Thursday, February 16, 2012

DARK SIDE OF SUFISM

This is a guest post from Sh. Ram Ohri, IPS (Retd)

            A Reappraisal of  the Role of  Sufis Working as Missionaries of Islam

For centuries the Sufi creed and Sufi music have been tom tomed as great symbols of spiritualism and promoters of peace and harmony between the Hindus and the Muslims. The cleverly marketed concept of  Sufi spiritualism has been unquestioningly accepted as the hallmark of Hindu-Muslim unity.   It is time we studied the history of Sufis, tried to track the narrative of  their coming to India and analysed their explicit missionary role in promoting conversions to Islam.   More importantly, it needs to be assessed how did the Sufis conduct themselves during reckless killings and plunders by the Muslim invaders ?  Did they object to the senseless mass killings and try to prevent unremitting plunder of  Hindu temples and innocent masses?  Did the Sufis ever object to the capture of  helpless men and women as slaves and the use of  the latter as objects  of carnal pleasure ?  These are some of   the questions to which answers have to be found by every genuine student of  Indian history.  

Most Sufis came to  India either accompanying the invading armies of  Islamic marauders, or followed in the wake of  the sweeping conquests made by the soldiers of  Islam. At least the following four famous Sufis accompanied the Muslim armies which repetitively invaded India to attack the Hindu rulers, seize their kingdoms and riches and took recourse to extensive slaughtering of  the  commoners.  Almost all Sufi masters were silent spectators to the murderous mayhem and reckless plunder of  temples ands cities by the marauding hordes across the sub-continent.  Taking advantage of the fact that the Hindu masses are deeply steeped in spiritual tradition and mysticism, the Sufis used their mystic paradigm for applying sort of a healing balm on the defeated, bedegralled  and traumatized commoners with a view to converting them to the religion of the victors.  The following well-known Sufi masters came to India along with the invading Muslim armies which repetitively invaded India in wave after wave:
  1. Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti of Ajmer had accompanied the army of Shihabuddin Ghori and finally settled down at Ajmer in the year 1233 A.D 
  2.  Khawaja Qutubuddin came to Delhi in the year 1236 in the train of  Shihabuddin Ghori and stayed on to further the cause of  Islam. 
  3.  Sheikh Faridudin came to Pattan (now in Pakistan) in the year 1265.
  4. Sheikh Nizamuddin Auliya of  Dargah Hazrat Nizamuddin  came to Delhi in  the year 1335 accompanying a contingent of  the Muslim invaders.  
 Additionally,  the famous Sufi Shihabuddin Suhrawardy of  Baghdad was brought to India for carrying out the missionary work of conversions by Bahauddin Zakariya of  Multan several decades after the Hindu ruler had been defeated and the kingdom laid waste after repetitive plunder and manslaughter.  Like all Sufi masters, his main task was to apply the balm of spiritual unity on the traumatized Hindu population and then gradually persuade them to convert to Islam. Not a single Sufi, the so-called mystic saints, ever objected to the ongoing senseless manslaughter and reckless plunder, nor to the destruction of  temples, nor  for that matter to the ghoulish enslavement of  the so-called infidel men and women for sale in the bazaars of  Ghazni and Baghdad. Operating from the sidelines of spiritualism they even participated in the nitty-gritty of governance to help the Muslim rulers consolidate  their authority in the strife torn country. And significantly, their participation in the affairs of the State was not conditional upon the Muslim rulers acting in a just and even handed manner. On the contrary, the Sufis invariably tried to help the Sultans in following the path shown by the Prophet and the Shariah.  Another important objective of the spiritual and mystic preachings of the Sufi masters was to blunt the edge of Hindu resistance and prevent them from  taking up arms to defend their hearth and home, their motherland and their faith, through the façade of peace and religious harmony. The Naqashbandi Sufis had very close relations with Jahangir and Aurangzeb.    The well known Sufi Saint of  Punjab, Ahmad Sirhindi (Mujadid) of  the Naqashbandi order (1564-1634)  held that the execution of  the Sikh leader Guru Arjun Dev  by Jehangir was a great Islamic victory.  He believed and openly proclaimed that Islam and Hinduism were antithesis of  each other and therefore could not co-exist.   Even  the Chishti Sufi, Miyan Mir, who had been a friend of Guru Arjun Dev, later on  turned his back on the Sikh Guru when the latter was arrested by Jahangir and sent  for execution

