|
Sufi Islam, as pointed out
by us repeatedly is most tolerant Islam which is highly
compatible with multi-culturalism and pluralism. It
flourished in India precisely for this reason. Not only
that it produced many great Sufis of indigenous origin
but many great Sufis were attracted to India from
Persia, Arabia and other countries, especially Central
Asia. India has been pluralistic for centuries. It never
witnessed any period which had only one religion, or one
language or one culture. It was always multi-cultural
and multi-religious.
Hazrat Moinuddin Chishti,
who was from Seistan, Iran also migrated to India via
Central Asia after seeing Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in
dream who asked him to go to India and spread the
message of Islam. Hadith literature also tells us that
the Prophet (PBUH) had great attraction for India and in
one of the hadith he is reported to have said that I am
getting cold breeze from India.
This year is the 800th
year of visal (death) of Hazrat Moinuddin Chishti
as he died in 1212 AD. There was unprecedented gathering
at Ajmer where he is buried. More than 30,000 people
came on this occasion to pay their respects to the
saint. Why such unprecedented gatherings at these Sufi
saints mazars (mausoleums). One doesn’t find such
gatherings at the graves of greatest of the great kings
who ruled over half the world?
One must seriously reflect
on this if we want to understand the real meaning of
religion. The kings also professed same religion and yet
they are hardly respected. These faqirs (mendicants) on
the other hand, who possessed absolutely nothing, almost
starved, are so greatly respected. The answer is
obvious. The kings ruled coercively, they collected
taxes from poor peasants forcibly and lived life of
ultimate luxury and displayed great pomp and needed huge
army and police force to maintain their rule.
These saints, on the other
hand, lived starkly simple life, loved and respected
dignity of everyone, of the poorest of the poor and
never disappointed anyone and even if they themselves
were hungry, gave away their food to the poor. Now of
course, there is lot of corrupt and supernatural
practices at these Sufi mausoleums but the Sufi saints
themselves led exemplary moral and ethical life.
Those who talk of clash of
religions and clash of civilizations have to learn from
these people the real meaning of religion and
civilization. They never aspired for power, for
domination on others. Religions will clash only when we
use it as an instrument for our personal interests,
personal ambitions and personal power. If we use
religion for power then two rulers belonging to same
religion will also clash, let alone of two different
religions.
America tries to dominate
over others, wants to rule over the world, wants to
subjugate other countries and invade them at free will
and hence sees clash between religions and
civilizations. These saints, on the other hand, loved
everyone, respected every ones rights and dignity and
hence they saw nothing but love and respect, kindness
and cooperation and they ruled over hearts of people,
not on their territory.
Moinuddin Chishti belonged
to the famous school of wahdat al-wujud (i.e.
unity of being) which believes in unity of all human
beings and its central theme is love. Its founder
Muhiyuddin Ibn Arabi used to say my Ddeen and
shari’at is love (hub) and he made no
distinction between followers of one religion and the
other religion. Moinuddin Chishti too followed in his
footstep and loved entire humanity.
He used to say be like sun
whose light benefits everyone or be like a river whose
water quenches thirst of all human beings without any
distinction of religion, language and culture. Also, he
was always on the side of weaker sections and oppressed
and exploited. Once a peasant came to him and complained
that an official of the government (Shmsuddin Iltitmish)
has grabbed his piece of land and he has lost his means
of livelihood.
Khwaja sahib at once
accompanied him to Delhi and met the king Shamsuddin and
got the piece of land back. The King said why did you
take trouble to come all the way to Delhi, you could
have asked anyone of your man to bring your letter and I
would have given the land back. The Khwaja replied it is
an act of worship (’ibadat) to spend time with an
oppressed person and help him personally.
Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti
had sometime in Baghdad where he met a Darvish (a
mendicant) who remained at one place for more than
thirty years and never went out. When the Khwaja asked
him why don’t you go out, he replied I used to trot
around like you and once I saw a person being oppressed
by a powerful man and I did not speak out in his
(oppressed man’s) favour. Then I heard a voice from
above O darvish! You saw a man being oppressed and you
kept quiet. You have done wrong.
Since then, the darvish
said I have given up going around lest I should see
someone being oppressed and not protesting. The Khwaja
often used to narrate this story and used to exhort
people to always help the poor, the oppressed and
exploited. It is with this purpose that Khwaja had
established lanbgar (common kitchen) and they
always cooked vegetarian food so that all, whatever
religion or sect they belonged to, could eat and never
go hungry from his hospice.
These Sufis also believed
in the doctrine of what they called sulh-i-kul
i.e. total peace, peace with all whatever their
religion. Tolerance of all faiths and sects was their
basic creed and they strictly practiced this creed. Thus
when religion used as a spiritual force and an inner
revolution leads to tolerance, love and respect for all
and when used for power, selfish motives and greed,
leads to violent clashes and wars.
Thus religion per se
does not make us fight but it is motive with which you
use or practice religion which creates peace or
problems. This is equally true of bhakti saints
in Hindu tradition. They also immersed themselves into
love of God and not love of power. Most of the common
Hindus and Muslims practiced religion sincerely and
hence never clashed but it is rulers or those associated
with ruling classes who fought wars in the name of
religion.
It is gross misuse of
religion and the ruling classes today are no different.
Religion is equally misused by various political parties
for votes. They do not mind even if it leads to communal
tension and subsequently to violence. Most of the
political scientists agree that Narendra Modi provoke
communal violence deliberately to win Gujarat assembly
elections in 2002. Communal violence that takes place
frequently in our country is political in nature.
The same politicians, who
plot communal violence, would not mind visiting tomb of
Khwaja of Ajmer, if it helps them get votes of Muslims.
There is no limit to opportunism of these politicians.
Their love of power overwhelms all other considerations
and makes them so insensitive that they can never
experience power of love. These Sufi saints, on the
other hand, were embodiment of power of love and were
totally indifferent to love of power.
They maintained their
distance from power centres. For them, as Khwaja put it,
service and love of people and love of people through
love of God, was the ultimate aim in life. Their
religion was the religion of love and service. The kings
and even our so called democratic rulers rule over
people through coercion and these saints ruled through
love. The kings and other rulers enjoyed life for few
years and fade away from our memories whereas those who
made love and service to humanity live eternally in our
hearts. They never die.
And since these people
loved all and served all they are respected by all
without any distinction of caste and community. I stood
at the mausoleum of the Khwaja for an hour in Ajmer when
we took a peace yatra along with Ms. Aruna Roy,
Yugal Kishore Shashtri and others of all communities, I
saw many more Hindus coming and bowing their heads than
Muslims. I will never forget that scene.
I experienced same
serenity and peace at the mausoleum of Maulana Rum in
Turkey at whose door it is written ‘this is the Ka’bah
of lovers’. It is visited by followers of all religions
Muslims, Christians, Jews and others. I have never
experienced such inner peace and serenity before. One
really experiences the spiritual power of love.
Well, one can say what
about various rituals, superstitions practiced at these
places and how some khuddam (servants of the
saint) who harass you for money. My answer is it is too
gross misuse of religion. It is total denial of what the
saint stood for, It is corruption of all that the saint
stood for. This certainly can be controlled. Again I
would like to give example of Mausoleum of Maulana Rum.
I did not find a single khadim harassing the
visitors. You can visit the Mausoleum in complete peace,
stand inside the mausoleum to reflect and pray and offer
fatiha and leave. If you want to offer money
there are cash boxes kept. If you so desire you can drop
money and if you do not want, no one asks you to do so.
Can we not follow this in
India and pay real tribute to these saints?
-
View Archive »
|
