Sufi Literature as a Source of Social History: A Case Study of 14th Century Text, Siyar Al-Awliyā

By Adeela Ghazanfar

Department of History Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad Pakistan 2019 Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History

Department of History Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad Pakistan 2019

ii AUTHOR’S DECLARATION

I Adeela Ghazanfar hereby declare that my PhD thesis titled “Sufi Literature as a Source of Social History: A Case Study of 14th Text, Siyar al-Awliyā” is the result of my own research and has not been submitted previously by me for taking any degree from Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad. At any time if my statement is found to be incorrect even after my Graduation the university has the right to withdraw my PhD degree.

Adeela Ghazanfar

September 05, 2019

iii SUPERVISOR’S DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the PhD. candidate Adeela Ghazanfar (Reg. No. 03121411001) has completed her thesis titled “Sufi Literature as a Source of Social History: A Case

Study of 14th Century Text, Siyar Al-Awliyā” under my supervision. I recommend it for submission in candidacy for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History.

Dr. Tanvir Anjum Tenured Professor Department of History Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad.

September 05, 2019

iv CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL

This is to certify that the research work presented in this thesis, entitled “Sufi Literature as a Source of Social History: A Case Study of 14th Century Text, Siyar Al-Awliyā” was conducted by Ms. Adeela Ghazanfar under the supervision of Dr. Tanvir Anjum. No part of this thesis has been submitted anywhere else for any other degree. This thesis is submitted to the Department of History, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Field of History. Department of: History University of: Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.

Student Name: Adeela Ghazanfar Signature:

Examination Committee:

External Examiner 1: Name Signature: a) (Designation & Office Address)

External Examiner 2: Name Signature: a) (Designation & Office Address)

Supervisor Name: Dr. Tanvir Anjum Signature:

Name of HOD: Dr. Rabia Umar Ali Signature:

v

To AMMI AND ABBU

vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I owe my gratitude to the One who is the Most Beneficent, Altruistic and Merciful. Then I am grateful to many people who made it possible for me to complete my dissertation. At first, I cannot pay thanks to my kind supervisor, Dr Tanvir Anjum, for making my PhD an intense and deep learning experience for me. I thank her for being a wonderful and inspiring teacher and a dedicated historian. I thank her for telling me all the time how to find fun in academic work; truly, more drafts meant more fun. I also thank her for introducing me to the world of ‘medieval India, social history and Sufism’ when everybody around me is obsessed with political history. She not only made me work in a better way, but also worked really hard with me patiently, while checking my chapters more than thrice. Her office and drawing room at home are the two places where I have worked more than in my own room at hostel. I owe thanks to her family members too. Dr. Anjum proved to be a mentor, a friend and more than a family member. I am grateful to her for being my ‘guide’ in uncountable ways.

I would like to pay thanks to all my teachers in the Department of History, Quaid- i-Azam University, Islamabad. Dr. S. Wiqar Ali Shah, Dr. Rabia Umar Ali, Dr. Ilhan Niaz, Dr. Fouzia Farooq, Dr. Fakhar Bilal for their support, especially Dr. Rabia for being positive and encouraging all the time. I am hugely indebted to Dr. Abdul Aziz Sahir, Chairperson, Urdu Department, Allama Iqbal Open University, for generously sharing Persian sources.

I am grateful to Higher Education Commission (HEC) for awarding me a scholarship under IRSIP program, which enabled me to undertake doctoral fellowship at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), USA. I am very thankful to Dr. Nile Green, Department of History, UCLA for guiding me in many ways. He sensitized me about historiographical traditions on Sufism. I am thankful to him for keeping my curiosity going and for being patient with all the my queries. He proved very helpful in introducing me to other historians and the faculty of Religious Studies, including Dr. Asma Saeed, Dr. Domenico Ingenito, Dr. Latifeh Hagigi at Near Eastern Language and Culture Department, Dr. Akhil Gupta at South Asian Studies, Dr. Sanjay Subrahmanyum, Dr. Vinay Lal at History Department for allowing me to audit their courses, and teachers

vii at Persian Department UCLA, especially Dr. Banafsheh Pourzangiabadi, who became my inspiration to learn Persian with more vigour.

I am also indebted to Dr. David Hirsch, Head of the South Asian Studies Department at Young Research Library (UCLA). I am also thankful to the library staff at UCLA who showed their kindness in providing me access to unaccessible sources. I am truly thankful to Prof. Carl W. Ernst, Dr. Marcia K. Hermensen, Dr. David Gilmartin, Dr. Bruce. B. Lawrence, Dr. Mathew A. Cook, and Dr. Scott Kugle who exchanged emails with me and guided me in many ways. I am also thankful to the teachers at Jamia’ al- Sadiq Trust, G-9/2 Islamabad, for helping me to learn Persian. It was an exhilarating experience for me to work with Persian textual material in original and it would not have been possible without their guidance. I am also indebted to LUMS for arranging ‘Persian Manuscript Reading Workshop’ where I learnt much in this regard. I owe special thanks to Dr. Sajjad Rizvi and Dr. Nandini Chatterji from University of Exeter, Dr Noor-Sobers- Khan at British Library, UK. I am also very thankful to other PhD fellows and friends from UK and India, Mr. Muhammad Atta, and Asad Irfan for sending and sharing various sources with me.

I am thankful to the staff of the libraries I consulted which includes, Seminar Library at History Department, QAU, DRSM QAU, Islamic Research Institute (IRI), International Islamic University (IIUI), Library at National Institute for Historical and Cultural Research, Central Library AIOU, Islamic Studies library and Central Library at Bahauddin Zakariyya University, Multan, Punjab Public Library Multan, Bagh-i Lehnga Khan Library at Multan, Punjab University Library, Post-Graduate Library and Central Library, GC University, Lahore and Jamia Sadiq Trust Library, Islamabad, Powell Library and Charles E. Young Research Library (UCLA) for allowing me access to the material of my interest.

Last but not the least, I am hugely indebted to my family for being the anchor in my life. I thank my Ammi, Abbu Ji, Syed Hassan Mehmood (Baba Jan) and Baji for believing in me and for telling me that I am doing excellent without ever reading a chapter and for just being there when I needed them. I am thankful to them for giving me liberty to focus only on my PhD without worrying about finances and other concerns.

viii Furthermore, I truly have no words to pay thanks to my handful of true friends who were a constant source of love and support. They made sure that I do not become a recluse while working on this dissertation. I thank Ms. Ghazala Shaheen, Ms. Noureen Anwar, Ms. Saira Habib, Ms. Mareen Malik, Dr. Rahat Zubair, Ms. Sidra Arzoo, Ms Shamila Arooj, Dr. Sajid Awan, Dr. Muhammad Jamil, Mr. Habib Hassan, Mr. Hammad Hassan, Mr. Muttahir Malik for believing in me with their love and support. I take the opportunity to thank Faheem bhai, Arslan bhai for the many cups of tea and coffee, for their cheerful smiles. My special thanks are due to Zahid bhai in computer lab, Shehnaz in the library, staff in the History Office and Mr. Chanzeb for helping me in many ways. The responsibility of all the lapses in my work remain mine alone.

Adeela Ghazanfar

ix

Abstract

The historiographical writings produced by the court writers in medieval north India focused on lives of the sultans and their nobles, rebellions, military campaigns, conquests, and administration. This statist discourse represented elite culture and seems silent on the socio- cultural, socio-religious, spiritual and intellectual life of the common people. Resultantly, social history of medieval India remained an ignored area of study. Social history is interested in studying long-run trends and structures in society and culture. It focuses on experience rather than events or actions, while identifying patterns from daily life. Keeping this in view, the historiographical gap on social history of medieval India can be adequately filled by sufi literature and its varied genres. It can help construct a more informed view of social history of medieval India, with a particular focus on its ‘Indo-sufi culture’.

The present research aims at emphasizing the significance of sufi literature in the historic literary traditions of South Asian history. It explores the formation and functioning of the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century north Indian society by utilizing tadhkirah literature with a particular focus on Siyar al-awliyā [Biographies of the Sufis] authored by Amir Khurd Kirmānī, a Chishtī adept, in 1361-64. Based on Siyar al-awliyā, the present study offers a vivid account of a diverse range of social, cultural, religious, intellectual, spiritual aspects of medieval India ranging from, but not limited to, the development of vernacular languages and dialects, place of women, Muslim education, food culture, dressing trends, building and construction, prevalent diseases, spiritual life, recognition of female spirituality, question of conversion, Hindu-Muslim relations, ‘ulema-sufi and khanqāh-madrassa dichotomies, curricula and scholarship, transmission of knowledge and methods of teaching, production of sufi and non-sufi literature, and issues, principles and writings on samā‘ or devotional sufi music. In addition, it offers an overview of varied forms of state-sufi relationship, such as meditational, symbiotic and conflictual, as well as socio-economic profile of medieval India.

In a nut shell, the study argues that sufi tadhkirah writings help provide profound insights into minute details of social realities in medieval India. Modern scholars like Richard M. Eaton, Shehzad Bashir, Nile Green along with others also highlight the importance of

x utilizing sufi literature and urge to use these writings to fill the gaps in socio-historical perspective on history. The present study opens a window to our past and serves as corrective to many of the mistaken assumptions regarding Muslim-Hindus divide, absence of female Sufis, and strict segregation of sexes in sufi khanqahs. The study brings to the fore the dire need to shift our focus of research from state-centred court writings to lesser-studied sources of history like sufi tadhkirahs.

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Transliteration Table 1. Long Vowels ā, ī, ē, ō, ū. 2. Consonants:

ṭ ط a ا ẓ ظ ā ٓ u‘ ع b ب gh غ p پ f ف t ت k ک ṯ ٹ g گ th ث l ل j ج m م ch چ n ن ḥ ح ṇ ں kh خ w/v و d د h ھ ḏ ڈ ’ ء dh ذ ī ی r ر yy ے ̣ r ڑ th تھ z ز ṯh ٹھ s س ch چھ sh ش kh کھ ṣ ص gh گھ ḍ ض 3. The renowned terms, names of modern-day personaloities and and famous places have not been transliterated. Notably, oriental terms which are now found in the standard dictionaries such as Sufism, Qur’an, Sunni, amir, sultan, sufi, hadith and similar words have neither italicized, nor transliterated. 4. ‘al’ before the names of the authors (such as al-Ghazzālī) has been deleted in bibliography.

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Contents Acknowledgements vii Abstract x Transliteration Table xii Contents xiii

Introduction 1

1. Statement of the Problem 2. Aims and Objectives of the Study 3. Significance and Scope of the Study 4. Review of the Literature 5. Framework of Analysis and Methodology 6. Organizational Structure of the Study

Chapter 1: 15 Tadhkirah-writing, Amir Khurd and Siyar al-awliyā: An Introduction

Section I 1.1 Situating Tadhkirah as a Category of Sufi Texts 1.2 Understanding Sufi Tadhkirah 1.3 Differentiating Sufi Tadhkirah from Hagiography 1.4 Origin and Development of Sufi Tadhkirah Literature 1.5 Tadhkirah Production in South Asia 1.6 Historical Significance of South Asian Sufi Tadhkirah Literature Section II 1.2 Amir Khurd: The Life of a Tadhkirah Writer 1.2.1 Family History 1.2.2 Amir Khurd’s Early Life 1.2.3 Education and Career Section III 1.3 Siyar al-awliyā: An Introduction 1.3.1 Organization of the Text 1.3.2 Content of the Tadhkirah 1.3.3 Chapters-wise Division 1.3.4 Publication and Translations of Siyar al-awliyā

Chapter 2 43 Socio-cultural Aspects of Medieval North Indian History

2.1 Nature and Dynamics of Indo-Muslim Culture 2.2 Development of Vernaculars and the Chishtī Sufis 2.3 Poetic Compositions

xiii 2.4 Place of Women in Muslim Society with Particular Reference to Sufi Circles 2.5 Food Culture 2.6 Fabrics and Trends of Dressing 2.7 Buildings or Construction 2.8 Disease Prevalence and Medicine

Chapter 3 88 Spiritual and Religio-intellectual Life in Medieval North India

Section I Religio-spiritual Aspects of History in Siyar al-awliyā 3.1 Spiritual life in Medieval India 3.2 Service to Humanity as the Core Sufi Ethical Value 3.3 Institution of Khilafat or Spiritual Succession Among the Chishtīs 3.4 Healing and Problem-solving by the Sufis 3.5 The Chishtī Doctrine and Practice of Faqr 3.6 The Sufi Views on Female Spirituality 3.7 Chishtī Sufi Worldview Regarding Hinduism and the Hindus 3.8 Sufis and the Question of Conversion to Islam 3.9 Relationship of the Chishtīs with the Suhrawardīs

Section II Socio-religious and Intellectual Aspects of Medieval India 3.10 Role of ‘Ulemā or Muslim Scholars in Indian Society 3. 11 Education System in Medieval India 3.12. Academic Disciplines 3.13 Curricula and Classical Literature Studied 3.14 Production of Non-Sufi Literature in Medieval India 3.15 Production of Sufi Literature 3.16 Malfūẓāt Literature in Siyar al-awliyā

Chapter 4 161 Samā‘ or Devotional Sufi Music in Medieval Indo-Sufi Culture

4.1 The Early Muslim Discourse on Samā‘: A Historical Background 4.2 Non-sufi Music in Medieval India 4.3 The Chishtī Practice of Samā‘ in Medieval India 4.4 Ecstatic Dance (raqṣ) in Samā‘ 4.5 Types of Samā‘ 4.6 Rules and Regulations of Samā‘ 4.7 Dissemination of the Practice of Chishtī Samā‘ in India 4.8 Chishtī Writings on Samā‘ 4.9 Suhrawardī Sufis on the Question of Samā‘ 4.10 Opposition to and Public Debate on Samā‘

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Chapter 5 203 Socio-political and Socio-economic Aspects of Medieval Indian History

Section I Socio-political History in Medieval India 5.1 Administrative Structure of the Sultanate, and Institutional Coercion 5.2 Law and Order Situation 5.3 Mosque Construction by the Sultans and the Nobility 5.4 Varied Aspects of State-Sufi Relationship 5.4.1 Between the State and Society: Mediational Role of the Sufis 5.4.2 Symbiotic Relation of the Ruling Elite and the Sufis 5.4.3 State-Sufi Conflict

Section II Socio-economic Life in Medieval India 5.5 Historiographical Genesis of Medieval India’s Economic History 5.6 Socio-economic Profile of Medieval India 5.6.1 Socio-economic Evils 5.6.2 The Role of Sufi Khānqāhs in Economy, and Futūḥ as a Source of Circulation of Wealth 5.6.3 Sufi Khānqāhs and Urbanization 5.6.4 Professions and Sources of Income mentioned in Siyar al- awliyā 5.6.5 Means of Transportation, Trade and Trade Routes

Conclusion 257

Bibliography 269

Glossary 296

xv Introduction

Statement to the Problem

Medieval South Asian history occupies a significant place not only for synergetic political and cultural processes but also for the literary, economic and social accounts of its past. The thirteenth- and fourteenth-century India witnessed developments in the multi-formed socio-intellectual, socio-religious and socio-political history in the wake of the foundation of Turco-Afghan rule near the close of the twelfth century. The literary contributions of this era possess the power of irresistible attraction, as it witnessed the development of varied genres of literature on vibrant themes. These genres included, among others, historiographical and politico-administrative works, collections of poetry

(diwāns), biographies, autobiographies, ethical treatises, advice literature (naṣāi’ḥ), manuals of prose and conversational discourses of the sufis (malfūẓāt) along with sufi biographical compendium (tadhkirah). However, the political histories dealing with issues and themes related to state and politics, wars and subjugations were central to this literature.

Interestingly, most of the historians of the Sultanate period were formally or informally associated with the court, and thus they produced court histories encompassing state narratives, or statist discourses, glorifying and ennobling the Sultans of Delhi and achievements. Valorizing the conquest and subjugation, these works highlight warfare, violence, conversions of non-Muslims to Islam. Succinctly drawing the common themes of these politico-administrative histories, one discerns political decision- making, personal lives of the sultans and the royalty, competition and rivalries among the competing groups of nobility, military conquests, administrative concerns, revenue

1 extraction, revolts and rebellions and so on and so forth. For instance, Minhāj al-Sirāj

Juzjānī, (died during late thirteenth century) authored Ṭabaqāt-i Nāṣirī, Amir Khusrau (d.

1325) authored works like Khazā’in al-futūḥ, Ḍiya’ al-Dīn Baranī (d. 1357) wrote

Fatāwā-i Jahandārī and Tarīkh-i Fīruzshāhī, whereas ‘Abd al-Malik ‘Isāmī’s (d. around late 1350s) chief work is Futūḥ-al-salaṭīn, while Shams Sirāj ‘Afīf (d. 1388) wrote

Tarīkh-i Fīruzshāhī. Whatever the court historians penned down, either didactic, panegyric or historical accounts of the war and victories, they served one clientele and gravitated around the Delhi Sultans. Thus, the treatment of historical events in the statist sources of the period under study underscores the need for distinguishing eulogy from the actual description of historical facts. Most of the times, the latter was not the objective of statist histories, as their authors seemed eager to portray Islam’s triumph over the non-

Muslims. Juzjānī, for instance, was in India when sufis like Khwaja Mu‘īn al-Dīn

Chishtī, Shaykh Quṭb al-Dīn Bakhtiyār Kākī, Shaykh Ḥamīd al-Dīn Sufi Nagaurī and many others enjoyed following among the masses but he makes absolutely no mention of any of them. He also fails to mention anything about the Hindus, and anything largely related to the social institutions of the time. Baranī recalls Hindus as malīch (impure).

Both Baranī and Juzjānī were religious scholars or ‘ulemā, and represented their worldview, which valorized conquest, violence and conversions. ‘Afīf only highlights some major differences among the Muslims and the Hindus.

Nevertheless, the works of court historians of Delhi Sultanate fail to see how problematic is to examine political interactions without taking into account religion, culture and economy which are embedded in the society. To prove their arguments, they either generalized events or make exaggerated claims. Moreover, the court chroniclers of

2 the period silenced records of military defeats or policy failures. This literature is also silent on the social conditions prevailing in medieval India. There is a paucity of information about the common people, their fears and miseries, their occupations and predilections, food culture and dressing, hence creating a historiographical silence on the social transformation, living standard of its people, social mobility, social stratification, cultural traditions and economic interactions, and their day to day economic and religious life. Elitism is particularly reflected in these writings since the commoners had never been an important subject for them. Most importantly, they overlooked the interactions among diverse religious and cultural groups, which engendered visual and material forms of knowledge.

If one is to see the lives of the common people, one must approach the sufi literature, as it was the sufis who lived among the people and not the courtiers or the royalty. The vacuum thus created can be partly filled by the multiple genres of sufi literature. In particular, sufi biographical writings or tadhkirahs offer an insight into social life quite distinct from the perspective of court historians. These writings also involve the reader and demonstrate refashioning of the processes involved in the economic, cultural and religious life along with intellectual and educational trends of the era. The first ever tadhkirah written in South Asia is Siyar al-awliyā’ dar aḥwāl va malfūẓāt-i mashāyikh-i-Chisht, [Biographies of the Sufis and the States and

Conversations of the Chishtī Sufi Masters], written around 1350. It holds an important position being first of its kind, though it cannot be strictly classified as a complete tadhkirah. Since it is neither a complete tadhkirah, nor a malfūẓ or a treatise on sufi practices like samā‘ (devotional sufi music), so it can be fitted in none or any of these

3 categories. Mostly, the scholars working on South Asian sufi literature take it as a tadhkirah. It was authored by Saiyyid Muḥammad ibn Mubārak ‘Alawī Kirmānī known as Amir Khurd (d. 1368/69), whose father was a close disciple of Shaykh Farīd al-Dīn

Mas‘ūd (d.1265), popularly known as Bābā Farīd. Amir Khurd himself was a close disciple of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā (d. 1325), after whose death, the former got associated with Shaykh Naṣīr al-Dīn Chirāgh-i Dillī (d. 1356).

