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ਰਾਗੁ ਕੇਦਾਰਾ | Raag Kedara
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ਰਾਗੁ ਭੈਰਉ | Raag Bhairo
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Swaiyyae in Praise of Gurus
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Shalok Ninth Mehl
Mundavanee Mehl 5
ਰਾਗ ਮਾਲਾ, Raag Maalaa
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Khwaja Hassan Nizami (1879-1955) : Islamising Sikhi
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<blockquote data-quote="Archived_member7" data-source="post: 90766" data-attributes="member: 2306"><p>I happened to find this article titiled '<span style="color: #800080">Contribution of Khwaja Hasan Nizami</span><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><em>-- <span style="font-size: 10px">Yoginder Sikand link :- <a href="http://www.sabrang.com/news/2007/yogindSikand.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.sabrang.com/news/2007/yogindSikand.pdf</a></span></em></span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"> </p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">One of the few, and certainly the most prominent, of twentieth-century writers to</span></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">have once again articulated the claim of Baba Nanak's Muslim identity was the</span></span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">noted Delhi-based Muslim scholar, Khwaja Hasan Nizami (1879-1955). A learned</span></span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Sufi and a prolific writer, Nizami hailed from a family of hereditary custodians of</span></span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">the shine of the renowned and widely-venerated Chishti mystic, Khwaja</span></span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Nizamuddin Auliya in Delhi. Nizami's principal biographer, Mulla Wahidi, writes</span></span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">that he had over five hundred books on an amazing variety of subjects to his</span></span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">credit (quoted in Naqvi, 1978). A major concern in his writings was the defence</span></span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">as well as the spread of Islam. With inter-communal relations rapidly</span></span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">degenerating into ****** rioting all across north India in the second decade of</span></span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">the twentieth century, Nizami increasingly turned his attention to staving off what</span></span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">he saw as the growing threats aimed at Islam and the Muslims, emerging largely</span></span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">from the fast escalation in aggressive Hindu communalism.</span></span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">It was in this period that Nizami wrote some of his most noted works. Of these,</span></span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">the most prominent and controversial and one that attracted the attention of large</span></span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">numbers of Hindus, Muslims as well as the British colonial authorities, was his</span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'">[FONT=Arial,Italic]<span style="font-size: 10px">Dai-i-Islam </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">('The Missionary of Islam') (Nizami, 1923). In this little tract Nizami</span></span><p style="text-align: left"></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">argued for a well-organized and community-wide programme of </span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]tabligh [/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">or Islamic </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">missionary work among non-Muslims. Tabligh was, he stressed, the crying need </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">of the hour, not simply an Islamic obligation but also the only effective check </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">against the onslaught of Hindu militancy, in particular the aggressive </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span><p style="text-align: left">[FONT=Arial,Italic]<span style="font-size: 10px">shuddhi </span>[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">movement launched by the Hindu revivalist Arya Samaj in 1923 to convert</span></span><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Muslims and other non-Hindus to 'Hinduism'.</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">It is against this backdrop of a deep concern for the future of Islam and the</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">political fate of Muslims in a Hindu-dominated India increasingly moving towards</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">independence from British rule that Nizami's attempt to prove that Nanak was</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">actually a Muslim must be viewed. Published probably in late 1922 or early 1923,</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">this slim book, </span></span>[FONT=Arial,Italic]<span style="font-size: 10px">Sikh Qaum aur Uske Bani ke Nisbat Mussalmano ki Muhabbat </span>[/FONT][FONT=Arial,Italic]<span style="font-size: 10px">Amez Rai </span>[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">('The Love-filled Views of Muslims about the Sikh Community and its </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Founder') was directed at both a Muslim as well as a Sikh readership, seeking to </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">convince both of the fundamental unity of Islam and </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Sikhism. Aware that the motives behind his writing of such a book might be </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">suspect, he hastened to declare early in his Introduction that it was a work simply </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">of "love of the heart" (</span></span><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]dilli muhabbat[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">) and that it had nothing to do with political or </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">personal interests (Nizami, </span></span><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]Sikh Qaum[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">). Given the surcharged political climate in </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">which this work was written, Nizami's leading role in Muslim </span></span><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]tabligh [/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">efforts as well </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">as veiled references in this work itself to the political wisdom of a united Sikh-</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Muslim plank that he was proposing, this assertion may well be questioned. This </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">should not, however, detract from what was obviously a deeply-held conviction </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">on Nizami's part of the divine nature of Guru Nanak's mission and his closeness </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">with Islam, reflecting a strand in Punjabi Sufi, particularly Chishtiyya, thought to </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">which we referred above.</span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left"></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"> </p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">The tract under discussion is a collection of three of several articles that Nizami</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">penned on the Sikh community. As its title suggests, it deals with broadly two</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">aspects of the Sikh-Muslim relationship. Firstly, the nature and identity of the</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Sikh community of Nizami' s own time. Secondly, the message, teachings and</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">personality of Guru Nanak. These two themes are not discussed separately or in</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">any strictly coherent fashion. Rather, since Nizami's fundamental objective is to</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">put forward the claim that since the teachings of Baba Nanak and the doctrines</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">of the Sikhs are in basic conformity with Islam, Sikhs are actually Muslims, he</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">simply draws parallels between the two peoples and the two religions to prove</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">his point.</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Nizami's description of the Sikh community is particularly interesting. In listing</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">and describing what he sees as the basic traits of the Sikhs, he seeks to</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">establish that the Sikhs are certainly not Hindus in their beliefs and practices.