Advent of Sufism during the Mughal Period (16-18th Century)
N. Saraswathi
Dr. N. Saraswathi, Professor, DOS in History, University of Mysore.
Vali Jafari
Vali Jafari, Research Scholar, DOS in History, University of Mysore.
Abstract
India since its beginning has been a Hindu state. Brahmans were considered belonging to the upper caste in Hinduism and practices followed by Muslims were opposite to those of Hindus. But after Mughal invasion, Islam was widely practiced by those who migrated into India. Hence, the study attempted to understand the religious impact and advent of sufism during the Mughal period. It was found that through sufism, the philosophy of mystical traditions pertaining to other religions such as Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism were shared by Sufis amongst the people of India which showed that the Sufis were very liberal in their thoughts and ideas.
Introduction
Islam when first was known in India, Hinduism was more in dernier. Hinduism by this time had debased itself. Superstitious rituals, beliefs and sacrifices had blindfolded the Indian society and Hinduism had declined in its form. The society saw Brahmans and caste system coming to power and rigidity in rituals and customs was evinced. The people belonging to the lower classes were ill-treated being called as untouchables and secluded from society. However, Hinduism and Islam had opposite practices and Islam did not practice orthodoxy and superstition. Islam only preached about brotherhood, equality, and oneness or unification of God. There were no such precepts or rule in Islam during that period. It therefore, abided by a democratic organization and a simple doctrine.
Although
the commerce by sea continued, the main route by which Islam came to India was overland through Iran and Central Asia. During
the Caliphate of Umar the land approaches to
India were explored, but Umar’s policy did not countenance expansion
into India. It was under the Umayyads
that the first efforts were made to invade India. The political structure of
the country remained the same during the
advent of Islam. On the other hand, it challenged the social pattern of society. When the pattern of the
society was challenged, the society reformed when intellectuals introduced the Bhakti movement
and the Sufi movement stating a secular approach towards all religions and sects. The
movements were a revolution as the reform was based on the principle that God was supreme, all men were
equal for Him and towards achieving salvation,
Bhakti or devotion to Him was the key.
Objectives
:
1.
To understand the religious impact made by Persians who migrated into India
during Mughal period.
2.
To study the advent of Sufism during Mughal period.
Sufism
and Islam
When
the Muslims first came to India in the eighth century (8th) A.D., they came in
as traders. The socio-cultural
environment of India fascinated the Muslims and which is why they determined to invade India and make the place
their home. The traders who came to India from
Central and West Asia carried back with them traces of Indian science
and culture. As a result they became
cultural ambassadors of India by disseminating this knowledge to the Islamic
world and from there to Europe. As time
passed, the immigrant Muslims interfered into the matrimonial alliances or issues of the local
people and developed a culture to live with others in harmony. Ideas and customs were collectively
and mutual exchanged and discussed which
proved to be good for the society during that period. The way of
speaking, dressing, mannerism, intellectual
pursuits and customs was blended of the Hindus and Muslims and they
influenced each other effectively.
Islam, religion followed by the Muslims saw a great impact on the Indian society and culture.
Prophet
Mohammad preached Islam in the seventh century A.D. in Arabia. Prophet
Mohammad was born in AD 571 in Arabia
and belonged to the Quraysh tribe. In A.D. 622, the Prophet migrated from Mecca to Madina which marked
the advent of the Hijira Era which was to be
followed by the Muslims. Quran is the message given by Allah for his
devotees to follow as a belief followed
by the Muslims. This message is believed to have been revealed to Mohammad through his lucifer (archangel) named
Gabriel. The Quran has been translated into various other languages across the world.
Islam comprises five fundamental principles
which must be abided by those who believe in
Islam. The same are mentioned below:
(1)
Tauhid (belief in Allah)
(2)
Zakat (giving of alms)
(3)
Haj (pilgrimage to Mecca)
(4)
Namaz (prayers, five times a day)
(5)
Roza (fasting in the month of Ramzan)
The
sayings and preaching’s of Prophet Mohammad are preserved and retained in the
Hadith or Hadees which means the reports
of statements or actions by Mohammed. The Caliphate was established following the death of the
Prophet. Four pious Caliphs prevail according to Islam.
Islam
only preached equality among people, the existence of one God and brotherhood.
The traditional pattern of Indian
society witnessed changes brought in due to the arrival of Islam. When equality and the One God principle was
preached in the society, the rise of Bhakti and the Sufi movements introduced by great reformers
and intellectuals contributed immensely towards
the development of the society and its enlightened thoughts. Equally,
the Bhakti and the Sufi movements
accepted that God is supreme, all humans are equal, and devotion to God is the
only way to achieve salvation.
