Quarterly Journal of the

PakistanHistoricalSocietyJanuary-March 1998 - \bl. XLVI, No. 1

Editor: Dr. Ansar Zahid Khan

(Thus do We relate to thee some stories o f what happened before -A l-Q u r ’an, XX.99)

d h HISTORYCUSB B B Published by Bait al-Hikmah at Madinat al-Hikmah

Journal of the PAKISTAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Vol. XLVI JANUARY 1998 No. 1

Editor:

Dr. Ansar Zahid Khan

Published by Bait al-Hikmah at Madinat al-Hikmah, Muhammad bin Qasim A v en u e, K arach i-74700 , Pakistan, with the finanical support o f the H am dard F oundation Pakistan.Telephones: 6900000,Telex: 29370 HAMD PK;Telefax: (92-21) 6611755 E-Mail: hlpak@paknet3.ptc.pk

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CONTENT

* Editorial 1

* The Making of Pakistan Resolution and the Popular Muslim Response

- Dr. Muhammad Saleem Ahmed 5

* The Mughul Caravansara’i at Taraori- Dr. Subhash Parihar 19

* The Problem of Demilitarization in Kashmir 1948-1949 and its Impact on American Policies

- Dr. A.M.M. Saifuddin Khaled 29

* A Brief History of the Koh-i-Noor Diamond- Dr. Ghulam Mohammad Jaffar 43

* The Six Points Movement:A Factor Transforming East Pakistani Regionalism into Bangladeshi Nationalism

- Dr. Syed Humayun Kabir 51

* Moral Training By the Mystics:Strategies and Methodologies

- Tanvir Anjum 77

* Book Review- Dr. Riazul Islam 83

* Combined Contents of eight volumes ofIbn Khallikan’s Wafayat al A'ayn arranged alphabetically

- Mawlana Dr. Abdul Halim Chishti- Dr. Ansar Zahid Khan 87

* Current History(Gleanings from the Pakistani Press) 97

MORAL TRAINING 77

Moral Training By The Mystics: Strategies and Methodologies

Tanvir AnjumResearch Scholar, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan

“Mysticism” , opines Trimingham, “is a particular method of approach to Reality ... making use of intuitive and emotional spiritual faculties which are generally dormant and latent unless called into play through training under guidance.”1 This spiritual current nearly goes through all religions. The Islamic mystical movement has been given the name of tasaw w uf whose anglicised version is Sufism. Therefore, the term su.fi is applied to the Muslim spiritualist who craves for “a more emotional religion”, one in which God appears as “a loving, succouring friend rather than as an abstract definition of indifferentiated unity, incomprehensible in His essence, inscrutable and arbitrary in His decrees.”2

There exists a strong bond between mysticism and morality. In common preception, the goal of the mystics has been bi-dim ensional; the spiritual amelioration o f the people by im proving their relationship with God and the moral aggrandizement of the masses by improving their interpersonal relationships. This onerous and cumbersome task of moralization is based on the mystical moral code. This code is woven around the idea o f extreme goodness and it is characterized with one Islamic ethical doctrine of ihsan (literally meaning ‘doing favour’) in a broader context covering every facet of human life. The mystical ethics is slightly distinct from the ethics of the traditional scholars or ‘ularria’ because the former accentuate the internal aspects of morality while the latter specifically focus the external aspects. The target of socialisation intended by both the schools is analogous in nature but both adopt a different line o f action. The traditional scholars pursue the way of law for the realisation o f their goal. Their approach can be termed as teleological because they determine the rightness or wrongness o f an action solely by its

consequences - in this world and in the life hereafter. No doubt, their contribution to the desired goal is not less. However, the mystics, for the same purpose highlight the inward aspects for self-control. Their approach may be termed as deontological as they assess the actions morally by the motives and intentions of the people.

The World of Spirit: A Novice’s Experience

A person enters the realm of spirit after performing bay'at. Etymologically, the word bay'at has been derived from bay', which means to buy or sell. It can be defined as to give something in lieu o f money.3 Bay'at is an oath of allegiance performed at the hands of a shaykh or a murshid in which an individual promises his shaykh not to commit sin deliberately in future. However, sometime a sense o f guilt is pre­requisite for the performance of bay'at. Firstly, it makes people morally bound by making them answerable before their own conscience. Secondly, it inculcates the feelings of self-analysis and self-criticism producing a sense o f guilt preventing further sins by developing resistance to temptations.