</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Furthermore, in this explication of Sikh community traits he is at pains to stress</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">how similar, if not identical, they are with the Muslims, thereby seeking to</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">suggest a fundamental unity between Sikhism and Islam. Nizami probably hoped</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">that this exposition of Sikhism would fall on receptive ears and that the Sikhs</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">would themselves begin to realise that they had far more in common with</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Muslims than with the Hindus. Indeed, he had cause for such optimism, for the</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">period in which he was writing witnessed a marked upsurge under the leadership</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">of Sikh reformers to purge the community of such Hinduistic practices as idolatry,</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">in addition to the powerful Singh Sabha movement to rid the Sikh </span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]gurudwaras [/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">of </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Brahmin priests who, over time, had managed to gain control over them and the </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">vast properties that they owned. In this climate of a heightened Sikh identity</span></span><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">consciousness wherein communal boundaries between Sikhs and Hindus were</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">being sharply redrawn, Nizami believed that the Sikhs would be more receptive</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">to appeals for building bridges with the Muslims than before.</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Nizami's portrayal of the Sikh community could hardly be less flattering. "Their</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">religion," he writes, "is almost identical with Islam because they regard God as</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">One and without any partners." In matters of prayer and ritual observance, too,</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Sikhs and Muslims, he says, are very similar. Both place great importance on</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">prayers during nightly vigils and on the recitation of their scriptures early in the</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">mornings. Like the Muslims, and in sharp contrast to the Hindus, the Sikhs shun</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">the worship of idols, multiple gods and goddesses, holy seasons and the</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">elements of nature, and do not include any other in the person (</span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]zat[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">) and </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">attributes ( </span></span><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]sifat[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">) of God. Like the Muslims, they, too, revere a book, the Guru</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Granth Sahib. Their shrines are like Sufi hospices, for the very word </span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span><p style="text-align: left">[FONT=Arial,Italic]<span style="font-size: 10px">gurudwara </span>[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">means 'the neighbourhood of the Sufi </span></span><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]shaykh' [/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">(</span>[FONT=Arial,Italic]pir ka pados, murshid ka[/FONT]</span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]<span style="font-size: 10px">hamsaya </span>[/FONT]<span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'">) and 'the court of the Rightly- Guided One' (</span>[FONT=Arial,Italic]hadi ka vas\sal khana[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">).</span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left"></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Both groups view battle in the same light—as a struggle for truth. Dying on the</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">battlefield is believed to earn martyrdom for both. Both are staunch upholders of</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">human equality. Both have a deep and abiding sense of self-respect. Both refuse</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">to bow down meekly before powerful tyrants. Both are true to their word and</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">'walk erect with their heads held high like true soldiers'. Both get 'quickly</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">emotionally worked up'. Both are non-vegetarians and abstain from intoxicants.</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Both wear turbans and grow beards.</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">In a chapter called "Sikhs and Sayyeds," Nizami points to what he sees as the</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">similarities between the Sikhs and the Sayyeds, the direct descendants of the</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Prophet Muhammad generally held in high regard by Muslims. By thus</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">comparing the Sikhs with the Sayyeds, Nizami is at pains to project a glowing</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">image of the former. Just as the Sayyeds are known for their generosity, bravery</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">and firm championing of the cause of justice and truth, so, too, are the Sikhs.</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Like Imam Hussain, the grandson of the Prophet, who gave up his life but</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">refused to bow down before tyrannical rulers, the Sikhs, too, "have sacrificed the</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">lives of their children for upholding the Truth and have never turned away</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">from the Straight Path." Thus, just as the Sayyeds are the </span></span><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]sardars [/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">('leaders') of</span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left"></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">the Muslims, the Sikhs, who are also respectfully called </span></span><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]sardars[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">, are the Sayyeds</span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left"></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">(chiefs) of the Indian peoples ( </span></span><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]hindustani aqwam[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">). Most importantly, the most</span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left"></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">striking similarity between the two is their strict adherence to monotheism (</span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span><p style="text-align: left">[FONT=Arial,Italic]<span style="font-size: 10px">aqidai-</span>[/FONT][FONT=Arial,Italic]<span style="font-size: 10px">tauhid</span>[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">). </span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">The only difference between the Sayyeds and the Sikhs is, Nizami</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">says, that "while the Sayyeds use their title of Sayyed before their name, the Sikh</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">attach the title Singh ('lion') after their names."</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">What is particularly remarkable in this assertion of the justice of the historical</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Sikh struggle against tyranny is a sharp critique of later Mughal policies towards</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">the Sikh Gurus that sowed the seeds of bitter hatred between the Sikhs and the</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Muslims in the Punjab. Thus, according to Nizami, God Himself is with the Sikhs,</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">having made them a strong and brave community and fitted them with noble</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">qualities. They are, in fact, "God's special servants" upon whom "He has</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">showered all his blessings", and Nizami calls upon others to respect them</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">because, "it is the will of God" that the Sikhs "should be the cause of the</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">happiness of all the people of India" and a "guiding light" to deliver them from the</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">throes of darkness. The Sikhs, indeed, are "the servants of the poor," ever ready</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">with swords in their hands to combat the Satanic ego (</span></span><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]nafs-i-shaytani[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">).