In addition to his personal experiences being an eye witness to many developments, he relied on the oral traditions from his forefathers which makes the tadhkirah distinct. Amir Khurd adds novel information i.e. through one of the his narration of the samā‘ assemblies, he informs that Amir Khusrau had a son named Amir

Hāji,1 which challenges the belief of many historians who claim that Amir Khusrau died issueless. Amir Khurd produced an extensive and comprehensive account of the socio- religious topography of North India. The original Persian text is comprised of around six hundred pages and is divided into ten chapters which are further divided into sections and sub-sections. Siyar al-awliyā primarily sheds light on the Chishtī sufi Silsilah, and especially about Bābā Farīd, Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā and their disciples. It abounds in classical sufi imagery, topoi and exclusively esoteric terminology. Several ḥikayāt or anecdotes are part of it, evoked by the sufis to morally instruct their disciples and the people in general. Moreover, it does not merely offer a clear picture of the social fabric of the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century North India but also talks about the prevailing traditions and religio-mystical doctrines, sufi practices like samā‘ assemblies, educational trends, intellectual milieu, literary production, migration, urbanization, means of

1 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā dar aḥwāl va malfūẓāt-i mashāyikh-i-Chisht ed., Chiranjī Lāl (Delhi: Moḥibb-i Hind Press, 1884), 515.

4 livelihood and professions, urban culture of Delhi, building structure along with dressing and food culture of the people of the said era.

The present study is an attempt to identify this gap, and thus tries to fill it through sufi writings. It highlights the historiographical significance of sufi tadhkirah literature, while focusing on a detailed study of the very first tadhkirah (or proto-tadhkirah) in

Indian history. The work under study reveals the cultural settings, growth of Indo-Muslim

(and Indo-sufi) culture, translation of one’s cultural norms into the other, religious beliefs, and Sufism as a lived tradition in the sufi khānqāhs, along with the recognition of female spirituality, the status of women, and the role of nonconformist sufis in medieval society. It does not leave the reader unaware of the controversies about sufi practices like samā‘, and the debate on its legality and otherwise, as well as the opposition to it. It uncovers political chaos and institutional coercion, along with state-sufi relationship during the time. Moreover, the tadhkirah enlightens one about intellectual trends of the time, such as the importance of education and the teaching methods, teacher-centric education system, widely read texts and scholarship during medieval India. The tadhkirah also possesses some glimpses of socio-economic profile of the time like increasing urbanization through emergence of a number of cities and towns along with the migrations. Amir Khurd also refers to the trade goods and important trade routes.

Aims and Objectives of the Study

The study explores the less-known aspects of the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century

Indian society. It is aimed at seeking socio-cultural trends through music and poetry, literature read and produced, growth of vernacular languages, Hindu-Muslim relationship, religious beliefs and sufi practices like samā‘, inter-cultural food traditions

5 and dressing trends, political economy, state-sufi relationship in South Asia through the lens of Siyar al-awliyā. The research tries to bring together minute details of social history to construct a holistic view of the medieval north Indian society. Social critique is also an integral part of this writing. To appreciate the social dimension of medieval India it is necessary to transcend the ‘factual approach’ and the statist discourse generated by the conventional court historians, primarily focusing on political and military history. The present research attributes historiographical significance to tadhkirah literature. By focusing on the very first ‘memorative communication’ Siyar al-awliyā, it aims at emphasizing the importance of sufi literature in the historic literary traditions of South

Asian history. Despite the difference in focus and style, it is useful to analyze the two types of texts together produced in India at the same time.

The study intends to explore the formation and functioning of the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century North Indian society within the framework of social history. It encompasses the socio-cultural, socio-religious, socio-intellectual, socio-political and socio-economic conditions of the time, along with other sub-themes which have been marginalized in the court histories. While undertaking a textual analysis of Siyar al- awliyā, the study examines the ways in which religion, culture, society and politics were interrelated and interacted with each other, as well as the development of sufi institutions and doctrines, sufi teachings and the relationship among various sufi silsilahs. The present study proposes to analyze the parallel changes in the society and culture alongside the evolution and growth of pastoral economy to urban. In a nut shell, by focusing on this memorative communication, the study aims at emphasizing the importance of sufi literature in the historic literary traditions of South Asian history.

6 Significance and Scope of the Study

There is a plethora of literature on the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century North Indian history which is much related to the politics and annexations. Less attention has been paid to utilizing sufi literature as a key source for constructing social history of medieval

North India, which is a relatively understudied area of inquiry. In particular, utilizing a sufi tadhkirah for presenting a holistic picture of the then society has not been done so far. Arguably, the present study of Siyar al-awliyā can be viewed as the first study of this kind. It holds immense significance for the social and cultural history of the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century North India, with particular reference to sufi doctrines, practices and institutions along with the ‘Indo-sufi’ culture, khānqāh life and its dynamics. It focuses on the social institutions, norms, values and the customs of the time, along with people and their problems. The present study bears significant position for the historiography of medieval India as it defines the category of Siyar al-awliyā, as ‘proto- tadhkirah’ which is not been done previously.

The framework of social history is applied as the backdrop for understanding the context of socio-cultural, socio-religious/spiritual, socio-intellectual, socio-political and socio-economic conditions of the time. The work explores the functional mechanism of the medieval Indian society, while stressing the ways in which religion, society, culture and politics were interrelated and interacted with each other. The study sheds light on the interactions among diverse religious and cultural groups, knowledge the migrants brought, teaching methods and education system, language and literature, food culture, dressing trends, political economy, etc. In a nut shell, the tadhkirah helps knit the minute details of social history to construct a profound view of the society.

7 In terms of spatial scope, the work focuses on medieval India with a particular focus on Northern region, while in terms of temporal scope, it offers a detailed study of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, though occasional references have been made to the pre-thirteenth and post-fourteenth centuries history. Thematically, the present work includes the social and cultural aspect of the period, which has been discussed in detail in the framework of the study.

Review of the Literature

Though there is a profound number of writings on medieval Indian history, there is dearth of studies on the social history of the said period, particularly by utilizing sufi literature.

Syed Hasan Askari (d. 1998) of Patna was the first scholar who worked extensively on the significance of sufi literature and then utilized makṭūbāt and malfūẓāt to construct history through them. He highlighted the significance of sufi literature as a source of constructing medieval Indian history. His contributions include articles such as

“Malfuzats and Maktubats of a 14th Century Sufi Saint of Bihar” (1948), “A Malfuz of a

17th Century Shuttari saint of Bihar” (1949), “Tazkira-i-Murshidi, a Rare Malfuz of 15th

Century Sufi Saint of Gulbarga” (1952), “Hazrat Abdul Quddus Gangohi” (1957),

“Historical Value of Hagiological Literature” (1964), “Historical Value of Sufi

Hagiological Works of the Sultanate Period” (1966), “Maktub Literature as a Source of

Social History” (1978), “Malfuzat: An untapped source of Social History—Ganj-i-

Arshadi of the Jaunpur School—A Case Study.” (1981) and many more. S. H. Askari initiated the debate on using this sources for historical knowledge of medieval India, and thus, paved the way for future historians to look at these untapped sources.

8 Professor Muhammad Habib (d. 1971), a contemporary to S.H. Askari, is another scholar who contributed to medieval Indian history by using sufi literature. His famous article “Chishti Mystics Records of the Sultanate Period” (1950), which was later incorporated in Politics and Society During Early Medieval Period, Collected Works of

Professor Mohammad Habib (1974), contributed to the debate on the usage of the sufi sources. He challenged the authenticity of many early Chishtī writings produced in India.

The scholar who followed Muhammad Habib’s footsteps was Khaliq Ahmad

Nizami (d.1997) of Aligarh, who wrote extensively on the said period. He utilized sufi literature along with other statist sources to construct the history of medieval India. Some

Aspects of Religion and Politics in India During the Thirteenth Century (1961) is its perfect example. His other writings include “Historical Significance of the Malfuz

Literature of Medieval India” (1983) and On Sources and Source Material: Historical

Studies—Indian and Islamic (1995). While, K. A. Nizami utilized many of the malfūẓāt and tadhkirāt in his writings but did not particularly focus on a detailed study of any one malfūẓ or tadhkirah.

Muhammad Aslam (d. 1998) of Lahore is another notable scholar in this regard.

His Malfūẓātī adab kī tārikhī ahammīyyat (1995) offers a comprehensive understanding of how malfūẓ literature can serve the task of writing medieval Indian history. This well- knitted and comprehensive work covers twenty-nine brief case studies of malfūẓāt of sufis of varied silsilahs including Chishtīs, Suhrawardīs, Qadirīs and Naqshbandīs highlighting the multiple aspects of society, culture, politics, language and history.

However, the work exclusively focuses on malfūẓ literature, to the exclusion of all other genres of sufi literature including tadhkirah writings.

9 The above literature review shows that brief case studies on various sufi texts are available in the form of book chapters or articles in research journals which shed light on varied aspects of social history in medieval India. Nonetheless, any detailed study of any particular sufi text is missing. There is just one article particularly focused on a specific theme in Siyar al-awliyā by Jyoti Gulati Balachandran titled “Exploring the Elite World in Siyar al-awliyā: Urban Elites, their Lineages and Social Networks” (2015). In this piece of writing, the author maintains that the tadhkirah literature written during medieval India was aimed at constructing social lineage of the educated elite. In Siyar al- awliyā, Amir Khurd perfectly shaped the lines of a “Muslim community in North India”2

This article studies a specific theme in Siyar al-awliyā, and brings to fore the need to undertake more research on varied aspects of social history as evidenced from the fourteenth-century sufi tadhkirah.

Framework of Analysis and Methodology

Social history is difficult to define as compared to the economic or political history, as the word “social” addresses nearly everything. Social history is interested in experience rather than the event or action. As far as its historical development is concerned, contrary to the prevailing customary history writing, social history has analogized both methodologies and ideas from multifaceted fields of knowledge, as it has bloomed out on its very eclectic ideal. Therefore, it examines and delineate the whole connection of social relationships through an array of methodologies of social sciences multifariously.

Most importantly, social historians probe into the preceding societies in a great deal and theorize hypotheses, analyze the trends, and identify patterns.

2 Jyoti Gulati Balachandran, “Exploring the elite world in Siyar al-awliyā: Urban elites, their lineages and social networks.” The India Economic and Social History Review, vol. 52. no 3 (2015): 245. 10 Unlike the predominant scholarship of historical knowledge, social history is about trivialities. It surpasses former approaches, centered on important events, figures and political processes. It avoids opting for conventional appreciation of history but advances all human energies to study the destiny of ordinary people, since they were not nucleus of historical processes and caught little attention previously. The groundbreaking efforts of Lucien Febvre and Marc Bloch in forming the ‘Annales School’ in 1929, brought approaches of social scientific analysis to aberrant and anomalous historical scholarship. They picked up and used pieces of knowledge from everyday life while making it atypical scholarship. According to Annales School, social history is not a heap or pyramid of blindly accumulated facts since it sees actions as less fundamental than the mentalities and behavioral framework which formed decisions and those actions. It must

3 be considered and reasoned alongside artfully presented moral story or account.

Social history emphasizes on studying long-run trends and structures in society, culture, politics and economy, while providing a holistic view of society. Having

“bottom-up” approach it endeavors necessary and refreshing corrective to the prevailing

“top-down” historiography. In terms of methods, it offers significant approaches to historical investigation through studying and analyzing society and all its dynamics. It is primarily engaged with the internal diversities and contrasts of society along with the social history of culture, traditions and social norms, mosques or churches, education, law, medicine, literature, politics and economy, and so on and so forth.

The present study analyzes the text and context of Siyar al-awliyā in particular, and other tadhkirahs and malfūẓāt generally, alongside the court and other historical

3 Michael Harsgor, “Total History: The Annales School,” Journal of Contemporary History, vol. 13, no. 1 (1978): 1-13. Juliet Gardiner, What Is History Today...? Houndmills: MacMillan Education, 1988. 11 writings of the period. The framework of social history is applied as the backdrop for understanding the life of the common people, including the sufis using insights from the phenomenology of religion approach. Phenomenology is not about the rules and regulations of a belief system/religion; rather it deals with how religion is being experienced and practiced by the people. Culture and religion also enjoy a close relationship, as Clifford Geertz observes, and Oliver Leaman admits that phenomenological approach serves best to understand the relationship between culture and religion.4 To understand the society of medieval India and the Indo-Muslim cultural growth, the framework of social history seems pertinent.

For examining the present research problem that how far sufi literature particularly tadhkirah can serve as a source for constructing social history in medieval

India, various sociologically sensitive, historical methodologies have been referred to.

The study starts with the biography of the tadhkirah writer and there are multiple approaches for the biographical research. However, for writing the life-history of fourteenth century’s writer Amir Khurd, his life and family history microanalysis of the varied sections of Siyar al-awliyā and narrative method as a tool have been used. In order to study the relationship between religion and society, the chapter on socio- religious/spiritual and intellectual life employs methods from the sociologically-sensitive historians who have worked on the relationship between religion and culture. The

4 Oliver Leaman, Book Review of Deciphering the Signs of God: A Phenomenological Approach to Islam by Annemarie Schimmel (Taylor & Francis, 1994) British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 23, no. 1 (May 1996), 96. Annemarie Schimmel herself claims, ‘a completely objective study of religion is not possible, especially when the feelings of other worldly are in one’s approach and mind, and realizes that one is dealing with actions, thought systems and human reactions and responses to something that lies outside purely ‘scientific’ research. Annemarie Schimmel, Deciphering the Signs of God: A Phenomenological Approach to Islam (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1994), xi-xii.

12 relationship between the two is symbiotic because what is known as culture is the amalgam of human understandings, interactions and expressions. Seyyed Hossein Nasr defines culture as a worldview, ambiance, a set of values of art, of taste, of decisions, of the nature of things, etc. which is accommodated by a religion, as he states that there is no Islamic civilization or culture or cultures without Islam but at the same time Islam rejects something, absorb something and transforms something.5 So both culture and religion cannot be studied in isolation. For this purpose, insights from Thomas O’Dea’s perception on institutionalization of religion, as well as Theodore Long’s analysis on the power of religious leaders’ (here I have taken the Chishtī sufis as the leaders) as ‘cultural and not structural’ have also been utilized.

As pointed out above, in context of our study, the phenomenology of religion is not about what people believed and the structural religion of the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century India, but how it was experienced by the people. This approach allows re-examining the experiences of socio-religious and intellectual life in medieval India’s history in a more comprehensive way. Clifford Geertz’ thesis has also been beneficial in understanding the relationship of religion and culture in medieval India. Geertz asserts that both culture and religion are interrelated, and religious practices reflect the socio- cultural needs of a given community, while cultural traditions are also affected by religious belief system.6 Medieval Indo-sufi culture also reflects the intersection of both religion and culture.

5 Nasr argues, ‘all those things are done according to the inner structure and constitution of a particular religion.’ Islam absorbs certain elements of pre-Islamic Arabian culture like the love for nature, it also transformed something for example, certain mores of chivalry which the Arabs had and which Islam universalized, and then Islam rejects completely some aspects of Arab culture for example, the worship of the idols. 6 Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures (New York: Basic Books, 1973), 89.

13 Organizational Structure of the Study

The present study is divided into five chapters along with an introduction at the beginning. The first chapter titled “Tadhkirah-writing, Amir Khurd and Siyar al-awliyā:

An Introduction” gives an analysis of and difference between hagiography and sufi tadhkirah along with a detailed account of the biographical sketch of Amir Khurd, the composer of Siyar al-awliyā followed by an introduction of the book under study. It explores when the book was composed, how it got published and printed in later times, along with its content. The second chapter titled “Socio-cultural Aspects of Medieval

North Indian History” analyses the socio-cultural history of medieval India while discussing the social institutions, nature and dynamics of Indo-Muslim culture, development of vernaculars, poetic compositions, place of women in Muslim society, food culture, dressing, buildings and diseases, as reflected in Siyar al-awliyā.

The third chapter titled “Spiritual and Religio-intellectual Life in Medieval North

India” delineates the socio-religious and intellectual milieu of the period, along with the role of sufi khānqāhs in translating one religion’s ideals into the other. This chapter also discusses the teaching methods in medieval India while challenging the madrassah- khānqāh and ‘ulemā-sufi dichotomy. In addition, the chapter also serves as a corrective to the misconceptions of the production of sufi literature in Chishtī khānqāhs. The fourth chapter titled “Samā‘ or Devotional Sufi Music in Medieval Indo-Sufi Culture” provides details on the Chishtī sufi practice of samā‘, its do’s and don’ts elaborated by the

Chishtīs, and samā‘ as a source of conflict with the state and the ‘ulemā. Besides the chapter also throws light on the literature produced by the Chishtīs on legality of samā‘.

Fifth and the last chapter of the study titled “Socio-political and Socio-economic Aspects

14 of Medieval Indian History” analyzes these two significant aspects of medieval India in the light of Siyar al-awliyā. It also explores the institutional coercion, social evils, price inflation, currency, trade and commerce, as well as varied shades of state-sufi relationship ranging from symbiotic and collaborative to conflictual. Fifth chapter is followed by conclusion and bibliography.

15 Chapter 1

Tadhkirah-writing, Amir Khurd and Siyar al-awliyā: An Introduction

The word tadhkirah is derived from dhikr in Arabic, which literally means to recall or to remember. In Arabic literature, it was taken as a ‘memoir/memorial,’ characterized by recalling or remembering the kings, Sultans and famous political or religious personalities’ lives in writing. The tadhkirah writing tradition as a biographical genre took varied forms depending on different geographical locations and religious norms. The present chapter throws light on the history of tadhkirah literature in general, and its development through ages, and categorizing tadhkirah as a sufi text. The first section particularly focuses on tadhkirah writings in South Asia and the kinds of forms it assumed when it traveled here. Alongside, debate on the differences between hagiography and tadhkirah also constitute an important part of the chapter. The second section explains the life-history, family details, education and career of the fourteenth- century sufi writer, Amir Khurd. The section on his family-history illuminates the journey of his ancestors from Kirmān (or Kerman) to Delhi and narrates their strong relation with two major Chishtī Shaykhs, Bābā Farīd (d. 1265) and Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn

Awliyā (d.1325). The third section of the chapter offers a detailed introduction of the first ever known sufi tadhkirah in South Asian literary history, named Siyar al-awliyā. It offers an insight into this writing and what one can learn from it with a particular focus on social history. Chapter- and section-wise division, organization and contents of the book have also been studied in this section, along with a critique on and limitations of the

15 book. Last but not the least, it sheds light on the publication and translation history of the said text.