The sufi discourses inform us that during the medieval ages, most of the new entrants in the mystic fold were assailed by their sense of guilt. They came to the shaykh with their pricking conscience to seek forgiveness after confessing their sins. The shaykh could comprehend their emotions and problems by his intuitive faculties but usually the shaykh let them give vent to their feelings for their catharsis and the subsequent satisfaction. Thus, the shaykh offered the person his discipleship and set him on the path of moral and .spiritual development in the realm of mysticism. The bay'at or religious vow included

78 J.P.H.S., Vol. XLVI, No. 1

penitence and repentance but once the disciple had performed bay'at and sought forgiveness, he was no longer treated as a sinner. The sufi idea o f penitence or tawbah defied the belief that ‘your past always clings to you’ because in the eyes o f the sufis, the sinner who had sought pardon was equal in status to the person who had not committed any sin at all. Rather, sometimes the person who had sought forgiveness was given an edge over the innocent.4

Repentance, according to Imam Ghazali, is a universal human experience, a necessary consequence of self-knowledge.5 R.A. Nicholson supports this view point and quotes Gould’s argument form his work The Helping Hand,'. “To repent is to recognise the singleness of the self (which implies responsibility for past action) and the duality of the self (which implies the freedom of the present self from the bondage o f the past).”6

The sufis wanted the doors of temptations to be closed by removing the motivating factors o f delinquent behaviours, e.g., by keeping the people aloof from bad company. They held that constancy and steadiness in repentance guarantees unaccountability of the past sins of the disciples, subject to his complete abstination from sins.7 The sufis even allowed the revival of a bay'at after re-committing a sin.8

Shaykh Nizam al-Din Awliya’ once enumerated three kinds of penitence:

i) “Penitence o f present is that one should repent on his sins.

ii) Penitence of past is to conciliate one’s opponents, e.g., if he has unlawfully taken somebody’s money he should return the same. Mere repentance will be of no avail ...

iii) Penitence o f future is to take a vow not to commit sins in future.”9

Penitence is the return of the repentant sinner to God and repentence wholly depends on the will power of a trainee, but the shaykh acts as a tool and makes the person morally and psychologically bound to display stability. In a nutshell, a disciple, considering the spiritual greatness of the shaykh, surrenders his will to the will of his shaykh who guides him through thick and thin in his odyssey in the realm o f tasawwuf.

The Islamic philosophy of ethics is a middle way between expectations and fear. A believer is afraid of

his accountability on the day of judgment and at the same time, he hopes for the absolution of sins by forgiveness. The fear does not make him oblivious of his acts and intentions while hope saves him from despair.10

The Indian sufis prevented the people from taking the oath o f allegiance from more than one shaykh', but after his death, bay'at could be performed at the hands of a new shaykh. However, there is only one example, that of Shah ‘Abd al-Rahim Wilayati (d. 1831 A.D.) who reperformed bay'at at the hands o f Sayyid Ahmad Bareillawi (d. 1831 A.D.) and also asked his disciple Miyan Jiyu Nur Muhammad Jhunjhanvi (d. 1843 A.D.) to do the same.11 Thus, the allegiance, according to the mystics, should be one-personality oriented to strengthen the bond between the shaykh and his disciple.

According to some sufis, the pledge could be revived. The Chishti saints ordered the new entrants after performing bay'at to shave their heads which was an external expression of a disciple’s determination to sacrifice his all in the way of God.12 Then, his sleeves were cut symbolizing renunciation and. after it, he was granted a cap having four corners or angles symbolizing complete renunciation of the world, hereafter, etc.16 Diya al-Din Barani writes about the influence of the bay'at performed at the hands of Shaykh Nizam al- Din Awliya (d. 1325 A.D.):

(Those who entered his discipleship) refrained from many improper things, because they considered themselves disciples o f the shaykh; if any of the disciples committed a sin, he confessed it (before the shaykh) and avowed allegiance anew ... Due to regard for the shaykh’s discipleship all talk of sinful acts had disappeared from the people ... The hearts of men having become virtuous by good deeds, the very name of wine, gambling and other forbidden things never came to anyone’s lips. Sins and abominal vices appeared to people as bad as infidelity. Out of regard for one another the Mussalmans refrained from open usury and regrating while the shop-keepers, from fear, gave up speaking lies, using false weights and deceiving the ignorant.14

Similarly, when Shaykh Nasir al-Din Chiragh (d.