Rise
of Sufism
Sufism
is a term commonly used for Islamic mysticism. The word Sufism is derived from
the word ‘Suf’ which in Arabic means
‘coarse wool’. Some scholars believe that the term sufi comes out of the Arabic word safa which means
purity. The Sufis generally used to wear garments made of Suf or coarse wool, which according
to them was a legacy of the prophets, and thus
came to be known as Sufis. Most of the early Sufi saints were persons of
deep devotion who were disgusted with
the vulgar display of wealth and degeneration of morals among Muslims following the establishment of the Islamic
Empire of the Umayyid Caliphate. The Sufis
propagated the gospel of humanity and stood for peace and harmony. They
were characterized by their attachment to
‘dhikr’( the practice of repeating the name of God) and asceticism.
To
enter the way of Sufism, the seeker begins by finding a teacher who has
received the authorization to teach or
‘ijazah’, in an unbroken succession of saints leading back to the Prophet Mohammad. These teachers renounced the world
and devoted themselves to the service of God.
The Sufis were broadly divided into two groups, -
a)
Ba-shara or those who followed the Islamic Law or Shariat;
b)
Be-shara, or those who were not bound by Islamic Law.
In
their spiritual quest they were not alone but shared the philosophy of mystical
traditions found in other religions such
as Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism. The tenth century witnessed a new phase in the history of Islam
marked by the formation of orthodox schools
based on the Quran and the Hadis, on the one hand and the rise to
prominence of the Sufi mystic
orders.
Pertaining
to the religious outlook, the Sufis were very liberal in their thoughts and
ideas. The unity of all religions was
believed to be important for the integration of the society. Spirituality was preached through music by Sufis and
doctrines that professed union with God was expressed in terms of verses of music. Iran was the
place where Sufism originated but a convivial
atmosphere was only found in India where Sufism got its ground for its
ornamentation under the Turkish rule.
Hindus were mainly attracted to Islam on the whole and Sufis as the Sufis
possessed a sense of tolerance, piety, sympathy, concept of equality and
friendly attitude towards the lower
classes. This proved that the Sufis believed in respecting and paying reverence
to all human beings.
In
India, the Chishti silsilah established by Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti was
essentially Indian. He came to India
after the battle of Tarain in the year 1192 and settled in Ajmer, because it
was a small town and was away from the
centre of political activity in Delhi. His main object was to help Muslims to lead a life of devotion to
God. The Chishti influence in Delhi was firmly
established by Qutbuddin Bakhtyar Kaki. Sufi saints such as Moinuddin
Chisti, Nizamuddin Auliya, Fariduddin
Ganj-e-Shakar were the pioneer sufïs who are still loved, respected and honoured in India.
Chishti
Sufis had some practices of their own which were not followed particularly by
other Sufi orders. They never tried to
consort with the kings and royal officers. Secondly they did not earn their livelihood. Futuh or wilful or unasked
charity which was given to them was the only source of their livelihood. The Chishti Sufis liked
Shama or devotional music. Their hospice or khanqua was open to the common man, poor and rich,
who could sit and dine with the Sufis. The Sufis believed in the philosophy of 'Hamma az Usht'.
It means that everything is from Him. He means
the Almighty God. They advised devotees not to accumulate money beyond
their daily needs. Honesty and fair
dealing in business was emphasized. The values of forbearance, avoiding
anger or causing hurt to others and a
policy of love and tolerance were stressed.
The
sufis were also impacted by the Buddhist monks and Christians with respect to
building their dargahs and khanqahs.
Khanqah are the institutions (abode of Sufis) built by the Sufis in northern part of India which spread Islam to
the countryside. Takias (resting places of Muslim saints) and Mazars (tombs) equally became the
centers for the propagation, preaching and
discussion of Islamic ideas. Both the aristocrats and the common people
patronized the idea of Islam and Sufism.
Some of the major Sufi traditions in India were the Qadri, Suhrawardi, Naqshbandi, Madari, Firdausi, Shattari and a
few minor traditions.
The
Qadri tradition of Sufism was founded by Abdul Qadir Gilani who lived in
Baghdad, the capital of present Iraq. It
was brought to India by a Sufi, Abdul Karim Jilji, in 1388. The real founder of this tradition of Sufism in India
was Syed Muhammad Ghaus Al Qadri, who had
settled in Uch, from where this order spread to other places in India
including Bihar and Bengal. These two
places in eastern India are very famous particularly for the Qadri
tradition.
