The listlessness of unbounded beauty
In his latest book, Muzaffar Alam, the foremost historian of Mughal India, attempts to map the diverse nature of interactions between the Mughals and the Sufis, and the changing place of Sufism in Indian life over the last few centuries. The Sufis are normally seen as otherworldly, or far removed from power. In this book, Muzaffar Alam offers a revisionist perspective and provides a comprehensive review of the many different kinds of interactions between Sufis, monarchs, political ideology and religious contestation.
The Chishtis were the dominant Sufi silsila in north India before Babar’s conquest, and were intimately associated with the Lodhis. Sheikh Abdul Quddus Gangohi, the leading Chishti Sufi, acted as a pir to the Lodhi monarchs. We know about Akbar’s deep devotion to Moinuddin Chishti of Ajmer and to Shaikh Salim Chishti of Sikri. Jehangir inherited Akbar’s bent and his association with Sufis and jogis including Jadrup Gosain is well-known.
Alam shows that Akbar’s policy of Sulh-e Kull, roughly translated as “peace with all”, found powerful support from many Sufis who were happy to legitimise Mughal rule. Sufis such as Abdur Rahman Chishti from Rudauli, and Sheikh Mohibullah Qadri of Allahabad not only espoused the ideology of Wahdat ul Wujud, the oneness of all existence, but also referred to Akbar and his descendants with veneration and used terms like Rahima Allahu, which are normally reserved for saints.
They questioned the Sharia and opened the concept of Sunnat, the Prophet’s traditions, to include the Sufi masters’ way of life too. They also underplayed the jurisprudential schools which dominated Islamic law.
Some crossed the ultimate taboo and questioned the superiority of Islam itself. Abdul Wahid Bilgrami, the author of the oftread and quoted
Haqaiq-I Hindi, an important work of Hind-Islamic and Krishnaite Hindu-Muslim devotion, wrote in his Sab’ Sanabil: “The whole world is a manifestation of love (ishq), and we see everything as perfect… As you begin iradat, (become a murid and join the order) you stop quarrelling over kufr and iman. There is no precedence of one religion over the other. After you experience the listlessness of unbounded Beauty you can see His grace present both in a Kafir and a Muslim.’’
Abdur Rahman Chishti, a writer and Sufi who lived in the 17th century, knew Sanskrit, translated the Gita, wrote a history of the Sufis from the time of Prophet Mohammed. He also created a work based, roughly, on the Bhavishya Purana, which tried to combine the Hindu and Islamic ideas of genesis. He said that the Sufi credo was that “we should appropriate the good thing and the good word (sukhan I nik) from each community. This is the message in the hadith of the Prophet, take what is good and pure, reject what is dirty and impure: Khuz ma safa da’ ma kadir.”
This finds some equivalence in the Vedic mantra Aano Bhadra Krtavo Yantu Vishwatah: “Let noble thoughts come to me from all directions” (Rig_Veda 1.89.1) Alam maintains that because of the Chishti Sufi endorsement and exposition, the Mughal policy of Sulh-e Kull was not confined to the court alone but actually influenced the thought and practice of a wider range of actors in Mughal India. As a result, by the 17th century, a vast corpus of Hindu texts were available in Persian translations.
With the onset of colonialism, Muslim reformers became highly suspicious of Sufism and gradually its importance declined. On the other hand, the construction of modern nationalism demanded monoliths where pluralistic voices such as the above became anathema to hardliners of both sides. But through this and his other works Alam has successfully shown us the rich and variegated landscape of the republican world of Indian religiosity where each seer was a leader unto her own and where boundaries merged.
India’s rich past of cultural exchange and miscegenation does not suit those who only know and preach antagonism in its past and present. Those who invoked and championed the spirit of Hindustan Jannat Nishan in the past have never been more needed in the present. As the poet Sadiq Jung Bhadur ‘Hilm’ said, Kanhaiyya, Yaad Hai Kuchh Bhi Hamari?