The wonder that was india

We learn from the Sunni puritan revivalist, the Mujaddid,4 that the philosophers at Akbar's court were inspired by Greek philosophy and by Persian translations of Sanskrit works by ancient Hindu sages. One of these philosophers was the famous Abu'1-Fazl, who referred to himself as 'the perfect and accomplished': al-fazilah wa'l-fazl. He claimed that the main aim of the institution of prophet hood was to promote knowledge and public welfare and to reform people's lives. Prophets were supposed to prevent strife, lawlessness, and licentiousness. They had nothing to do with ultimate salvation but were concerned merely with ethical regeneration and the promotion of the virtues contained in works of philosophy. According to him physical acts of worship did not affect salvation, since they did not influence the spiritual world. The Mujaddid wrote the Isbat al-Nubuwwa to strengthen the general belief in the prophets and to prove that Muhammad was the 'seal of the prophets'. In their defence the philosophers at Akbar's court asserted that they rejected neither the prophets nor Muhammad. They sought to emphasize the prophets' ethical mission and glossed over their miracles. Consequently the orthodox puritanical literature failed to undermine the study of philosophy. Both Jahangir and Shahjahan patronized philosophers. In Shahjahan's reign there flourished Mulla Mahmud Faruqi Jaunpuri (d. 1652), whose scholarship and learning had made a very deep impact even on Iranian philosophers. Prince Shah Shuja' and Shayista Khan

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were his disciples. The Shams al-bazigha, by Mulla Mahmud, is an outstanding contribution to physics and metaphysics. It is even now an important text in the traditional Indian seminaries.

The most interesting philosopher in the courts of Shahjahan and Aurangzib was Danishmand Khan. He was a native of Yazd and entered Shahjahan's court in 1651. He resigned because of differences with Dara Shukoh, but Aurangzib re-employed him in the second year of his reign, awarded him a high tnansab, and reap-pointed him governor of Delhi. In consideration of his studious habits, Aurangzib exempted him 'from the ancient ceremony of repairing twice a day to the assembly, for the purpose of saluting the king'. Danishmand employed Dara Shukoh's principal Sanskrit scholar to explain Hindu philosophy to him. The French doctor Bernier taught him the medical discoveries of William Harvey (1578-1657) and Jean Pecquet (1622-74) and the philosophy of Pierre Gassendi (1592-1655) and Descartes (1596-1650).5 The Dabistan-i Mazdhib, the seventeenth-century encyclopaedia of religions, discusses the important and original philosophers of Shahjahan's reign in great length. They, however, drew mainly on Hindu and Islamic sources and were not interested in the Western philosophy which so fascinated Danishmand Khan.

SUFI MOVEMENTS

The philosophers' objective was to rationalize the nature of Necessary Being, while the kalam scholars were principally concerned to defend divine transcendence (God as above His creation and not one with it). Sufism, on the other hand, strove to achieve the inner realization of divine unity by arousing intuitive and spiritual faculties. Rejecting rational argument, the sufis plunged into contemplation and meditation. Some of them were overpowered by-ecstasy and frenzy, but sobriety was generally considered essential to sufism.

Such a system is bound to be studded with controversial judgements and marred by personal prejudices. We shall therefore follow the historical analysis of the eighteenth-century Indian scholar Shah Waliu'llah, who combined in himself both the sufi and kalam traditions. He contends, when outlining the history of sufism, that Islam is endowed with two aspects: the exoteric and esoteric. Islam's exoteric aspect is concerned with public good, while its esoteric one involves the purification of the heart through ethical regeneration. The Shah identifies the esoteric aspects with ihsan , the doctrine that Allah should be worshipped with the

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certainty that either the worshipper is watching Allah or He is watching the worshipper. The holy men who were known as awliyd' Allah (proteges of God) or sufis upheld ihsan.

