The Mughals, the Sufi Shaikhs and the Formation of the Akbari ...

FORMATION OF THE AKBARI DISPENSATION 139
welcome the Mughals, whom he saw as a divine scourge, set loose
as a divine retribution in the world of the sinful Afghans. Indeed,
the flourishing Afghan town where he lived with his family turned
desolate with the news of the feared Mughal invasion of the region.
He left Shahabad, moved farther to settle in Gangoh, on the eastern
bank of the Yamuna river, away from the route of the invaders. But as
he was nearly the sole royal pir of the Afghans, he was persuaded by his
disciples to join with them in the Afghan camp, in order to bless them
and pray for them in their imminent fight against the Mughals under
Babur. Gangohi anticipated the Afghan defeat, thought of fleeing,
but eventually managed only to send his family away to Gangoh. He
was constrained to stay back with Ibrahim Lodi’s army together with
his eldest son, Shaikh Hamid and his servitor (khadim), Sayyid Raja.
With the Lodi Sultan’s defeat and death, the Sufi fell into the hands
of the Mughals, who first forced him to undo his turban, which they
then threw around the necks of his son and khadim. The elderly pir of
the Afghans was then forced to walk on foot from Panipat to Delhi,
a distance of some forty miles, while his son and khadim were tied to
the saddle of a horse by the long turban of the Shaikh. 6 Soon after, he
was released, and he then spent the last 11 years of his life in Gangoh,
wherehediedin1537.
In 1530, when Babur died, the Afghan struggle to regain their lost
power was still unabated. According to the Lata’if-i Quddusi, the most
detailed and reliable tazkira of the Shaikh, throughout the years of the
Afghans’ fight against Babur’s son and successor, Humayun, Gangohi
remained opposed to the Mughals. He even allegedly had support and
admiration for Sultan Bahadur Shah of Gujarat, the arch-enemy of
Humayun on the western frontiers of his domain. It is interesting to
note here the details of two visions of one Dattu Sarwani, a noted
Afghan disciple of Gangohi. One of these visions pertains to Humayun’s
campaigns in Gujarat. According to the Lata’if-i Quddusi,one
night, when Sultan Bahadur Shah was in the port of Diu and Humayun
had gone to Gujarat, threatening to capture that kingdom, the Shaikh
appeared in Dattu’s dream, commanding him to go to Gujarat, convey
his greetings to the pirs there and give them the following message:
Humayun Padishah is destroying Islam. He makes no distinction between
infidelity and Islam, plunders it all. I have come to the aid of Islam, and to
6 Shaikh Rukn al-Din, Lata’if-i Quddusi (Delhi: Matba’ Mujtaba’i, 1311 AH/1894),
p. 64.
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