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Sufism and Politics in Indo-Pak subcontinent
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During the 9th and 10th century, arrival of Muslim traders and scholars from various regions in Arabia, including Baghdad, Afghanistan, Antolia and Persian, each brought their own traditions and practices rooted in Islam. These merchants and scholars settled around the coastal regions and migrated to the northern parts of the sub-continent. It was during the reign of Delhi Sultanate, the Mamluks, that influx of large number of refugees from Central Asia, after the conquests of Mongol Empire, brought Persian and Turkic literature and stories to the Indian subcontinent. Sufism, then expanded further during the succession of the Tughlaq Dynasty. Sufi mystical traditions draw from their texts, poems, and stories. In 1526, Babur, an Uzbek chief defeated the Delhi Sultan, Lodhi, and preceded to conquer most of North India.[1][2]. The Sufi Sheikhs were closely associated with the Delhi Sultanate. The day after the conquest, Babur visited the shrine of Khuwaja Nizam ud Din Auliya Chisti, a revered saint amongst the Delhi Sultans. Babur then visited more shrines of Sufi Sheikhs, also highly respected by the Sultanate of Delhi. Sufism evolved in the region with the interaction of the Mughal rulers. The Sufi sheikhs belonged from regions in Iran and Central Asia and Babur and his sons thought that they were recapturing the land of their ancestor Amir Taimur.[3]
Spirit of Islam
Sufism also known as mystical Islam, is the practice of Islam based on spirituality, complete devotion to God, rituals, asceticism and esotericism. Even before the advent of Islam in the Arabian peninsula, Arab traders and merchants visited the Indian sub-continent through sea-routes. However, after Nabuwat, Arab traders brought to the Indian coast of Malabar and Gujrat, their newly embraced beliefs and thus became a stronger cultural presence in the area. In 711, the Caliphs of the Umayyad dynasty, appointed a 17-year-old Muhammad Bin Qasim to travel the land around the Indus river in the sub-continent. This began the introduction of Islam in Sind, and later expansion into Punjab and rest of the Northern Indian States. Muhammad Bin Qasim faced acceptance by the general population in the region and quickly rose in popularity. Scholars, poets, teachers from Baghdad, Turkey and Iran, travelled and then settled in India bringing Sufi intellectualism. The cultural geography of India started changing specially in the rural areas where people widely accepted the peaceful coexisting Sufi traditions as opposed to the Hindu caste system.[1][2][7]
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Sufi Politics
The spread of Sufi doctrines and practices coincided with the establishment of Islamic civilization in South Asia. One of the most influential causes of this enmeshment of Islam and Sufism in the area, was the special place Sufism held in the Mughal Imperial household. Humayun the great grandson of Babur established the imperial graveyard in the land of Khuwaja Nizamuddin shrine. He along with other members of the imperial family have been buried there in the area now known as the Qutub Minar in Delhi, India. Sufi teachers held powerful positions in the Mughal Emperor’s court. They served as confidants and advisors. They were given the responsibility to teach poetry, prose, language, and religion to the royal children. [7][11]
Another reason for the wide popularity of Sufism in the region was the creation of Khanqahs. Before the advent of Islam in Central Asia, Buddhism and its practices in various forms were popular amongst different tribes. As Sufi monks embraced Islam, they incorporated and projected many Buddhist traditions in their own practices.[8] The concept of belonging and devotion to one supreme being, the unity of all, a state of enlightenment and freedom from all worldly desires are all the foundation principles of both Buddhism and Sufism. Similar to Buddhist monasteries, Sufi teachers built Khanqahs, mostly in the vicinity of a mosque. Khanqahs were large dwelling and lodging areas for Sufi students and seekers of knowledge. These establishments became the center of exchange of culture, literature, and ideas.[2][6] The Sufi masters provided psychological support to their disciples and devotees of the shrines, and many became shelters for lower caste Hindus.