The
founder of the Suhrawardi tradition in India was Bahauddin Zakariya.
Hamid-ud-din Nagori, Jalal-ud-din
Tabreji and some others were the other prominent Sufis of the Suhrawardi
tradition. They maintained independent
views regarding secular and religious problems in the society. They maintained very good relations with the
kings and officials. They believed that this world and the attributes of this world, whatever
had been created by God on this earth, are for the use of the human being. The
Suhrawardis opposed some of the Hindu practices adopted by the Chishtis, such as bowing before the sheikh,
presenting water to visitors and tonsuring the heads of new entrants to the mystic order. They were
also keen on conversions.
The
Shattari order was popular among the common people. The term 'Shattari' has
come from the Arabic word 'Shattr’ means
to move very quickly. This Sufi order was founded by Shah Abdulla Shattari. The Shattari order believed
in practices which were very common to the Hindu practices in India. The practices of the
Hindu yogis were very similar to the Shattari practices.
The
practices of the Madari Sufi order resembled those of the Hindu yogis. They
used to rub ashes on their body. They
used to perform yoga and used to wear black turbans and have black flags in their hands. They did not observe
fast and they seldom offered prayers or namaz. Badi ud-din Madar in Kalpi was
the exponent of this Madari Sufi order in India.
The
Naqshbandi Sufi order was founded by Khwaja Maha-ud-din Bukhari. This Sufi
tradition became popular in India
particularly during the Mughal period. Khwaja Mohammad Baqi Billa was the person who brought this Sufi order to
India during the Mughal Emperor Akbar's reign.
Khwaja Baqi Billa died in the year 1603. The other leading Sufis of this
order were Sheikh Abdul Haq Dehlavi and
Khwaja Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi, both being very famous.
So
far as this Naqshbandi Sufi order is concerned it was very different from the
other Sufi silsilahs in India. They were
different in the sense that they stressed on the orthodox interpretation and its application so far as
the canons or shariat of Islam was concerned. The Naqshbandis propounded a new philosophy that
was known as Wahadatul Shahood which means
the experience of Divine God in the heart on the basis of ecstasy.
Many
Sufis had accompanied Muslim invaders during their conquests in India which
brought them into contact with Hindu
saints. In India, the Sufi movement began as a response to the increasing materialism pervading the Muslim
society under the growing influence of the Muslim rulers all over the country. The Sufis
stressed on harmony in the society and also harped on the unity of human beings. The Sufis were
organized by or followed religious orders or silsilahs. These silsilahs were given the name after
their founders such as Suhrawardi, Chishti,
Naqshbandis and Qadi (as discussed above). There were fourteen silsilahs
in the sixteenth century India according
to Abul Fazl who authored Akbar’s Ain-i-Akbari. Each order prescribed by the silsilahs had their own khanqahs,
which were shelters for the Sufi saints which developed later as a centre of learning.
Nagaur,
Ajmer, and Ajodhan or Pak Pattan (which is located in present day Pakistan)
came to be known as important centers of
Sufism. The tradition of piri-muridi, (teacher and the disciple) was also started and was being passionately
followed. Therefore the link between the teacher or ‘pir’, and his disciples or ‘murids’, was a vital
part of the Sufi system. The sufis listened to poetry and music (sama) which
were originally written in Persian in order to attain a state of mystical ecstasy, but it was later translated to
Hindustani or Hindawi. The self-surrender unto God and unity of God was preached in the same way as
the votaries of the Nïrgun Bhakti movement
preached to the fellow Indians. Irrespective of language, as Music has
the power to attract anybody, sufi music
attracted Hindus, following which the Hindus started visiting the dargahs which were constructed by the Muslims. Sufism
had such a great impact on the Hindus that the
preaching of Sufis became visible and prevalent in the form of siddhas
and yogic postures in the Indian
society.
With
the foundation of the Mughal rule the Sufis and their tradition entered into a
new phase, it was found that during the
Sultanate period most of the kings were to a great extent orthodox. But the Sufis during the Sultanate period
represented the liberal face of Islam. They tried to harmonize the society and a harmonious trend
was established by them. Hence it was seen that
on one hand the rulers were orthodox and on the other hand the Sufis
were liberal. When the Mughal period
came this set-up was changed, particularly from the time of Akbar. Akbar was
the ruler who tried to ensure that the Mughal
rule could be permanently established in India, for which reason he adopted a liberal religious
policy. Akbar abolished the jizya and pilgrimage taxes that were imposed on the Hindus.