</span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left"></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Turning to what apparently distinguishes Sikhs from Muslims and brings them</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">closer to the Hindus, Nizami lists three points: their adherence to certain caste</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">rules of purity, pollution and untouchability (</span></span><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]chhoot[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">) towards Muslims; their</span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left"></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">cremation of the dead; and their concern for the protection of the cow. He has</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">three simple solutions to these barriers that stand between Sikhs and Muslims.</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">He traces the problem of untouchability practised by Sikhs towards Muslims to</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">the political wrangling of the past between Sikhs and certain Muslim rulers. If</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Muslims and Sikhs today were to sink their political differences the problem</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">would immediately be solved, he writes. The cremation of the dead by the Sikhs,</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">he notes, is simply a custom that they have borrowed from the Hindus and has</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">nothing to do with the principles of their religion. And as for their reverence for</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">the cow, this is something that the Sikhs have adopted from having been close to</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">the Hindus. It has, apparently, no sanction in the Sikh religion which, Nizami</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">says, is based on strict monotheism.</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Given that their hearts (</span></span><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]dil[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">), deeds (</span>[FONT=Arial,Italic]amal[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">), principles (</span>[FONT=Arial,Italic]usul[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">) and qualities (</span>[FONT=Arial,Italic]ausaf[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">)</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">are 'the same', how long, Nizami asks, can the 'mere externalities of words' and </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">the unfortunate politics of the past keep the two brothers, Sikhs and Muslims,</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">apart? For their own sake as well as for the sake of India as a whole, he says,</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">the two must now unite as one. Although Nizami admits that in the political</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">sphere the Sikhs have been recognised as a separate community, for all</span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left"></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">practical purposes, he claims, 'the Sikhs are in fact entirely Muslim' (</span></span>[FONT=Arial,Italic]<span style="font-size: 10px">Hai Sikh</span>[/FONT]</p></p> <p style="text-align: left"></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]<span style="font-size: 10px">bilkul Musalman</span>[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">) and he prophesies the merger of the two peoples in the near</span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left"></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">future. This call for a merger of the Sikhs into the Muslim fold is, interestingly, a</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">two-way process. If Sikhs are Muslims, says Nizami, then Muslims are also</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Sikhs. Here he quotes a Persian saying: "Neither he nor you are strangers to one</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">another".</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">In addition to listing points of similarity between Sikhs and Muslims in order to</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">prove his claim that the two are actually the same, Nizami devotes several pages</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">to an appraisal of Baba Nanak and his teachings so as to show to his readers</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">that he was actually a divinely-guided Sufi. The honorific titles he uses for Baba</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Nanak are those usually reserved for guided Sufis. Thus, Baba Nanak is</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">described as a "world renouncing mendicant" (</span></span><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]tark-i-duniya faqir[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">) (4), a "true</span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left"></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">friend of the true God" (</span></span><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]sacche khuda ka saccha wali[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">), an "ocean of monotheism"</span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left"></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">(</span></span><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]tauhid ka samundar[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">), the "herald of the Truth" (</span>[FONT=Arial,Italic]haqqaniyat ki tuti[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">) and a "true</span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left"></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">missionary" (</span></span><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]sacche dai[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">) of the Oneness of God. Indeed, it is Baba Baba Nanak's</span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left"></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">uncompromising monotheism alone that is enough for Nizami to prove him to</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">have been a devout Muslim. It is Baba Nanak's overpowering sense of surrender</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">to the one God, going beyond the mere externalities of ritual and law that allows</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Nanak to be included in the ranks of the exalted Muslim mystics who have</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">attained a true understanding of </span></span><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]wahdat al-wujud [/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">(the unity of existence).</span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left"></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">In the last of the three articles included in the tract, titled </span></span>[FONT=Arial,Italic]<span style="font-size: 10px">Nanaki Quam Mai</span>[/FONT][FONT=Arial,Italic]<span style="font-size: 10px">Wahdat </span>[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">('Unity in the Community of Nanak'), Nizami's elaborate exposition of the </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Sufistic teachings of Baba Nanak takes the form of an imaginary conversation </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">between the eyelashes of a seeker after the Truth and the long tresses of the </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Baba. After a great many solemn oaths Nizami pronounces that Baba Nanak was</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">indeed a "true seer" ( </span></span><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]ankho wale[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">). Unlike ordinary mortals who depend on their </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">external senses, he could see the hidden realities of the world through his 'inner </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">eye'. Not every person is fortunate enough to possess the inner eye, and Baba</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Nanak, says Nizami, was one of those chosen few of God. His inner eye was, in</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">fact, a "fire chamber" (</span></span><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]atish khana[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">), a "cannon house" (</span>[FONT=Arial,Italic]topkhana[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">) for the</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">destruction of the "urgings of the Devil" (</span></span><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]jazbat-i-shaytani[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">), more powerful than </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">the most deadly of "German cannons" because with it he would conquer the </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">"forts of hearts" (</span></span><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]dil ke qile[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">) and not merely "forts of mud". When Baba Nanak's </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">inner eye was provoked into agitation it would destroy all the "ships of pride and </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">sinfulness".