Section I

1.1 Situating Tadhkirah as a Category of Sufi Texts

The linguistic, geographical and religious diversity of South Asia complicates any attempt to offer an overview or defining the categories of Muslim literature of South

Asia. One group of anthologists take Muslim religious literature as an inclusive category which includes sufi and other madrassah-based legalist religious texts while others take sufi literature as an exclusive category of the broader sufi writings.1 As a matter of fact, sufi literature is partially a part of Muslim religious literature, yet an independent category of its own kind. Muslim religious literature includes many genres such as faḍā’il

(description of virtues and characteristics of significant people), manāqib (genealogies of religious scholars and the discussion on their miracles and personal merits), sīrah

(biography or life-history and deeds of Prophet Muḥammad PBUH), and khaṣāi’ṣ

(special qualities and traits of the Prophet PBUH and his companions). At the same time the genres of sufi literature cannot be incorporated in the categories of Muslim religious literature. These are unique in their own kind.2 Varied types of Muslim religious literature could be seen a part of sufi literature, more specifically in the tadhkirah writings since faḍā’il, khaṣāi’ṣ, sīrah and manāqib, all are mostly part of a sufi tadhkirah.

As a matter of fact, biographical details are usually disseminated in various traditions,

1 Annemarie Schimmel, Islamic Literature of India (Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz, 1972). See also Marcia K. Hermansen, “Religious Literature and the Inscription of Identity: the Sufi Tazkira Tradition in Muslim South Asia.” The Muslim World vol. LXXXVII, no. 3-4 (July-October 1997), 315-329. 2 For a detailed study on the genres of Sufi Literature see Tanvir Anjum, From Restrained Indifference to Calculated Defiance: Chishtī Sufis in the Sultanate of Delhi 1190-1400. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 20-29.

16 however, they are apparently visible in various important Muslim biographical genres,

3 i.e. religious chronicles/ḥadith collections or sufi tadhkirah.

1.2 Understanding Sufi Tadhkirah

Within the sufi literature, tadhkirah forms a distinctive category, In Arabic it means to remind or recall.4 The Holy Qur’an uses this term several times which means that it tends towards a concrete or solid reminder rather than a verbal “reminding.” It is also called memoire as it commemorates the sufis’ lives and anecdotes related to them compiled by their devotees and disciples. Thus, by definition and in terms of usage sufi tadhkirah commemorates the biographical information about a sufi and his silsilah. Most of the time, it serves as an anthology which passes on information to next generations. That is why, it is also known as memorative communication.5 Moreover, the sufi tadhkirah includes what may not be very appealing or attractive, something that is common place or ordinary as opposed to the extraordinary.6 Thus, it does not merely give a sufi’s biographical details but also throws light on the social traditions and practices, cultural patterns, scholarship and intellectual trends, economic arrays, alongside the numinous accounts.

3 For a detailed study on the category of Islamic Biographical writings see Marcia K. Hermansen “Interdisciplinary Approaches to Islamic Biographical Materials” Religion (1988), 18. 4 W. P. Bruijn Heinrichs, J.T.P. de and Stewart Robinson, J., “Tad̲ h̲ kira”, in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs. For more details see Muhammad Aslam, Malfūẓātī adab kī tārikhī ahammīyyat (Lahore: Research Society of Pakistan, University of Punjab, 1995). 5 Hermansen, “Religious Literature and the Inscription of Identity”, 315. 6 Graham, Terry. The Biographical Tradition in Sufism: The Tabaqāt Genre from al-Sulamī to Jamī. “Book Review”, Journal of Islamic Studies. vol. 13, no. 3 (2002): 339-42.

17 Like tadhkirah there is another important category of ṭabaqāt literature.7 W.

Heffening argues that ṭabaqāt literature originated to fulfill the needs in the discipline of hadith studies.8 Tadhkirah and ṭabaqāt are more or less alike, in portraying the lives of sufis and religious personalities through different narratives and anecdotes. Moreover, these two categories were also utilized for important non-religious political leaders and public figures. However, tadhkirah differs from ṭabaqāt genre on certain grounds, and so one should not confuse between the two. As ṭabaqāt is also a collection of biographical notes, nevertheless, it is classified or organized by lineage, time period, class, groups, sufi silsilah, and region, and it especially stresses on the generations/hierarchy. It is partly consisted of ‘ilm al-anṣāb (knowledge of genealogies).9 For instance, the ṭabaqāt of Ibn

Sa‘ad initiates with the genealogical determinants which go to the afterlife via establishing a link to high rank in the paradise.10 Unlike ṭabaqāt genre, tadhkirah is a collection of sufis’ life history and an anecdotal account which is mostly not structured on class, groups and genealogies.

Historically, a sufi tadhkirah is an outgrowth of the hadith literature, which records the sayings and deeds of the Prophet (PBUH). The worthy virtuous attributes

(faḍā’il) of famous pious individuals is always a key element of many hadith collections,

7 Ṭabaqāt is a type of Muslim biographical writings. Ṭabaqāt (classes or ranks) the designation refers to a systematic arrangement of numerous biographical entries, which can be hundreds and thousands of entries. Earliest example for this can be Ibn Sa‘ad’s (d. 845) Kitāb al‐ṭabaqāt al- kabīr which includes around 4,250 entries of earliest Muslim generations. These are from two lines to many pages long entries. 8 Cl. Gilliot, “Ṭabaḳāt ”,̣ The Encyclopedia of Islam, eds., P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs. vol X, Second Edition. (Leiden: Brill, 2000), 7-10. 9 For details on the knowledge of genealogy, profile of this discipline (how it evolve over the period of time) and how did it help in the production of knowledge, along with tracing the Prophetic family-line see, Bowen Savant, Sarah, and Helena De Felipe, eds. Genealogy and Knowledge in Muslim Societies: Understanding the Past. (Edinburgh University Press, 2014). 10 Hermansen, “Interdisciplinary Approaches to Islamic Biographical Materials” 165.

18 which show concepts of character and magnetism. Furthermore, the tadhkirah writing can also be seen deriving its foundations from sīrah, written in the initial years of Muslim historiography. In later times, writings on pious people and sufis’ lives came to be referred to as siyar (pl. of sīrah), in this way they became collective biographies.

Adhering to the hadith and sīrah tradition, the writers of the classical period wrote biographical anthologies on important religious personalities. By the tenth century, however, collection of biographical dictionaries emerged as an important genre of Arabic

Muslim literature. Besides this, another essential theme found in these biographical work collections is books on Taṣawwuf (collectively referred to as kutub al-zuhd) through which one can probe into the historical development of Sufism as well. In this regard, sufi tadhkirah forms a unique category of sufi literature. It is a creation of Muslim literary culture as scholars like H. R. Gibb, Marilyn Waldmen and Ruth Roded argue that

11 it is absolutely indigenous to the Muslim historiographical tradition.

1.3 Differentiating Sufi Tadhkirah from Hagiography

The difference between sufi tadhkirah and western hagiography is yet another point of debate. Before proceeding further, it seems pertinent to briefly explore what hagiography is? Historically speaking, hagiographies celebrate the lives of Christian saints, also called

‘legendries’ or ‘passionaries.’12 Christian Catholic Europe officially sponsored and produced this type of literature, especially during the Crusades. To highlight the

11 Ruth Roded has explained very well about the origin and development of the biographical genre in Arabic Islamic culture. She argues that it was not a foreign import and originated with the science of hadith literature. Ruth Roded, Women in the Islamic Biographical Collections: From Ibn Saʻd to Who’s Who. (Boulder, Colo: L. Rienner, 1993), 4-6. Sir Hamilton A. R. Gibb, “Islamic biographical Literature”, in Historians of the Middle East, eds. Bernard Lewis and P. M. Holt (London: Oxford University Press, 1964), 54. 12 “Hagiography”, The Catholic Encyclopedia, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07106b.htm. (accessed, November 20th, 2015).

19 importance of the Christian saints and religious personnel, martyrs’ lives were presented as role models, memorable and relevant for the next generations to come. This kind caught its roots mainly in Germany from eleventh to thirteenth century. It is defined as hagiographical literature which describes the saintly biographies of bishops, monks and their deeds, their deaths and trial, miraculous anecdotes associated with the saints, description of their statues, tombs and relics, etc.13 Hermeneutic importance of hagiography is, according to Jürgen Paul, to render informative material ‘for life and not about it.’

Writing hagiography takes its roots from the second century AD.14 They were written to edify and enlighten the readers about the resplendent glory of the Christian mystics/saints. The term hagiography is context-specific, which has a Christian and more precisely, a Catholic connotation. The knowledge and study of hagiography is referred to as hagiology. The Christian hagiographies are meant to deliver particular message to the readers.15 Hagiographies written during the Middle Ages in Europe contained biographical and historical details like a fiction. Most of the legendary characters were original, while sometimes the heroic characters were fictional, and belonged to the known

13 “Hagiography”, in Encyclopedia Britannica, http://www.britannica.com/topic/Hagiography. (accessed, October 10th, 2015). 14 As explained in above in this chapter, that Sufi tadhkirah traces its roots from hadith collections, and not from the Christian hagiographies. Coming later, does not mean that it has originated from the Christian hagiographical tradition. B. Lewis, Gibb R. Rodded and many others are convinced with its indigenous origins. Not only the tadhkirah writing tradition, but compilation of malfūẓat has also seen as a tradition of diary-keeping from the days of Prophet Muḥammad PBUH. George Makdisi has explained the personal diary keeping by the students in the science of hadith can be traced to the ninth century. Nevertheless, they kept the diaries merely as a resource to be used for writings in history and “not for publication, as in the case of malfūzat.” George Makdisi, “The Diary in Islamic Historiography: Some Notes,” History and Theory vol. 25, (1986): 173-85. 15 DeWeese, The Mashā’ikh-i Turk and the Khojagān: Rethinking the links between the Yasavī and Naqshbandī Sufi Traditions,” Journal of Islamic Studies (1996), 7 180-207, p 190.

20 hagiographic themes. As discussed above that generally in Western scholarship, hagiographies are works that embrace veneration acts of martyr saints.

Taking together the roots of the two; hagiography and tadhkirah, it appears that the two are very different from each other in their functioning. Hagiography is a Christian conception, and in Christianity ‘sainthood’ is always conferred upon by the Christian

Church through a process of canonization. There had been Christian mystics whose spirituality was not recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, resultantly, they failed to receive the status of ‘sainthood’. Conversely, in Islam, there is no organized institution like Church. The sufi does not need any human or religious recognizing authority to grant him/her spirituality. The life of a sufi and a Christian mystic are also very different from each other, the latter practice strict celibacy while the latter is not bound by any such law.

Same is the case with the literature representing their life accounts, the two cannot be the same. Hagiography serves both the purposes first idolizing the saint and second his life account however, in the categories of sufi literature there is a different genre which serves the idolizing purpose, called manāqib. The sufi tadhkirah while dealing with the life accounts of the sufis tells a lot about the society because the sufi interacts with the people in his daily life. Hence, it would not be amiss to state that employing the term hagiography is not suitable for a sufi tadhkirah. Thus, the concept of hagiography needs to be redefined when it comes to its use in the Muslim scholarship, particularly for

Muslim biographical material.

21 1.4 Origin and Development of Sufi Tadhkirah Literature

In Muslim history religious biographies are very important since the earliest times.16 In depth anthological notes about the lives of scholars, sufis, and poets have also been seen during later periods, particularly in Ottoman Empire, Persia and South Asia. During the times of Saffavids in Persia, it served as biographical accounts of the poets. Tadhkirah of religious scholars, poets and warriors had also been also written, The first ever written description of biographical notes on poets is written by Sadīd al-Dīn Muḥammad ‘Aufī

(d. 1242),17 in early thirteenth-century titled Lubāb al-albāb (The Quintessence of the

Hearts) then al-Tadhkira al-Harawiya fi al-hiyal al-ḥarabiya (al-Harawi’s warning about war tactics) was written by ‘Alī b. Abī Bakr al-Harawī (d. 1215). The former is a tadhkirah of the Persian poets in twelfth and thirteenth century, while the latter deals with the warnings related to war techniques or strategies of waging war. The first tadhkirah dealing with the lives of the sufis in this regard, is Farīd al-Dīn ‘Aṭṭār (d. 1221) of

Nishapur’s Tadhikrāt al-awliyā written in the early thirteenth century. It consists of seventy two chapters, starting from Jafar al-Sadiq (d. 765) and coming down to Ḥusayn

18 ibn Manṣūr al-Hallāj (d. 922).

A sufi tadhkirah highlights the important events and deeds from the life of the sufis. It shows the aspects of a sufi’s life through miracles in contrast to the rest, it

16 For detail study of History of writing see Tarif Khalidi The Arabic Historical Thought in the Classical Period (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994; first ed.) for biographies and hagiography in Islam see “Hagiography” ‘Oxford Islamic Studies Online’. 17 For details of Aufi’s life and works, see Mumtaz Ali Khan, Some Important Persian Prose Writings of the Thirteenth Century in India (Aligarh, Department of Persian, Aligarh Muslim University, 1970) For more see Edward Granville Browne. A Literary History of Persia. (Richmond: Curzon, 1999). 18 Farīd al-Dīn Aṭṭār, Muslim Saints and Mystics: Episodes from the Tadhkirat al-Auliya, trans Eng. Arthur J Arberry (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1966).

22 eulogizes the miraculous deeds of a sufi to acknowledge him as legitimate authority. It uses barakā (emanated blessing of a sufi) and karāma (ability to do miracles) as a basic content to write upon. The sufi tadhkirah writing developed by the time in South Asia while its tradition in South Asia was slightly different than the rest of the world.

1.5 Tadhkirah Production in South Asia

History of sufi tadhkirah writing in South Asia is complex yet interesting. Kashf al- maḥjūb or Revealing of the Veiled (comp. eleventh century) by Abu’l Ḥasan ‘Alī b.

‘Uthmān b. ‘Alī al-Ghaznawī al-Jullābī al-Hujwirī, popularly known as ‘Alī al-Hujwirī or

Dātā Ganj Bakhsh, is considered as first written tadhkirah of South Asia by many.

Scholars, however, believe that it is not a complete tadhkirah (as there is a middle section of the book which primarily deals with sufi biographies) yet it still falls under this category.19 The second in the list is Siyar al-awliyā, whom the scholars regard partly a malfūẓ and partly tadhkirah.

Keeping in view the complex structure of South Asia’s multifaceted history, geography and categories of literature, both Kashf al-maḥjūb and Siyar al-awliyā can be regarded ‘proto-tadhkirahs’ owing to different reasons.20 ‘Alī al-Hujwirī adds a section on sufi biographies while the rest is completely a discourse on Sufism and comprises the practices, system and doctrines of Sufism. It cannot be counted as tadhkirah in a proper sense. However, it can be regarded as ‘proto-tadhkirah’. Furthermore, labelling Siyar al- awliyā as malfūẓ is also problematic as it does not completely deal with the majālis (sufi

19 See for instance, Khaliq Ahmad Nizami, Nizami, Khaliq Ahmad. Historical Role of Three Auliya’ of South Asia. ed. Yousaf Abbas Hashmi (Karachi: University of Karachi, 1987). 20 For more details see, Tanvir Anjum and Adeela Ghazanfar, “Hybrid Sufi Texts and the Problem of Genre Classification: A Study of Amīr Khurd Kirmānī’s Siyar al-auliyā’ ” Islamic Studies (2018) vol 57, no. 3-4. 171-185.

23 gatherings at the khānqāh). It is not a malfūẓ but can be regarded as tadhkirah or at least a proto-tadhkirah. A detailed chapter on samā‘ and a small sub-section on the fickle- mindedness of kings does not discredit Siyar al-awliyā to be treated as a tadhkirah.

It is worth mentioning here that it took some hundred years for the tadhkirah writing tradition to get a formal form in South Asia. Siyar al-‘arīfin and Akhbār al- akhyār (sixteenth century texts) are its fine examples. Tadhkirah writers added cross- silsilah details like Siyar al-‘ārifīn. Its writer Shaykh Ḥāmid ibn Faḍl-Allah Jamālī (d.

1536) was himself a Suhrawardī adept but he incorporated biographical details of both the Chishtīs and Suhrawardī sufis alongside each other. Moreover, with Akhbār al-akhyār one sees a new development, not seen previously. It is an addition of a separate section on pious females. Thus, it took time for the tadhkirah to develop in South Asia. Below are some of the most prominent sufi tadhkirahs of South Asia.

1. Kashf al-maḥjūb written probably about 1058 AD by Shaykh ‘Alī al-Hujwirī.

2. Siyar al-awliyā’ dar aḥwāl va malfūẓāt-i mashāyikh-i-Chisht (details infra).

3. Siyar al-‘ārifīn is another most important tadhkirah of India, written by Shaykh

Ḥāmid ibn Faḍl-Allah Jamālī. The tadhkirah is probably written during the reign of

Mughal Emperor Humayun.

4. Akhbār al-akhyār fī asrār al-abrār by Shaykh Abd al-Ḥaqq Muḥadith Dehlavī (d.

1642). He wrote the tadhkirah around 1588-1590-1. There are two hundred and

fifty-five biographical accounts of medieval Indian sufis.

5. Shaykh Abd al-Ḥaqq Muḥadith Dehlavī authored another tadhkirah titled as Zād al-

muttaqīn fi sulūk-i ṭarīq al-yaqīn around 1594-5. In this work Dehlavī gives life

accounts of various sufis with an special emphasis upon two Indian sufis (who were

24 residing at Makkah.) One is ‘Abd al-Wahāb b. Walī al-Allah Muttaqī and the other

is Hussām al-Dīn Muttaqī. Many other contemporary sufis and shaykhs in Makkah

are also a part of the said tadhkirah.

6. Akhbār al-aṣfiyā written around 1606 by Abd al-Ṣamad b. Afḍal Muḥammad. It is a

large anthology of short notices on the life accounts of around two hundred and

fifty-six sufis. They are more or less the same as mentioned by Muḥadith Dehlavī’s

Akhbār al-akhyār. He completed the work in the reign of Mughal Emperor

Jahangir.

7. Gulzar-i abrār of Muḥammad Ghauthī b. Ḥassan b. Mūsa Shaṭṭarī Māndavī (b.

1554). This well-known tadhkirah was completed in the period between 1590-1613.

There are around five hundred and seventy five notes on sufis among whom mostly

belonged to Gujarat. It also includes number of Chishtī sufis as well.

8. Ḥadīqat al-awliyā written by ‘Abd al-Qādir Hāshim ibn. Muḥammad Ḥusaynī. He

was a sufi from Sindh and belonged to a Saiyyid family. Ḥadīqat al-awliyā is a

biographical account of contemporary Sindhi sufis of the composer, and it seems to

be completed around 1607-8.

9. Tuḥfat al-Suadā or Gift of the Felicitous One is a work on short biographical

accounts of the Chishtī sufis. It is written by Khwaja Kamāl who finished the work

in 1607.

10. Lamḥāt min nafḥāt al-quds of Shaykh ‘Ālim is a biographical account of the

Shaykhs who belonged to the Naqshbandī Silsilah.

11. Naqshbandī sufi, Khwaja Baqī bi-Allah of Delhi’s Tadhkirah Khwaja Baqī bi-

Allah is also worth mentioning here.

25 12. Last but not the least are Safīnat al-awliyā, and Sakīnat al-awliyā compiled by

Darā Shikoh Qādirī (d. 1659). Both are valuable tadhkirāt of the time.

The list is not exhaustive but these are among the most prominent tadhkirahs of South

Asia from fourteenth to seventeenth centuries.