The Shah divides sufism into four epochs. The first began with the prophet Muhammad and his companions and extended until the time of Junayd of Baghdad (d. 910). The sufis of the first period devoted themselves to prayer, fasting, and zikr (invoking one of God's names). They were sometimes transported into spiritual ecstasy, but this was not considered necessary for spiritual life. The second epoch started during Junayd's time. Many sufis of the period lived in a state of continued meditation and contemplation. This resulted in intuitive insights and intense spiritual experiences which could be expressed only symbolically or in unusual phrases. These sufis were so emotionally affected by sama' (religious music) that they swooned or tore their clothes in ecstasy. Their spiritual illumination enabled the sufis to see into people's hearts. To protect themselves from material desires or thoughts and from the devil's temptings, the sufis practised self-mortification. Many ate only grass and leaves, wore rags, and lived an isolated existence in the mountains and jungles.

From the advent of Shaykh Abu Sa'id bin Abu'l Khayr (d. 1049) and Shaykh Abu'l-Hasan Kharaqani (d. 1034), sufism entered upon its third stage. The emphasis among the sufi elite of this epoch was to live in a state of ecstasy which led to tawajjuh (spiritual telepathy), although many perfect sufis still followed earlier beliefs and practices. The sufis in tawajjuh overcame worldly constraints. The veils separating them from the divine dispersed, and they could see existence issuing from Being. In contemplating the union of temporal and eternal their individuality dissolved, and they even ignored their regular religious practices such as prayers and fasting.

The fourth epoch dates from just before the birth of Shaykh al-Akbar Muhiyu'd-Din Ibnu'l 'Arabi (1165-1240), when the sufis discovered the theory of the five stages of the descent from Wajibu'l-Wujud (Necessary Being). The first stage is Ahadiyya (Essence of the Primal One). The second stage is Wahdaniyya (Unity of God); the third descent is the sphere of Arwah (Sphere of Infinite Forms), the fourth is the sphere of Misal (Similitude or Angelic Forms), and the fifth the sphere of Ajsam (Bodies of the Physical World). The problems of the Wahdat al-Wujud lie in the perception of the steps of the descent of Being.6 The important question is whether these stages are really One or merely give this impression.

The Shah does not claim that the four historical epochs were

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mutually exclusive. There was a considerable overlap; some of the sufis of the fourth epoch exhibited the characteristics found in the first. What is remarkable is that the contributions from the sufis of each epoch helped to make sufism a unique movement in the history of Islamic spiritual development.

The Shah says that sufism began with the Prophet Muhammad. Some of his companions, who led a retired life in the Medina mosque, given to poverty and self-mortification, are counted as sufi leaders. Among them were the Ethiopian Bilal, the Iranian Salman, Abu 'Ubaydah, 'Ammar bin Yasir, and Abu Dharr Ghifari. Although the first three successors to the Prophet are deeply respected by the sufis, 'Ali is regarded by them as their Shaykh (leader). Hasan Basri (642-728) is believed to be the link between 'Ali and the sufi sects. Hasan was both a Qadariyya and an ascetic. The word 'sufi' was not applied to the Prophet's companions, who were known as sahaba (companions), tabi'un (those who had seen one or more of the Prophet's associates), or tabatabi'un (those who had seen one or more of the tabi'un). The word 'sufi' — which is derived from suf meaning 'wool' - appeared before Hasan Basri's death, in reference to those ascetics who wore woollen garments in place of finer ones of silk or cotton as a mark of asceticism and self-denial. Hasan Basri asserted: 'He who wears wool out of humility towards God increases the illumination of his insight and his heart, but he who wears it out of pride and arrogance will be thrust down to hell with the devil.'7 The greatest threat to sufism came from the impostors and charlatans who were innumerable even in the first century of Islam. In subsequent centuries their number became enormous.

Among the leading sufis of the first epoch was one of the greatest sufi women of all time. She was Rabi'a (d. 752) of Basra. Many famous sufis called on her in her lonely hermitage and even visited her when she had withdrawn into the wilderness. Her disinterested love of God added a major dimension to the sufi devotional attitudes.

Before the end of the first epoch, a sufi home, known as a khanqah (hospice), was built by a Christian dignitary in Ramla near Jerusalem. This enabled the sufis to share their ideas, but individual mystical experience is the true hallmark of sufism.