MORAL TRAINING 79

1356) accepted a jeweller in his discipleship, he took from him the oath that he would not indulge in lying while selling or buying.15 Thus, after bay'at, training of a person was begun in a gradual process; as once Sayyid Makhdum Jahaniyan said that a disciple was like a mason; unless he had used the first brick, next brick should not be given to him.16

Moralization: Modus Operandi

The sufis trained their disciples by evolutionary process o f gradual change. Methods adopted by themare discussed below:

1. The Shaykb as a Personal Example

Practising their motto ‘practise what you preach’, the mystics became the models for their adherents to be identified with. That was why the first stage of mystical annihilation or fana (followed by the next two stages i.e., fana fi Rasul <J*-~- j <J U? and fana fi Allah - u iIJL - j respectively) was of fana fi al-Shaykh

or complete mystical annihilation in the personality o f the shaykh. It can be attained only by following each and every act o f the shaykh in all aspects of life. The charismatic personaty o f the shaykh not only served as a model for the masses but he also appointed his caliphs or representatives in other areas called wilayats who in turn used to appoint subordinate caliphs.17 Thus, shaykh’s caliphs served the same purpose o f presenting personal examples to the people in their respective wilayats or spiritual territories. One may quote the example of Sayyid Makhdum Jahaniyan who, being a torch-bearer of egalitarianism himself, used to call his disciples akhi or brothers.18 It was obviously followed by his (lisciples too.

2. Methods o f Instruction

The sufi pedagogy or the art o f teaching consisted of regularly or irregularly delivered lectures to the disciples and visitors in their khanqahs or hospices. Tales and extracts from books like the Gulistan• of Sa'di Shirazi, the Akhlaq al-Ashraf o f Jalal al-Din Dawwani and the 'Awdrif al-Ma'arif o f Shaykh Shahab al-Din ‘Umar Suhrawardi etc. were quoted. The sufis employed the anecdotal method by narrating didactic

allegories to give a long lasting impression on the minds of the hearers. The Fawa’id al-Fu’ad which is a compilation of the discourses of Shaykh Nizam al-Din Awliya’ bears ample testimony to it as the Shaykh has been termed the master of this anecdotal method byS.A.A. R izvi.19 The Shaykh som etim es narrated supernatural phenomena or performed karamat (miracles) before his attendants with a motive to strike the listeners with his rwe which, as a sequel, led to the disciple’s strength of belief in the Shaykh’s spiritual greatness and moral eminence. Shaykh Nizam al-Din Awliya’ emphasized that a disciple’s belief in his shaykh’s potentialities is imperative for him.20 This discourse of the Chishti saints speaks volumes of such unusual narratives which are found in the texts of other schools in relatively lesser content. In addition to it, the shaykhs narrated incidents showing the reverence of the saints towards other saints and also highlighted before their disciples elaborate rules of conduct and respect towards other saints.

3. Disciple’s personal life as sketched by theShaykh

The sufis propagated the concept o f their spiritual presence during their physical absence.21 This conception in the minds o f the disciples acted as a deterrent against deviations from the right path. The four principles of tasawwuf as described by Sayyid Makhdum Jahaniyan are: supererogatory prayers, namaz (regular prayers), recitation and remembrance, and contemplation.22 The disciple was decreed by the shaykh to indulge in meditation after self-purification. Thus, during contemplation in seclusion, the disciple’s meditative concentration was enhanced and he was compelled to face his self or nafs . In these hours of contemplation, a disciple not only strengthened his bond with his conscience (qalb ) but also underwent a mystic experience revealing cosmic realities to him.23

Dhikr or remembrance o f God prevented the disciple from getting entangled in the thought of evil. That was why the mystics ordered their disciples never to let slip dhikr from their sub-conscious.

4. Moralization via Correspondence

The sufis o f South Asia employed the medium of

80 J.P.H.S., Vol. XLVI, No. 1

jnaktubat or letters for the moral and spiritual amelioration of the masses. This technique was first developed in India by Shaykh Sharaf al-Din Yahya Maniri (d. 1381).24 Another contemporary saint o f the fourteenth century who trained his disciples by writing letters to them was Sayyid Makhdum Jahaniyan.25 Later, this tradition was strengthened by Mujaddid Alf-i-Thani Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi who wrote numerous letters o f religious and political nature to their disciples and the nobles of the court of Akbar. His Maktubat are deemed to be an ‘important and unique contribution to the realm of our religious thought’.26 This tradition was later followed in the modern period as well. In the eighteenth century, Shah Wali Allah of Delhi used the same medium and did his utmost to save the decaying Mughul society and its political structure. Later, in the twentieth century, Ashraf ‘Ali Thanwi initiated a bi-lateral process of correspondence with his disciples with the sole motive of their training. His disciples were required to write to the Shaykh a maximum of forty letters no matter after how much time, but each letter was required to be written after complete abandonment of a sin. Thus, the disciples were made morally bound afterwards so that it was difficult for them to revert back to that sin. This strategy proved very fruitful as those letters by the Shaykh provided his disciples with a written set of rules regarding dos and don’ts related to the different spheres o f their lives.