1.6 Historical Significance of South Asian Sufi Tadhkirah Literature

Tadhkirah literature plays a very prominent role in writing social history, since it talks about common people’s interaction with the sufis, thus, socio-cultural themes can be seen evidently in South Asian sufi tadhkirahs. These can fill the gaps in the historic literary traditions, especially for writing the social history of the thirteenth- and fourteenth- century India. There is also a strong relation of the spread of Islam and sufi literary traditions as well, so it is considered as a distinct genre of medieval India’s sufi literature.21 These writings are produced in the sufi khānqāhs either by the sufi themselves or their disciples, who can be referred to as ‘literati’ sufis.22 Most of the time their audience was not common people but only the sufis. However, this is not the case for a sufi tadhkirah, it can be read and understood by less educated ones, if not illiterates.

There are multiple criticisms and confusions regarding this genre of literature. Many a times the sufi tadhkirah writers face criticism for ostensibly irrelevant expressions or diction.23 Bruce B. Lawrence and Carl Ernst in Sufi Martyrs of Love count the confusion between tadhkirah and ṭabaqāt in these words,

21 Shahzad Bashir, “Narrating Sights, Dream as Visual Training”, in Dreams and Visions in Islamic Societies, eds., Ozgen Felek and Alexander D. Knysh (New York: State University of New York, 2012), 233. 22 Richard M. Eaton, “Sufis and Literati” in Sufis of Bijapur, 135-73. 23 George Morrison, Persian Literature from the Earliest Times to the time of Jāmi (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1980), 14.

26 We talk about genealogies because sufi authors themselves do. They do so because to reiterate and retrieve and conjure a spiritual line that links the current generation to earliest generations and is central to defining identity. … 24 Genealogies serialized become biographies the lives of holy exemplars. Another problem observed by Marcia Hermansen is in these words;

We may argue that in general, tadhkiras have tended to have a more limited scope, and that the readership issue of tadhkiras is subordinate because of the fact, that it is primarily the act of writing in order to record and memorialize which is of importance. This in turn, has often made the analytical study of tadhkiras difficult in the sense that one rarely gets beyond a replication of the 25 genre and ends up creating yet another tadhkira of tadhkiras. In fact, the tadhkirah writings in South Asian history lead one towards the broadly reflected evolution and developments like transforming cultural, ethical, intellectual and social settings in a society alongside providing details of biographical accounts of the sufis. India proved the most fertile land to produce sufi literature. The knowledge produced under this category is greater in number than in Central Asia and Persia combined.26 Sufi tadhkirah is a unique product of medieval India’s literary and sufi cultural tradition which needs closer and deeper exploration than it has received until now, if one is to trace the roots of Indo-Muslim culture.27 For example, state chronicles are silent about the society of the time. On the contrary, one finds no Hindu-Muslim conflicts over inviolability or sanctity of their respective religions in sufi tadhkirah writings. It was very late that Muslims and Hindus got ideas for reforming their religion through politics. Carl Ernst in Eternal Gardens rightly observes that historians have

24 Carl W. Ernst and Bruce B. Lawrence. Sufi Martyrs of Love: The Chishti Order in South Asia and Beyond. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002), 47. 25 Hermansen, ‘Religious Literature and the Inscription of Identity’, 324. 26 Ernst and Lawrence, Sufi Martyrs of Love, 48. 27 Marcia K. Hermansen and Bruce B. Lawrence, “Indo-Persian Tadhkiras as Memorative Communications” in David Gilmartin and Bruce B. Lawrence, Beyond Turk and Hindu Rethinking Religious Identities in Islamicate South Asia. (Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2000), 149.

27 focused on the political perspectives of medieval India’s sources. However, to appreciate

28 India’s religious dimensions, it is important to stay away from the ‘factual approach’.

Tadhkirah writings inscribed identity from their diction, evocation of their symbols, role and manner in the intellectual culture of medieval North Indian. It stresses less on karamā (ability to do miracles), as Amir Khurd in Siyar al-awliyā recounts that the Chishtīs were never happy to reveal their miraculous deeds. Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn

Awliyā double-checked the text of Fawā’id al-fu‘ād to ensure that Amir Ḥassan had not added any exaggerated miraculous content in his malfūẓ. Simon Digby asserts that the malfūẓ writings in India provide plentiful anecdotal narratives “of actual behaviour in comparison to that produced in Iran and elsewhere in the Islamic world at this time.”29

The fact remains that the tadhkirah writer wrote the history the way it was, while not romanticizing it the way it should have been (conversely done by state chronicles of the period). The sufi tadhkirah does not just mirror the image of medieval India’s society, its economic conditions, religious and ethno-cultural life but it also gives a sharp portrayal of literary and intellectual activities of the people as well. If these writings were consulted while writing the Indo-Muslim history, it would have been very different than the present one.30 Finbarr Flood also re-opens vistas that modern South Asian studies has diligently avoided: the study of texts as objects, objects as texts and the environments

31 within which both are placed and displaced.

28 Ernst, Carl W. Eternal Garden: Mysticism, History, and Politics at a South Asian Sufi Center. (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992), 18. 29 Simon Digby, “Qalandar and Related Groups: Elements of Social Deviance in the Religious Life of the Delhi Sultanate of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries” in Yohanan Friedman, ed., Islam in Asia: South Asia. Vol 1. (Boulder, Colo: Westview Press, 1984), 60. 30 Aslam, Malfūẓātī adab kī tarīkhī ahammīyyat, 10. 31 Finbarr B. Flood, Objects of Translation: Material Culture and Medieval “Hindu-Muslim” Encounter (New Delhi: Permanent Black, 2009). 28 Section II

1.2 Amir Khurd: The Life of a Tadhkirah Writer

Saiyyid Muḥammad ibn Mubārak ‘Alawī Kirmānī, known as Amir Khurd, (d. 1368-9) belonged to a noble, pious sufi family in India. His family had strong ties with Bābā Farīd

(d.1265) and Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā (d. 1325). Amir Khurd is known for his famous work titled Siyar al-awliyā’ dar aḥwāl va malfūẓāt-i mashāyikh-i-Chisht

[Biographies of the Sufis and the States and Conversations of the Chishtī Sufi Masters]. It is a communicative memory of Chishtī Silsilah, detailed accounts of Chishtī sufis and their teachings adorned with anecdotes and instances. Before knowing Amir Khurd it is very important to know about his family.

1.2.1 Family History

Amir Khurd’s grandfather Saiyyid Muḥammad Maḥmūd Kirmānī (d. 1311/2) belonged to

Kirmān (present day Kerman), an ancient city in Iran.32 He used to run his own business with a good financial status. He was very much familiar with the routes from Multan to

Lahore on account of his occupation. One of his uncles also lived in Multan who married

Muḥammad Maḥmūd with his daughter Bībī Rānī. After marrying her, he visited

Ajodhan (present day Pakpattan), in Punjab, and entered into the community fellowship of Bābā Farīd. There the former decided to settle forever with his family. Saiyyid

Muḥammad Maḥmūd spent eighteen long years with Bābā Farīd at Ajodhan.33 He became one of his closest and beloved fellows. Even one of Bābā Farīd’s sons, Shaykh ‘Alā al-

32 “Kerman: Historical Geography”. Encyclopaedia Iranica, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kerman-02-historical-geography, (accessed November 18, 2015). 33 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 208-10. See also Muhammad Habib, Haẓrat Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā: hayāt or ṭalīmat (Delhi: Delhi University Press, 1972), 12.

29 Dīn was a foster brother of Saiyyid Nūr al-Dīn Mubārak (d. 1338), father of Amir Khurd.

As they both were nursed and fed by Bībī Rānī, so nothing could delimit the love and eternal submissiveness from the blood of scions of Kirmānī family.

In the meantime, Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā visited Bābā Farīd at Ajodhan and became a part of his circle. The Shaykh started receiving moral training and spiritual inspiration under Bābā Farīd, with this he also developed close relations with the Kirmānī family and Maulana Badr al-Dīn Ishāq (d. around mid-thirteenth century), who was a close disciple and son-in-law of Bābā Farīd. The love and brotherhood grew to such an extent that Saiyyid Kirmānī migrated from Ajodhan to Delhi along with Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā and spent rest of his life in the latter’s khānqāh. He remained there for nearly twelve years. Bībī Rānī and Muḥammad Maḥmūd Kirmānī also served the Shaykh at Ghiyathpur whole-heartedly. Not only at Ghiyathpur but when they lived together at

Ajodhan as well. Once in Ajodhan Bībī Rānī noticed that Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā had old scratched and torn clothes and had no other clothes to wear, so she requested him to give the clothes to her, so that she could do the laundry and the patchwork for him. The

Shaykh reluctantly gave it to her and she provided him with her own chaddar (over- garment or a sheet of cloth.) The Shaykh could never forget her support and good-will

34 throughout his life.

Muḥammad Maḥmūd Kirmānī and Bībī Rānī had four sons, Saiyyid Abu’l-Qāsim

Nūr al-Dīn Mubārak (the father of Amir Khurd), Saiyyid Kamāl al-Dīn Aḥmad, Saiyyid

Quṭb al-Dīn and Saiyyid Khāmosh. Saiyyid Kamāl al-Dīn Aḥmad had two sons: Saiyyid

Nūr al-Dīn and ‘Imād al-Dīn Amir Ṣaleḥ. While Saiyyid Quṭb al-Dīn never got married.

Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā used to call him his son. Saiyyid Nūr al-Dīn Mubārak was

34 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 138.

30 married to Mariyum Khātūn (the mother of Amir Khurd), who was the daughter of

Shams al-Dīn Dāmghanī, a very close friend of Maḥmūd Kirmānī and a devoted disciple of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā. Nūr al-Dīn Kirmānī had three sons, Muḥammad

Mubārak ‘Alawī Kirmānī (Amir Khurd), Saiyyid Luqmān and Saiyyid Dawū’d. As mentioned above, this family lived in Ghiyathpur in the suburbs of Delhi near the khānqāh of the Shaykh.

All of the four sons of Saiyyid Muḥammad Maḥmūd Kirmanī were very dear to the Shaykh. Saiyyid Khāmosh used to recite Khamsā by Nizamī Ganjavī (d. 1209)35 to the Shaykh. Saiyyid Nūr al-Dīn Mubārak was also as docile, obedient and submissive to the Shaykh as was his father. He directly received guidance and love from Bābā Farīd, and also visited the town of Chisht near Herat in present day Afghanistan. Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā respected and venerated him a lot.36 He got enough time to serve his spiritual mentor, Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā and passed away at ninety years of age in

1338.37 From this much close and personal accounts provided by the parents, grandparents and paternal uncles, Amir Khurd composed Siyar al-awliyā and makes it comprehensively a primary and rare source of information not only on the Chishtī fraternity but also on the medieval Indian society.

35 Nizami was a master of the Mathnavī style (double-rhymed verses). He wrote poetical works; the main one is the Panj Ganj (Persian: Five Treasures), also known by the Persian pronunciation of the Arabic word Khamsa (“Quintet” or “Quinary”), (1141 to 1209), was a twelfth-century Persian Sunni Muslim poet. Nizami is considered the greatest romantic epic poet in Persian literature, 36 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 210-212. See also, Moeen Nizami and Uzma Aziz Khan, Sultan-i Ishaq: Collection of Poetry Syed Muhammad Bin Mubarak 'Alawi Kirmani (Lahore: Oriental College, Punjab University Press, 2008), 22. 37 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 219-20 and Nizami and Khan, Sultan-i Ishaq, 22.

31 Figure 1. Family Chart

Aḥmad Kirmān

Shams al Dīn Bībī Rānī Muḥammad

Damghanī Maḥmūd Kirmānī

Mariyam Nūr al-Dīn Kamāl al-Dīn Quṭb al-Dīn Saiyyid Khātūn Mubārak Aḥmad Aḥmad Khāmosh

Amir Khurd Saiyyid Saiyyid ‘Imād al-Dīn Nūr al-Dīn Luqmān Dawū’d Amir Saleh Nūr

Muḥammad Maḥmūd

32 1.2.2 Amir Khurd’s Early Life

Siyar al-awliyā informs that Amir Khurd was born in Delhi, the child was named by

Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā after his own name, Muḥammad. Amir Khurd remained an understudied personality for the historians of medieval India as no one has yet attempted to write an independent biography of him. Though one can find some short notes on him in Akhbār al-akhyār of Shaykh ‘Abd al-Ḥaqq Muḥadith Dehlavī, Khazīnat al-aṣfiȳa

(comp. 1873) by Ghulam Sarwar Lahorī and Nuzhat al-khawāṭir by Allama ‘Abd al-

Hai’yy al-Lakhnavī. Other than Siyar al-awliyā itself, only Akhbār al-akhyār can be regarded a sole source on his life and family. Since the other two do not add any novel piece of information into our knowledge regarding Amir Khurd. Among secondary sources include Khaliq Ahmad Nizami’s article in Encyclopedia Iranica,38 Aslam

Farrukhi’s article in Dabistān-i Niẓām,39 and Tanvir Anjum’s article in Encyclopedia of

Islam.40 Apart from these small articles, we have no exclusive biographical information on Amir Khurd which proves that there is dearth of sources on his personality and contribution to tadhkirah writing.

1.2.3 Education and Career

Amir Khurd remained very close to the khānqāh of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā during his childhood which contributed much towards his educational career. In Siyar al-awliyā

Amir Khurd appears as a well-read author. He started his education at Delhi in the same madrassah which was founded by his father when the former was four years four months

38 Khaliq Ahmad Nizami, “Amīr Ḵord” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1989, accessed July 20, 2016, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/amir-kord-sayyed-mohammad-b. 39 Aslam Farrukhi, Dabistān-i nizām: Sultānulmashāʼikh Hazrat Nizam al-Din Awliyā Maḥbūb-i Ilāhī ke dabistān-i ʻilm o adab kā tafsīlī jāʼizah (Lahore: Pakistan Writers Cooperative Society, 1997). 40 Tanvir Anjum, “Amir Khurd,” Encyclopedia of Islam, Three (Boston, Leiden: Brill, 2015).

33 and four days old, which is also known as tasmiyya ceremony. He was twelve years old when he learnt the Qur’an by heart.41 He learnt ‘Ilm-i Uṣūl or the principles of religion from renowned scholars of the time. Maulana Fakhr al-Dīn Zarrādī (d. 1347), Maulana

Rukn al-Dīn of Andrapat, and Maulana ‘Alā al-Dīn of Andrapat were his teachers.

Maulana Qāsim (the nephew of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā and Khwaja Abū Bakr’s paternal uncle) was also his mentor and taught him well in fifty years. He was taught

Diwān-i Aḥsan by Ḥussām al-Dīn Multanī, also known as Qāḍī Sharaf al-Dīn Firūzgahī,42

Al-hidāyah fi sharah bidayat al-Mubtadī, commonly known as al-Hidāyah, (a book on

Ḥanafī jurisprudence by Burhān al-Dīn Marghinānī (d. 1197), Al-kashshāf ‘an haqā’iq al- tanzīl, written by Zamakhsharī, Uṣūl al-bazdawī kanzul wuṣūl ‘ilam ma‘rifat al-uṣūl takhrīkh ahadīth uṣūl al-bazdawī a book on the principles of legal law, Mashāriq al-

Anwār by Razī al-Dīn as-Sāghanī and Maṣābīh (collection of hadith), Imām al-Qudūri’s

Mukhtaṣar al-Qudūrī, Majma‘ al-baḥrayn, Kafiyāh, and Mīzān. These are some of the books which he was instructed by learned teachers of the time. He was also well acquainted with the Arabic and Persian commentaries of the Qur’an.

Siyar al-awliyā is the only source of information regarding the education and career of Amir Khurd. There is no information given for his financial sources, except that he joined government service under Sultan Muḥammad ibn Tughluq for some time which he later left. After that he started writing his only known or extant work, Siyar al-awliyā.

However, it seems clear that he belonged to a well-off family when he records that his father spent a lot of money on his education.

41 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 206-7. 42 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 206-7.

34 Section III

1.3 Siyar al-awliyā: An Introduction

Siyar al-awliyā’ dar aḥwāl va malfūẓāt-i mashāyikh-i-Chisht [Biographies of the Sufis and the States and Conversations of the Chishtī Sufi Masters] is very fascinating text. It is considered to be the first tadhkirah or sufi memoir in medieval India. Ample efforts have been made to ascertain its exact date of completion, but none could be counted as accurate. However, the preface of Siyar al-awliyā and British Museum catalogue inform that Amir Khurd wrote it in the reign of Sultan Firūz Shah Tughluq while he was at fiftieth year of his age. It is certified that Siyar al-awliyā came out after Ḍiya’ al-Dīn

Baranī’s Tarīkh-i Firūzshāhī as the former contains numerous excerpts of the former.

Baranī completed his work around 1356, and Amir Khurd praised the writing style of

Baranī in Siyar al-awliyā. It can be inferred that Amir Khurd started writing his work after 1356, then Siyar al-awliyā was written between 1356-1368, as Amir Khurd died in

1368/9.

Having said that, it is important to note that the tadhkirah under study is a voluminous study of the said period and left no information untouched regarding Silsilah- i Chishtīyya- Niẓamīyya. As discussed earlier, it is neither a tadhkirah nor a malfūẓ or a treatise but could be any of them as it is a mirror image to the sufi teachings likewise. It proved beneficial for all the later tadhkirah writers. Besides being a trend-setter or a pioneering work for tadhkirah writing in South Asia it also provides bulk of informative data on medieval Indian society. Tadhkirah literature produced after it for instance, Siyar al-‘ārifīn (1531-1535) by Shaykh Ḥāmid b. Faḍl Allah Jamālī, (d. 942/1536). Gulzār-i abrār by Muḥammad Ghauthī Shaṭṭārī Manḏavī (1605-10/1013-1018), Akhbār al-akhȳar

35 to a voluminous tadhkirah titled Khāzīnat al-aṣfiȳa would not have been able to get any access to such details on the Chishtī sufis. Particularly the lesser known companions, devotees and disciples of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā if Amir Khurd had not compiled

Siyar al-awliyā for later generations.

It is interesting to note that Siyar al-awliyā not only provides an exhaustive list of the disciples of Bābā Farīd and Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā and opens a door to their life accounts, but it also gives details on their writings and malfūẓāt and proves their authenticity. At various points in Siyar al-awliyā Amir Khurd mentions some unknown and unexplored malfūẓāt of Bābā Farīd and Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā .43 For example, Majmū‘ al-fawā’id is a malfūẓ collection of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā compiled by Abd al-Azīz ibn Abū Bakr.44 Amir Khurd records that a man penned down around five hundred malfūẓāt of Bābā Farīd.45 Siyar al-awliyā holds some other remarkable features, as it contains references from the books which are lost in the dust of history such as Afḍal al-Fawā’id,46 Taṣrīf-i Badrī by Shaykh Badr al-Dīn Ishāq,47 Uṣūl al-

ṭarīqa by Ḥamīd al-Dīn Nagaurī,48 Laṭā’if al-tafsīr by Maulana Qāsim,49 and some extracts are from the much celebrated works of Taṣawwuf like Iḥyā al-‘ulūm al-dīn, by

Imām Ghazzālī (d. 1111).50 Notably, Amir Khurd had himself witnessed Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn and remained in his company for a long time. That is why he was also able to add

43 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 74. (see details in chapter three). 44 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 207. 45 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 76. 46 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 302. 47 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 173. 48 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 159-60. 49 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 205. 50 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 247.

36 multiple important prayers, types of dhikr,51 and cite quotations and extacts from different books like Qushayrī’s Al-risalā-’i Qushayrīyyah, ‘Awārif, Khulaṣā al-aṣfiyyā and numerous others.