Towards the end of the first epoch, Bayazid or Abu Yazid Tayfur of Bistam in Iran (d. 874 or 877-8) became famous. According to Junayd, he occupied the highest rank among the sufis, as Gabriel did amongst the angels. He believed that he had shed his T in mystical annihilation (fand') 'as snakes their skin' and in that state of changed consciousness he shocked the orthodox by declaring:

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'Glory be to me! How great is my majesty! Thy obedience to me is greater than my obedience to thee.'8 Some hagiologists suggest that Bayazid learnt the doctrine of fana' from his teacher, Abu 'All Sindi. From his surname it seems that the latter teacher came from Sind, and thus his ideas may have been influenced by Hindu or Buddhist mysticism. This very probable theory is supported by some Western scholars, although others reject it.9 The controversy is misplaced, however. Ancient Indian thought and mysticism were a source of continual interest to religious people of the eastern and central Iranian regions, and this knowledge naturally fused with Bayazid's expression of his own mystical experience.

Bayazid's utterance, in what is known as mystical intoxication (sukr), was matched by those of al-Hallaj. He was born at Tur in Fars in eastern Iran in 857-8. In 913 he was imprisoned after his theopatic cry, 'Ana'l-Haqq' ('I am the Truth or God'). While in prison, Hallaj wrote his famous work on the case of Iblis, the Devil, Ta Sin al-Azal. Hallaj believed Iblis's monotheism had prevented him from prostrating before Adam. After nine years in prison Hallaj was cruelly tortured and hung on a gibbet. Junayd, who had supported Bayazid, repudiated his contemporary, Hallaj. Now entering its second epoch, sufism was divided into two groups: those who expressed themselves uninhibitedly (sukr) and those who restrained their expressions (sahw). The sufis of both schools believed that just as a raindrop is not annihilated in the ocean, although it ceases to exist individually, the sufi soul, in the unitive state, is indistinguishable from the universal divinity.

In the second epoch the sufis were better organized and were divided into sects according to the distinctive ideologies and practices evolved by their founders. Sufi literature on doctrine, practice, and history was written in both poetry and prose. Sufi masters now began to send their disciples to distant lands to disseminate their teachings. This tendency increased in the third epoch. Many eminent sufis also moved to India.

Of these migrants, Shaykh Safiu'd-Din Gaziruni, the nephew of Shaykh Abu Ishaq Gaziruni, settled at Uch. It was apparently Mahmud of Ghazni's conquest of the Panjab that prompted many notable sufis to settle there. The sufi who left an indelible mark both on India and on the history of sufism was Abu'l-Hasan 'AH bin 'Usman al-Hujwiri, known as Data Ganj Bakhsh (Distributor of Unlimited Treasure). He seems to have reached Lahore in c. 1035 and died some time after 1089. His Kashfu'l-mahjub, in Persian, gives the biographies, thought, and practices of sufis from Prophet Muhammad's days to his own time.

The 'Awarifu'l-ma'arif by Shaykh Shihabu'd-Din Suhrawardi

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(1234—5) was the second important sufi textbook on which the early Indian sufi doctrines and practices were based. Both works denounce those who believe that gnosis (spiritual knowledge) absolved sufis from the need to obey the shari'a. To them, shari'a (law), ma'rifa (gnosis), and haqiqa (reality) were interdependent. The achievement of particular states (hal) in sufism involved a changing psychological condition, while maqam (position in time and space) was relatively permanent. It was not essential that mystics lose all consciousness in a state of fana' (annihilation), since when the state of baqa' (abiding in God) was achieved a sufi regained his power of action. The section on sufi ethics and mystic ways of life in the 'Awarif is a marked improvement upon the corresponding discussion in Hujwiri's Kashfu'l-mahjub.