It may be recalled that the great Sufi master of the eleventh century, Al Qushairi             (A.D.1072) had unambiguously declared that there was no discord between the aims of the Sufi ‘haqiqa’ and the aims of  the Sharia.  The definition given by Al Hujwiri should be able to quell any doubt about the commitment of Sufis in upholding the supremacy of the Islamic faith over all other religions.  That dogma has been the key component of  the philosophy of  Sufism not only in India, but across the world     - from India to Hispania (i.e., the Spain).  The great Sufi master, Al Hujwiri, laid down the golden rule that the words “there is no god save Allah” are the ultimate Truth, and the words “Muhammad is the Apostle of Allah” are the indisputable Law for all Sufis. In other words, the Sufism and the ulema represent the same  two aspects of the Islamic faith which are universally accepted and obeyed by all Muslims.  By definition therefore Sufi masters could be no exception. The renowned ninth century Sufi master, Al Junaid, also known as “the Sheikh of the Way”, and widely revered as the spiritual ancestor of  Sufi faith, had categorically proclaimed that for Sufis “All the mystic paths are barred, except to him who followeth in the footsteps of the Messenger (i.e., Prophet Muhammad)  [Source:  Martin Lings, What is Sufism, George Allen & Unwin Ltd, London, 1975, p.101].

As pointed out by Reynold A. Nicholson in the Preface to the famous tome,  ‘Kashaf al Mahjub’ (Taj & Co., Delhi, 1982).  “no sufis, not even those who have attained the highest degree of  holiness, are exempt from the obligation of  obeying the religious law”.  In fact, the famous tome, ‘Kashaf al Mahjub’ written by Ali bin Al-Hujwiri, who was also known as Data Ganj Baksh, was widely regarded as the grammar of  Sufi thought and practice.   Most Sufis have invariably drawn on the contents of this treatise for preaching the sufi thought ( also known as sufi silsilas). As already stated, on page 140 of  Kashaf al Mahjub Al Hujwiri loudly proclaims that “the words there is no God save Allah are Truth, and the words Muhammed is the Apostle of  Allah”  are the indisputable Law.   

K.A. Nizami in his celebrated book, The Life and Times of  Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya (Idarah-I Adabiyat-i-Delhi, Delhi) has stated that the Auliya openly used to  say  that “what the ulama seek to achieve through speech, we achieve by our behaviour.” 
 The Auliya was a firm believer in the need for  unquestioned  obedience of every Muslim, every Sufi,  to the dictates of the ulema.  According to K.A. Nizami, another Sufi saint Jamal Qiwamu’d-din wrote that though he had been associated  with the Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya for years, “but never did he find him missing a single sunnat …… ”.

The well known authority on Sufism,  S.A.A. Rizvi has recorded in his book, ‘A History of  Sufism in India’  that Nizamuddin Auliya used to unhesitatingly accept enormous gifts given to him by  Khusraw Barwar which implied that the Auliya was unconcerned with the source of  the gift, provided it was paid in cash. Yet the Auliya was a firm believer in the need for a Muslim’s unquestioned loyalty and obedience to the ulema.  As reiterated by K.A. Nizami, Auliya used to preach that the unbeliever is the doomed denizen of  Hell.  In his khutba he would leave no one in doubt that  Allah has created Paradise for the Believers and Hell for the infidels “in order to repay the wicked for what they have done”.   It has been categorically stated on page 161 in the famous treatise, Fawaid al-Fuad, translated by Bruce B. Lawrence (Paulist Press, New York, 1992)  that  the Auliya confirmed  on the authority of  the great Islamic jurist, Imam Abu Hanifa, that the perdition of  the unbelievers is certain and that Hell is the only abode for them, even if  they agreed to confess total loyalty to Allah on the Day of Judgment.   

In the above mentioned treatise on Sufi philosphy, Fuwaid al-Fuad,  a very interesting instance of  enslaving the kaffir Hindus for monetary gain has been cited which shows how another Sufi, Shayakh Ali Sijzi, provided financial assistance to one of his dervishes to participate in the lucrative slave trade. He had advised the dervish that he should take “these slaves to Ghazni, where the potential for profit is still greater”.  And it was confirmed by Nizamuddin Auliya that “the Dervish obeyed”.  Obviously therefore, neither spiritual ethics and nor justice to all, including the infidels, were the strong points of  Sufi saints.

