mode to fit the spiritual paradigm. The Sufi could intuitively and immediately relate to the Indian psyche in a manner that the learned doctors of law could not. Thus, it was the great Sufis who not only succeeded in introducing millions of Indians to Islam but also contributed to the evolution of a unique Hindustani language, culture, poetry and music which amalgamated the ancient inheritance of India with the vibrancy of Islam.
In the subcontinent, by far the most outstanding among the great Sufi shaykhs was KhwajaMoeenuddin Chishti of Ajmer. Indeed, he is generally accepted as the fountainhead of Islamic spiritual movements in India and Pakistan. The Khwaja was born in Sajistan in Central Asia in the year 1139. Orphaned at the young age of twelve, he traveled to Samarqand and received his early education in that great center of learning. He was a Hafiz e Qur’an at age fifteen and had mastered the Arabic, Farsi and Turkic languages. He then traveled to Nishapur where he became a disciple of KhwajaUthmanChisti. After receiving his training in the methodology of the Chishti Order for seven years, KhwajaMoeenuddin was inducted into that Order. From Nishapur, he traveled to Baghdad where he met the towering personages of the age including Shaykh Abdul QaderJeelani, ShaykhZiauddinSuhrawardi, KhwajaAwhaduddinKirmani and Khwaja Abu Saeed Tabrizi. In Isfahan, he met KhwajaQutbuddin, who became his disciple and later his successor in Delhi. From Isfahan, KhwajaMoeenuddin traveled to Ghazna, Lahore and Multan where he mastered Sanskrit and Hindi so that he could communicate with the local people.
It was about this time that Muhammed Ghori defeated Prithvi Raj Chauhan at the Battle of Tarain (1192) and added Delhi and Ajmer to the Ghorid Sultanate. KhwajaMoeenuddin moved from Multan to Delhi and then to Ajmer, which had been the capital of the Chauhan dynasty. This town in the Rajasthan desert became the fountainhead of a Sufi movement that touched every corner of India and Pakistan. Thousands embraced Islam through his efforts. Millions did so through the efforts of his disciples. Three of his disciples themselves became towering personages of renown and occupy an important place in the hierarchy of the great Sufis. These were KhwajaQutbuddinBakhtiar Khaki (after whom the QutubMinar of Delhi is named), ShaykhHameeduddinNaguri and Baba Fareed Ganj of Lahore. Only once did the Khwaja of Ajmer return to Delhi. Sultan ShamsuddinAltumish was the Sultan of Delhi. When the Khwaja approached the capital, the Sultan presented himself in person with enormous presents of gold, silver and jewels. The presents were politely declined. This pattern of solicitation on the part of the ruling monarchs and a rebuff by the great Sufis was to be repeated countless times in Muslim history. The vision of the Sufis was fixed on a far higher goal than the gold of the world. They scorned the world; so, the world chased after them. Theirs was the kingdom of heaven, eternal, transcendent, unscathed and untouched by the rise and fall of dynasties. It was this selflessness that made them the beloved of the masses, something the rulers wanted but could not attain.
KhwajaMoeenuddin was a poet of renown. Over 10,000 couplets in Farsi are ascribed to him. He was a prolific writer, but most of his writings have been lost. He died in 1236, adored, venerated and extolled. If there is one person to whom belongs the credit for introducing Islam to India and Pakistan and of building the largest Islamic community in the world today, it was KhwajaMoeenuddinChisti of Ajmer.
The Sufis were eminently successful not just because they recited the dhikr, chanted devotional songs and practiced charity, but because they established effective institutions to do their work in their own lifetime and to continue it after they departed. At the center of the Sufi approach is the belief that only a learned and pious teacher can impart true knowledge to a discipline. The structure of a Sufic order is pyramidal. At the apex of the pyramid is the Qutub (the pole) or the Wali (master, protector), Khalifa(representative) or SajjadahNishin (one who resides in the sanctuary). For instance, the Qutub of the Qadariya School is Shaykh Abdul QaderJeelani of Baghdad.
The methodology, method, process and approach of a Sufic order is called the tareeqa. Initiation into a Sufi order is voluntary. Upon initiation, a person becomes a murid. The word murid derives from the Arabic word iradah, meaning desire or will. A murid is one who desires and craves for proximity to God and is inclined towards Divine Love. In this journey, he is guided by a Shaykh. The murid’s progression in the ranks of the tareeqa takes him (her) through the following stages: Mubtadi (student); Mutadarrij (practitioner, one who is making progress); Shaykh (teacher) and finally the Qutub (the pillar or pole). The exact terms may vary between the tareeqas. Obedience to the teacher and an extraordinary degree of discipline is required of the murid. There is no conflict between the various Sufi orders. A person may belong to several orders at the same time, although attachment to a single teacher is preferred.
The progress of a murid is measured in darajat (degrees) or maqamat (stages),tawbah (repentance), zuhd (avoidance of impure actions), faqr (humility, renunciation of worldly goods), sabr (patience), tawakkul (reliance on God alone for one’s needs) and rada (earning Divine pleasure). Thus, a Sufi order establishes an organizational structure, provides a methodology for instruction, measures progress of the initiates and takes them step-by-step towards certainty of knowledge (ilm al yaqin).
The principal place where adherents of a Sufi order meet is called a zawiyah. Secondary places of meeting for dhikr and study are referred to as halqah (circle). Zawiyahs and halqahs grew up throughout the Muslim world. The Sufi orders and their organizations provided continuity through their silsilah (spiritual connectivity relating a Sufi through his teachers to the Prophet). Ascension to the highest position in the organization was by appointment of the Qutub, who, as he approached the end of his life, would nominate and confirm his heir. Syed Mohammed Ghouse of Sindh introduced the silsilah of Abdul QaderJeelani into India and Pakistan in the 15th century (1482). Although the Qadariyasilsilah had less of an impact on Indian soil than the Chishtiya order, the name of Abdul QaderJeelani is revered throughout the subcontinent. He is commonly referred to as Peeran-e-pirDastagir or Ghouse-ul-AzamDastagir. One of the most famous shaykhs of the Qadariyasilsilah was MiyanPir who passed away in Lahore in 1635. MiyanPir was a teacher to Dara Shikoh, the eldest son of Moghul Emperor Shah Jehan. Dara Shikoh, a scholar of repute who was well versed in several languages, wrote a biography of MiyanPir, who is widely credited with introducing Islam to the rural areas of Punjab and Kashmir.
Editor’s Note: This series was published by Suhail Academy, Lahore, Pakistan in 2003 and was sold out. An earlier version is available from Amazon.com under the title, “Islam in Global History: From the Death of the Prophet to the First World War”.
(The author is Director, World Organization for Resource Development and Education, Washington, DC; Director, American Institute of Islamic History and Culture, CA; Member, State Knowledge Commission, Bangalore; and Chairman, Delixus Group)
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