</span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left"></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"> </p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">In conjunction with this </span></span><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]jalali [/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">(majestic or wrathful) side to Nanak's inner eye are</span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left"></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">the more gentle or </span></span><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]jamali [/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">attributes characteristic of the more sober Sufis. Thus,</span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left"></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Nizami also describes it as an "ocean of pearls" and the "ball of the sun" which</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">clearly reflects the "tranquility of the entire cosmos." It possesses a magical</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">charm that "causes people to lose sense of their own selves, granting peace and</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">solace to all troubled souls".</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">While Baba Nanak's uncompromising monotheism is itself not in doubt, his</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">position on the finality of the prophethood of the Prophet Muhammad is not</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">actually clear. Indeed, earlier in his tract Nizami notes that while on the issue of</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">monotheism Sikhs are "exactly the same" as Muslims, the former do not regard</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">the Prophet Muhammad in the same manner as the latter do. However, since</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Nizami's objective is to press the claim that Nanak was himself not simply a pious</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">monotheist but actually a Muslim in the fullest sense of the term, including in</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">recognising the prophethood of the Prophet Muhammad, he introduces into this</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">rich tapestry of mystical symbolism and metaphor woven around the person of</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Guru Nanak the well-known Sufi concept of the "light of Muhammad" ( </span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]nur-imuhammadi[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">).</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Thus, he writes, Nanak was actually the "star of the eye of God"</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">through which "the light of Muhammad" brilliantly shone. This is why, like the</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Prophet, he refused to worship anyone else but God, destroyed all "germs of</span></span></p><p></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">ignorance" (</span></span><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]jarasim-i-jahaliyat[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">) and "saw every particle of God's creation" with the</span></span><p style="text-align: left"></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">"eye of monotheism" (</span></span><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]nazar-i-tauhid[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">).</span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left"></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">.</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">With Guru Nanak having been a vehicle for transmitting the "light of Muhammad"</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">to the world, it is but natural that he should also have reflected the Prophet's</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">attributes and qualities. Like the Prophet, Baba Nanak, too, says Nizami,</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">stressed love for the poor, piety, worship, and the performance of good deeds</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">while remaining involved with the world instead of renouncing it. This similarity</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">extended even to matters of external appearance. Like other "friends of God",</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">such as the Prophet himself, Imam Ali, Imam Hussain and all the other great</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">leaders of Islam, as well as Jesus and even Zoroaster and the heroes of the</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Greeks, Nanak "grew his hair long". Having argued that Baba Nanak was a</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">devoted disciple of the Prophet and a perfect guide to the "path of the Lord",</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Nizami exclaims in exultant praise, addressing Baba Nanak thus:</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">"[N]ow, tell us, how can we convince those fools who have gone astray</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">who condemn your pure and straight path (</span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]tariqat[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">) and wag their tongues</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">in calumny against your happiness-filled Sikh path? You are true, your</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">words are true, your eyes are true and so is whatever it sees. All the rest</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">is false".</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Having 'proved' Nanak to be a devout follower of Islam and the Sikhs to be</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">identical to Muslims, Nizami calls upon both peoples to "cut down and throwaway</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">the branches of duality" (</span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]dui ki shakho ko kat kar phenk de[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">). They both must now</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">recognise that "Sikhs are Muslims and Muslims are Sikhs". Interestingly, Nizami</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">does not plead simply for a complete absorption or conversion of the Sikhs into</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">the Muslim fold. In fact, implicit in his argument is a call for a radical redefinition</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">of Muslim identity </span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]vis-a-vis [/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">the Sikh 'Other'. Thus, not only must Sikhs recognize</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">their links with Islam and Muslims, but, since Nizami claims to have shown Baba</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Nanak to have been a true servant of God, Muslims, too, must recognize the</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Sikh scripture, the Granth Sahib, as the "heart and life" (</span></span><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]dil-o-jan[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">) of India, the</span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left"></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">"brilliantly shining sun" whose guards (</span></span><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]pasban[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">) all Muslims should consider</span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left"></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">themselves to be. Muslims, as well as others, must also recognise Baba Nanak</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">as a devout bondsman of God and a guide to His path, holding on to his long</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">"tresses of love" (</span></span><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]ishq ki zulfe[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">), entangling their hearts in its knots to attain to the</span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left"></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Truth. The 'favourite slogan' of all India should now be the Sikh (hence, in</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Nizami's eyes, Muslim) cry of monotheistic confession: "</span></span>[FONT=Arial,Italic]<span style="font-size: 10px">Sri Wahe Guruji ka</span>[/FONT]</p></p> <p style="text-align: left"></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]<span style="font-size: 10px">Khalisa, Sri Wahe Guruji ki Fateh, Sat Sri Akal </span>[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">! (Hail to the Pure Ones of God!</span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left"></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Hail to the Victorious Ones of God! Hail to the Timeless One!)".This, says Nizami,</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">is nothing but the slogan </span></span><span style="font-size: 10px">[FONT=Arial,Italic]Haq Allah [/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Arial'">('Allah is the Truth') that love-filled Sufis cry</span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left"></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">out in moments of ecstatic surrender.