Muslim Saints of South Asia: The eleventh to ... - blog blog blog

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THE MENDICANT SAINTS and bite its head with their teeth until they bite it clean through. (The Travels of Ibn Battuta 1962, 2: 274) Ibn Battuta’s last phrase reminds one of the customs of the Jalaliyya fraternity, whose members, as we remember, also swallowed snakes and scorpions. The most widely known of the South Asian Hyderis was Shaikh Abu Bakr Tusi Qalandari, who in the middle of the thirteenth century founded a khānqāh on the banks of the Jamna in the suburb of Delhi. Even from his name it is clear that in India Hyderis were finally absorbed in the qalandarī trend. According to Amir Khurd, Abu Bakr Tusi was held in respect by the Delhi mystics and used to visit Sultan Balban’s court. Samā‘ were often held in his cloister, which were at times attended by Nizamuddin Awliya and Jamaluddin Hansawi. The latter gave Abu Bakr Tusi the nickname Bāz-i Safīd (White Falcon), as if by contrast with the Red Falcon, Lal Shahbaz Qalandar. It turns out that the great Shaikhs of both the main fraternities had their own chosen ‘falcons’ amongst the deviant dervishes. However, warm relationships with meek Chishti shaikhs did not exert an ennobling influence upon Abu Bakr Tusi: his relations with other contemporaries were not so cordial. He was rather harsh with his neighbour Nuruddin Malik Yar Parran who planned to build a khānqāh near Abu Bakr’s; he took an active part in the conflict between the sons of Jalaluddin Khalji, supporting one royal prince Arkali Khan against his rival Khan-i Khanan. But those who really disgraced Abu Bakr Tusi were his disciples, rioters and troublemakers representing the most aggressive detachment of wandering dervishes, with an extremist frame of mind. It was one of Abu Bakr Tusi’s murīds, and that too on his instigation, who attacked Sidi Maula with a razor before sentence had been passed upon him. 8 In the khānqāh of the Hyderiyya refuge was given to thieves and murderers hiding from punishment; bringing this to an end was the official reason for the persecution of the sect and its leader during the reign of the stickler for law ‘Ala’uddin Khalji. After Abu Bakr Tusi’s death Hyderi dervishes no longer had a centralized leadership or their own cloister. Sultan Firoz Shah Tughluq, favourably disposed only to the ‘ulamā and moderate ‘sober’ Sufis who had facilitated his accession to power, banished deviant groups of dervishes from the capital, and wandering mystics had to find refuge in the Sharqi Sultanate and in Muslim Bengal, where the traditions of religious syncretism and programmatic tolerance were deep-rooted. 191
THE MENDICANT SAINTS However, with the ascension of the Afghan clan of Lodi to the throne of Delhi in 1451 fortune once again smiled upon qalandars, and they became welcome guests at the court. This is accounted for by the true prediction of an unknown qalandar who presented himself in Sikandar Lodi’s camp and foretold that he would gain victory over the Sultan of Jaunpur. Since then many rulers of India have been favourably disposed to the presence of qalandars in their vicinity. 9 Even the ‘settled’ muqīmān Sufis, in spite of their strained relations with qalandars, sided with them when they faced danger from the authorities. Thus in the beginning of the fifteenth century the wellknown Chishti mystic from Rudauli, Shaikh Ahmad ‘Abdul Haqq (died 1434), stood up for the reputation of qalandars and other wandering dervishes, whom the Sultan of Bengal Ghiyathuddin A‘zam Shah had decided to banish from his capital, Pandua. This action also had the purpose of getting rid of an excess of ‘religious migrants’. Since 1398–9, when Timur’s troops had devastated Punjab and the region of Delhi, thousands of wandering ascetics and mystics had moved over to Bengal. In order to evict ‘God’s own people’, however, some pretext had to be found, and the Shah found it, accusing qalandars of unseemly behaviour and comparing them with Hindu jogis: One night the king visited a camp of qalandars disguised as a beggar. They were just about to start eating and rudely ordered him to leave. Then the king visited the camp of yogis. They were also taking food together and gave him an equal share. To his question why had they fed a mere stranger they replied that this was in accordance with their custom of sharing all food equally, even with dogs. Next morning the king ordered the Muslim mystics to leave Pandua. All were arrested and escorted to boats, which took them to exile. This action led to great unrest in the town. So Shaikh Ahmad ‘Abdu’l-Haqq, accompanied by a dervish (majdhūb) friend went to the palace to test the king’s reaction to their presence. They remained unnoticed for quite some time, then left, returning to the house of their host. The Shaikh declared that the king did not expel dervishes and qalandars, only ignorant mystics. (Rizvi 1986: 270–1) Although the version set forth by ‘Abdul Quddus Gangohi in his Anwār al-‘Uyūn is quite improbable because it is doubtful whether 192
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MUSLIM SAINTS OF SOUTH ASIA This bo
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MUSLIM SAINTS OF SOUTH ASIA The ele
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IN CHERISHED MEMORY OF MY FATHER, A
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FOREWORD Christopher Shackle In man
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FOREWORD keen literary sensibility
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1 THE INDIAN TOMB Everyone who has
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THE INDIAN TOMB deviation of an ind
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THE INDIAN TOMB an active syncretis
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THE INDIAN TOMB saints’ cult in I
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THE INDIAN TOMB Probably the most o
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THE INDIAN TOMB another saint of De
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THE INDIAN TOMB indication of the c
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THE INDIAN TOMB 1276. 9 Hagiographi
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THE INDIAN TOMB form with a dome in
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THE INDIAN TOMB Some of the saints
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THE INDIAN TOMB A powerful religion
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THE INDIAN TOMB They were known by
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THE INDIAN TOMB cenotaph of Sayyid