5. Mode o f Channelisation

Having a profound insight in the human nature and psyche o f the people, the South Asian sufis did not strive to curb or suppress the emotions and passions of the people. Rather, they believed in channelising the dominant emotions in personalities of the people in a positive way. Khaliq Ahmad Nizami quotes Mawlana Muhammad Ilyas o f Delhi who says that it should be borne in mind that vices o f the Muslims cannot be nipped by describing their evilness, instead, the task of Muslim reformation can be accomplished by enhancing the good qualities.27

Prof. C.C.J. Webb in God and Personality defines sin as “the voluntary surrender o f one’s self to lower instincts where a different course of action was open.”28 Thu% in the perception o f the sufis too, sin is a

voluntary act of an individual where he could resort to other means or measures. So, the sufis tried to substitute the negative faculties of the people with the positive ones. For example, to crush the lower self and channelise the vices o f pride and vanity, the sufis highlighted the qualities of humility and gave the training o f manual labour, but they did not invent labour-saving services.29 The disciples of Baba Farid al-Din-Mas‘ud worked in the jungle and rendered their services in the hospice.30 However, there was a division o f labour. Even the most prominent disciples like Shaykh Nizam al-Din Awliya’, Makhdum ‘Ala al-Din Sabir, Shaykh Badr al-Din Ishaq and others were assigned humble tasks.31 Even the Suhrawardi saints who were known for their worldly possessions and accumulation of wealth did the same. For example, Sayyid Makhdum Jahaniyan himself used to bring fire­wood with his friends.32 Similarly, humble tasks were assigned to the inmates of the khanqahs. Nizami has dealt with it at length giving details of the services of ablutions, cooking, cloth-washing, cleaning the rooms and collection of fuel, etc.33

A Chisthi saint Shaykh Hamid al-Din Nagori once enumerated an important lofty principle o f the ascetic path that one should not curse anyone; even if someone is very hurt, one should pray to God to guide one’s enemy towards the right path.34 Thus, the sufis replaced the habit o f curse with prayer and vengeance with behavioral charity, i.e., ihsan (doing favour) after one has offended someone. For example, when Khwajah Nasir al-Din Chiragh-i-Dihli was stabbed by a qalandar, he not only pardoned him but also awarded him with twenty tankahs (silver coins).35

6. Penalties inflicted on the disciples

Sometimes the sufis inflicted penalties on their disciples to teach them a lesson, but what is important is the fact that they only inflicted penalties on their more accomplished disciples as the sufis' attitude towards them was more demanding than the rest.

They usually overlooked minor deviations by their ordinary disciples. For example, once Shaykh Burhan al-Din Gharib, against the etiquettes of the khdnq’ah, sat on a blanket with his legs stretched. When Shaykh Nizam al-Din Awliya’ came to know about it, he got angry dnd ordered Shaykh Burhan al-Din to leave the khanqdh at once. Later, he was pardoned by the

MORAL TRAINING 81

Shaykh when Amir Khusraw intereceded on his behalf.36

Second thing worthy o f mention was the nature of punishment. The mystics never resorted to corporal punishments but inflicted those punishments which could prove more effective psychologically, e.g., shaykh’s indifference towards a disciple. W hatever the punishments were, the punitive measures had a constructive consequence for the disciples. One may present the example of a disciple of Ashraf ‘Ali Thanwi named Khwajah ‘Aziz al-Hasan Majdhub who was probably careless in his speech. He was decreed by the Shaykh to observe complete silence for exactly forty days.37

The punishment strategy mostly adopted by the shaykh was the exhibition of indifference towards a disciple and its agony can be understood in the milieu of the sufi principle o f the ‘love for shaykh’. However, all the penalties acted as deterrent against deviations from the right path for the adherents of the mystics.

Conclusion

By these measures the Indian sufis brought a revolution in moral life of the masses by adopting different methods and strategies. At the same time, these strategies bear ample testimony to the fact that these sufis had profound insight in human nature and psyche. Their psychological understanding o f the masses and the prevailing conditions helped in the fulfillment o f their bi-dimensional goal of moral and spiritual uplift, particularly o f their disciples as well as the people in general.

