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Muslim-Mystic Trends in India During the Eighteenth Century

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Muslim-Mystic Trends in India During the Eighteenth Century MUSLIM-MYSTIC TRENDS IN INDIA DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY ABSTRACT THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DECREE OF Doctor of F^hilosophy IN HISTORY BY Fozail Ahmad Qadri Under the Supervision of Professor K. A. Nizami 7301; CENTRE OF ADVANCED STUDY DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY AUGARH (INDIA) 1987 MUSLIM-MYSTIC TRENDS IN INDIA DUkllSlG THE EIGHTEENTH CEI^JTURY Thesis submitted for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By FOZAIL AHMAD QAERI under the supervision of PROFESSOR K.A.NIZAMI Centre of Advanced Study- Department of History Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh 1987 _A_B_S_T_R_A_C_T_ Eighteenth century is an era of great significance in the history of the East as well as the West. It was a period of great achievements in Europe, but in the Islamic world it was marked by degeneration and anarchy. India was shaken by the political, economic and social turmoil that followed the death of Aurangzeb, "In the darkest hours of political Islam, observes Philip K. Hitti, religious Islam has been able to achieve some of its brilliant victories," During the eighteenth century new trends and tendencies in the religious thought brought about a change in the reli­ gious milieu. The Muslim-mystical movements entered a phase of great significance characterized by fresh interpretation of religion and religious attitudes which had a deep impact during this period and after. "Through the course of Islamic history Islamic culture was challenged but never overpowered, for the Sufi and other mystical thought always came to rescue its most dogmatic preaching and always gave it that strength and power v^ich no challenge could des- 2 troy," "A period of political decadence in the history of Islam is marked by great intellectual developments", obser- 1, History of the Arabs, p, 475. 2. H.A.R, Gibb, Islamic Culture, July 1942. • • • ^ (2) 3 es Iqbal. During this period abundant literature was pro­ duced on almost every branch of Muslim religious thought. The religious and mystical writer show a deep and encyclo­ paedic knowledge of the subject they touched. It was a time vriien few religious thinkers and mystical personalities stood up to reform the afflicted Muslim society by their acts and deeds. They renewed the Islamic faith, revitalized the mystical movements and restored the Islamic religion to its pristine purity. With the decline of the Delhi Sultanate the central structure of the Chishti Silsilah collapsed, though there were provincial centres in the Deccan, Bengal, Multan and several other parts of the country but they could not gain popxilarity and momentum. During eighteenth century Chishti Silsilah witnessed a renaissance ijuider the leadership of Shah Kalimullah Jahanabadi, v*io had great reformatory zeal and always asked his disciples to strictly follow the tenets of the shariah and the tariqah. In every sense he was a true follower of the early Chishti saints. Shah Kalimullah sent his favourite disciple. Shah Nizamuddin, to the Deccan, who lived and worked in the Deccan for his whole life. Shah Nizamuddin's son and successor came back to Delhi and devot­ ed his entire life for the propagation of the Silsilah and 3. Development of Mataphysics in Persia, p, 8. ...3 (3) reformation of the Muslim society. Eighteenth century also witnessed the revival of provincial centres of-=^ve Muslim-mystics, centres of Qadri, Chishti and Naqshbandi Silsilahs were spread in modern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Bengal, Punjab and Kashmir, with strong leaders. They employed great impact during their life time and after. Few of them still survive with their great traditions. The Firdausi Silsi 1 ah of Shaikh Sharfud- din Yahya Maneri at Bihar Shareef earstv^ile Patna district was still popular with its brilliant past. The mystical scene during this period was occupied by the Naqshbandi saints. Five great mystical personali­ ties lived and worked in Delhi simultaneously; each having highest spiritual experiences, tried in their own right to reform the decaying Muslim society and interpreted Islamic thought, according to the space time conditions. Four of them, Khwaja Muhammad Nasir 'Andalib, his son Khwaja Mir Dard, Mirza Mazhar Jan-i Janan and Shah Waliullah, were re­ lated to the Naqshbandi Order and Shah Fakhruddin represent­ ed the Chishti Order. Later in the time of Shah 'Abdul •Aziz, there were about twenty-two saints in Delhi with 4 their established khanqahs. 