</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Writing from within the Indian Chishti Sufi tradition known for its tolerance and</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">breath of vision, Nizami offers Muslims, Sikhs as well as others a way to think</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">beyond narrow, traditional barriers of community and mere externalities of ritual</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">and form in a search for the Universal Spirit that Sufis have often discovered in</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">spiritual traditions other than their own. While the political motives behind the</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">penning of his tract on Sikhism cannot be discounted, Nizami's quest for</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">refashioning established community identities and building bridges between</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">spiritual traditions provides a valuable lesson for contemporary efforts at inter</span></span></p></span></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="font-size: 10px">religious dialogue and understanding.</span></span></p></p> <p style="text-align: left">[/FONT]</p><p></span><p style="text-align: left"></p> <p style="text-align: left"></p> <p style="text-align: left"></p> <p style="text-align: left"></p> <p style="text-align: left"></p> <p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p> <p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p> <p style="text-align: left"></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Archived_member7, post: 90766, member: 2306"] I happened to find this article titiled '[COLOR=#800080]Contribution of Khwaja Hasan Nizami[/COLOR][SIZE=1][FONT=Arial][I]-- [SIZE=2]Yoginder Sikand link :- [URL]http://www.sabrang.com/news/2007/yogindSikand.pdf[/URL][/SIZE][/I][/FONT][/SIZE] [SIZE=1] [LEFT][FONT=Arial][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][/SIZE][/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]One of the few, and certainly the most prominent, of twentieth-century writers to[/SIZE][/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Arial] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]have once again articulated the claim of Baba Nanak's Muslim identity was the[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]noted Delhi-based Muslim scholar, Khwaja Hasan Nizami (1879-1955). A learned[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Sufi and a prolific writer, Nizami hailed from a family of hereditary custodians of[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]the shine of the renowned and widely-venerated Chishti mystic, Khwaja[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Nizamuddin Auliya in Delhi. Nizami's principal biographer, Mulla Wahidi, writes[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]that he had over five hundred books on an amazing variety of subjects to his[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]credit (quoted in Naqvi, 1978). A major concern in his writings was the defence[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]as well as the spread of Islam. With inter-communal relations rapidly[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]degenerating into ****** rioting all across north India in the second decade of[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]the twentieth century, Nizami increasingly turned his attention to staving off what[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]he saw as the growing threats aimed at Islam and the Muslims, emerging largely[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]from the fast escalation in aggressive Hindu communalism.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]It was in this period that Nizami wrote some of his most noted works. Of these,[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]the most prominent and controversial and one that attracted the attention of large[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]numbers of Hindus, Muslims as well as the British colonial authorities, was his[/SIZE][/FONT][/FONT][/LEFT][FONT=Arial] [FONT=Arial,Italic][SIZE=2]Dai-i-Islam [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]('The Missionary of Islam') (Nizami, 1923). In this little tract Nizami[/SIZE][/FONT][LEFT][SIZE=2][/SIZE] [LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]argued for a well-organized and community-wide programme of [/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT][FONT=Arial] [/font][/LEFT][FONT=Arial] [/FONT][LEFT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]tabligh [/FONT][FONT=Arial]or Islamic [/FONT][/SIZE][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]missionary work among non-Muslims. Tabligh was, he stressed, the crying need [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]of the hour, not simply an Islamic obligation but also the only effective check [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]against the onslaught of Hindu militancy, in particular the aggressive [/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT][FONT=Arial] [/FONT][LEFT][FONT=Arial,Italic][SIZE=2]shuddhi [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]movement launched by the Hindu revivalist Arya Samaj in 1923 to convert[/SIZE][/FONT][LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Muslims and other non-Hindus to 'Hinduism'.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]It is against this backdrop of a deep concern for the future of Islam and the[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]political fate of Muslims in a Hindu-dominated India increasingly moving towards[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]independence from British rule that Nizami's attempt to prove that Nanak was[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]actually a Muslim must be viewed. Published probably in late 1922 or early 1923,[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]this slim book, [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial,Italic][SIZE=2]Sikh Qaum aur Uske Bani ke Nisbat Mussalmano ki Muhabbat [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial,Italic][SIZE=2]Amez Rai [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]('The Love-filled Views of Muslims about the Sikh Community and its [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Founder') was directed at both a Muslim as well as a Sikh readership, seeking to [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]convince both of the fundamental unity of Islam and [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Sikhism. Aware that the motives behind his writing of such a book might be [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]suspect, he hastened to declare early in his Introduction that it was a work simply [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]of "love of the heart" ([/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]dilli muhabbat[/FONT][FONT=Arial]) and that it had nothing to do with political or [/FONT][/SIZE][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]personal interests (Nizami, [/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]Sikh Qaum[/FONT][FONT=Arial]). Given the surcharged political climate in [/FONT][/SIZE][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]which this work was written, Nizami's leading role in Muslim [/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]tabligh [/FONT][FONT=Arial]efforts as well [/FONT][/SIZE][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]as veiled references in this work itself to the political wisdom of a united Sikh-[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Muslim plank that he was proposing, this assertion may well be questioned. This [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]should not, however, detract from what was obviously a deeply-held conviction [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]on Nizami's part of the divine nature of Guru Nanak's mission and his closeness [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]with Islam, reflecting a strand in Punjabi Sufi, particularly Chishtiyya, thought to [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]which we referred above.[/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT] [LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]The tract under discussion is a collection of three of several articles that Nizami[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]penned on the Sikh community. As its title suggests, it deals with broadly two[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]aspects of the Sikh-Muslim relationship. Firstly, the nature and identity of the[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Sikh community of Nizami' s own time. Secondly, the message, teachings and[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]personality of Guru Nanak. These two themes are not discussed separately or in[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]any strictly coherent fashion. Rather, since Nizami's fundamental objective is to[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]put forward the claim that since the teachings of Baba Nanak and the doctrines[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]of the Sikhs are in basic conformity with Islam, Sikhs are actually Muslims, he[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]simply draws parallels between the two peoples and the two religions to prove[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]his point.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Nizami's description of the Sikh community is particularly interesting. In listing[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]and describing what he sees as the basic traits of the Sikhs, he seeks to[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]establish that the Sikhs are certainly not Hindus in their beliefs and practices.