Islam and Sikhism

In Islam, Muhammad is the 'Seal of the Prophets'. Islam views Jews, Christians and Muslims as "People of the Book" as all three major faiths are part of the Abrahamic religions. Muslims also believe Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and Jesus were prophets. However, Muslims do not consider any Sikh guru as a prophet.

Sikhism recognizes all humans as equal before Waheguru, regardless of colour, caste or lineage. Sikhs are bred in militarism and being brave warriors, known as Saint Soldiers, as they are great warriors with the heart of a saint.

The book of the Muslims is known as the Holy Qu'ran, Islam further believes the angel Gabriel was the medium through whom God revealed the Qur'an to Muhammad, and that he sent a message to most prophets. The Sikh holy book is known as the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, it was compiled by the 10 Sikh Gurus and includes passages from both Hindus and Sufis.

Many Islamic dynasties ruled parts of the Indian subcontinent starting from the 12^th century. The prominent ones include the Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526) and the Mughal Empire (1526–1857), with which the Sikh gurus frequently came into direct confrontation, however these empires helped in the spread of Islam in South Asia, but by the mid-18^th century, the British Empire had ended the Mughal dynasty.

Guru Nanak Dev was the founder of Sikhism. The Guru Granth Sahib was first compiled by the fifth Sikh guru, Guru Arjan Dev, from the writings of the first five Sikh gurus and others, including those of the Hindu and Muslim faith. After the death of Guru Gobind Singh copies were distributed by Baba Deep Singh.

The Gurus and their Muslim contemporaries

Guru Nanak's preachings were directed with equal force to all humans regardless of their religion. As such he freely borrowed and redefined religious terminology from the lexicons of other faiths.

Guru Nanak defines the transformation of man to a permanent union with God as part of his preaching against communalism summarized by the famous phrase, "There is no Hindu and no Muslim," Guru Nanak defined a Muslim as follows:

SHALOK, FIRST MEHL:
It is difficult to be called a Muslim; if one is truly a Muslim, then he may be called one.
First, let him savor the religion of the Prophet as sweet; then, let his pride of his possessions be scraped away.
Becoming a true Muslim, a disciple of the faith of Mohammed, let him put aside the delusion of death and life.
As he submits to God's Will, and surrenders to the Creator, he is rid of selfishness and conceit.
And when, O Nanak, he is merciful to all beings, only then shall he be called a Muslim.
Allah is hidden in every heart; reflect upon this in your mind. The One Lord is within both Hindu and Muslim; Kabir proclaims this out loud.
Be kind and compassionate to me, O Creator Lord. Bless me with devotion and meditation, O Lord Creator. Says Nanak, the Guru has rid me of doubt.
The Muslim God Allah and the Hindu God Paarbrahman are one and the same.

To be Muslim is to be kind-hearted, and wash away pollution from within the heart. He does not even approach worldly pleasures; he is pure, like flowers, silk, ghee and the deer-skin.
One who is blessed with the mercy and compassion of the Merciful Lord, is the manliest man among men. He alone is a Shaykh, a preacher, a Haji, and he alone is God's slave, who is blessed with God's Grace.
The Creator Lord has Creative Power; the Merciful Lord has Mercy. The Praises and the Love of the Merciful Lord are unfathomable.
Realize the True Hukam, the Command of the Lord, O Nanak; you shall be released from bondage, and carried across.

I am not a Hindu, nor am I a Muslim. My body and breath of life belong to Allah — to Raam — the God of both.
Says Kabir, this is what I say: meeting with the Guru, my Spiritual Teacher, I realize God, my Lord and Master.

— Sri Guru Granth Sahib

According to Sikh tradition, while in Baghdad as part of his journey to Mecca and Medina, Guru Nanak had extensive dialogue with Muslim scholars there. In one discourse with a pir.

At Mecca, Guru Nanak was found sleeping with his feet towards the Kaaba Kazi Rukan-ud-din, who observed this, angrily objected. Nanak replied with a request to turn his feet in a direction in which God or the House of God is not." The Qadi took hold of the Guru's feet. Then he lifted his eyes seeing the Kaaba standing in the direction of the Guru's feet, wherever he turned them Muslims remain unconvinced about this story as no records from Arabic sources have ever existed to back these claims.

Guru Nanak was pointing out that if he moves his feet elsewhere God is still in that direction as God is Omnipresent i.e. not confined by space (or time).

The Muslim rulers of the Lodhi dynasty and the first Mughals were too concerned with consolidating their respective rules, and Akbar's liberalism led him to establish cordial relations with India's religions. The influence of Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi and the Sufi Naqshbandi order on Jahangir led to the subsequent execution of Guru Arjan Dev in 1606.

The Sikh rebellion against Mughal rule

Early in Aurangzeb's reign, various insurgent groups of Sikhs engaged Mughal troops in increasingly bloody battles. In 1670, the ninth Sikh Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur encamped in Delhi, receiving large numbers of followers, was said to have attracted the wrath of Emperor Aurangzeb.