By the thirteenth century the division of sufis into fourteen orders or silsilas had already crystallized. The sufis of each silsila guarded their traditions strictly and urged their disciples to refrain from entering more than one order. Some of Shaykh Shihabu'd-Din's disciples migrated to India, but the real founder of the Suhrawar-diyya silsila was Shaykh Baha'u'd-Din Zakariyya. He was born at Kot Karor, near Multan, in about 1182-3. After completing his education he went on a pilgrimage to Mecca. Travelling through Jerusalem, he reached Baghdad and was initiated into the Suhra-wardiyya order by Shaykh Shihabu'd-Din, who appointed him his khalifa (deputy) in Multan, although it was already full of leading holy men and sufis. Baha'u'd-Din's scholarship and acute spiritual perception made a deep impact upon the people in Multan and neighbouring towns. It would seem that many merchants from Iraq and Iran admired him, and their gifts enabled him to build an enormous khanqah with granaries and stores. He did not mix with the common people, and the wandering dervishes, known as Qalandars, were not welcome in his khanqah. They were bitterly opposed to him. He invited Sultan Iltutmish to invade Multan and topple its ruler, Qabacha. After his annexation of Multan in 1228, Iltutmish appointed Baha'u'd-Din the Shaykhu'l-Islam (leader of the Muslim community). In his case this was not an administrative office, but it enhanced his prestige among the people. During the continued Mongol invasions of Multan the Shaykh raised public morale and once succeeded in negotiating peace between the invaders and the Muslim army, through the Muslim dignitaries serving with the Mongols. He died in 1262.10 His disciple and son-in-law, Shaykh Fakhru'd-Din Ibrahim 'Iraqi, was a born poet. At Qunya (Koniq in Turkey) he attended lectures given by Shaykh Sadru'd-Din on the Fusus al hikam of Ibnu'l-'Arabi. Iraqi composed a treatise, called Lam'at (Flashes). This work constitutes a very

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impressive commentary on the Unity of Being (Wahdat al-Wujud) around which the ideologies of the fourth epoch of sufism revolve. Before his death 'Iraqi sent a copy of his Lam'at to Baha'u'd-Din's son and successor, Shaykh Sadru'd-Din 'Arif. Shaykh 'Arifs disciple, Amir Husayn, the author of Zadu'l-musafirin, wrote several works comprising thoughtful commentaries on the doctrine of Wahdat al-WujQd.

Shaykh 'Arifs son, Shaykh Ruknu'd-Din, was highly respected by the Delhi sultans from 'Ala'u'd-Din Khalji to Muhammad bin Tughluq; his fame spread as far as Alexandria, and Ibn Battuta was advised to call on him. According to Shaykh Ruknu'd-Din the leaders of the sufi community should possess three attributes. Property was essential in order that the sufi leaders could satisfy the Qalandars' demands for sherbet. Otherwise the disappointed Qalandars would commit the sin of abusing their sufi leaders and would be punished on resurrection day. Knowledge was the second requirement for a leader so that he could discuss scholarly questions with the 'ulama'. Hal (mystical enlightenment) was also necessary, or else the leaders would not be able to impress other sufis.11Shayk Ruknu'd-Din died in 1334-5. After his death the Suhrawardiyya silsila declined in Multan, but the order became very popular in other provinces and spread from Uch to Gujarat, the Panjab, Kashmir, and even Delhi. It was revitalized by the sufi Sayyid Jalalu'd-Din Bukhari, popularly known as Makhdum-i Jahaniyan (Lord of the World's People). So widely travelled was he that he was called Jahangasht (World Traveller). During Firuz's reign he lived in Uch but frequently visited Delhi. He was an ardent puritan and strongly objected to the Hindu accretions to Muslim social and religious practices - for example, the celebration of the Shab-i barat festival which is held in the evening of the middle of Sha'ban, the eighth month in the Muslim calendar, when fireworks are let off and lighted lamps are placed on the newly whitewashed graves, in obvious imitation of the Hindu Diwali. Only in India, he commented, was there such a blatant disregard of the shari'a, for such customs were not found in Ghazni, Iran, or Arabia.12

Qutb-i 'Alam (d. 1553), a grandson of Makhdum-i Jahaniyan, settled near Ahmadabad, the new capital of Gujarat founded by Sultan Ahmad (1411-42). His son, Sayyid Muhammad, known as Shah Mahjhan, was also very famous. He was given the title Shah-i 'Alam (King of the Universe). Many leading Gujarati noblemen were among his disciples. One of them collected from his iqta'only those taxes sanctioned by the shari'a. Consequently all the peasants wished to move there, and his iqta' grew very prosperous.13

