Rebellious Sufis of Punjab

[muqawwee123]

Re: Rebellious Sufis of Punjab

@psyah

Peace

I think there is some clarity needed here … in the past when the identity of being Muslim was not compromised or threatened by sectarianism within Islam then the Muslims could afford to push boundaries by focussing on the common elements between world religions.

However, today a new worry is present and that is that the Muslim (literalist) or non-worldview Muslims are separating themselves from the Muslims as a body and hence causing a breaking away from the other side … It is the task of Sufis to ensure unity with non-Muslims but not at the price of disunity amongst Muslims …

The sectarianism history of Muslims is as old as the religion (Islam) is. It was also prevailing at the time of above Sufis of Punjab and they tried to create tolerance not only between different religions, but also in between the different sects of Muslims,which is also evident from their kalam:

** main sunni na main shia dohan toon dil saria hu
Muk gae sab khushki pende daria rehmat waria hu
Kai mann tare tar tar hare kai kinare charhia hu
Sahih salamat charh gae bahu murshad da lar pharia hu
(Sultan Bahoo)**

**HiNdu na naheeN musalmaan,
Baheeye tiranjan taj abhimaan.
Sunni na naheeN ham sheeya
**Sulha kuhl ka maarag leeya.
Bhookhe na naheeN ham rahje,
NaNge na naheeN ham kahje.
RoNde na naheeN ham hasde
UjaRe na naheeN ham vasde.
Paapi na sudharmi na,
Paap pun ki raah na jaanaaN.
Bulhe Shah jo hari chit laage,
Hindu turak doojan tiyaage

Neither Hindu nor Muslim,
Sacrificing pride, let us sit together.
Neither Sunni nor Shia,
Let us walk the road of peace.
We are neither hungry nor replete,
Neither naked nor covered up.
Neither weeping nor laughing,
Neither ruined nor settled,
We are not sinners or pure and virtuous,
What is sin and what is virtue, this I do not know.
Says Bulhe Shah, one who attaches his self with the lord.
Gives up both hindu and muslim.*

(Bulleh Shah)

I think the article is written in a way that promotes the “radical Sufis” as people who wanted to create their own religion other than the orthodox. This in my view is wrong … I believe the Sufis are the orthodox and numbers and global spread only demonstrates this point. What the orthodox were doing in that region however was appealing to universal “VALUES” … but they very much remained “Muslim” they did not create their own religion and further proof of this is that the Hindu’s were eating halal meat. No Muslim called Allah (SWT) - Ram … despite the poetry of Bule Shah. Furthermore it would be impossible to knock down a masjid or a mandir without break the hearts of people … so the poem is rhetoric … it is appealing to people on a level of humanity that we may wish to say that Islam with it’s mosques has a higher right to be here on this world, but God gave the right to the Hindus to be here and live so who are we to battle with God? They are people like us and have hearts like us if we harm them when Allah (SWT) has protected them then who are we really battling with? Yet all this said … the speakers of these poems were very much Muslim and never did anything against Islam …

This sends only one message to me … Legislate peace and compassion and brotherhood with all, but maintain your Muslim identity in order to practice the best form of “dawah” invitation to the Deen - but at the same time not even making invitation by word … they never said “leave your religion and join us” - they just earned for themselves fellowship and people followed them - hence the Hindu disciples eating halal meat.

I do agree that the sufi poetry should not be taken on its face value, because it has a message in between the line. Sufis never deviated people from the main stream Islam… Bulleh Shah did write against the Mullahs, but he didn’t preach for not offering prayers.. The Sufis message emphasises the importance of human rights above everything.

Here are some examples from Bulleh Shah’s poetry, which apparently seems to be against religion, but they are actually in line with the teachings of religions.

(1)

**Makkay gayaan, gal mukdee naheen
Pawain sow sow jummay parrh aaeey
**

Going to Makkah is not the ultimate
Even if hundreds of prayers are offered

**Ganga gayaan, gal mukdee naheen
Pawain sow sow gotay khaeeay
**

Going to River Ganges is not the ultimate
Even if hundreds of cleansing (Baptisms) are done

**Gaya gayaan gal mukdee naheen
Pawain sow sow pand parrhaeeay
**

Going to Gaya is not the ultimate
Even if hundreds of worships are done

**Bulleh Shah gal taeeyon mukdee
Jadon May nu dillon gawaeeay
**

Bulleh Shah the ultimate is
When the “I” is removed from the heart!

(2)

RaateeN jaageyN kareyN ibaadat
You wake up at night to pray
RaateeN jaagan kuttey teython uttey
dogs are awake at night too, more than you

bhonkanon band mool naa hundey
they never stop barking
jaa ruree tey suttey, teythoN uttey
and sleep on heap of dump, are better than you

khasam apney da dar na chhaddey
they never leave the door of their provider
bhaaweyNso so wajjan jutey
even if beaten by shoes

Bulleh shah kooee rakht weyhaaj ley
Bulleh Shah get into love someone
baazee ley gaey kuttey tethoN uttey
Or the dogs are better than you

The Sufis probably recognised the subtle method - that the people of the subcontinent were people of life and experience and this was the modus operan-di of the dawah of that region - to a certain degree it worked, but in other cases people built on the esoteric teachings through misunderstandings creating new religions - i.e. Sikhism. Where the intent was to gain fellowship so people start to emulate the sages, instead they started to justify their own predispositions. And since the Muslims were also devotees of the same sages they were unable to detect or effectively refute the reaction.

If anything the great lesson to be learnt by Sufis is that - total silence of the prefered way - i.e. Islam is relying on the people to make good judgement that Islam is the best way … (which is doomed to fail - as not everyone has the same level of esoteric appreciation)

The lay folk didn’t see Islam as being the orchestrator of that compassion but the individuals themselves.

In some cases, message of Sufis was interpreted quite wrongly which resulted many bidaat against the teaching of Islam. In bringing harmony between the culture of the region and religion, people did brought new things which were common to other religions but were against the basic rules of Sharia, although the Sufis always preached ‘There is no tareeqa against Sharia’h’