Tradition,
Reform and Modernism in the Emergence
of Pakistan - Part 3 of 6
By Professor Nazeer
Ahmed
CA
The ideological challenge
from the Fatimids elicited a response from the
Sunnis. Nizam ul Mulk (d 1091), the grand vizier
of the Abbasids, established the Nizamiya College
in Baghdad (1090). The College, in addition to
a great center of learning, became a propaganda
center for Sunni Islam. In this respect, it was
a mirror image of Al Azhar, which was a center
of Fatimid learning and propaganda. Local governors
in the Sunni provinces followed the example of
the grand vizier and established higher institutions
of learning in cities as far away as Nishapur
and Samarkand.
It was in the Nizamiya College in Baghdad that
Al Gazzali, the most celebrated dialectician in
Sunni Islam, taught as a Professor. By the time
Gazzali made his entrance on the stage of world
history, classical Islamic civilization was past
its zenith. Along the road, it had experimented
with and abandoned the Mu’tazalite rational
approach and had instead adopted and cultivated
the empirical sciences. Now it was turning inwards
to discover its own soul. Tasawwuf, the inner
dimension of Islam, offered new vistas for a civilization
that had grown weary of the exoteric sciences.
Renowned empiricists such as Ibn Sina (d 1035)
had come to accept tasawwuf as a legitimate discipline
for the acquisition of knowledge. Al Gazzali,
who experienced this skepticism in his personal
life, gave up the teaching of exoteric sciences
and embarked on a spiritual quest which opened
up for him the vast realm of the spirit.
Al Gazzali took on the dual challenge of accommodating
tasawwuf within orthodox Sunni Islam and refuting
the esoteric doctrines of the Fatimids. He succeeded
on both counts through the sheer power of his
pen. Tasawwuf thrived. The Fatimid intellectual
challenge was contained, and Sunni Islam went
on to radiate its spirituality to India, Indonesia,
Europe and Africa.
The work of Al Gazzali laid the foundation for
the golden age of tasawwuf. The centuries immediately
following Al Gazzali (d 1111) witnessed the establishment
of Sufi tareeqas which were instrumental in the
spread of Islam beyond the Arab-Persian world.
The first and foremost of these tareeqas was that
of Shaikh Abdel Qader Jeelani (d 1186) of Baghdad.
Considered by some to be the greatest of sages,
Shaikh Abdel Qader Jeelani is referred to as Ghouse
ul Azam (the great helper-for those who seek spiritual
help). So powerful was his radiance, and so sublime
his message, that thousands flocked to hear him,
and the mureeds who learned from him themselves
became well known sages. The conservative theologian
Ibn Taymiya of Damascus (d 1328), considered by
some to be the greatest exponent of Salafi Islam,
referred to Shaikh Abdel Qader Jeelani as his
own Shaikh.
Tasawwuf served as the life raft for Muslims during
the Mongol devastations of the thirteenth century
(1219-1301). The Mongols destroyed the exoteric,
empirical Islam that had flourished during its
classical age (753-1258). Faced with the prospects
of total annihilation, the Islamic world turned
to their innate spirituality. This period produced
a galaxy of Sufi Shaikhs, the most celebrated
among them were Mevlana Rumi of Konya (d 1273),
Shaikh Shadhuli of Cairo (d 1258), Shaikh Ibn
al Arabi of the Maghreb (d 1240), Khwaja Moeenuddin
Chishti of India (d 1236) and Shah Bahauddin Naqshband
of Samarqand (d 1389). Seeking nothing but the
pleasure of God and their fulfillment in the service
of man, these stalwarts succeeded not only in
rescuing Islam from annihilation but in converting
the conquerors themselves. The conversion of Gazan
(1301), the Mongol overlord of Persia, cemented
the sway of Islam over Persia and central Asia.
History unfolded, revealing in its wake the Mogul,
Safavid ad Ottoman empires.
A tareeqa is a brotherhood following a rigorous
process prescribed by a Shaikh for tazkiya (purification)
of the nafs (soul) so that it becomes worthy of
receiving the spirituality passed on through an
unending chain of transmission (silsilah) from
the Prophet. All of the tareeqas trace their silsilah
through Ali (r) except the Naqshbandi which traces
its chain of transmission through Abu Bakr (r).