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Furthermore, in this explication of Sikh community traits he is at pains to stress[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]how similar, if not identical, they are with the Muslims, thereby seeking to[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]suggest a fundamental unity between Sikhism and Islam. Nizami probably hoped[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]that this exposition of Sikhism would fall on receptive ears and that the Sikhs[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]would themselves begin to realise that they had far more in common with[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Muslims than with the Hindus. Indeed, he had cause for such optimism, for the[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]period in which he was writing witnessed a marked upsurge under the leadership[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]of Sikh reformers to purge the community of such Hinduistic practices as idolatry,[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]in addition to the powerful Singh Sabha movement to rid the Sikh [/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT][FONT=Arial] [/font][/LEFT][FONT=Arial] [/FONT][LEFT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]gurudwaras [/FONT][FONT=Arial]of [/FONT][/SIZE][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Brahmin priests who, over time, had managed to gain control over them and the [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]vast properties that they owned. In this climate of a heightened Sikh identity[/SIZE][/FONT][LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]consciousness wherein communal boundaries between Sikhs and Hindus were[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]being sharply redrawn, Nizami believed that the Sikhs would be more receptive[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]to appeals for building bridges with the Muslims than before.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Nizami's portrayal of the Sikh community could hardly be less flattering. "Their[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]religion," he writes, "is almost identical with Islam because they regard God as[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]One and without any partners." In matters of prayer and ritual observance, too,[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Sikhs and Muslims, he says, are very similar. Both place great importance on[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]prayers during nightly vigils and on the recitation of their scriptures early in the[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]mornings. Like the Muslims, and in sharp contrast to the Hindus, the Sikhs shun[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]the worship of idols, multiple gods and goddesses, holy seasons and the[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]elements of nature, and do not include any other in the person ([/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT][FONT=Arial] [/font][/LEFT][FONT=Arial] [/FONT][LEFT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]zat[/FONT][FONT=Arial]) and [/FONT][/SIZE][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]attributes ( [/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]sifat[/FONT][FONT=Arial]) of God. Like the Muslims, they, too, revere a book, the Guru[/FONT][/SIZE] [SIZE=2][/SIZE] [LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Granth Sahib. Their shrines are like Sufi hospices, for the very word [/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT][FONT=Arial] [/font][/LEFT][FONT=Arial] [/FONT][LEFT][FONT=Arial,Italic][SIZE=2]gurudwara [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]means 'the neighbourhood of the Sufi [/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]shaykh' [/FONT][FONT=Arial]([/FONT][FONT=Arial,Italic]pir ka pados, murshid ka[/FONT][/SIZE] [SIZE=2][/SIZE] [LEFT][FONT=Arial,Italic][SIZE=2]hamsaya [/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial]) and 'the court of the Rightly- Guided One' ([/FONT][FONT=Arial,Italic]hadi ka vas\sal khana[/FONT][FONT=Arial]).[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT] [SIZE=2][/SIZE] [LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Both groups view battle in the same light—as a struggle for truth. Dying on the[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]battlefield is believed to earn martyrdom for both. Both are staunch upholders of[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]human equality. Both have a deep and abiding sense of self-respect. Both refuse[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]to bow down meekly before powerful tyrants. Both are true to their word and[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]'walk erect with their heads held high like true soldiers'. Both get 'quickly[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]emotionally worked up'. Both are non-vegetarians and abstain from intoxicants.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Both wear turbans and grow beards.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]In a chapter called "Sikhs and Sayyeds," Nizami points to what he sees as the[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]similarities between the Sikhs and the Sayyeds, the direct descendants of the[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Prophet Muhammad generally held in high regard by Muslims. By thus[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]comparing the Sikhs with the Sayyeds, Nizami is at pains to project a glowing[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]image of the former. Just as the Sayyeds are known for their generosity, bravery[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]and firm championing of the cause of justice and truth, so, too, are the Sikhs.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Like Imam Hussain, the grandson of the Prophet, who gave up his life but[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]refused to bow down before tyrannical rulers, the Sikhs, too, "have sacrificed the[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]lives of their children for upholding the Truth and have never turned away[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]from the Straight Path." Thus, just as the Sayyeds are the [/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]sardars [/FONT][FONT=Arial]('leaders') of[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT] [SIZE=2][/SIZE] [LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]the Muslims, the Sikhs, who are also respectfully called [/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]sardars[/FONT][FONT=Arial], are the Sayyeds[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT] [SIZE=2][/SIZE] [LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2](chiefs) of the Indian peoples ( [/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]hindustani aqwam[/FONT][FONT=Arial]). Most importantly, the most[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT] [SIZE=2][/SIZE] [LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]striking similarity between the two is their strict adherence to monotheism ([/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT][FONT=Arial] [/font][/LEFT][FONT=Arial] [/FONT][LEFT][FONT=Arial,Italic][SIZE=2]aqidai-[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial,Italic][SIZE=2]tauhid[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]). [/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]The only difference between the Sayyeds and the Sikhs is, Nizami[/SIZE][/FONT] [SIZE=2][/SIZE] [LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]says, that "while the Sayyeds use their title of Sayyed before their name, the Sikh[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]attach the title Singh ('lion') after their names."[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]What is particularly remarkable in this assertion of the justice of the historical[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Sikh struggle against tyranny is a sharp critique of later Mughal policies towards[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]the Sikh Gurus that sowed the seeds of bitter hatred between the Sikhs and the[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Muslims in the Punjab. Thus, according to Nizami, God Himself is with the Sikhs,[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]having made them a strong and brave community and fitted them with noble[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]qualities. They are, in fact, "God's special servants" upon whom "He has[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]showered all his blessings", and Nizami calls upon others to respect them[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]because, "it is the will of God" that the Sikhs "should be the cause of the[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]happiness of all the people of India" and a "guiding light" to deliver them from the[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]throes of darkness. The Sikhs, indeed, are "the servants of the poor," ever ready[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]with swords in their hands to combat the Satanic ego ([/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]nafs-i-shaytani[/FONT][FONT=Arial]).[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT] [SIZE=2][/SIZE] [LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Turning to what apparently distinguishes Sikhs from Muslims and brings them[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]closer to the Hindus, Nizami lists three points: their adherence to certain caste[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]rules of purity, pollution and untouchability ([/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]chhoot[/FONT][FONT=Arial]) towards Muslims; their[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT] [SIZE=2][/SIZE] [LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]cremation of the dead; and their concern for the protection of the cow. He has[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]three simple solutions to these barriers that stand between Sikhs and Muslims.