Amir Khurd’s style of writing is anecdotal, and these anecdotes are simple and interesting accounts which give smooth understanding of the society in a well-knitted way. Presentation of these anecdotes attached with personal experiences makes them more effective, convincing and factual. In this case he gives close and in-depth details of the society of the given period. The subjects presented in anecdotes are vast and open.

These include the betterment of society, education of people, flourishing of ethical values, endowments, sacrifice, open-heartedness, sympathies, good wishes, forgiveness, acceptance and distribution of endowments, poverty, loneliness, ways of earning livelihood, condemnation or self-praise, and so on and so forth. The tadhkirah can be interpreted through the use of insights from phenomenology of religion, i.e. rather than highlighting the belief system of the society, it explains the ways religion was lived and experienced by the sufis and people around them.

Furthermore, in Siyar al-awliyā, the author cites an incident in detail at one point while gives another version of the same incident at another point.52 In few cases, it can be regarded self-contradiction while other examples prove it self-explanations, as the author is unable to explain one detail with a certain example, so he is throwing some light with the other context. Throughout the book, Amir Khurd used anecdotal style of narration.

The diction and language of anecdotes are simple and common, and anyone with average intelligence, imagination and knowledge of Persian language can get the meaning. Amir

51 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 692. 52 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 83-85,178 passim.

37 Khurd does not seem oblivious of the facts about how and what past and history are going to be projected in his tadhkirah. The fact remains that he was penning down a tradition and history the way it was. He was a younger contemporary of Ḍiya’ al-Dīn

Baranī and Shams al-Sirāj ‘Afīf. He was well-acquainted with Baranī’s writings and one finds him praising Baranī for his literary brilliance, intellect and historical knowledge.53

The former could have followed the style of writing of the latter, but he chooses not to. In

Baranī’s writings historical actors are colliding, having conflicting interests and designs.

One sees Baranī safeguarding interests of the conventional orthodox Sunni ‘ulemā.54 He has little sympathy for the converts and non-Muslims. Contrarily, the style of narration in

Siyar al-awliyā shows sufis sitting among the common people, including Muslim and non-Muslims.

1.3.1 Organization of the Text

The writer seems to be a well-read person when he adopts the organizational style of writing from Al- risalā-’i Qushayrīyyah fi ‘Ilm al-Taṣawwuf (written around 1045) by

Abd al-Karīm al-Qushayrī’ Nishapūrī (d. 1074) and Kashf al-Maḥjūb of Abu’l Ḥassan

‘Alī al-Hujwirī.55 As mentioned above that he is also acquainted with the early Persian sufi scholars like Yahya Razī (d. 871), Abu’l Ḥassan Kharqānī (d. 1033), Abū Sa‘īd

Abu’l Khayr (d. 1049), al-Qushayrī along with many others. In this way Amir Khurd’s

Siyar al-awliyā is a mediatory work which reconciles the new trends and previous traditions. Following these lines Siyar al-awliyā is divided into ten long chapters, there are minimum one and maximum twenty-one sections, further it ranges from minimum

53 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 312-13. 54 Ḍiya’ al-Dīn Baranī, Fatāwā-i Jahāndārī, ed., Afsar Saleem Khan (Lahore: Idarāh-i Taḥqīqāt- i Pakistan, Danishgah-i Panjab, 1972), 125- 30. 55 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 14-15.

38 two and maximum twenty-eight subsections. In addition, the book is organized so well that it drives the reader to the journey of the timeline of events and personalities who lived during that time.

Amir Khurd is not specific with the dates in Siyar al-awliyā but he has confined or limited his information to a particular period. Use of Persian language for writing this tadhkirah suggests that its target readership was Persian-speaking migrant Muslim families and not the local Indians who were not much familiar with Persian. It is a humble portrayal of the linguistic styles in Persian language during medieval India. It blends the distinct expression with exemplary styles of writing.

1.3.2 Content of the Tadhkirah

Amir Khurd telescoped a massive amount of medieval India’s thought and culture, social traditions and ethnic trends along with scholarship and intellectual developments, eating habits, dressing trends, famous trade goods and much more about that period. Siyar al- awliyā thus provides us with a view from the edge.56 The reader feels like roaming around the medieval period from Ghaznavid to Tughlaqs. The tadhkirah possesses an enormous variety of contents in it which is distinct from rest of its contemporary literature. It starts with the lineage tree of the Chishtī Silsilah tracing it back from Prophet

Muhammad (PBUH) to the details about Khwaja Mu’īn al-Dīn Ajmerī (d. 1236), Quṭb al-

Dīn Bakhtiyār Kākī, their affiliations and life accounts. Afterwards, it delineates the details on Bābā Farīd, his family history and reference about his pious mother and virtuous daughters and sons. Then it goes on to Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā. Much of the work is devoted to him, and his affiliation to Bābā Farīd and his prominent khalīfahs,

56 Richard Bulliet, “A qualitative approach to medieval Muslim biographical dictionaries,” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, (1970), vol XIII, 95-211.

39 disciples and teachings. However, the book provides profound insights into the society of the time while dealing with the sensitive issues of Muslim understanding of Hinduism.

Female spirituality, religion, economy, family-life, education system and scholarship, and socio-economic life in the khānqāh are some of the important themes discussed in Siyar al-awliyā.

Another remarkable feature of its contents is that it has a separate section on much debated Chishtī practice of samā‘ (invoking the Divine love and presence by listening to sufi devotional music) and raqṣ (ecstatic dance). In Chishtī Silsilah, poetry and music can be a type of Divine rabidity. The book gives enormous information in this regard. It does not leave the reader unaware about the controversies regarding samā‘ practice and provides with some comments from its opponents too. Not just to ennoble Silsilah-i

Chishtīyya but actually by providing facts Siyar al-awliyā contributes much for exalting the Silsilah.

1.3.3 Chapterization

What follows is a chapterization of Siyar al-awliyā:

1. The first chapter starts with the sufis of Silsilah-i Chishtīyyah from the Holy

Prophet (PBUH) to Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā in forty-six sections.

2. Second chapter informs about the disciples of Khwaja Mu‘īn al-Dīn Sijzī, Shaykh

Quṭb al-Dīn Bakhtiyār Kākī and Bābā Farīd in six sections.

3. The third chapter of the book deals with the descendants of Bābā Farīd, relatives of

Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn and Kirmānī family (Amir Khurd’s family) in six sections.

4. Twenty-six sections of the fourth chapter provide details about the khalīfahs and

disciples of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn.

40 5. Chapter five throws light on few personalities who were friends and close disciples

of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā in two sections.

6. Chapter six consists of fifteen sections and informs about the duties of the

disciples.

7. Chapter seven records various types of prayers prescribed by Bābā Farīd, Shaykh

Niẓam al-Dīn in total seventeen sections.

8. Eighth chapter of Siyar al-awliyā consists of seven sections, which talk about sufi

notion of Divine love or ‘ishq and the vision of God.

9. Ninth chapter exclusively deals with samā‘ in eleven elaborate sections.

10. The tenth and the last chapter is about sayings and the letters of Shaykh Niẓam al-

Dīn addressed to his mentor and fellow sufis. It has twenty-eight sections in total.

1.3.4 Publication and Translations of Siyar al-awliyā

India Office Library in London and Calcutta Asiatic Library in India contain manuscripts of Siyar al-awliyā. The Persian text was published in 1860 from Delhi for the very first time. Second time, Chiranjī Lāl printed it from Moḥibb-i Hind Press, Delhi in 1884. Later in 1978 Markaz-i Taḥqīqāt-i Farsī Iran Pakistan, (Islamabad) reprinted its Chiranjī Lāl edition for the second time. There is another unknown translation of Siyar al-awliyā printed by Allah Waley kī Quamī Dokān. While the first Urdu translation of Siyar al- awliyā was rendered by Ghulam Ahmad Biryan in 1923 from Lahore. It was published again by Al-kitab, Lahore in 1978 and later by Mushtaq Book Corner, Lahore, which is undated. Later, Ijaz al-Haqq Quddusi translated it again in Urdu and published in 1980 through Markazi Urdu Board, Lahore. More than five editions of this Urdu translation came out after the first edition. Notably, in 2013 Siyar al-awliyā was also translated into

41 English, published by Idarāh-i Adabiyāt-i Dillī. This translation is rendered by Ishrat

Hussain Ansari, Hamid Afaq Qureshi and Al-Taimi al-Siddiqi.

It is important to mention that the Chiranjī Lāl edition tells the complete title of the book as “Siyar al-awliyā fi muḥabbat al-Ḥaqq jalla wa ‘alā” [Biographies of the

Sufis in Love with God, the Ultimate Truth, the Almighty and the Powerful],57 while the

India Office Library catalogue in London (keeping the Chiranjī Lāl edition and Markaz-i

Taḥqīqāt-i Fārsī Irān-o Pakistan edition) and the US Library of Congress Office manuscript indicates the complete title of the work as “Siyar al-awliyā dar aḥwāl va malfūẓāt-i mashāyikh-i-Chisht” [Biographies of the Sufis and the States and

58 Conversations of the Chishtī Sufi Masters].

There is a lot of criticism on the authenticity of Siyar al-awliyā for not being an original work but rather a copy of Fawā’id al-fu’ād.59 The critics argue that Amir Khurd used information provided by Amir Ḥassan and sometimes by Ḍiya’ al-Dīn Baranī.60

Evidence suggests that Amir Khurd consulted both of these sources and many other works which he referred to in Siyar al-awliyā. The work offers more elaborate details on many issues along with new information on varied themes than the works cited above.

Moreover, he did not conceal or hide this fact, as pointed out above. At some points,

Amir Khurd acknowledges his sources. Noteworthy to mention is that it was not customary in those days to refer to or cite the sources used like modern-day historical

57 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 14, 20. 58 Accession List, South Asia (New Delhi: E. G. Smith for the U.S. Library of Congress Office 1987), 6:1090-91. 59 Muhammad Habib, “Chishti Mystic Records of the Sultanate Period,” in Medieval India Quarterly. (1950), vol. 1, no 42. Following M. Habib’s tradition in this regard Bruce. B. Lawrence, Carl. Ernst and many others argue the same. 60 Bruce B. Lawrence, An Overview of Sufi Literature in the Sultanate Period: 1250-1526 AD (Patna: Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library, 1979), 12.

42 methodologies. It would be unfair if one does not consider the conventions of the time when the text was produced. Viewing medieval realities with the present-day lens would be erroneous to the spirit of the age.

43 Chapter 2

Socio-cultural Aspects of Medieval North Indian History

Throughout the human history interactions between different civilizations and cultures has contributed much to the common legacy of humanity in all times and places. Notably socio-cultural histories are never static anywhere in the world which equally applies to

India.1 The thirteenth- and fourteenth-century India holds a complex socio-cultural history. One of the central features of the land remained foreign incursions along with settlements of these foreigners from time to time. These developments further added to the cultural, linguistic, ethnic, religious and sectarian diversity of the land. Before the establishment of Turco-Persian rule (which is often referred to as Muslim rule, since the rulers were Muslims by faith) in North India, the rulers had a history of territorial expansions in Africa, Central Asia and Persia, where they absorbed and appropriated varied aspects of socio-cultural traditions and customs. The cultural glory and magnificence was achieved during the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century India through admixture of vernacular and foreign languages, literature and poetic themes and genres, taste in art, architecture, trends in dressing, food and musical traditions. These served as a precursor to the charm, grandeur and glory of the subsequent centuries, referred to as the

Mughal period. The socio-cultural history of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century India unfolds social connections among the indigenous folks and settlers at multiple levels. It shows that the settlement of Muslims was not merely an intrusion but rather a rich

1 Radhakamal Mukerjee, “Caste and Social Change in India”, American Journal of Sociology, vol. 43, no. 3 (Nov 1937), 377.

44 cultural experience. This process of adoption and adjustment turned the said period into a more distinguished era than any other.

The present chapter is aimed at delving into the less-explored socio-cultural aspects of the said period. It highlights the processes of intellectual exercises, economic changes and their link with socio-cultural growth in terms of major shifts in common peoples’ life-styles, the development of different languages, food culture, clothing, customs, status of women in the daily life and common taste in music, building constructions and the common diseases of the time. Moreover, it investigates how khānqāh life became an alternate social world for many. This chapter also explores the ways in which Indian and Turco-Persian (also referred to as Muslim culture) interacted with each other, giving birth to the ‘Indo-Muslim culture’ in South Asia.

2.1 Nature and Dynamics of Indo-Muslim Culture

Etymologically, the term ‘culture’ refers to growth. It is people’s social legacy or their styles of living life which includes customs, values, traditions and institutions. It is a

“complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, law, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.”2 Culture is the ways of living and thoughts articulated by human actions in language, literature, poetry, art, crafts and institutions inherited by them. Medieval India’s culture has been influenced by some strong human actions from inside and outside the Indian peripheries. Most important among all is the Mongol invasions of the territories under the Abbasid Empire, with its capital at Baghdad.3 It was a major push factor for migrants’ influx into India.

2 Jerry D. Moore, Visions of Culture: An Introduction to Anthropological Theories and Theorists (New York: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2012), 5. 3 There were only two states resisting the Mongol attacks, i.e. the Delhi Sultanate in India and the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt. For more details see, A B. M Habibullah, The Foundation of Muslim

45 Resultantly, India being a land of opportunities (pulling factor) and a newly established

Muslim state, became the host of immigrants.4 These migrations facilitated inter- marriages along with some conversions. It resulted in the increase of Muslim population in India. In the thirteenth-century Sultanate of Delhi, though the Turks preferred to practice of endogamous marriages as much as possible, it is also true that they married women from the native Indian population. Important to note that some of the Sultans were very much related to India. Many of them had Indian mothers. For instance, in

1316, after ‘Alā al-Dīn Khaljī’s death when his six-years old son was enthroned for few months, his mother was a Hindu princess.5 It has been suggested that the Quarana Turks were the products of union of Mongols and Indian women. Firūz Shah Tughluq’s mother was a Bhattī of Dipālpur.6 In the fifteenth century, the Afghan rulers in India married into

Hindu clans as well. However, these facts are likely to have been downplayed in the chronicles of history.7 It seems difficult to accept that the rulers did not take cultural influences from their Indian mothers and relatives. In addition to the migrations and incursions, the cultural exchange in India through the sufi khānqāhs also possess a distinct colour in its social history. Particularly, the pluralistic ideology of the Chishtīs gave rise to inter-communal harmony in the region. Their latitudinarian outlook helped in

Rule in India (A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi: 1206-1290 AD) (Allahabad: Central Book Depot,1961) see also, Muhammad Aziz Ahmad, Political History and Institutions of the Early Turkish Empire of Delhi (1206-1290 A.D) (Lahore: Research Society of Pakistan, 1949). 4 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 211. The argument has been discussed by many authors that Delhi’s cosmopolitan character was supported by many causes most importantly the immigrants from Central Asia and Khurasan. Mainly it was due to the Mongol threat. I. H. Siddiqui. Composite Culture under the Sultans of Delhi. (New Delhi: Primus Books, 2012), see chapter one. 5 Ḍiya’ al-Dīn Baranī, Tarīkh-i Firūzshāhī, ed., Saiyyid Ahmad Khan (Calcutta: Bibliotheca Indica, The Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1862), 335 and 342-46. 6 Baranī, Tarīkh-i Firūzshāhī, 37-40. 7 Andre Wink, Al-Hind: The Making of the Indo-Islamic World Vol III Indo-Islamic Society 14th- 15th Centuries (Boston, Leiden: Brill, 2004), 127.

46 developing cordial relations with the non-Muslims, while imbibing and appropriating various traditions of the Indian culture and its norms.

Taking medieval India’s socio-cultural history and interactions between Muslims’ and Hindu religious traditions into account, scholars have developed different theories and conceptual formulations to explain. The first one is the composite culture theory, which was propounded by Tara Chand in 1936 in his Influences of Islam on Indian

Culture.8 Composite culture refers to a mixture of separate but interconnected cultural elements. Tara Chand argues that Indian history shows strong imprints of composite culture, since it presents a blend of varied cultures and traditions, and it remained a remarkable feature, particularly during the medieval period.9 However, this idea was later challenged in 1980s by Asim Roy in his The Islamic Syncretic Tradition in Bengal.10 The concept of syncretism refers to mixing of two independent and different forces. Roy assumes Islam and Hinduism as two independent and different entities. However, the folk writings, referred to as mediators, deliberately borrowed traditions and teachings from both religions and local Bengali culture, which Roy studied, formulated syncretic fusion.

Nevertheless, Roy’s theoretical formulation was challenged by more recent scholars like

Tony K. Stewart, Carl. W. Ernst and others.11 Stewart argues that syncretism is

8 Tara Chand, Influences of Islam on Indian Culture (University of Michigan/Delhi: Indian Press, 1963 rpt.; first Published 1936). 9 Though his idea has been challenged later in 1980s but many historians followed his suit, like I. H. Siddiqui. See Iqtidar Hussain Siddiqui, Composite Culture under the Sultanate of Delhi (Delhi: Primus Books, 2012). 10 Asim Roy The Islamic Syncretic Tradition in Bengal, (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1983.) 11 Tony K. Stewart and Carl. W. Ernst, “Syncretism” in Peter J. Claus and Margaret A. Mills eds., South Asian Folklore: An Encyclopedia (New York: Routledge, 2003), Carl Ernst’s critique on the application of ‘syncretism’ as a theory, to religions is also worth mentioning in his other article. see, Carl W. Ernst. “Situating Sufism and Yoga” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 15, No. 1 (April 2005), 17. See also Tony K. Stewart, “In Search of Equivalence: Conceiving Muslim-Hindu Encounter Through Translation Theory,” History of Religions, Vol.

47 “predicated on the assumption that pre-existing and discrete doctrinal or ritual systems are mysteriously combined to form some unnatural mixture.”12 Syncretism commits the

“logical fallacy of petitio principii,” which leads to the assumption that syncretic factors are present.13 Stewart put forth the equivalence theory in 2001 to explain the phenomenon of interaction of Hindu and Muslim cultures. He opines that the medieval Muslim authors were not deriving ideals from the regional language and folk literature to explain their religious beliefs, but they sought for “terms of equivalence” which could easily be adjusted to Islamic philosophies. Important to note is that it was not merely limited to only terminology, “but (to) entire conceptual worlds, metaphoric worlds.” 14 Later in

2009, Finbarr B. Flood in his work, Objects of Translation: Material Culture and

Medieval “Hindu-Muslim” Encounter published in 2009 presented theory of translation.15 Flood analyses that various threads of conversation persistently existed among different communities of India since the eighth century. He contested the idea that every regional beginning in India under Muslim rule is a “tabula rasa.” Flood views temple demolition and formation of mosques (either on the same site or at other sites but using materials from demolished buildings) as attempts to employ, re-contextualize, reallocate and re-appropriate the sacred power within religious or political framework.

His insights build on “translations across material cultures” by undertaking a detailed

16 research on the text and material of varied structures.