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In the fourteenth century a collateral line of the Suhrawardiyyas, known as the Firdawsiyya, emerged. The outstanding sufi of this order was Shaykh Sharafu'd-Din Ahmad Yaha Munyari, whose ancestors had settled in Bihar in the early thirteenth century. He practised arduous ascetic exercises in the forests. Throughout the reigns of both Muhammad bin Tughluq and FIruz Tughluq, Shaykh Sharafu'd-Din's khdnqah in Munayr was the rendezvous for many seeking a spiritual life. The Shaykh s letters to his disciples, which have been compiled in several volumes, exhibit his real talent as a teacher. The Shaykh was deeply disappointed in Sultan Firuz, who had mercilessly executed his friends and fellow-sufis, such as Shaykh Izz Kaku'i and Shaykh Ahmad Bihari, at the instigation of the bigoted 'ulama'. Shaykh Sharafu'd-Din expressed surprise that a town in which such killings were tolerated still remained standing and had escaped destruction at God's hands. The Shaykh was saved from execution by the intervention of Makhdum Jahaniyan. The sufi hagiologists ascribe the destruction of Delhi during Timur's invasion to the execution of two sufis there.14

The Shaykh believed in the Wahdat al-Wujud and drew heavily on the ideas of the exponents of this ideology such as the Persian poets Faridu'd-Din 'Attar (d. 1220), 'Iraqi, and Jalalu'd-Din Rumi (d. 1273). Shaykh Sharafu'd-Din died in 1381. His spiritual descendants were also influential, and their surviving letters epitomize the Firdawsiyya devotion to the Wahdat al-Wujud doctrine.

The fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Suhrawardiyya Delhi centres owed their reputation to the scholarship and impressive personality of Shaykh Sama'u'd-Din, who died in 1496. His disciple, known by his nom de plume Jamali, was an eminent poet who travelled throughout the Islamic world. Sultan Sikandar Lodi admired Jamall greatly, but after Babur's conquest Jamall wrote a panegryric to the new ruler. Later Jamall accompanied Humayun on his expedition to Gujarat, dying there in 1536. Of Jamali's two sons, Shaykh 'Abdu'l Hayy (d. 1551-2) was a member of Sher Shah's court, but his elder son, Shaykh Gada'i, remained loyal to the Emperor Humayun and his prime minister, Bayram Khan. After Akbar's restoration, Bayram Khan repaid GadaTs services to the Mughal cause by appointing him the Sadru's-Sudur. Gada'i revoked the innumerable madad-i m'ash grants recklessly given by Sher Shah and the Lodis to the Afghan 'ulama' and dignitaries, so naturally the dispossessed Sunni orthodoxy turned against him. After Bayram's fall from power in 1560 Gada'i retired into obscurity and died in 1569 or a year later.16 The rise of new silsilas with influential friends at court undermined the Suhrawardiyya

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silsila. Of the old silsilas, only the Chishtiyyas, who had never depended on court patronage, retained their popularity.

The Chishtiyya silsila is essentially an Indian one. The branches which were developed in Chisht or Khwaja Chisht about sixty miles east of Hirat have not survived. In India the Chishtiyya silvila was founded by Khwaja Mu'inu'd-Din. Unfortunately for us the records of his early career are legendary and arose from apocryphal literature written in the names of famous sufis. He was born in Sijistan (Sistan) in about 1142 and was educated at leading intellectual centres in eastern Iran. After travelling through many parts of the Islamic East, the Khwaja reached Lahore and arrived in Delhi after Sultan Mu'izzu'd-Din's death in 1206. He eventually settled in Ajmir. The stories of his encounter with Prithviraja's yogis, telling how the Khwaja's slippers brought a flying yogi down to the ground, are among the stock-in-trade of sufi legends. The surviving sayings of the Khwaja show that his life's mission was to inculcate piety, humility, and devotion to God. According to him those who know God avoid unduly mixing with other people and keep silent on matters relating to divine knowledge. Some of his sayings are no different from those of Abu Yazid, the ninth-century sufi known for his ecstatic utterances. For example, he says: 'Like a snake we cast off our slough and look attentively. We did not find any distinction between lover, beloved and love. In the realm of divine unity they are identical.' He also comments: 'For years I used to go around the Ka'ba; now the Ka'ba goes around me.'17

Khwaja Mu'inu'd-Din died in 1236 at Ajmir. His tomb was at first tended by the sultans of Malwa, but from Akbar's reign it came under state management. The Mughal emperors' devotion to the Khwaja's tomb and their frequent visits for both political and spiritual reasons made Ajmir the leading Muslim pilgrim centre in India.