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]He traces the problem of untouchability practised by Sikhs towards Muslims to[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]the political wrangling of the past between Sikhs and certain Muslim rulers. If[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Muslims and Sikhs today were to sink their political differences the problem[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]would immediately be solved, he writes. The cremation of the dead by the Sikhs,[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]he notes, is simply a custom that they have borrowed from the Hindus and has[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]nothing to do with the principles of their religion. And as for their reverence for[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]the cow, this is something that the Sikhs have adopted from having been close to[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]the Hindus. It has, apparently, no sanction in the Sikh religion which, Nizami[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]says, is based on strict monotheism.[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Given that their hearts ([/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]dil[/FONT][FONT=Arial]), deeds ([/FONT][FONT=Arial,Italic]amal[/FONT][FONT=Arial]), principles ([/FONT][FONT=Arial,Italic]usul[/FONT][FONT=Arial]) and qualities ([/FONT][FONT=Arial,Italic]ausaf[/FONT][FONT=Arial])[/FONT][/SIZE][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]are 'the same', how long, Nizami asks, can the 'mere externalities of words' and [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]the unfortunate politics of the past keep the two brothers, Sikhs and Muslims,[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]apart? For their own sake as well as for the sake of India as a whole, he says,[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]the two must now unite as one. Although Nizami admits that in the political[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]sphere the Sikhs have been recognised as a separate community, for all[/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT] [LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]practical purposes, he claims, 'the Sikhs are in fact entirely Muslim' ([/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial,Italic][SIZE=2]Hai Sikh[/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT] [SIZE=2][/SIZE] [LEFT][FONT=Arial,Italic][SIZE=2]bilkul Musalman[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]) and he prophesies the merger of the two peoples in the near[/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT] [SIZE=2][/SIZE] [LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]future. This call for a merger of the Sikhs into the Muslim fold is, interestingly, a[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]two-way process. If Sikhs are Muslims, says Nizami, then Muslims are also[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Sikhs. Here he quotes a Persian saying: "Neither he nor you are strangers to one[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]another".[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]In addition to listing points of similarity between Sikhs and Muslims in order to[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]prove his claim that the two are actually the same, Nizami devotes several pages[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]to an appraisal of Baba Nanak and his teachings so as to show to his readers[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]that he was actually a divinely-guided Sufi. The honorific titles he uses for Baba[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Nanak are those usually reserved for guided Sufis. Thus, Baba Nanak is[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]described as a "world renouncing mendicant" ([/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]tark-i-duniya faqir[/FONT][FONT=Arial]) (4), a "true[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT] [SIZE=2][/SIZE] [LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]friend of the true God" ([/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]sacche khuda ka saccha wali[/FONT][FONT=Arial]), an "ocean of monotheism"[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT] [SIZE=2][/SIZE] [LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]([/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]tauhid ka samundar[/FONT][FONT=Arial]), the "herald of the Truth" ([/FONT][FONT=Arial,Italic]haqqaniyat ki tuti[/FONT][FONT=Arial]) and a "true[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT] [SIZE=2][/SIZE] [LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]missionary" ([/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]sacche dai[/FONT][FONT=Arial]) of the Oneness of God. Indeed, it is Baba Baba Nanak's[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT] [SIZE=2][/SIZE] [LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]uncompromising monotheism alone that is enough for Nizami to prove him to[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]have been a devout Muslim. It is Baba Nanak's overpowering sense of surrender[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]to the one God, going beyond the mere externalities of ritual and law that allows[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Nanak to be included in the ranks of the exalted Muslim mystics who have[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]attained a true understanding of [/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]wahdat al-wujud [/FONT][FONT=Arial](the unity of existence).[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT] [SIZE=2][/SIZE] [LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]In the last of the three articles included in the tract, titled [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial,Italic][SIZE=2]Nanaki Quam Mai[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial,Italic][SIZE=2]Wahdat [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]('Unity in the Community of Nanak'), Nizami's elaborate exposition of the [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Sufistic teachings of Baba Nanak takes the form of an imaginary conversation [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]between the eyelashes of a seeker after the Truth and the long tresses of the [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Baba. After a great many solemn oaths Nizami pronounces that Baba Nanak was[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]indeed a "true seer" ( [/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]ankho wale[/FONT][FONT=Arial]). Unlike ordinary mortals who depend on their [/FONT][/SIZE][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]external senses, he could see the hidden realities of the world through his 'inner [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]eye'. Not every person is fortunate enough to possess the inner eye, and Baba[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Nanak, says Nizami, was one of those chosen few of God. His inner eye was, in[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]fact, a "fire chamber" ([/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]atish khana[/FONT][FONT=Arial]), a "cannon house" ([/FONT][FONT=Arial,Italic]topkhana[/FONT][FONT=Arial]) for the[/FONT][/SIZE][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]destruction of the "urgings of the Devil" ([/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]jazbat-i-shaytani[/FONT][FONT=Arial]), more powerful than [/FONT][/SIZE][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]the most deadly of "German cannons" because with it he would conquer the [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]"forts of hearts" ([/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]dil ke qile[/FONT][FONT=Arial]) and not merely "forts of mud". When Baba Nanak's [/FONT][/SIZE][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]inner eye was provoked into agitation it would destroy all the "ships of pride and [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]sinfulness".[/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT] [LEFT][SIZE=2][/SIZE] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]In conjunction with this [/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]jalali [/FONT][FONT=Arial](majestic or wrathful) side to Nanak's inner eye are[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT] [SIZE=2][/SIZE] [LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]the more gentle or [/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]jamali [/FONT][FONT=Arial]attributes characteristic of the more sober Sufis. Thus,[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT] [SIZE=2][/SIZE] [LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Nizami also describes it as an "ocean of pearls" and the "ball of the sun" which[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]clearly reflects the "tranquility of the entire cosmos." It possesses a magical[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]charm that "causes people to lose sense of their own selves, granting peace and[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]solace to all troubled souls".