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THE INDIAN TOMB Mazhar Janjanan, he
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THE INDIAN TOMB The cult of saints
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THE INDIAN TOMB As a scholarly prob
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THE INDIAN TOMB realized. The form
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2 THE HERMIT OF LAHORE Everywhere a
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THE HERMIT OF LAHORE These examples
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THE HERMIT OF LAHORE difference bet
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THE HERMIT OF LAHORE almost every c
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THE HERMIT OF LAHORE in the practic
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THE HERMIT OF LAHORE condemned them
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THE HERMIT OF LAHORE response to th
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THE HERMIT OF LAHORE have composed
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THE HERMIT OF LAHORE that I have su
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THE HERMIT OF LAHORE in particular
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THE HERMIT OF LAHORE The saint of H
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THE HERMIT OF LAHORE and order, the
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3 THE OLD MAN OF AJMER A pious erud
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THE OLD MAN OF AJMER silsila, Iraqi
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THE OLD MAN OF AJMER was at the hea
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THE OLD MAN OF AJMER this hall of p
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THE OLD MAN OF AJMER Prithviraj’s
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THE OLD MAN OF AJMER he unreservedl
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THE OLD MAN OF AJMER During Akbar
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THE OLD MAN OF AJMER on the saint
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THE OLD MAN OF AJMER and estate man
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THE OLD MAN OF AJMER former, but ri
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THE OLD MAN OF AJMER 7 One should c
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4 THE ASCETIC OF PAKPATTAN There is
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THE ASCETIC OF PAKPATTAN In the ear
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THE ASCETIC OF PAKPATTAN Maqșūd-i
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THE ASCETIC OF PAKPATTAN the newcom
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THE ASCETIC OF PAKPATTAN pebbles, w
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THE ASCETIC OF PAKPATTAN respectful
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THE ASCETIC OF PAKPATTAN in good ti
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THE ASCETIC OF PAKPATTAN told him:
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THE ASCETIC OF PAKPATTAN This, for
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THE ASCETIC OF PAKPATTAN in 1604) a
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THE ASCETIC OF PAKPATTAN landscape,
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THE ASCETIC OF PAKPATTAN days of
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5 THE PEACEMAKER OF DELHI It is dif
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THE PEACEMAKER OF DELHI There are t
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THE PEACEMAKER OF DELHI dervishes,
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THE PEACEMAKER OF DELHI At the same
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THE PEACEMAKER OF DELHI In contrast
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THE PEACEMAKER OF DELHI (k’hićar
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THE PEACEMAKER OF DELHI Hasan 1992:
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THE PEACEMAKER OF DELHI not prevent
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THE PEACEMAKER OF DELHI in Sufi kh
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THE PEACEMAKER OF DELHI Sultan’s
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THE PEACEMAKER OF DELHI ‘God’s
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THE PEACEMAKER OF DELHI I have hear
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THE PEACEMAKER OF DELHI melodies, a
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THE PEACEMAKER OF DELHI generous do
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THE SPIRITUAL SOVEREIGN OF MULTAN o
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THE SPIRITUAL SOVEREIGN OF MULTAN A
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THE SPIRITUAL SOVEREIGN OF MULTAN i
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THE SPIRITUAL SOVEREIGN OF MULTAN i
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Page 168 and 169: 7 THE WARRIOR SAINTS When Hindus an
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Page 192 and 193: THE MENDICANT SAINTS And, finally,
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Page 212 and 213: EPILOGUE As I have tried to show in
Page 214 and 215: EPILOGUE An equally important role
Page 216 and 217: EPILOGUE elephant ride. It exaspera
Page 218 and 219: NOTES 5 The profusion of relics in
Page 220 and 221: NOTES 2 THE HERMIT OF LAHORE 1 The
Page 222 and 223: NOTES His feet were firmly planted
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Page 226 and 227: NOTES despair and would come to me
Page 228 and 229: NOTES 6 In the last year of ‘Ala
Page 230 and 231: NOTES life). Here his opponent lost
Page 232 and 233: NOTES in his creative writings. Aft
Page 234 and 235: NOTES 5 The Hyderis of Khurasan der
Page 236 and 237: GLOSSARY bārahmāsa poems that dea
Page 238 and 239: GLOSSARY ī mān faith, creed inkā
Page 240 and 241: GLOSSARY nafs-i ammāra unregenerat
Page 242 and 243: GLOSSARY tarāwih˝ supererogatory
Page 244 and 245: BIBLIOGRAPHY u’d-dīn Chirāgh-i-
Page 246 and 247: BIBLIOGRAPHY Delvoye, F., ‘Nalini
Page 248 and 249: BIBLIOGRAPHY —— (1965) ‘Malf
Page 250 and 251: ‘Abdar Rahim 164 ‘Abdul ‘Aziz
Page 252 and 253: cenotaphs (fake graves) 23-4 Chanda
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Jhelum 12 Jinnah, Muhammad ‘Ali 3
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Pir Badr 13, 165-9, 177, 201 Pir Bu
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