Notes and References

1. J. Spencer Trimingham, The Sufi Orders in Islam, Oxford University Press, London, 1971, p. 1.

2. Ainslie T. Embree, (ed.), Sources o f Indian Tradition, vol. 1, Penguin Books India, pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 1991, p. 447.

3. Qazi Zain al-Abideen Sajjad Merathi, Qamus al-Qur’an, Maktaba-e-Ilmiya, Qazi Manzil, Merath, 1971, pp. 102 and 652.

4. See Fawa’id al-Fu’dd compiled by Khwajah Hasan Sijzi Dehlawi as quoted by Khaliq Ahmad Nizami, Tarikh-i- Masha’ikh-i-Chisht, vol. 1, Idarah-e-Adbiyat-e-Dilli, Delhi,1980, p. 303.

5. R.A. Nicholson, The Idea o f Personality in Sufism, Sh. Muhammad Ashraf, Lahore, 1964, p. 67.

6. Ibid.7. Prof. Muhammad Sarwar, tr. Fawa'id al-Fu’ad by Khwajah

Nizam al-Din Awliya’ (compiled b Khwajah Hasan Sijzi), Ulema Academy, Lahore, 1980, p. 143.

8. Nizami, Tarikh-i-Mashd’ikh-i-Chisht, p. 312.9. Sarwar, tr. Fawa’id al-Fu’dd, pp. 285, 286.

10. Urdu Da’irah-i-Ma’arif-i-Islamiyah, vol. 2, University of the Punjab, Lahore, 1969, p. 196.

11. Prof. Muhammad Aslam, interview held at his residence, Lahore, November, 1995.

12. Khaliq Ahmad Nizami, Some Aspects of Religion and Politics in India during the Thirteenth Century, Asia Publishing House, Bombay, 1961, p. 217.

13. N isir Ahmad Farooqui, Chishti Ta'limat awr ‘asr-i-Hadir mayn un ki Ma'nwiyat, Islam and the Modern Age Society, New Delhi, 1981, p. 30.

14. Extracts from Diya al-Din Barani’s Ta’rikh-i-Firuz Shahi as quoted by K.A. Nizami, Some Aspects o f Religion and Politics, op. cit., pp. 196-198.

15. Prof. Muhammad Habib, Hadrat Nizam al-Din Awliya': Hayat awr Ta’limat, Delhi University, Delhi, 1972, p. 175.

16. Sakhawat M irza, Tadhkirdh-i-H adrat Makhdoom i- Jahdniyan Jahan Gashl, Institute of Indo-Middle East Cultural Studies, Hyderabad, 1962, pp. 86, 87.

17. Nizami, Some Aspects o f Religion and Politics, op. cit., p. 175.

18. Sayyid Athar ‘Abbas Rizvi, A History o f Sufism in India, vol. 1, Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 1986, p. 281.

19. Ibid., p. 164.20. Sarwar, tr. Fawa’id al-Fu’dd, p. 157.21. Farooqui, Chishti Ta'limat, p. 24.22. Sakhawat Mirza, Tadhkirah, p. 89.23. Ibid., p. 90.24. ‘Aziz Ahmad, Studies in Islamic Culture in the Indian

Environment, Oxford University Press, Lahore, 1970, p. 183.25. Mirza, Tadhkirah, p. 26.26. Sardar ‘Ali Ahmad Khan (ed.), The Naqshbandis, Dar-ul-

Muballeghin Hazrat Mian Sahib, Lahore, 1982, p. 50.27. Nizami, Tarikh-i-Masha’ikh-i-Chisht, p. 335.28. Nicholson, The Idea o f Personality, pp. 76,77.29. Rizvi, A History of Sufism, pp. 399, 400.30. Jafar Qasimi, Baba Fariduddin Masud Ganj-i-Shakar, R.C.D.

Cultural Institute, Lahore, 1971, pp. 38, 39.31. Ibid., p. 29.32. Sakhawat Mirza, Tadhkirah, p. 91.33. Nizami, Some Aspects o f Religion and Politics, pp. 208, 209.34: Rizvi, A History o f Sufim, p. 123.35. Prof. Muhammad Aslam, Malfuzat-i Adab Ki Ta’rikhi

Ahmiyat, Idarah-i-Tahqiqat-e-Pakistan, Punjab University, Lahore, 1995, p. 93.

36. Ibid., p. 157.37. Prof. Ahmad Saeed, Bazm-i-Ashraf Kay Chiragh, Misbah

Academy, Lahore, 1992, p. 40.