4, Malfuzat-i Aziz, p. 105. ...4 (4) Khwaja Muhammad Nasir 'Andalib, senior-most among all was a stxange personality. A prolific writer and think­ er in Islamic mysticism/ all his writings are full of meta­ physical and abstruse problems. Nasir 'Andalib gave a new mystic order to this world and called it Tariqah-i Muham- madi, Kis son, Khwaja Mir Dard, v^o gives all information and teachings of this new order, was also a great mystical personality. Considered to be one of the four pillars of Urdu poetry, Mir Dard wrote volumes on Islamic mysticism. The father and son had great love for each other, Mir Dard was the first to enter Tariqah-i Muhammadi, The father- Shaikh relationship ultimately led him to propound a new theory of resuscitation in the Shaikh ( f:y'Li^_ ). Mir Dard very clearly and xmequivocally declares that his entire writing is inspired after the Quran and Hadith by his father's magnum opus Nalay-i 'Andalib. Being the first per­ son to embrace the Tariqah-i Muhammadi { tsj ) Mir Dard's writing, according to his own statorient, is the explanation of ( ^"^ c^'^ ) i.e., knowledge of God based on the teach- 5 ings of the Prophet. The main thene of his mystical writ­ ing is the explanation of the problem of self-identification, Mirza Mazhar Jan-i Jan an was another great mystic of the period. This mystical, purified, derwesh-like, scho- 5. 'Ilm-ul Kltab, p. 85. ...5 (5) larly, perfect, famous, incomparable person, as his contem- porary Mir Taqi Mir calls him^ was also a Naqshbandi. Mir2 at Mazhaf^too, is one of the four pillars of Urdu poetry, but his fame and respect was much in the pious circles than the literary community. Mirza Mazhar concentrated upon the leadership of the Silsilah Shamsiyah-Mazhariyah - a brach of the Naqshbandi Order v*iich Mirza Mazhar carved out and v^ich flourished in Delhi and the neighbouring areas. He was a strict discipli- nerian and an ardent follower of the Sunnah, a staunch Sunni known in the contemporary circles as Sunni maker ^ Li-^y (s~^ ) as most of the Shi'is converted to Sunnism on his hands. Mirza Mazhar's reformatory zeal was inspiring and he endea­ voured hard for the propagation of the Silsilah. He easiless- ly toured the areas round Delhi like Panipat, Shahjahanpur, Bareilly* Sambhal and Moradabad, and 49 of his spiritual suc­ cessors ( '•ly^) went in the length and breadth of the coiintry with the same goal. Mirza Mazhar's works besides his Urdu and Persian anthologies are his small treatise on the explanation of some Shi'i beliefs, some prefaces to the works of friends and disciples and the collection of his letters. "Riese letters of Mirza Mazhar are of great importance as they are the only 6. Nikat~us Shu'ara, p. 5. • • • 6 (6) source of information about his mystical ideas. Unlike his contemporaries who wrote in high flown words Mirza Mazhar adopted a style which is simple, sober and matter of fact. Shah Waliullah one of the most seminal figures in the history of Islamic thought, as Professor K.A. Nizami 7 regards him was also a ]>3aqshbandi. His father Shah Abdur Rahim was a mystical personality and a jurist, who worked in the compilation of the legal compendium Fatawa-i Alamqiri Shah Waliullah was a mystic, a jiirist, a Muhaddith, a scho­ lar of great eminence, over and above the renovator and re­ viver of Islamic faith in India during the eighteenth century. For complete three decades Shah Waliullah served the Muslim society by his writings and actions. By his magnum opus Hujatullah-ul Baliqhah, Shah Waliullah laid the foundation of new 'Ilm-i Kalam which ranks with the Ahyaul g Ulum~ud Din of Imam Ghazali. His reformatory zeal led him to declare the mystical works which may have a wonderful effect on the elect to be poisonous for the common people and heavily attacked some of the practices in the mystic circles vAiich the common people adopted without knowing its secrets. 7. 'Shah Waliullah - Thought and Contribution', Islamic Culture. 8. Ilm-ul Kalam, p. 117. ...7 (7) Shah Waliullah brought about a reconciliation bet-ween different mystic Khanwadas and made a synthesis of t the doctrines of Wahdat-ul Wujud and Wahdat-us Shuhud which had become a source of continuous conflict in the mystic circles for the last hundred years. Although his synthesis was not accepted by the contemporary mystics but the nature of the controversy became sober and moderate. Shah Waliullah's attempts to bridge the gulf between the different sects of Islam and the followers of the various mystical orders were successful. For a complete understanding of the philosophy of Shah Waliullah, it is nec-essary to study them in the political, social, religious and economic background of the period. Among these five personalities Shah Waliullah gained greatest fame as transla­ tor of Quran into Persian, a political minded mystic who had a clear \anderstanding of the political developments and a leader who interfered in the affairs of the state. The approach of these great personalities to life and religion is largely the same. All of them alike stress­ ed on the importance of the Divine Law as the centre of J^uslim life, attacked philosophy and faka mysticism and re­ fused to be called 'Sufis' as the term deteriorated in those days.
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