The Mughal rulers, Sultans of Deccan and Nawabs of Hyderabad as well as many local Hindu rulers started seeking the blessings and patronage of Sufi masters in order to legitimize their rule in respective areas. Sufi Sheikhs who enjoyed this mutually beneficial relationship with the rulers were faced with dilemma of risking their popularity amongst the masses, if they seem to go after worldly positions, or loosing their ability to preach and practice, if they objected and denounced the imperial ruling practices. Many, like Ayn-al-Quzat Hamdani and Shahab-al-Din -Suhrawardy were executed. The Mughal prince Dara Shikoh who was a disciple of Qadri Sufi Shaikh Mir was killed by his contemporaries. His sister princess Jahanara, daughter of Emperor Shah Jahan was a devotee of Kashmiri Qadri Sufi Mullah Shah Badakhshi. Many Sufi Shaikhs serving the ruling families accepted monetary grants as well as land grants which they used for their own families and their devotees. Sheikh Baha-ud-Din-Zakariya of Multan, a Suhrwadhy Sufi supported the Sultan of Delhi, Iltamash in defeating his political rival Nasir-ud Din Qabacha. The Chishti order of Sufis in 13th and 14 century believed in separation of politics, power and religion and in the initial years tried to keep away from the ruling groups. Eventually their acceptance toward political authority improved. Chishti Sufi Shaikh Ala-ud-din Ajodhai’s as well as his sons and grandsons held prominent and powerful positions in the court of Tughluq dynasty. Sayyid-Ahmad Qadari and his son Hidayat ullah Qadari both held ministries under the rule of Emperor Jehangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb. After the death of Sufi masters, their descendants became custodians of the Holy Dargahs and enjoyed social and political power, despite the fact that they did not have the level of knowledge and spiritual and moral character of their forefathers.[3][4][5]
Partition of Indian sub-continent
During the British Raj, the colonial rule in the Indian subcontinent, after the Mughals were ousted, Muslims in the Indian subcontinent were portrayed as a minority. Vast areas of land and wealth owned by the ruling families were taken by the new authorities. In 1930 a prominent philosopher, academician, and poet Allama Iqbal dreamt a secure land for the now Muslim minority population. Iqbal’s vision in his dream, gave birth to the idea of Two-Nation theory. Most of Iqbal’s literary work was in Persian and Urdu. His works like Asrar-e-Khudi Secrets of Self), Rumuz-e-Bekhudi (Hints of Selflessness), Zabur-e-Ajam (Persian Psalms), Bandagi Nama (Book of slavery), Iqbal mentions the ideologies of Sufis like Rumi and depicts himself as a disciple. Iqbals writings helped construct the political philosophy of the Muslims of the sub-continent with the result that after years of struggle and bloodshed of millions of people, both Muslims and hindus,1947 Indian sub-continent divided into India and Pakistan.[7]
The unstable beginnings of Pakistan shadowed by the mass migration of refugees, financial losses, human life losses and identity crises, led to a sense of fear amongst her people and a threat to the political instability of the newly formed nation. Most of the immigrants to the new land held modern Islamic values. Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, though secular and non-religious, sensed the ethnic, cultural, language and tribal associations of the people and sought the help of ulemas and Sufi Sheikhs in uniting all people under the banner of Islamic universalism. Rural populations mainly in Punjab and Sindh formed deeper connections with the local shrines and pirs.[10]
Leaders of Muslim nations in modern era, have gradually developed an indifference and detachment from the once important Sufi ideologies and Sufi Sheikhs of their regions. The ability of a Sufi teacher to command unconditional devotion from their disciples, the great number of devotees following of these masters and the organizational structure of the management of Shrines and Dargahs has posed a threat to Muslim political leadership. Criticism of Sufi practices by modern Muslims has failed to curb the popularity of Sufi ideologies in Pakistan, President Ayub Khan and later Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto aswell as General Zia ul Haq tried to align their political goals with the ideologies of the Sufi shrines. The Department of Auqaf in Pakistan overlooks these policies and the Sufi pirs, descendants of the Sufi teachers , continue to have wide influence on the population. Farzana Shaikh in her book, Making sense of Pakistan, writes that “ the multivalent and multi-dimensional nature of Sufi shrines has allowed a politicized space marked by controversies due to government involvement in their administration and control….”[10]
References
1- Jafri, Saiyid I Zaheer Husain (2006). The Islamic Path: Sufism, Politics, and society in India. New Delhi: Konrad Adenauer Foundation.
Schimmel, p.346.
2- Dandekar, D., & Tschacher, T. (Eds.). (2016). Islam, Sufism and Everyday Politics of Belonging in South Asia (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi-org.eznvcc.vccs.edu/10.4324/9781315693316.
3- Aquil, R. (2020). Lovers of God: Sufism and the Politics of Islam in Medieval India (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi-org.eznvcc.vccs.edu/10.4324/9781003034353.
4- Review: The mughals and the Sufis by Muzaffar Alam. Hindustan Times. (2021, November 19). https://www.hindustantimes.com/books/reviewthe-mughals-and-the-sufis-by-muzaffar-alam-101637329393666.html
5- Anjum, Tanvir. “The Symbiotic Relationship of Sufism and Politics in the Islamicate South Asia.” Journal of the Research Society of Pakistan, vol. 53, no. 1, 2016, pp. 95–113.
6- Sirriyeh, Elizabeth. “Sufism and Politics: The Power of Spirituality Edited by Paul L. Heck.” Journal of Islamic Studies, vol. 20, no. 1, 2009, pp. 103–05, https://doi.org/10.1093/jis/etn086.
7- Liebeskind, Claudia. “The Islamic Path. Sufism, Politics and Society in India.” Die Welt Des Islams, vol. 51, no. 1, 2011, pp. 125–28, https://doi.org/10.1163/004325309X12529279606537.
8-Nizami, Khaliq Ahmad. “Some Aspects of Khānqah Life in Medieval India.” Studia Islamica, vol. 8, no. 8, 1957, pp. 51–69, https://doi.org/10.2307/1595247.
9-Raza Khan, Nasir, editor. Islam in India: History, Politics and Society. Routledge, 2023.
10-Talbot, I. “Making Sense of Pakistan By FARZANA SHAIKH.” Journal of Islamic Studies (Oxford, England), vol. 21, no. 3, 2010, pp. 467–69, https://doi.org/10.1093/jis/etq052.
11- Banerjee, P. “Rules of Narrative in Humayun’s Tomb.” International Journal of Heritage Architecture (Print), vol. 1, no. 3, 2017, pp. 461–72, https://doi.org/10.2495/HA-V1-N3-461-472.