[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]While Baba Nanak's uncompromising monotheism is itself not in doubt, his[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]position on the finality of the prophethood of the Prophet Muhammad is not[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]actually clear. Indeed, earlier in his tract Nizami notes that while on the issue of[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]monotheism Sikhs are "exactly the same" as Muslims, the former do not regard[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]the Prophet Muhammad in the same manner as the latter do. However, since[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Nizami's objective is to press the claim that Nanak was himself not simply a pious[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]monotheist but actually a Muslim in the fullest sense of the term, including in[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]recognising the prophethood of the Prophet Muhammad, he introduces into this[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]rich tapestry of mystical symbolism and metaphor woven around the person of[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Guru Nanak the well-known Sufi concept of the "light of Muhammad" ( [/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT][FONT=Arial] [/font][/LEFT][FONT=Arial] [/FONT][LEFT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]nur-imuhammadi[/FONT][FONT=Arial]).[/FONT][/SIZE] [SIZE=2][/SIZE] [SIZE=2][/SIZE] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Thus, he writes, Nanak was actually the "star of the eye of God"[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]through which "the light of Muhammad" brilliantly shone. This is why, like the[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Prophet, he refused to worship anyone else but God, destroyed all "germs of[/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]ignorance" ([/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]jarasim-i-jahaliyat[/FONT][FONT=Arial]) and "saw every particle of God's creation" with the[/FONT][/SIZE][LEFT][SIZE=2][/SIZE] [LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]"eye of monotheism" ([/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]nazar-i-tauhid[/FONT][FONT=Arial]).[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT] [SIZE=2][/SIZE] [LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2].[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]With Guru Nanak having been a vehicle for transmitting the "light of Muhammad"[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]to the world, it is but natural that he should also have reflected the Prophet's[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]attributes and qualities. Like the Prophet, Baba Nanak, too, says Nizami,[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]stressed love for the poor, piety, worship, and the performance of good deeds[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]while remaining involved with the world instead of renouncing it. This similarity[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]extended even to matters of external appearance. Like other "friends of God",[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]such as the Prophet himself, Imam Ali, Imam Hussain and all the other great[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]leaders of Islam, as well as Jesus and even Zoroaster and the heroes of the[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Greeks, Nanak "grew his hair long". Having argued that Baba Nanak was a[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]devoted disciple of the Prophet and a perfect guide to the "path of the Lord",[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Nizami exclaims in exultant praise, addressing Baba Nanak thus:[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]"[N]ow, tell us, how can we convince those fools who have gone astray[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]who condemn your pure and straight path ([/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT][FONT=Arial] [/font][/LEFT][FONT=Arial] [/FONT][LEFT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]tariqat[/FONT][FONT=Arial]) and wag their tongues[/FONT][/SIZE][SIZE=2][/SIZE] [LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]in calumny against your happiness-filled Sikh path? You are true, your[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]words are true, your eyes are true and so is whatever it sees. All the rest[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]is false".[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Having 'proved' Nanak to be a devout follower of Islam and the Sikhs to be[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]identical to Muslims, Nizami calls upon both peoples to "cut down and throwaway[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]the branches of duality" ([/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT][FONT=Arial] [/font][/LEFT][FONT=Arial] [/FONT][LEFT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]dui ki shakho ko kat kar phenk de[/FONT][FONT=Arial]). They both must now[/FONT][/SIZE][SIZE=2][/SIZE] [LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]recognise that "Sikhs are Muslims and Muslims are Sikhs". Interestingly, Nizami[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]does not plead simply for a complete absorption or conversion of the Sikhs into[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]the Muslim fold. In fact, implicit in his argument is a call for a radical redefinition[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]of Muslim identity [/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT][FONT=Arial] [/font][/LEFT][FONT=Arial] [/FONT][LEFT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]vis-a-vis [/FONT][FONT=Arial]the Sikh 'Other'. Thus, not only must Sikhs recognize[/FONT][/SIZE][SIZE=2][/SIZE] [LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]their links with Islam and Muslims, but, since Nizami claims to have shown Baba[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Nanak to have been a true servant of God, Muslims, too, must recognize the[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Sikh scripture, the Granth Sahib, as the "heart and life" ([/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]dil-o-jan[/FONT][FONT=Arial]) of India, the[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT] [SIZE=2][/SIZE] [LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]"brilliantly shining sun" whose guards ([/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]pasban[/FONT][FONT=Arial]) all Muslims should consider[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT] [SIZE=2][/SIZE] [LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]themselves to be. Muslims, as well as others, must also recognise Baba Nanak[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]as a devout bondsman of God and a guide to His path, holding on to his long[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]"tresses of love" ([/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]ishq ki zulfe[/FONT][FONT=Arial]), entangling their hearts in its knots to attain to the[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT] [SIZE=2][/SIZE] [LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Truth. The 'favourite slogan' of all India should now be the Sikh (hence, in[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Nizami's eyes, Muslim) cry of monotheistic confession: "[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial,Italic][SIZE=2]Sri Wahe Guruji ka[/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT] [SIZE=2][/SIZE] [LEFT][FONT=Arial,Italic][SIZE=2]Khalisa, Sri Wahe Guruji ki Fateh, Sat Sri Akal [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]! (Hail to the Pure Ones of God![/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT] [SIZE=2][/SIZE] [LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Hail to the Victorious Ones of God! Hail to the Timeless One!)".This, says Nizami,[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]is nothing but the slogan [/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial,Italic]Haq Allah [/FONT][FONT=Arial]('Allah is the Truth') that love-filled Sufis cry[/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT] [SIZE=2][/SIZE] [LEFT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]out in moments of ecstatic surrender.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Writing from within the Indian Chishti Sufi tradition known for its tolerance and[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]breath of vision, Nizami offers Muslims, Sikhs as well as others a way to think[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]beyond narrow, traditional barriers of community and mere externalities of ritual[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]and form in a search for the Universal Spirit that Sufis have often discovered in[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]spiritual traditions other than their own. While the political motives behind the[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]penning of his tract on Sikhism cannot be discounted, Nizami's quest for[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]refashioning established community identities and building bridges between[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]spiritual traditions provides a valuable lesson for contemporary efforts at inter[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]religious dialogue and understanding.[/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT] [/FONT][/LEFT][/SIZE][LEFT] [SIZE=1] [/SIZE] [/LEFT] [/QUOTE]
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Khwaja Hassan Nizami (1879-1955) : Islamising Sikhi
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