However he came up against the opposition of the Naqshbandi tradition of the Sufis. The
Naqshbandi tradition believed that the attitude and measures adopted by Akbar for ensuring
harmony in society was against the Shariat of Islam. They adopted an orthodox outlook regarding
the Muslim society and the Shariat. In such
conditions Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi did not have good relations with Akbar
the Great.
Moreover
when Akbar declared himself Imam-e-Adil and assumed the right of the
interpretation of the Islamic law, the
Naqshbandis were enraged with him. Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi tried to revive the orthodox or conservative aspect of
Islam and its Shariat.
After
Akbar when Jahangir came to power Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi began to influence
Jahangir so that he could not follow the
liberal policies of Akbar. Noor Jahan, who was a Persian and the wife of Jahangir, was a Shia. Her brother
Asaf Khan and others were very close to Jahangir. In such condition Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi thought
that under the influence of Asaf Khan and other
Shias, Jahangir would follow the liberal policies of Akbar. Sheikh Ahmad
Sirhindi wrote a book named Rakde
Rawafiz, which was against the Shia practices. This together with the fact
that Sirhindi refused to bow before the
Emperor led to his arrest and imprisonment by Jahangir. When he was released a year later however
Jahangir presented him with one thousand tanka and a robe of honor, thereby diffusing the
tensions that had developed between the state and Sufism.
The Sufis undoubtedly played an important role in harmonizing the Indian society and the two major religions, Islam and Hinduism, as well as Islam and Sikhism. Mian Mir during the period of Akbar and Jahangir was a leading Sufi of the Qadri tradition who resided in Multan influenced Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth Sikh Guru, with his philosophy and that of Baba Farid. When the foundation of the Golden Temple was being laid Guru Arjan Dev invited Mian Mir who was then very old to perform the function. It is indeed significant that the foundation of the Golden Temple in Amritsar was laid down by the Islamic Sufi Mian Mir. The vani or the sayings of Mian Mir and Baba Farid are part of the Guru Granth Sahib as well.
The
two other Sufis who were very significant were Prince Dara Shikoh, the eldest
son of Shah Jahan and Mirza Mazhar
Jan-e-Jana. Dara Shikoh was a great Sufi who had learnt Sanskrit and the Vedas and Upanishads also. He translated
the Upanishads into Persian and he gave it the title Sevre Akbar the Great Sacred. Then with some
Sanskrit scholars of Benaras, Dara Shikoh
translated the Vedas and he named it Majma-ul-Bahrain, in which he made
a comparative study of the Quran as well
as the Vedas. It was through Majma-ul-Bahrain that the European scholars came to know about the Indian Vedas.
Another
book written by Dara Shikoh was Sakina-tul- Aulia, in which he has written
the biographies of 107 Sufis. This
philosophy of Dara Shikoh was not liked by Aurangzeb as well as the orthodox ulemas who issued the fatwah
that Dara Shikoh should be killed and ultimately he was killed. But the ethos, the concept, the
philosophy, which was given by Dara Shikoh on the deep study of the Vedas as well as the Quran,
and their comparative study, continued in India. And Mirza Mazhar Jan-e-Jana, who lived during
the time of Aurangzeb, continued the
philosophy of Dara Shikoh and he also stressed that Hindus were not
kafirs, they were ahl-e kitab, or men of books and that the Vedas were the
books of God and they were given by God.
and in this way the Sufi tradition continued in India.
Most
of the Sufi silsilahs advocated toleration between peoples of different faiths
and opened the doors of their khanqas to
all irrespective of their religious beliefs. Their attitude of benevolence and their musical assemblies created an
atmosphere of interaction between the Hindus and Muslims and even served to mitigate the
harsher aspects of Islamic rule. But it is imperative that the Sufi saints who wandered and stayed in
different parts of India were all not very liberal in their thoughts but also some of them were
quite orthodox. Under the influence of Sufism, it is true that philosophy was denounced and it was
simultaneously equated with rationalism;
however, miracle mongering and suspicion about science, its concepts and
scientists were also developed by
Sufis.
Conclusion
With
the foundation of the Mughal rule the Sufis and their tradition entered into a
new phase, it was found that during the
Sultanate period most of the kings were to a great extent orthodox. But the Sufis during the Sultanate period
represented the liberal face of Islam. They tried to harmonize the society and a harmonious trend
was established by them. Hence it was seen that