November 18th, 2001
There is much more to Indian Islam than Wahabism or ‘fundamentalism’. In the commonly held view amongst Muslims themselves there are no less than seventy-two forms in which Islam is practiced in India. Each sect considers all others heretic, who will, on the Day of Judgement, be consigned to the flames of Hell Everlasting!.
Qaid-i-Aazam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, father of Pakistan, the only state in the world which is, supposedly, founded on Islam was born into a Khoja family.
The Khojas believe in the hereditary divinity of their spiritual head, The Agha Khan. They also have faith in certain Hindu beliefs and practices. In Islam the inclination of this sect is towards the fourth Caliph, Hazrat ‘Ali and therefore the Shii persuasion. The Shias are now a persecuted minority in Pakistan. The monotonous monochrome monolith which is Islam for zealots within the fold and critics outside is thus a construct,. Like a monster in a fairy tale it is a figment of the imagination.
The phenomenon of dissent or of variety was accepted by the patron Sufi saint of Dillee, Sultan-ul Mashaikh, Mehboob-I-Ilaahee Hazrat Nizamuddeen Awliyaa in the verse
Hur Qaum Raast Raahay, Deeney waa Qiblaa Gaahey
“Every people finds its own direction to forge its own straight path towards the Reality”.
We recount the story of Sarmad Shaheed [ The Martyr Sarmad] to show how many splendoured Islam was even in the 17th Century when its powerful Sunni Emperors, the Mughals Jahangir[1605-1627], Shah Jahan [1628-1658] and Awrungzeyb [1658-1707] ruled India.
Jahangir’s reign saw the Emperor treat the most prominent Sunni revivalist Mujaddid Alfi Saani cofined to the Gwalior Fort. The most prominent Shia lawgiver, Shustari, now revered as the Third Great Martyr of the sect, was sentenced for concealing his Shia faith and lying to the Emperor in accordan with the accepted practice of Taqaiyya. As the Emperor was partial to him he was awarded the minimum number of lashes prescribed. Even this was more than he could bear and he died. The Guru Arjun Dev supported the Prince Sultan Khusro in his rebellion against his father the Emperor Jahangir. If the rebellion had been successful Jahangir would have been dethroned and at least blinded if not decapitated. When the rebellion failed the Guru was sentenced as for a capital offence. As was the practice in those times the offence had a money value and the needs of justice could be met by paying a fine. Refusal to pay resulted in pressure being put and the Guru Saheb and died while still in custody.
Jahangir’s rule for religion appears to have been that nothing which detracts from Imperial dignity or security would be tolerated.
Shah Jahan considered himself to be the representative and shadow of God upon Earth. {Zilley Elaahee}. The city and palace fort he built in Delhi was as close to Iram or the garden of Eden as was possible for human endeavour skill and enterprise.
The Shah Mahal or Deewaan-iKhaas where the Emperor received his most prominent (Khaas) nobles and foreign envoys provided a backdrop aglitter with gold and precious stones. The flow of perfumed water splashing in fountains and rippling over cascades ribbed with the fish scale design created the sussuration which most soothed the senses as the water cooled the atmosphere. On the wall was inscribed the verse of the Court Poet Taalib “If there is a Heaven anywhere in on Earth it is here! It is here! It is here!.
Having completed the palace complex in 1648 the Emperor linked it through the mile long area where the premier nobles had their mansions to the hill on which he built what was then the largest mosque in the world. This Ja’ama Masjid {Congregational Mosque} was called Masjid-I-Jahaan Numaa. The Mosque of the Manifest World. On it there were inscriptions in Persian praising the structure and its builder. The only ‘Islamic’ inscription is a Verse from the Quran in the central arch.
Thus the world created by Shah Jahan was a structured hierarchical world where the Emperor was the centre and the cornerstone. In this orderly set up Sufiism