The execution of Guru Tegh Bahadur infuriated the Sikhs. In response, his son and successor, the tenth Guru of Sikhism Guru Gobind Singh further militarized his followers.

In a temporary alliance, both groups Hindu Kings and Muslim Governors attacked Gobind Singh and his followers. The united Mughal-Rajput Imperial alliance laid siege to the fort at Anandpur Sahib. In an attempt to dislodge the Sikhs, Aurangzeb vowed that the Guru and his Sikhs would be allowed to leave Anandpur safely. Aurangzeb is said to have validated this promise in writing. However Aurangzeb deliberately failed to keep his promise and when the remaining few Sikhs were leaving the fort under the cover of darkness, the Mughals were alerted and enagaged them in battle once again; where two of the younger sons of Guru Gobind Singh [Zoravar Singh and Fateh Singh] of 9 and 7 yrs respectively were bricked up alive within a wall by Wazir Khan in Sirhand (Punjab). The other two elder sons [ Ajit Singh and Jujhar Singh] as well as many other Singhs fought with giant Mughal force achieving martyrdom and proved words of tenth guru "Sava Lakh se Ek Laraun Tabhe Gobind Singh Naam Kahaun" [That each brave Khalsa must fight with more than a million oppressor]. The events of which Guru Gobind Singh wrote a letter to Aurangzeb, called a [Zafarnamah :- epistle of Victory]. The Emperor died shortly after on March 3, 1707. Eventually the Guru was attacked and wounded by two of Aurangzeb's soldiers, Jamshed Khan and Wazir Khan who was the Mughal Governor of the Punjab at Sirhind before. The Guru would later die because the inflicted wounds.

Differences between Islam and Sikhism

Sikhs are prohibited from eating halal (and kosher) food or any other ritually slaughtered (known as Kutha meat) meat/fish. Most Sikhs eat non-halal meat (Jhatka), although Gurudwara Langar is largely lacto-vegetarian, though this is understood to be a result of efforts to present a meal that is respectful of the diets of any person who would wish to dine, rather than out of dogma. Sikhs do not believe in pilgrimages; Muslims, in contrast, consider Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) a crucial part of the faith. Male Sikhs do not circumcise unlike Muslim males.

The Five Pillars of Islam (Arabic: أركان الإسلام) is the term given to the five duties incumbent on every Muslim. These duties are Shahada (Profession of Faith), Salat (prayers), Zakat (Giving of Alms), Sawm (Fasting during Ramadan) and Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca). These five practices are essential to Sunni Islam; Shi'a Muslims subscribe to eight ritual practices which substantially overlap with the five Pillars.

The Five K's of Sikhism Kesh is uncut hair, Kangha a wooden comb, Kachera are clean white shorts, Kara is a steel or iron braclet worn on the wrist, in battle they where used as brass knuckles and larger ones where thrown, and the Kirpan is a long sword worn to protect innocent and defenseless people and uphold justice and rights.

The Three Pillars of Sikhism are set of instructions from Guru Nanak formalized as Naam Japna (meditation on Waheguru), Kirat karō (honest labor), and Vaṇḍ chakkō (Charity to the community)

In Islam and Abrahamic faiths, when a Muslim dies, he or she is buried. In Sikhism when a person dies he or she is Cremated

Islamic predestination

Main articles: Predestination in Islam and Adalah

In accordance with the Islamic belief in predestination, or divine preordainment (al-qadā wa l-qadar), God has full knowledge and control over all that occurs. This is explained in Qur'anic verses such as "Say: 'Nothing will happen to us except what God has decreed for us: He is our protector'…" For Muslims, everything in the world that occurs, good or evil, has been preordained and nothing can happen unless permitted by God. In Islamic theology, divine preordainment does not suggest an absence of God's indignation against evil, because any evils that do occur are thought to result in future benefits men may not be able to see. According to Muslim theologians, although events are pre-ordained, man possesses free will in that he has the faculty to choose between right and wrong, and is thus responsible for his actions. According to Islamic tradition, all that has been decreed by God is written in al-Lawh al-Mahfūz, the "Preserved Tablet".

Islamic predestination concerns in reality less the life after the current life but the regulation of cases within the current life, like for instance the life of a warrior in Jihad or struggle in the way of God, which renders him a place in Paradise. Concerning eternal life, it is positively acquired through the absolute declaration of faith in Allah and Muhammed. The key concepts mentioned in the Qu'ran are Jabar (determination) and qadar (predestination).

The Shia understanding of predestination is called "divine justice" (adalah). This doctrine, developed in Sunnism as well by the Mu'tazili, stresses the importance of man's responsibility for his own actions. In contrast, the Sunni de-emphasizes the role of individual free will in the context of God's creation and foreknowledge of all things.