40, No. 3 (Feb, 2001), 260-287. Later, anthologized in Richard. M. Eaton, India’s Islamic Traditions, 711-1750, (Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press, 2003), 363-392. 12 Stewart, “In Search of Equivalence,” 364. 13 Stewart, “In Search of Equivalence,” 372. 14 Stewart, “In Search of Equivalence,” 375. 15 Flood, Objects of Translation. 16 He has given a detailed analysis of the material of the six buildings in chapter five of the study. These building range from the “royal palace in Fīruzkūh, the Quṭb Mosque in Delhi, the Aṛhāī’-

48 Noteworthy to mention that not only in India, but in Muslim history generally throughout the world, “Islam was expressed through local cultures and in harmony with them.”17 Moreover, the non-Muslims got converted to Islam at the hands of the sufis, or because of their association with sufi shrines, particularly the Chishtīs. These new converts were never forced to give up their customs or traditions and to assume new rules of comportment. Richard W. Bulliet maintains that converting one’s religious beliefs is to create mixed religio-cultural traditions of previous and new learnings. In his Conversion to Islam in the Medieval Period, he argues that the Muslim culture or society gradually imbibed the social, cultural and regional traits from the captured areas.18 Most importantly, Richard M Eaton came up with his theory of “accretion and reform,” according to him, at the first place (accretion) the new converts added new deities or super-humans to the already existing cosmic world. Later (in reform), they viewed themselves as socially distinct from non-Muslims, developing some sense of Muslim identity. Eaton further maintains that this process took a long time in India and Muslims

19 here adopted Indian cultural values as per the course of accretion and reform.

The culture in India after Muslim settlement was neither Islamic, nor Indian, but an interfusion of various cultural traditions together. This particular time witnessed strong

din-ka-Jhompra Mosque at Ajmir in Rajasthan, the Chaurasi Khambha Mosque at Kaman, the Shahi Masjid at Kathu and the Masjid-i Sangvi at Larvand.” Flood, Objects of Translation, see chapter 5, 137-226. 17 Hasan Ali Khan, Constructing Islam on the Indus; The Material History of the Suhrawardi Sufi Order, 1200-1500 AD (Delhi: Cambridge University Press, 2016), xv. 18 See Richard W. Bulliet, Conversion to Islam in Medieval Period: An Essay in Quantitative History (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1979). 19 Richard M. Eaton “Approaches to the Study of Conversion to Islam in India” in Islam in Religious Studies, ed., Richard Martin (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1985), 122.

49 currents of cultural accommodations.20 It gave rise to the Indo-Muslim culture, which cannot be termed as composite or syncretic. It interdigitated the religio-cultural values, norms and institutions of the communities living together. The migrant Muslims adopted some of the Indian customs and traditions, blending them with their Turco-Persian traditions.21 As for the Indian converts to Islam, or the ‘new Musalmāns’, they retained many of their Hindu beliefs and traditions, and appropriated new elements from the Arab,

Turco-Persian and Afghan culture, The key feature of the socio-cultural history of Indian region is its social harmony. The shared sacred sites and their shared histories and memories are proofs of it.22 The intermingling of the Turco-Persian and Indian cultures created a distinct socio-cultural pattern. However, this change was neither glaringly perceptible, nor sudden or abrupt. Therefore, this period in Indian history is known as the

23 era of cultural intermixing.

2.2 Development of Vernaculars and the Chishtī Sufis

The history of medieval India informs that Muslims inherited a system of governance from their predecessor Sassanids of Persian, and then blended it with the norms of Indian political traditions. Along with many other administrative techniques, their court culture and official language was Persian. Nearly all the official histories of the time known until now, are in Persian. The appointed officials who served the Sultans, were all well-

20 Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal, Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy (Lahore: Sang-e-Meel Publications, 2011), 27. Third Edition, first 1998. 21 Eaton, “Approaches to the Study of Conversion to Islam in India,” 122, see also, J. J. Roy Burman, “Hindu-Muslim Syncretism in India,” Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 31, no. 20 (May 1996), 1211. 22 For details see, Anna Bigelow, Sharing the Sacred: Practicing Pluralism in Muslim North India (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009) and Burman, “Hindu-Muslim Syncretism in India.” 23 See Jamal Malik, Islam in South Asia: A Short History (Leiden: Brill, 2008), see Part one: 27- 84.

50 conversant in Persian language,24 rest had to take help from them. The literary figures, who were patronized by the rulers, always associated themselves with the Arab or later

Turco-Persian culture and not with the native Indian culture, though the literature they produced came to be referred to as ‘Indo-Persian,’ since it had a distinct Indian or local flavour. The fact remains that the state or the ruling elite were not of much help in the development of vernacular or regional languages and literature in North India, while the said period witnessed tremendous growth of different regional languages and dialects.

Notably, the development of varied languages and their texts played an important part in the identity formation of their target readership.25 In this regard, the sufis, particularly the

Chishtīs, played a crucial role in the development of vernacular languages and literature in India.

It is also true that majority of the texts produced in the sufi khānqāhs were in

Persian, and the text under study was also written originally in Persian. Then the question arises, how did the Chishtīs play their role in the development of vernacular languages?

Noteworthy to mention is that Sufism gradually became an important part of the social, devotional vogue and religious life in India. The sufis were not like Christian ascetics

(who practised celibacy), but many of them had social and family lives.26 Only a distinct

24 Muzaffar Alam, “The Culture and Politics of Persian in Precolonial-Hindustan” in Sheldon Pollock, ed., Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions from South Asia (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003), 131-198. 25 In the likely manner, scholars working on the linguistics, argue that there can be multiple scripts and expressions for a single language and one script for different languages and expressions. Carmen Brandt and Pushkar Sohoni, “Script and Identity–the Politics of Writing in South Asia: An Introduction,” South Asian History and Culture, vol. 9, no. 1 (January 2018), 1- 15. 26 Shaykh Mu’īn al-Dīn Chishtī Ajmerī had a large family. Shaykh Farīd married four wives. He had three daughters and five sons. Zahurul Hassan Sharib, Khawaja Gharīb Nazwaz (Lahore: Muhammad Ashraf Publishers, 1991 rpt.; first Published 1961), 56. Siyar al-awliyā, 186- 193. Qāḍī Ḥamīd al-Dīn Sivālī Nagaurī also had a family life along with many other Chishtī Shaykhs.

51 type of sufis preferred seclusion, but many of them who practiced celibacy were commanded by their Shaykhs to socialize with people, to serve them and get solace in it.

Thus, the sufis interacted with common people while listening to their problems and concerns. In these day-to-day interactions, the Chishtīs used local languages and dialects, while communicating with the natives,27 which rendered them more indigenous and

Indianized. Gatherings of local inhabitants and immigrants from Arabia, Persia, Central

Asia and other parts of the Islamicate world in their khānqāhs created a space where the fusion of people hailing from varied linguistic, cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds was made possible. Vocabulary from Persian and Arabic found way in many vernacular

Indian languages and their dialects. Punjabi, Gujrati, Sindhi, and Marathi and its vernaculars are few major examples in this regard.

This linguistic fusion triggered the growth of new languages. Hindavī, or the proto-Urdu, in India took multiple forms in its initial period of development. Siyar al- awliyā provides numerous evidences of the growth and development of Hindavī and its dialects in North India within the Chishtī khānqāhs. Unfortunately, there are no references available for Mu’īn al-Dīn Chishtī Ajmerī’s known words of Hindavī.

However, his popularity among the Indians (including the Hindus) exhibits that he must had been familiar with the Hindavī language. His titles like “Hind al-walī” and “Gharīb- nawāz” bear testimony to his fame among the local inhabitants.28 His khalīfah Ḥamīd al-

It was only three Chishtī Shaykhs who did not go for marital life, including Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā, Quṭb al-Dīn Bakhtiyār Kākī and a few others. 27 Tariq Rehman, From Hindi to Urdu; Social and Political History (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2011), 23. 28 Maulvī Abd al-Ḥaqq, Urdū kī ibtada’ī nashonumā mein Sufiyā-i’ karām ka kām, (Delhi: Anjuman Taraq’ī Urdu Aligarh, n.d.), 8-9. Moreover, and “Bandanawāz” a title for Saiyyid Husayn Gesūdīrāz of Gulbarga known as Bandanawāz (d. 1422) also informs about the Indianized colour in the personalities of the Chishtī Shaykhs. and see also, Syed Shah Khusro

52 Dīn Sivālī Nagaurī’s family is also known among the earliest Indian sufis who used

Hindavī in their daily life. Along with Siyar al-awliyā, the malfūẓat of Shaykh Ḥamīd al-

Dīn Nagaurī titled Sarūr al-ṣudūr testify the fact that he could easily converse with the

Hindus in the native dialects of Hindavī. Words like khat, (charpa’ī in Urdu/Punjabi and bedstead in English) churā (Indian dagger with sharp-edged blade) and thāl (a big tray), which are found in his malfūẓāt, show that he used Hindavī words in his daily speech.29 It is reported in Sarūr al-ṣudūr that Shaykh Ḥamīd al-Dīn composed poetry in Persian,

30 Arabic along with Hindavī.

In addition, Siyar al-awliyā and Fawā’id al-fu’ād record a Hindavī sentence uttered by Bābā Farīd. As the story goes, once Mādir-i mo’mināṇ (mother of the faithful’s) asked Bābā Farīd in Hindavī, ‘khojā Burhān al-Dīn abhī balā hai” (the kid

Burhān al-Dīn is not mature yet) to which he replied in Urdu “Punūṇ ka chānd bhī balā hota hai.” (the crescent or the new moon is also small in size.)31 Bābā Farīd could easily converse in Punjabī as well, and his Punjabī poetry popularized the message of Islam and

Sufism in Punjab. Evidence also suggests that he used to prescribe dhikr to the local people in Punjabī.32 In Siyar al-awliyā Amir Khurd’s usage of words like pālkī,33 ghaṛī,

Hussaini, Saiyyid Muhammad al-Husayini-i Gisudaraz: On Sufism (Delhi: Idārah-’i Adabiyat-i Dillī, 1983) Regula Burckhardt Qureshi, Sufi Music of India and Pakistan: Sound Context and Meaning in Qawwāli (London, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 84, Anjana Sharma ed., Records, Recoveries, Remnants and Inter-Asian Interconnections Decoding Cultural Heritage. (Michigan: SG ISEAS- Yusof Ishak Institute Ann Arbor, 2018) and S. C. Raychoudhary, Social Cultural and Economic History of India: Medieval Age (Delhi: Surjeet Publishers, rpt; 2004, first published 1978), 155-58. 29 Nagaurī, Sarūr al-ṣadūr, 107 as cited in Muhammad Aslam, Salaṭīn-i Delhī wa shahān-i Mughliyā ka dhauq-i mausīqī (Lahore: The University of Punjab, 1992), 77. 30 Nagaurī, Sarūr al-ṣadūr, 107. as cited in Aslam, Salaṭīn-i Delhī wa Shahān-i Mughliyā ka dhauq-i mausīqī, 77-78. 31 Amir Khurd Siyar al-awliyā, 183-84. See also al-Ḥaqq, Urdū kī ibtada’ī nashonumā mein Sufiyā-i’ karām ka kām, 10 and numerous others have quoted the incident later on. 32 Shah Kalim-Allah of Jehanabād, Kashkol-i kalimī, (Delhi, 1890), 12-35. Khwaja Gul Muḥammad Ahmadpūrī, Takmila Siyar al-awliyā trans. Urdu Masud Hasan Shihab (Bahawalpur:

53 (watch) postīn, tehband, resham, nān, kandūrī,34 khichṛī, khaṯ,35. chabūtrah or a raised platform and numerous other terms (infra) testify that the sufis not only used Hindavī language but adopted the local culture in daily life. Amir Khusrau, the favourite disciple of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā, is known as the ‘father of Hindī and modern Urdu.’ He wrote in Hindavī because its was the language of Hind and its people; a soft regional language of Delhi and its neighbourhood.36 He always took pride in being an ‘Indian

Turk” and loved Indian languages. (details infra) He writes,

Shakkar-i Miṣrī na dāram kaz ‘Arab gūyam jawāb 37 Turk- i-Hindustāniyam, dar Hindavī gūyam jawāb

(I do not possess Egyptian sugar so that I can have a dialog with the Arab, I am a (proud) Indian Turk, I reply (only) in Hindavī)

The compiler of Khair al-Majālis, Ḥamīd Qalandar used various words from

Hindavī and many of them originated from Punjabī language. It affirms that Shaykh

Naṣīr al-Dīn Chirāgh-i Dillī (d. 1356) used to converse with the locals in their vernacular languages during his majālis (sufi gatherings). A fifteenth century Chishtī sufi, Saiyyid

Husayn Banda-nawaz Gesūdīrāz of Gulbarga (d. 1422) was well-versed in Hindavī,

Maktaba-i Alham, 1978), 3-10. Tanvir Anjum, “Farīd al-Dīn Mas‘ūd”, ed., Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krämer, Danis Matringe and others The Encyclopedia of Islam Three. (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2018), 48. See also M. Ikram Chugatai, Babaji: Life and Teachings of Farid-ud Din Ganj-i Shakar (Lahore: Sang-e- Meel Publications, 2006), 12, 393.. 33 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 137-38. 34 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 138. Amir Hassan Sijzī, Fawā’id al-fu’ād (malfūẓ of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā), ed., Khwaja Hasan Thanī Niẓamī Dehlavī (Delhi: Urdu Academy, 1992 rpt., first published 1990), 260. Sizjī also mention about postīn. 35 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 358. 36 Sunil Sharma, Amir Khusraw: The Poet of Sultans and Sufis. (Oxford: One world Publication, 2006), 81. 37 Muhiuddin Momin, The Chancellery and Persian Epistolography Under The Mughals: From Babur to Shah Jahan (1526- 1658) (Calcutta: Iran Society, 1971), 23 & 26.

54 Dakkanī/Deccanī, and Sanskrit.38 Words like bhāt, ḏhair, cha’jā, pahāṛ, chabūtrah and langoṯā affirm this fact. Once, Gesūdīrāz was asked why he enjoyed Hindavī more than

Persian, to which he replied that both languages have peculiar qualities, but Hindavī is more heart-touching and its expression is more direct. To him, it was soft, and expressed the tenderness, delicacy and suggestiveness better than the other.39 Moreover, a late- sixteenth century Chishtī, Shaykh Abd al-Quddūs Gangohī (d. 1537) was also very good

40 in Hindī, he always used to cry on recitation of Hindī poetry.

As discussed earlier, the Chishtīs were polyglot, they conversed not only in

Persian but also learnt Hindavī and other regional languages and dialects wherever they went and lived. Their contributions are important in Pūrbi (eastern dialect of Hindavī),

Dakkanī, Punjabī, Gojrī along with many others. It is interesting to note that the mathnavī

Nuh-Sipihr of Amir Khusrau refers to the use of Ḏogrī language for the very first time.41

It is also important to note that Amir Khusrau who was a champion of cultural symbiosis and cultural inclusiveness does not find any detailed mention in Siyar al-awliyā, probably since Khurd believed in cultural exclusiveness.

38 Muḥammad Akbar Husaynī, Jaw’ami al-kalim (malfūẓ of Saiyyid Bandanawāz Gesūdīrāz) ed., Muhammad Hamid Siddiqī (Kanpur: Intizamī Press, 1937), 19, Husaynī, Saiyyid Muhammad al- Husayinī-i Gisudaraz see also Saiyid Athar Abbas Rizvi, A History of Sufism in India. Vol. 1 (New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1978), 251. 39 A. R. Momin, “The Role of Sufis in Fostering Inter-Cultural Understanding and Conciliation in India,” In The Islamic Path: Sufism, Society and Politics in India, ed., S. Z. H. Jafri and H. Reifeld, (New Delhi: Rainbow Publishers, 2006), 270. 40 See, Shaykh Abd al-Quddūs Gangohi, Anwār al-ayyūm, Urdu trans, Zubair Ahmad Gulzari (Pakpattan: Nizami Kutub, 2003). 41 He wrote Nuh Sipihr (Nine Skies) in 1318 and tells about Dehlavi as (Dehlvi o pirāmanash andar hamā had). Amir Khusrau, Nuh Sipihr, 1318, 180. K. Ayyappa Paniker, ed., Medieval Indian Literature: Surveys and Selections vols 2, (New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, 1997), 73.

55 It would be very unfortunate if one denies the importance of sufi literature, not only in the North but Eastern and Southern regions of India as well.42 In Siyar al-awliyā,

Amir Khurd narrates an incident when Bābā Farīd used Punjabī language.43 Scholars like

Tariq Rehman, who have extensively worked on the languages of Pakistan, recognize it as Saraiki dialect of Punjabī.44 Likewise, Dakkanī was also promoted by many Muslim sufis and literarī45 who hailed from outside India.46 Having said this, it is important to highlight that the growth which vernaculars found in sufi khānqāhs was not merely a linguistic development but the Chishtīs also helped vernacularize the religious messages

47 and translated Hindu spiritual teachings for Muslims in India.

The Chishtīs integrated and transmitted the Qur’anic ideals to Indian culture while using vernacular languages and traditions. Eaton maintains, “South Asians of the pre- colonial period exhibited considerable ingenuity in integrating Qur’anic ideas into India’s

42 Richard M. Eaton and Ali Asani have worked extensively on it. Eaton, India’s Islamic Traditions and Richard M. Eaton, “Sufi Folk Literature and The Expansion of Indian Islam.” History of Religions Vol. 14, no. 2. (1974): 115-127. See also Ali. S Asani, “Sufi Poetry in the Folk Tradition of Indo-Pakistan,” Religion and Literature. vol. 20, no. 1. The Literature of Islam (1988): 81-94. 43 Amir Khurd writes: “Once I and Shaykh ‘Alā al-Dīn (the grandson of Bābā Farīd, in his childhood), were accompanying Bābā Farīd at his place, one of his servants named ‘Isā Dervish was also there. He washed the Shaykh’s hands and offered him a prayer-mat. However, Shaykh ‘Alā al-Dīn sat on prayer-mat and the dervish gave him an eye-admonishing gesture, when Bābā Farīd noticed them both, he spoke in regional language of that area: ‘Isa’ ‘mubukh tē baē’ (let him sit). Siyar al-awliyā, 194-98. 44 Rehman, From Hindi to Urdu, 24. 45 This term has been used by Richard M. Eaton, the present study has explained it in length in Chapter 4. 46 Deccanī is also called as prototype of modern Urdu. S. Nurul Hasan Religion, State and Society in Medieval India, ed., Satish Chandra (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2005), 70. Michel Boivin traces sufi literarī in Sindh during sixteenth century. Michel Boivin, “Muršid Mulaṇ Šāh (1883-1962): A Sufi Itinerary from Sehwan Sharif in Pakistan to Haridwar in India” Oriente Moderno, vol. 92, no. 2. (2012), 290. 47 Not only in North India but sufis in Sindh also did the same as Michel Boivin opines that “sufis deliberately tried to locate their religious message in a continuum with Shivaism, while at the same time a new orientation and understanding was given according to Sufi spirituality.” Michel Boivin “Shivaite Cults and Sufi Centres: A Reappraisal of The Medieval Legacy in Sindh” in Sindh Through History and Representation: French Contributions to Sindhi Studies, ed., Michel Boivin, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), 22.

56 vernacular languages without actually translating the Qur’an into any of them.”48 The message of Islam was also received by the people in an indigenous colour and language.

This process is termed as vernacularization. The concept of vernacularization was propounded by Sheldon Pollock, he asserts, “vernacularization is a process of choosing to create a written literature, along with its compliment, a political discourse, in local languages according to model supplied by a superordinate, usually cosmopolitan, literary culture.”49 As Tanvir Anjum rightly puts it:

…The universal principles of Islam were vernacularized in specific time and space, and contextualized or localized forms and expressions of Muslim piety emerged in these regions. Owing to the regional geographical and cultural variations, diverse manifestations of Islam in the form of beliefs, thoughts and practices can be seen in these regional settings. The indigenous social and cultural traditions came to be well-reflected in the beliefs and practices associated with Islam. Thus, vernacularization of Islam can be understood as a process through which the message and teachings of Islam adjusted and adapted in local regional 50 environments, particularly in the non-Arab regions.