The Khwaja's young disciple, Shaykh Hamidu'd-Din, made Nagaur (Rajasthan), containing a predominantly Hindu population, the chief Chishtiyya centre. His father, Ahmad, had migrated from Lahore to Delhi, where Hamidu' d-Din was born after its conquest in 1192 by Mu'izzu'd-Din. Shaykh Hamidu'd-Din had in Nagaur a small plot of land which he worked himself. He and his wife lived in a hut and supported themselves on the produce of the land. He refused to accept gifts of either land or money from the rulers, although he had barely enough to keep body and soul together. A Muslim merchant took his letters to the Suhrawardiyva leader Shaykh Baha'u'd-Din in Multan. Baha'u'd-Din was wealthy, but his justifications of his affluence did not convince Hamidu'd-Din. Both stuck to their own principles; Baha'u'd-Din

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lived prosperously, while Hamidu'd-Din chose to remain poor. Shaykh Hamidu'd-Din died in November 1274 and was succeeded by his grandson, Shaykh Faridu'd-Din Mahmud.18 Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq was deeply devoted to Shaykh Farid's family and married his daughter to Shaykh Farid's grandson. One of Shaykh Farid's disciples, Khwaja Ziya'u'd-Din Nahkashabi (d. 1350-1), was a famous scholar. He translated Chintamani Bhatta's Suka-saptati into Persian from Sanskrit and gave it the title Tuti-ndma (Stories from a Parrot). He also translated the Rati-rahasya (Mysteries of Passion) of Kokapandita, containing a classification of female physical types, into Persian poetry. To Nakhashabi, Islam was the religion of moderation, which trod a middle path between asceticism and extravagance.19 The Chishtiyyas' work in Delhi was organized by Khwaja Qutbu'd-Din Bakhtiyar Kaki, the most important disciple of Khwaja Mu'inu'd-Din. Khwaja Qutbu'd-Din had arrived in Delhi some time after 1221. The Emperor Iltutmish was deeply devoted to the Khwaja, but the sufis' indulgence in sama' (audition; sufi music and dancing) to arouse mystical ecstasy caused trouble with the 'ulama', who were hostile to the sufis in general and to sama' in particular. However, the Shaykh's towering personality popularized sama'. In 1235 he died in a state of ecstasy aroused by a verse in samd'20

Of the Khwaja's disciples, Shaykh Faridu'd-Din, or Baba Farid, was very celebrated. The Shaykh's father was a scholar, but it was his mother, an exceedingly pious lady who spent her nightly vigils in lengthy prayers, who exerted the greatest influence on the future sufi saint. Baba Farid, however, decided to leave Delhi when his fame became an obstacle to his prayers and he finally settled at Ajodhan. In Adjodhan he built his jama 'at-khana - a thatched hall for communal living, with a separate cell for his own meditations. It had no furniture, and everyone slept on the floor. On special occasions a cot was provided for distinguished visitors. Among his few possessions Baba Farid had a small rug which, he used by night as a blanket but which barely covered him. Khwaja Qutbu'd-Din's wooden staff lay behind his head as a pillow. His food consisted of wild fruit and millet bread. Abstaining from nourishment during the day, in the evening he broke his fast by taking sherbet, often mixed with dried grapes. After prayers, two pieces of bread smeared with ghi (clarified butter) were given to him. One he gave away to his visitors, the other he ate himself, sharing it with his favourite disciples. Because his jama 'at-khana was situated on a main trade route, men from all classes and sections of Indian society thronged there. The Qalandars were shockingly rude and insolent, but the Baba would not forbid them entry into his