If  the narrative of  the preachings  and acts of  Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti of Ajmer are taken as indication of  his religious philosophy and deeds, he emerges as a sufi master who nursed a deep hatred against the infidel Hindus and showed utter contempt for  their religious beliefs. As elaborated by S.S.A. Rizvi in ‘A History of Sufism in India, Vol. 1 (Munshiram Manoharlal, 1978, p. 117),  there is a reference in the book, Jawahar-i- Faridi,  to the fact that  when Moinuddin Chishti reached near the Annasagar Lake at Ajmer, where a number of holy shrines of  Hindus were located, he slaughtered a cow and cooked a beef  kebab at the sacred place surrounded by many temples. It is further claimed in Jawahar-i-Faridi that the Khwaja had dried the 2 holy lakes of Annasagar and Pansela by the magical heat of  Islamic spiritual power. He is even stated to have made the idol of the Hindu temple near Annasagar  recite the Kalma. The Khwaja had a burning desire to destroy the rule of the brave Rajput king, Prithviraj Chauhan, so much so that he ascribed the victory of Muhammad Ghori in the battle of  Tarain entirely to his own spiritual prowess and declared that “We have seized Pithaura alive and handed him over to the army of  Islam”. [Source: Siyar’l Auliya, cited by Rizvi on page 116 of  ‘A History of Sufism in India’].

Throughout the Muslim rule all Sufis enjoyed full confidence, royal favour and patronage of  the cruel Muslim rulers. Though foolishly accepted as “secular”  by  most Hindus seeking spiritual solace after being battered, bruised and marginalised, almost all Sufi saints dogmatically followed the commandments contained in the Quran, the Hadith and Sharia. Historians have recorded that many Sufi saints had accompanied armies of the Muslim invaders to use their spiritual powers in furtherance of  Islam’s conquests. Not one of them raised even a little finger to forbid slaughter of the innocents, nor did they question the imposition of jiziya by Muslim rulers. In fact, most of them guided the
Muslim rulers in carrying forward their mission of  conquest and conversion by furthering their campaigns of  plundering the wealth of Hindus of which many Sufis willingly partook  share. It was almost a taboo for Sufis, the so-called saints,  to accept a Hindu ascending the throne of  any kingdom during the heydays of  the Muslim rule. . In an example narrated by S.A.A. Rizvi on page 37 of  his well researched book, The Wonder That Was India (Vol.II, Rupa & Co, 1993, New Delhi)  it is pointed out that when the powerful Bengali warrior, king Ganesha, captured power in Bengal in the year 1415 A.D., Ibrahim Shah Sharqi, attacked his kingdom at the request of outraged ulema and numerous Sufis of  Bengal. In the ensuing strife, the leading Sufi of Bengal, Nur Qutb-i-Alam, interceded and secured a political agreement to the benefit of  the Muslim community and satisfaction of Sufis.  Under dire threat King Ganesha was forced to abdicate his throne in favour of  his 12 years old son, Jadu, who was converted to Islam and proclaimed as Sultan Jalaluddin  -   to the satisfaction of the Sufi masters. Similarly Sultan Ahmed Shah of Gujarat (1411-42), though a practitioner of  Sufi philosophy, was a diehard iconoclast who took delight in destroying temples, as stated in the same tome,  by S.A.A. Rizvi.  The Sultan also used to force the Rajput chieftains to marry their daughters to him so that they would become outcastes in their own community.  And the endgame of the Sultan could as well be that perhaps some of  the outcaste Rajputs might then opt to become Muslims.  

Unfortunately due to relentless colonization of the Hindu mind during 1000 years long oppressive Muslim rule, the Hindu masses till date have failed to realize that the so-called Sufi philosophy of  religious harmony is a one-way street.   This trend of Hindus praying at tombs and dargahs has been nurtured by the strong undercurrent of  belief in spiritualism among Hindu masses, even educated classes. That is the crux of the matter.  Deeply steeped in their traditional belief in spirituality and mysticism, the Hindus have developed the custom of  visiting dargahs and continue to  pray at the tombs of  Sufis.  No Muslim, nor any Sufi, has ever agreed to worship in a  Hindu temple, nor make obeisance before the images of  Hindu Gods and Godesses. For them it would be an act of  grossest sacrilege and unacceptable  violation of  the basic tenets of  Sufism.   That is the truth about the Sufi saints and their philosophy of inter-religious harmony.   

Related posts:
Sufi Sayyid Ali Hamdani
Sufi Moin-ud-deen Chishti
Sufi Muhammad Ghaus
Sufi Amir Khusro

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