This establishes the fact that the Chishtī in South Asia did not form a monolithic or monolingual community during the period under study. Regional, ethnic, class and creed differences in their khānqāhs played an important role in prevention of a unified, homogenous or unilingual Muslim ummāh as visualized by shari‘ā-minded ‘ulemā’,51 rather it transformed them into a heterogenous Indian community. As Clifford Geertz observes that culture and religion, both are interlinked and interdepended. He opines that the religious practices are perfect expression of the socio-cultural needs of the people

48 Eaton, India’s Islamic Traditions, 4. 49 Sheldon Pollock, The Language of the Gods in the World of Men: Sanskrit, Culture and Power in Premodern India (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006), 23. 50 Tanvir Anjum, “Vernacularization of Islam and Sufism in South Asia: A Study of the Production of Sufi Literature in Local Languages” Journal of the Research Society of Pakistan, vol. 54, no. 1, (June 2017), 209. For more details on the vernacularization of sufi ideals see, Nile Green, Sufism: A Global History (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), 103. 51 Hasan, Religion, State and Society in Medieval India, 70.

57 living in a society.52 Medieval ‘Indo-sufi’ culture also reflects the intersection of both religion and culture. The Chishtī sufis had a direct role in translating the sufi ethos in indigenous context and weaved it into the socio-cultural vogue of Indo-Muslim life. It is important to note that the assimilative social norms and customs set by the Chishtī sufis permeated throughout the Indian regions, which the Indians could also easily relate

53 themselves to.

The above-mentioned development of languages can be considered as a forerunner to the production of vernacular literature in the Chishtī khānqāhs. Scholars working on linguistics maintain that the growth of languages has a significant link to the growth and development of literature. In the likely manner, Indian sufis’ share to the socio-cultural life along with the growth of literal history through prose and poetry is marvelous.54 They composed the popular lore in local languages and dialects that was intelligible to the indigenous population. Persian was used for production of sufi literature such as hagiographies, malfūẓāt, and theosophical treatises by the sufis or their disciples.55 While different languages saw growth at that time, especially in Chishtī khānqāhs, however, Siyar al-awliyā is silent about the development of vernacular literature. This is because Amir Khurd himself was a descendant of migrants from

Kirmān, (South East Persia), and probably he too, like other migrant families, believed in the notion of the superiority of Persian language, and also believed in the cultural

52 Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures (New York: Basic Books, 1973), 89. 53 Ishwar Diyar Gaur and Surinder Singh have edited an extensive study in this regard with a particular focus on Punjab region. Surinder Singh and Ishwar Dayal Gaur, eds., Sufism in Punjab: Mystics, Literature and Shrines (Delhi: Aakar Books, 2009.) 54 Rekha Pande, Divine Sounds from the Heart—Singing Unfettered in Their Own Voices: The Bhakti Movement and Its Women Saints (12th to 17th Century) (Cambridge: Scholars Publishing, 2010), 18. 55 Malik, Islam in South Asia, 137.

58 supremacy of Persian culture and literature. Yet, it gives plentiful information about the production of different new genres of sufi literature in India at that time. The sufi literature, particularly poetry, usually produced in Persian language had strong local imagery. Details on these genres and their contribution in the intellectual milieu of the period has been discussed in detailed in chapter three of the study.

2.3 Poetic Compositions

As discussed earlier that the sufis not only played a crucial role in the development of languages and literature but many of them were also accomplished poets. Notably, Indo-

Persian poets produced in India during that time were far more in numbers than in the

Persian world together,56 and in the opinion of Paul Losensky, the “Persian poetic culture in India” was also very sophisticated.57 Moreover, Muzaffar Alam’s study of the mixture of Persian poetic and Indian literal traditions of the pre-colonial times, along with

Christopher Shackle’s study of Sindhi and Punjabī lyricists suggest the same. According to them, these traditions were shaped by the Persian literal schematic-designs.

Development of the Indo-Persian poetry was enhanced in a multi-linguistic and multi- layered social context, while the production-places of these poetic traditions were elite gatherings, royal courts, and especially the sufi khānqāhs.58 Supposedly known first of

56 Annemarie Schimmel, Islamic Literatures of India (Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 1973), 1. 57 Paul Edward Losensky, Welcoming Farghānī: Imitation and Poetic Individuality in Safavid- Mughal Ghazal (Costa Mesa, California: Mazda Publication, 1998), 138-141. See also Paul Losensky, “Linguistic and Rehtorical Aspects of the Signature Verse (takhallus) in Persian ghazal” Edebiyat vol. 8, no 2, (1998), 239- 71. 58 Christopher Shackle, Zawahir Moir, Ismaili Hymns from South Asia: An Introduction to the Ginans (Richmond: Curzon Press, 2000). Furthermore, a very recent study done by Sunil Sharma also explains the phenomenon in a delightful way and extends it the ideal vicinity of the Sultanate and Mughal period. Sunil Sharma, Mughal Arcadia: Persian Literature in an Indian Court (Cambridge & London: Harvard University Press, 2017).

59 the sufi khānqāhs for compilation of Persian poetry, is of Khwaja Mu’īn al-Dīn Ajmerī.59

The next in the Chishtī fraternity is Ḥamīd al-Dīn Sivālī Nagaurī, who did not leave behind any diwān (collection of poetry) but occasionally composed a few verses.60 Amir

Khurd mentions the occasional Persian poetic pieces of Bābā Farīd.61 Later, Shaykh

Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā (though himself did not compile poetic collection) patronized Amir

Khusrau, Amir Ḥassan Sijzī and many others like Wajīh al-Dīn Paelī, Maulana Badr al-

Dīn Ishāq, and Amir Khurd, however, the latter’s only known work, Siyar al-awliyā, contains scattered pieces of poetry.62 Musicality was an important feature of their poetry, since their poems were usually set to music and thus used for samā‘.63 Their poetry mesmerized multiple samā‘ assemblies.64 Both sufi and non-sufi poetry was read, recited or sung in the sufi khānqāhs. As a matter of fact, the sufi poets not merely imbibed the

Persian literary conventions but diversified it while adding Indian colours into it. Ernst maintains that sufi poetry in Indian languages exhibit its strong connection with the

65 Indian cultural milieu.

Interesting to note is that whatever was produced in Persian (either prose or poetry) was understood by the educated elite of the society, while the same message was

59 Muʻīnuddīn Hasan Chishtī Sanjarī Ajmerī, Saiyyid Ṣaulat Ḥusain, and Afsar Jamshīd. Kalām-i ʻirfān tarāz. (Delhi: Maktabah-i Rūbī, 1992). 60 Surūr al-ṣudūr, Aligarh Muslim University, Maulana Azad library, Habib Ganj Collection, 69, 74, 302. 61 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 363, 464, 473, 476. 62 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 155, 335, 349, 361, 509 passim. The poetry of Amir Khurd is scattered on the page of Siyar al-awliyā, it is now compiled into a book, for details see, Moeen Nizami and Uzma Aziz Khan, ed., Sultan-i ‘Ishq: Collection of Poetry Saiyyid Muhammad bin Mubarak Al‘awi Kirmāni. (Lahore: Oriental College, Punjab University, 2008). 63 For instance, Amir Khusrau’s qawwālīs were mostly sung for samā gatherings. Ḥamīd al-Dīn Nagaurī wrote a letter to Baba Farīd and whenever he read the words of the letter it turns out to feel ecstatic state throughout the time of reading it. See Siyar al-awliyā, 502-3. 64 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, Amir Khusrau, 60, 301-305 passim, Sijzī, Fawā’id al-fu’ād, 303, 313-15 passim, Fakhr al-Dīn Zarrādī 192, 271-73 passim and Wajīh al-Dīn Paelī, 512. 65 Ernst, Eternal Garden,155.

60 disseminated by the Chishtī sufis in regional languages. The need to articulate the feelings of love of God and the love for humanity helped produce poetry not merely in

Persian but also in Sindhī, Punjabī, Gojrī, Ḏogrī, Dakkanī, Hindavī/Urdu, and many other languages. Bābā Farīd composed soulful poetry in Punjabī, and that is why he is considered as a pioneer of the Punjabī sufi poetical tradition.66 Amir Khurd eulogizes him in his tadhkirah as a leading Shaykh of the Silsilah and referred to few pieces of his

Persian poetry, but he is absolutely silent about his contributions to the Punjabī poetry.

He has shown an indifferent attitude towards the poetry in regional languages. The reason might be the same as stated above; his ideal of Persian linguistic and cultural hegemony.

Probably since he was writing in Persian and it was not an area of his strength.

Nevertheless, the Chishtīs also had other vernacular poets like Saiyyid Gesūdīrāz, who was a versatile poet of Dakkanī.67 Likewise, Hindavī poetry saw the age of development and growth with the famous Amir Khusrau, whose contributions to Hindavī are tremendous.68 Khusrau was not only an expert of Persian poetry but also composed verses in Hindavī (the precursor of modern-day Hindī and Urdu), in various genres like mathnavī, qaṭ‘a, ghazals, tarkīb-i band, rubaī’, do-baitī, and some other styles.69 In addition to poetry, he was also a musician/music composer as well as an excellent music theorist. The amalgamation of Indian musical taste and poetry with the Persian style gave

66 Saeed Ahmad, “Baba Farid: The Pioneer of Punjabi Sufi Poetry” in Singh & Gaur Sufism in Punjab. See also, Muhamad Asif Khan, Akhiyā Bābā Farīd nē (Lahore: Pakistan Punjabi Adabi Board, 1978). or Punjabi and other regional languages see, Sayyida Kalsum Akhtar, “Punjabī sha‘irī nū Chishtī rawayat dī dayn” Unpublished PhD diss. Punjabi Department; University Oriental College, University of the Punjab, Lahore, 2007. 67 Gisudarāz, Khātimah, ed., S. ‘Atta Husayn. (Hyderabad, 1937) 31-31 as cited in Hussaini, Sayyid Muhammad al-Husaynī Gisudirāz. 68 For Khusrau’s contributions in Hindavī see, Wahid Mirza, The Life and Times of Amir Khusrau (Lahore: Punjab University Press, 1962). 227-231. 69 Aslam, Salaṭīn-i Dehlī wa Shahān-i Mughliā ka dhauq-i mausiqī, 20-27, see also, Mirza, The Life and Times of Amir Khusrau, 238-239.

61 new colour to the growth of arts, music and culture in India. He is considered the prime representative of Indo-Muslim culture in India and remembered as the ‘ṭūṭī-i’ Hind’ or the ‘parrot of India.’70 The classical Indian music got familiarized with ghazal style with

Turkish, Arabic and Persian elements amalgamated by Amir Khusrau. He is considered the father of a new musical genre called qawwāli,71 which was nurtured by Chishtī

Silsilah and closely associated with Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā and his famous disciple

Amir Khusrau. The details on Indian music and samā‘ have been offered in chapter four of the study.

Having said that it is also important to note that sufis produced poetry with sufi/spiritual concepts besides powerful social motifs and themes including social evils, problems and laws. It also included miseries of the people and solutions to their problems in a very symbolic way. Alongside, the sufis discussed atrocities of the rulers as well.

Like Maulana Badr al-Dīn Ishāq in his poetic verses in Taṣrīf-i Badrī have pointed out a few problems created by the arrogant attitude of the Sultanate officials.72 The addressees were either their disciples, fellow sufis or the masses. This explains Chishtī association with common people more than any other social group of the society. It approves that sufi writings, either prose or poetry exhibited social and political life unlike the statist discourse. In this regard Shackle’s argument is worth mentioning that there is a serious need to revisit the sufi writings, of medieval period particularly poetry in a very careful way, so that one could get a clear picture of the past, it would “help fill the gap left by the

70 For details see John William Seyller, Pearls of the Parrot of India: The Walters Art Museum, Khamsa of Amir Khusraw of Delhi (Baltimore: Walters Art Museum, 2000). 71 Gopi Chand Narang and David Matthews, “The Indo-Islamic Cultural Fusion and the Institution of Qawwali” Indian Literature, vol. 58, no. 4 (August, 2014), 160-171. see also, Qureshi, Sufi Music of India and Pakistan, 93. 72 ‘Alī ibn Mehmūd Jāndār, Durr-i Nizāmī, trans Urdu, Muhammad Yasīn, (Lahore: Hasīb Publisher, 2012), 30-31. 62 contemporary statist discourse”.73 Chapter three of the present study explains in detail how the new converts, non-Muslims and yogīs alike used to visit the Chishtī khānqāhs.

The Hindu ascetics and Bhaktis too visited them because they both had more or less a similar approach to God. It is believed by some scholars that the sufi poetry of the time was influenced by Rūmī’s expressions of love of God, and love for fellow human beings, irrespective of religion.74 This intermingling of devotional norms gave birth to different themes in sufi poetry, which employed themes and symbols from Hindu religious mythology as well. The admiration of Hindu themes in the sufi poetry has been considered as a remarkable feature of this period.75 These borrowings were indigenized by the sufi in vernacular poetry and knitted them well in the indigenous colours and social norms.76 Amir Khusrau, for instance, referred to Hindu religious rituals as an expression of their love and devotion to the Divine. He states,

Khusrau! aisī pīt ker jaisī Hindu jo’iy Pūt kera’y karney jal jal ko’ilā ho’iy

(Khusrau you need to learn to love, from Hindu as he even burns himself to offer to God)

73 Christopher Shackle, “Punjabi Sufi Poetry from Farid to Farid” in Punjab Reconsidered: History, Culture, and Practice, eds. Anshu Malhotra and Farina Mir (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), 3-34. 74 Siddiq Ali, “Sufi Tradition in Indian Poetry and Music” in Poet Saints of India, ed., M. Sivaramkrishna and Sumita Roy (New Delhi: Sterling Publishers, 1998), 20. 75 Muzaffar Alam, The Languages of Political Islam: India, 1200-1800 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004),88-9. 76 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā 183. For more to see how sufis wrote folk songs and poetry during later periods see, Ali S. Asani, Ecstasy and Enlightenment: The Ismaili Devotional Literature of South Asia (London: I.B. Tauris, 2002), 57-58; for details, see its Chapter 3: “Bridal Symbolism in the Gināns”, 54-70.

63 It has been mentioned earlier that the most common and important theme in the medieval sufi poetry was love of God, and proximity or union with Him as a goal.77 The love-bond was vocalized through human relationships among woman and man. The imagery of wedding, and bridal metaphor was a celebrated theme in sufi writings in

South Asia. Metcalf observes: “this element of a feminine ideal is explicit in what one could call an extreme or intense expression of cultural values.”78 Among the Chishtīs,

Bābā Farīd79 is the earliest known sufis who used feminine voice in his poetry. Bābā

Farīd’s poetic compositions have been supposedly added in the Holy Book of Sikhs,

Guru Granth Ṣahib.80 As Anjum maintains:

Sufi theorists and poets often use gendered imagery in their works, presenting themselves as ardent lovers and portraying God as the Divine Beloved. Sometimes, the metaphor of husband and wife also is evoked for God and the human self, respectively. As an extension of this metaphorical expression, God sometimes is depicted as a Bridegroom while the human soul, or the sufi himself, 81 is represented as a bride.

Metcalf observes that the sufi poetry in Dakhnī Urdu, employed the “image of a woman in quest of the Divine as a symbol of the soul, a device shared with non-Muslim

77 Bruce B. Lawrence, “Early Chishti approach to Samā”, in, Islamic Society and Culture: Essays in Honour or Aziz Ahmad ed., Milton Israel and N.K. Wagle (Manohar, 1983), 69. 78 Barbara Daly Metcalf, Moral Conduct and Authority: The Place of Adab in South Asian Islam (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1984), 190. 79 Khan, Akhiyā Bābā Farīd nē, 263. 80 Alam, The Languages of Political Islam. 89. See also Anjum, “Farīd al-Dīn Mas‘ūd”. Hindu yogis were also familiar with using female imagery as early as in twelfth century, for instance, saint Siddharāmayya (a twelfth-cen. Hindu) sees female as Lord Shiva. “Woman is not just a female Nor is woman a demoness Woman is the very embodiment of the Lord” Cited in Vijaya Ramaswamy, “Gender and Transcendence in Early India” in History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization. Vol. 2, Part 5: A Social History of Early India, ed. B. D. Chattopadhyaya (New Delhi: Pearson, 2009), 240. 81 Tanvir Anjum, “Bridal Symbolism in the Sufi Poetry of Islamicate South Asia: From the Earliest Times to the Fifteenth Century” Pakistan Journal of History and Culture, (2013), vol. XXXIV, no. I, 6.

64 devotional traditions across South Asian vernaculars.” 82 Their use of feminine voices in poetry did not remain confine to the thirteenth-and fourteenth-century India but continue until now. The female voice in the sufi verses had a central role in the literary contributions of sufis, which ultimately led to another genre of Urdu ghazals, using

83 female idioms for both the prose and poetic narratives.

Another important poetic genre in Hindavī emerged during the said period is

‘prema-kahānī’ (love stories). It is famous for the use of romantic tales conformed into mystical colour. Behl calls this genre of literature ‘sufi romance,’84 and credits the

Chishtīs as “first known composers” of Hindavī sufi romantic tales, in which they illuminate the spiritual quest of a male lover (or hero) for the suggestive beauty of the female Beloved (or God). Behl further argues that they present their hero as a Hindu

Prince or a yogi, whose lover is either a Hindu princess or an Indian woman, or sometimes they represent Hindu God.85 Mullah Daū’d, late fourteenth century Chishtī sufi poet, composed poetry employing vernacular themes. He used Hindu folk lore in his poetic masterpiece Chandāyan, which he wrote in Hindavī’s Awadhi dialect in 1379. The work narrates the love story of Laur and Chanda. Chanda was depicted as a princess from

82 Barbra Metcalf ed., Islam in South Asia in Practice, (Princeton, Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2009),11. 83 Shameem Burney Abbas, The Female voice in sufi rituals: Devotional Practices of Pakistan and India (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002), For in depth study on the issue see chapter 1 and 2 and esp. p 118. For the continuation of the tradition of employing female voices in the sufi poetry see Ishwar Dayal Gaur, “Female Voice in Punjabi Sufi Poetry: Its Character and Concerns” in Singh & Gaur, ed., Sufism in Punjab. 84 Behl has provided a detailed study of the narrative conventions and aesthetics in his work Mirgavati which was composed in 1503. Aditya Behl, “The Magic Doe: Desire and Narrative in a Hindavi Sufi Romance, circa 1503” in Richard M. Eaton, India’s Islamic Tradition, 180. 85 Aditya Behl, The Magic Doe: Desire and Narrative in a Hindavi Sufi Romance, circa 1503” in Eaton, India’s Islamic Tradition, 180. This tradition of incorporating Hindu romantic love tales into sufi poetry did not stop here but flourished and one finds it alive until now. There are very famous romantic love stories of Punjab and Sindh for instance, Hīr Ranjha, Sassī Punhu, Sohnī Mahiwal, Mirza Saḥibaṇ so on and so forth. Almost all the sufi poets of these stories spoke in the female voices.

65 Rajput Hindu clan, while Laur was an Ahir. In fact, Mulla Daū’d talked about Divine love but symbolically expressed it in terms of human/romantic love between a male and a female. 86 He believed that all the realities of the Divine Truth can be found in this story.