Sufism as a whole is primarily concerned with a direct personal experience and is considered one of the mystical dimensions of Islam, and as such may be compared to various forms of mysticism such as Bhakti form of Hinduism, Hesychasm form of Greek Orthodox, Zen form of Buddhism, Kabbalah from Judaism and Gnosticism from Christian mysticism.

The concept of a Last Judgment is found in all of the Abrahamic religions whereas the Sikh Gurus taught reincarnation and karma, which are also Hindu beliefs, and Muhammad preached of a Qiyamah. Muslims, as do Christians, accept from their scriptures, the concepts of Heaven or Jannah and Hell or Jahannam, whereas in the Dharmic faiths one reaps the fruit of his/own own Karma to attain Nirvana. Sikhs are instructed to transcend and merge one's soul directly with God. The Sikh has to rise above ego in order to escape repetitive reincarnation and attain permanent union with the creative immanence of God. Having done so, the soul retains its identity; man and God are never ontologically identical.

Sufi saints in holy Guru Granth Sahib Ji

• Bhagat Beni
• Bhagat Bhikhan
• Fariduddin Ganjshakar (Baba Farid)
• Bhagat Sadhana

Sufi saint: Hazrat Mian Mir construction of Golden Temple

In December 1588, the Sufi saint of Lahore, Mian Mir, who was a close friend of Guru Arjan Dev, initiated the construction of the Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) by laying the first foundation stone.

Bhai Mardana Ji: Muslim follower of Guru Nanak

Bhai Mardana Ji (1459–1534) was a Muslim and one of the first followers alongside Bhai Bala, who travelled with Nanak in his early journeys across India and Asia. On his later journeys, Nanak was accompanied by Saido and Greho, and Mardana remained with his family. Mardana was born a Muslim to a Mirasi couple, Badra and Lakkho, of Rai Bhoi di Talwandi (modern Nankana Sahib, capital of Nankana Sahib District of Pakistan).

Shah Bhikhan

Pir Bhikhan Shah, a 17^th century Sufi saint, was born the son of Sayyid Muhammad Yusaf of Siana Sayyidari, a village 5 km (3.1 mi) from Pehowa (in modern Kurukshetra district of Haryana). For a time, he lived at Ghuram in present day Patiala district of the Punjab and finally settled at Thaska, again in Kurukshetra district. He was the disciple of Abu l-Muali Shah, a Sufi divine residing at Ambhita, near Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, and soon became a saint of much repute and piety in his own right.

According to a tradition preserved in Bhai Santokh Singh, Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth, Pir Bhikhan Shah, as he learnt through intuition of the birth of Guru Gobind Singh (1666–1708) at Patna, made obeisance that day to the east instead of to the west. At this, his disciples demurred, for no Muslim should make such respectful gestures except towards the Kaaba in Mecca.

The pir explained that in a city in the east, God had revealed Himself through a newborn baby, to whom he had bowed and to no ordinary mortal. Bhikhan Shah with his disciples then traveled all the way to Patna to have a glimpse of the infant Gobind Rai, barely three months old. Desiring to know what would be his attitude to the two major religious peoples of India, he placed two small pots in front of the child, one representing in his own mind Hindus and the other Muslims. As the child covered both the pots simultaneously with his tiny hands, Bhikhan Shah felt happy concluding that the new seer would treat both Hindus and Muslims alike and show equal respect to both.

Sikh chronicles record another meeting between Guru Gobind Singh and Pir Bhikhan Shah, which took place in 1672 when the latter went to see him at Lakhnaur, near Ambala, where he was halting for some time on his way from Patna to Kiratpur.

Relations between Sikhs and Muslims

During the partition of India in 1947, there was much bloodshed between Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims, there was mass migration of people from all walks of life to leave their homes and belongings and travel by foot across the new border, on trains and on land people were killed in what was felt to be revenge attacks.

Today in the Indian subcontinent, relations between Indians and Pakistanis are very positive since relations between India and Pakistan have improved overall in the last 10 years, both countries have experienced increased levels of tourism by Pakistani Muslims wishing to visit Indian Islamic shrines or sport events in India, or Sikhs wishing to visit the few historical gurudwaras in neighboring Punjab in Pakistan.

There are, however, tensions that remain in UK between Sikhs and Muslims regarding some allegations that some Sikhs have been forced to convert to Islam.

In 2009, the Taliban in Pakistan demanded that Sikhs in the region pay them the "Jizya" poll tax levied by Muslims on non-Muslim minorities.

In 2010 the Taliban attacked many minorities including Sikhs resulting in two beheadings.

See also

• Battle of Chamkaur;
• Mughal Empire
• Conversion of non-Muslim places of worship into mosques

Islam specific:

• Islam and other religions
• Divisions of the world in Islam

Further reading

• The Holy Qu'ran
• Talib, Gurbachan (1950). Muslim League Attack on Sikhs and Hindus in the Punjab 1947. India: Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee.Online 1 Online 2

External links

• The Moguls
• History of The Sikhs Webportal
• The Sikhs Homepage