The Shaikhs established zawiyas in the far flung
corners of the Islamic world. A zawiya was a mosque-madrassah
complex and a meeting place for the brotherhood
wherein the students mastered the methodology
of tazkiya under the direction of a Shaikh. It
was also a place for the public to gain an audience
with the Shaikh and benefit from his wisdom and
his baraka (beneficence). The visitors, touched
by the spirituality of the Shaikh renewed their
faith. Many accepted Islam. These zawiyas were
so widespread throughout the Islamic world that
we may refer to the culture that sprang up in
the post-Mongol period (1300-1700 CE) as the Zawiya
culture.
The Qalandariya tareeqa was one of the first to
enter the subcontinent but its influence was confined
to Multan and its surroundings. Syed Mohammed
Ghouse of Sind introduced the Qadariya silsilah
into Pakistan (1482). One of the most important
Qadariya Shaikhs was Mian Pir who passed away
in Lahore in 1635. Mian Pir was a teacher to Dara
Shikoah, the eldest son of Shah Jehan and is widely
credited with bringing Islam to Northern Punjab
and Kashmir.
It was the Chishtiya tareeqa that was most influential
in India and Pakistan. The fountainhead of that
tareeqa, Khwaja Moeenuddin Chishti was born in
Sijistan, Persia in the year 1139. Orphaned at
the age of 12, he received his early education
in Samarqand. After becoming a hafiz e Quran and
mastering the disciplines of kalam, hadith and
fiqh, he moved to Neshapur where he was trained
by Khwaja Uthman Chishti. After obtaining his
ijazah from the Shaikh, he visited Baghdad and
met the towering Sufi personages of the age, including
Shaikh Abdel Qader Jeelani. From Baghdad, Khwaja
Moeenuddin traveled to Multan and then to Lahore.
The vast Indian subcontinent was dominated by
Rajput kings. Delhi and Ajmer were ruled by Prithvi
Raj Chauhan, a dashing, colorful prince who had
earned the enmity of Raja Jai Chand of Kanauj
by eloping with his daughter. Khwaja Moeenuddin
migrated from Lahore to Ajmer in the year 1191
and established a zawiya. His initial reception
was hostile and the Khwaja faced many hardships.
However, the political situation changed the following
year when Mohammed Ghori of Kabul, backed by Raja
Jai Chand of Kanauj, defeated Prithvi Raj at the
battle of Tarain (1192). The establishment of
the Delhi sultanate removed the impediments to
the movement of Sufi mystics. Khwaja Moeenuddin
trained and sent his disciples to Delhi, Lahore
and other cities in northern India. Thousands
embraced Islam through his radiance. Millions
came into the fold of Islam through the work of
his disciples.
Khwaja Moeenuddin Chishti passed away in 1236
and the mantle of leadership of the Chishtiya
order passed on to Khwaja Qutbuddin. Upon the
death of Khwaja Qutbuddin, Khwaja Fareed Ganj
(d 1257) succeeded him as the Chishtiya Shaikh.
Khawaja Fareed moved to Western Punjab and established
a Zawiya at Pakpattan. If there is one person
to whom is due the introduction of Islam in Pakistan
it is Baba Fareed. His piety, sincerity and spirituality
acted as a magnet to the Hindus of the Punjab
and they embraced Islam in droves. Both the Sabiriya
and Nizamiya tareeqas trace their origin to Baba
Fareed. He trained and sent a large number of
Shaikhs to the far corners of the subcontinent.
Notable among those were Shaikh Jamal of Hanswi,
Imamul Haq of Sialkot, Mawzum Alauddin Sabir of
Saharanpur, Shaikh Muntaqaddin of Deccan and Nizamuddin
Awliya of Delhi.
Professor M. Mujeeb has compiled a list of Shaikhs
and Pirs in the Pakistan region. The more notable
ones listed by him include Shaikh Masud Ganj Shakar
of Pak Pattan (d 1266), Syed Jalaluddin Bukhari
of Bhawalpur (d 1294), Shaikh Dawud and Shaikh
Ismail of Lahore, Shaikh Ruknuddin Rukne Alam
of Multan, Shaikh Jehan Gusht of Uch, Pir Jalaluddin
of Baluchistan, Mir Syed Hasan Samnani of Kashmir,
Shaikh Ishaq of Pak Pattan, Baba Mullah Taher
of Ziarat, Pir Hunglaj of Makran, Pir Shori of
Bugti, Shah Bilawal of Lasbela, Pir Omar in Khuzdar,
Shaikh Chatan Shah of Kalat, Pir Baba of Swat,
Shaikh Kaka Sahib of Nowshera, Hazrat Abdullah
Shah of Karachi and Hazrat Shah Inayat of Sindh.
(To be continued)
