1293S

PREFACE
The Muslims entered the Subcontinent as conquerors and soon with the
teachings of egalitarianism, justice and love secured huge conversions from the local
communities. After gaining imperial foothold, the Muslim rulers and their co-
religionists could not demonstrate the pure Islamic character which created a vacuum
for new religious cults. Jagjit Singh writes, “A great conscious and sustained effort
was needed to go against and overcome the hardened traditional trends and rigidity.” 1
Dissatisfied with the extremist religious trends, the newly emerged religious tradition,
Nanakism, secured profound strength in the 16 th century. The Muslims and Sikhs had
been enjoying a mutual understanding and the mechanism adopted by them was the
principle of ‘live and let live’ or social inter-dependence at the bottom level. They had
been together in the annual fairs, fields, streets, playgrounds, institutions, and public
places but despite this social interaction, both of them retained distinctive line
between them on the basis of religion. The political polarization was mainly because
of the growing political awareness and politicising the institutions in the country.
They had always been conscious of their political rights and it was mainly
concentrated in the urban areas. The strained Muslim-Sikh relations because of the
religious enmity were further damaged by the Muslim League’s portioning scheme in
March 1940 which ultimately reached the point of geographical vivisection of the
region.
Various dimensions in the form of queries during the research have been taken
up including, what was the nature of the Muslim-Sikh relations particularly under the
British raj? What were the roots of the Muslim-Sikh animosity? Did this animosity