87 Most importantly, few of its sections are well-suited with Quranic interpretations.

The romantic love stories written by the Indian sufis communicate a deep message of love of God with his creature irrespective of caste, creed, ethnicity and gender. Many of the tales were composed in the Sultanate courts as well. Like the love tale composed by Quṭban Suhrawardī in 1503. “Mirīgāvatī”88 Behl analyses Quṭban’s composition and concludes that the Suhrawardī Shaykh has conveyed an Islamic message through the medium of Indian vernacular. Its adventures from “Odyssey and the voyages of Sindbad the Sailor-sea voyages, encounters with monstrous serpents, damsels in distress, flying demons and cannibals in caves”89 symbolize the ups and downs of the spiritual journey of a sufi novice. While carrying mystical charge, these literary contributions of the Indian sufis brighten the diverse cultural and pluralistic tendencies of

Indo-Muslim culture of the time.

86 Mullah Dau’d was a Chishtī sufi. He was a khalīfah of Shaykh Zayn al-Dīn who was a nephew and disciple of Shaykh Naṣīr al-Dīn Chirāgh-i Dillī. For further details on his work see, Mawlana Da’ud, Chandāyan, ed. Mataprasad (Agra: Pramanik Prakashan, 1967). To have another perspective on Chandayan see, Savitri Chandra Shobha, Social Life and Concepts in Medieval Hindi Bhakti Poetry: A Socio-Cultural Study (Meerut and Delhi: Chandrayan Publications 1983), 21- 34. 87 Mullā Abd al-Qadir Badā’ūnī, Muntakhib al-tawārīkh ed., Kabir al-Din Ahmad, Ahmad Ali and W. N. Lees, Vol. 1 (Calcutta: Bibliotheca Indica, 1865, 1869), 250. See also English trans. W. H. Lowe (Delhi: Oriental Reprints, 1973, rpt). 88 “Mirīgvatī or The Magic Doe” is composed by the Shaykh Quṭban Suhrawardi. He is an Indian sufi Shaykh of Suhrawardi Silsilah, during late fifteenth early sixteenth century. Being and exceptional poet he was attached to the court of Sultan Hussain Shah Sharqi of Jaunpur. For more details on him see, Behl, “The Magic Doe.” 89 Quṭban, Aditya Behl and Wendy Doniger. The Magic Doe: Quṭban Suhravardi’s Mirigāvatī: A New Translation. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), 12.

66 2.4 Place of Women in Muslim Society with Particular Reference to Sufi Circles

There is no doubt that Muslim women enjoyed an elevated status during the early period of Islam. However, women in the Islamicate world mostly has remained under the subjected male domination. The social institutions and norms, legal structures, individual behaviours along with the literature are usually not neutral to women in countless ways.

Considering medieval India’s literal history into account it seems evident that there is a silence on the role of women in daily life.90 More precisely, the common women of medieval times find no space in the court histories like Baranī, and ‘Isāmī. They mention elite women like Sultana Raḍiyya (d. 1240),91 Shah Turkan (wife of Iltutmish and mother of Sultan Naṣīr al-Dīn), Malika Jahān (mother of Rukn al-Dīn Ibrahim and wife of Jalāl al-Dīn Khaljī), along with mother and sister of Muḥammad ibn Tughluq, so on and so forth. Baranī and ‘Isāmī have discussed the political intrigues and conspiracies of royal women but they do not throw light on the common women. Rekhta Pande highlights the silencing of women in statist historiographical tradition in these words: “In the Indian context the literary elite were Brahmans, writing in Sanskrit and later the Maulvis writing

90 For details see, Adeela Ghazanfar, “Silencing of Women in Chishti Hagiographical Traditions in South Asia: A Study of Siyar al-awliyā” in Journal of Asian Civilization Vol 40, no 1. (July 2017). 91 M. Athar Ali, “Radiyya” The Encyclopedia of Islam ed., C.E. Bosworth VIII (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1995), 371. Tahera Azmat, “Razia, The Queen of Delhi,” in her Women Mentors of Men, (Ujjain: Siddhartha Prakshan, 1970), 7- 27. Peter Jackson, “Sultan Radiyya Bint Iltutmish” in Gavin R. G. Hambly, ed., Women in the Medieval Islam World: Power, Patronage and Piety (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998). The Sultan’s name is pronounced and written by various writers of Delhi Sultanate in various manners and mostly in English language it is believed that the spelling of a name can be written with multiple spellings and nothing can be wrong. However, Simon Digby in 1970 made it clear that this spelling of this Sultan’s name should be corrected, and its exact pronunciation is Iltutmish. Iletemish has been considered as wrong. See, Simon Digby, ‘Iletemish or Iltutmish? A Reconsideration of the Name of the Delhi Sultan’, Iran, vol. 8 (1970), 57–64.

67 in Persian ─both articulating a point of view that was not representing women”.92 Worth mentioning is that many Sultans like, Sultan Firūz Shah Tughluq (r. 1351-1388) and

Sultan Sikandar Lodhī (r. 1489-1517) banned women from visiting the tombs of sufis, as they thought it would create ‘unreligious traditions’ in the society.93 Thus, in order to acquire the understanding of the socio-cultural settings of the medieval India it is necessary to unearth the female voices buried in many other genres of literature.

Through writings like Siyar al-awliyā one can slightly probe into the daily-life of common women. The text is appreciative of women’s role in family-life and how a woman had been respected above all. Other than mothers, daughters, sisters and wives of the Chishtī fraternity, few unknown women also find place in this tadhkirah. An unnamed lady titled Mādir-i mo’mināṇ, literally meaning the mother of all the faithful.

She is a contemporary of Bābā Farīd, who provided immense services with care and respect to many Chishtī sufis, associated with the khānqāh of Bābā Farīd.94 Besides her,

Amir Khurd, Amir Ḥassan Sijzī and ‘Abd al-Ḥaqq appreciate the spiritual excellence of

Bībī Fāṭima Sām.95 She was also a close contemporary of Bābā Farīd. Fawā’id al-Fu’ād also highlights her services, the old lady is recalled for her piety, patience and devotion of

God. In Bābā Farīd’s words, “Bībī Fātima Sām was not a woman she was a male in a

92 Rekha Pande, Divine Sounds from the Heart—Singing Unfettered in Their Own Voices: The Bhakti Movement and Its Women Saints (12th to 17th Century) (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010), 1-2. 93 Annemarie Schimmel, My Soul is a Woman: The Feminine in Islam. (New York: Continuum, 1997), 51. 94 Amir Khurd, Siyar al- awliyā, 183-85. 95 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 168-9, 410, Shaykh ‘Abd al-Ḥaqq Muḥaddith Dehlavī, Akhbār al-akhyār fi asrār al-abrār, (Deoband: Kutankhānah-’i Rahīmiyyah, n.d.), 301-2. See also Khaliq Ahamd Nizami, Hazrat Bībī Fātimh Sām (Delhi: Idārah-’i-Adabiyāt-i-Dillī, 1982) and Joya Kakar, “Sufism and Women: A note on Two women sufis and Their Dargahs in Delhi” in H. R. Saiyid Zaheer Husain Jafri, eds., The Islamic path: Sufism, poitics and society in India (New Delhi: Rainbow Publishers, 2006). 276.

68 female appearance.”96 These two ladies have been discussed in detail in chapter three under the head of female spirituality.

Moreover, the modern scholarship sees medieval realities through the lens of the present-day realities. The assumptions carried by the modern-day studies regarding

Indian women of medieval times can be challenged by the facts stated in Siyar al-awliyā.

It informs that no strict segregation of sexes existed during that time. Women used to live in an open environment where pardah or veil was not a part of their daily life. The tradition of wearing face veil was an elite custom in the Persianate world, as it was a symbol of high status of the women observing it. In Islamicate South Asia, pardah was also a symbol of royalty and elitism,97 since common women (both Hindus and Muslims) did not strictly observe it. Hindu Rajput women and Muslims’ royal family members used veil only to acclaim esteem from the masses. On the contrary, the common Muslim women used to participate in religious gatherings with men. Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn

Awliyā cited examples of such gatherings even if he is speaking about the religious

98 debate on samā‘.

Many modern-day scholars argue that the Islamic law taught and practiced by the

Muslims in different regions of the world was “more custom based than rooted in the teachings of the Qur’an, Qur’an advocates neither veil nor segregation of sexes, but

96 Amir Khurd, Siyar al- awliyā, 576. 97 ‘Isāmī mentions about the pardah of Raḍiyyah who used to wear it in the court dealings and other royal ladies. Abd al-Malik ‘Isāmī, Futūḥ al-salāṭīn ed., (Shahnamā-’i Hind) ed., Agha Mehdi Husain (Allahabad: Hindustānī Academy, 1938), 128 see also Sunita Zaidi, “Women or Muslim Women in Medieval India,” in Status of Muslims Women in India, ed., Hajira Kumar (New Delhi: Aakar Books, 2002), 57. 98 Amir Khurd Siyar al-awliyā, 522-23.

69 insists in sexual modesty.”99 It is asserted that the deceitful Islamic scholars have kept the society in an oblivious state regarding the actual content of the Qur’an by discouraging its translation into the local languages. Furthermore, the custom of pardah in India is not in line with the Quranic teachings. It only added enormously to the secluded life of women in Indian society, and the Muslim women only followed the Turkic and Persian cultural values and norms.100 Thus, the idea of segregation of sexes in Islam is a modern- day phenomenon. The grand-mother of Amir Khurd (who was a Saiyyida) is seen working in the courtyard of Bābā Farīd’s jamā‘t-khanah and she could easily interact with the male members there. Her kind relationship with Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā has been discussed in detail in chapter one of the present study. Furthermore, chapter five of the study provides details of few incidences on poor living conditions of the people, when an old lady met Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā in the street and they both conversed

101 easily.

Interesting to note in Siyar al-awliyā is that it also offers some scanty information about family life and the role of women in a subtle way, for which one must go into the details of many occurrences. First in this regard is the most-often quoted instance of

Ḥamīd al-Dīn Siwalī Nagaurī and his wife, Bībī Khadījah, discussed in detail in chapter five of the study. Siyar al-awliyā reveals that Shaykh Ḥamīd al-Dīn valued the opinion of

99 Fazlur Rehman, “The Status of Women in Islam: A Modernist Interpretation,” in Hanna Papanek and Gail Minault ed., Separate Worlds: Studies of Purdah in South Asia (Delhi: Chanakya Publications, 1982), 285-310. 100 Mirza Azim Beg Chughtai, Qur’an and Purdah (Badayun: Nizami Books, 1928), 125. For more details on this see also, Leila Ahmad, Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992). Amina Wadud-Muhsin, Women and Quran, (Kuala Lumpur: Fajar Bakti, 2004 rpt; first published 1992) and, Asma Barlas, Believing Women in Islam: Understanding Patriarchal Interpretations of the Qur’an (Austin: University of the Texas Press, 2002). 101 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 282.

70 his wife. Her suggestion was worth-considering for him, as they both enjoyed mutual understanding.102 Family life, especially wife and children were considered a source of happiness and blessings.

Amir Khurd mentions the right of khulah or divorce of woman. Though it was not appreciated much in the society, still she had the right to do so.103 While the Hindus did not approve of giving such privileges to their women, Muslims in India had given the right of divorce to their females in certain circumstances. Besides this, Siyar al-awliyā gives some pieces of information about notable household tasks of the women of medieval times, like cotton weaving, spinning yarn,104 washing clothes by the bank of a river or lake,105 and breastfeeding other’s newborns,106 like the Arab elite.

Amir Khurd also refers to the custom of dowry prevalent in the Indo-Muslim society of the time. To begin with, dowry is a parental gift to the daughter in shape of money, gold, jewels, piece of land, slaves, or various valuables on her wedding. It is usually common among patriarchal cultures. Indian society is also of patriarchal in nature, from the earliest times. Hindus in India were accustomed to this tradition from a long time.107 Since there is no concept and practice of female inheritance in Hindu

102 Amir Khurd has referred many times about the cherished relationship of his grandmother with his grandfather and about the blissful life even when they had no house to live. 103 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 210. Divorce in Qur’an has been disliked even though it is permissible. Sudha Sharma, The Status of Muslim Women in Medieval India (London, New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2016), 236. Sharma opines that the right of woman in Muslim law has provided a temporary relief to women 104 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 198. 105 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 184 River Jumna, 369. 106 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 185. 107 Sharma, The Status of Muslim Women in Medieval India, 52. Sharma has also argued that Muslims has adopted this tradition from Hindus’ social norms, p. 236. In another study by Usha Sharma, one observes that if the bride side was unable to gift much at the wedding, her in-laws used to humiliate the girl or often break the marriage. Usha Sharma, Women in South Asia: Employment, Empowerment, and Human Development. (Laxmi Nagar: Authors Press, 2003), 137.

71 traditions especially in ancient India, daughters were taken as burden and in order to get rid of that burden they were mostly infanticides.108 Those who reached at their adulthood, it was mandatory for their parents to provide the in-laws with lots of gifts.

In addition to the Hindus, the Indian Muslims also practiced the custom of dowry, as informed by the anecdotal accounts recorded by Amir Khurd.109 It must be remembered that the Muslims (both immigrants and indigenous) were living in an Indian environment so it is not surprising to note that their cultural traditions and norms were conformed with Hindus and vice-versa.110 Siyar al-awliyā informs that a rich Turkish noble spent around one lac jītal on his daughter’s wedding. He was condemned by

Shaykh Najīb al-Dīn Muttawakil (d. 1271),111 the real brother of Bābā Farīd, since the

Chishtīs did not approve of extravagance in any way and believed in sheer simplicity and austerity.

In a nutshell, the silenced voices of common women need to be explored and heard as they had a strong role in the family as well as the economic life of the time.

Court chronicles have highlighted the role of the elite women or concubines, while silencing the role of common women. Whereas the sufi texts mention the piety of the mothers and daughters of sufis, and subtly talk about the common women, who confronted the sufis.

108 R. Arunachalam and T.D Logan, On the Heterogeneity of Dowry Movements. (Cambridge: NBER Publishers, 2006), 1. Mostly if a family comes to know about the birth of a baby girl, the news was “always marked with a subdued atmosphere and displeasure.” Zinat Kausar, Muslim Women in Medieval India (Patna: Janaki Prakashan, 1992), 9. 109 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 351, 197. 110 Sharma, The Status of Muslim Women in Medieval India, 45. 111 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 174.

72 2.5 Food Culture

Going into the details of untraditional indicators of social change like food items and eating habits make this sufi tadhkirah more informative and closer to the social realities of the time. Unlike the Christian mystics who were being marginalized by the rational and secularistic tendencies of the Western Europe, Sufism kept its pervasive sway on the social, cultural, moral and spiritual and literary lives of the Indians. Consequently, the socio-cultural history of the medieval period can also be traced through eating habits and dressing trends in the Chishtī khānqāhs as well as in the society at large. Siyar al- awliyā reveals how the Central Asian, Middle Eastern and South Asian cuisines fused together in medieval times which are now world-famous dishes.

The blend of Indo-Muslim culture can be seen through eating trends of the time.

Collingham in Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors illustrates that nearly every renowned Indian dish is an outcome of a long history of intrusions, conquests and a blend of multiple food traditions.112 Although the Chishtīs preferred eating lightly, Bābā Farīd and Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā remained on fasting during most part of their lives.

However, one may also find mention of many dishes in Siyar al-awliyā repeatedly. It notifies its reader about the food culture of that time. Dishes included a mixture of Indo-

Persian, Arabian, Central Asian and many other areas’ food items. Like khichṛī (boiled rice with lentils) khamīr (yeast) miṣrī, (rock sugar).113 Khurd mentions sesame seeds oil time and again with nān (white bread), parāthey, (Indian roṯī cooked in oil) and barleycorn. Parāṯhā is also cited with popular sweet dishes like ḥalwā (details infra). In the likely manner, Siyar al-awliyā’s reference to yeast shows that it was very common

112 Lizzie Collingham, Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors (Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), 8. 113 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 114.

73 among the inhabitants of northern India, during the said period.114 Among vegetables karelay (bitter-gourd) is found common. 115 Yogurt was also taken as a side-meal or sometimes as a full meal.116 Amir Khurd also refers to salt time and again, it was referred to as ‘Abu’l Fateh,’ literally meaning the father of opening or the start of something.117

This is because it was customary to take one pinch of salt before starting a meal.

Furthermore, Khurd observes that sirka-’i angūrī (grapes vinegar) was also a part of the dining sheet.118 A popular dish was fish with gravy (shorbā).119 However, the

Chishtī sufis, known for their simple and austere life style, often used to take wild fruits like gulkarail and pīlū (biological name: Salvadora persica), the latter was consumed by

Bābā Farīd and the inmates of his khānqāh, when they were at Hānsī (before moving to

Ajodhan) and had no futūḥāt or unasked for charity.120 Other than these, Amir Khurd refers to kandūrī or kandūra which literally means a leather or a linen tablecloth in

Persian. Ronkel adds that in India kandūrī is referred to as a religious-meal distributed among large number of people. This feast is usually held in honour of a venerated person

Bībī Fāṭima Zahra, esteemed daughter of the Prophet PBUH.121 Amir Khurd also refers to it as a food-tradition.122 Muslims have a tradition of distributing food for the deceased

114 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 344 passim. 115 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 124-25. 116 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 260, 266. 117 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā 219, Sijzī, Fawā’id al-Fu’ād, 347. See also Aslam, Malfūẓātī adab kī tārikhī ahammīyyat, 39. 118 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 139. 119 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 277. 120 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 209. 121 The word has been imported, apparently, from India into the Indonesian archipelago. Ph. S.V Ronkel, “Kandūrī”, in The Encyclopaedia of Islam, eds., P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs, vol IV Second edition (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1978), 549. 122 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 227, 333,256, 338 passim.

74 ones, for their salvation in the life hereafter.123 Later, it became a part of Indo-Muslim tradition and a social norm. In certain parts, it is referred to as fatiḥā.

Other than these, ghī (clarified butter, used in South Asian cooking) is mentioned likewise.124 Some dishes have origins in India, some in Arabia, Middle East, Central

Asia, Persia and other parts of the world. For instance, ḥarīsa which is a well-known

Arab cuisine and it is still a special Ramadan dish in Arab countries. The term ḥarīsa is derived from the verb ḥarasa, which means to crush or mash.125 It is also composed of mashed ingredients. It travelled to India through Muslim immigrants from Middle East while becoming a popular dish in several parts of the region. The Indians improvised it to befit locally available ingredients. In medieval India, it was served to special guests with

126 nān. Khurd observes eating ḥarīsa only with ghī, without nān.

Khichṛī, which finds a frequent reference in Siyar al-awliyā, is a combination of rice and lentil cooked with or without ghī and provides a perfect blend of protein and carbohydrate. There are incredible varieties of khichṛī available now depending on the regional spices and trends.127 Amir Khurd’s especial references about the use of ghī on khichṛī show that it was boiled food, served with or without ghī.128 It not only remained a favourite and common dish during medieval times, but it is a most famous and easy-to-

123 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 266. 124 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 333, 314, 337 Passim. 125 Ḥarīsa is mentioned for the first time in Kitab al Tabīkh, a tenth century text authored by Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq. Moreover, in thirteenth century, Ibn Razin al-Tujibī of Andalusian documented ḥarīsa in his Kitab Fadalat al-khiwan fi tayyibat al-ta’am w’al-alwan. For details see Charles Perry, “Cooking with the Caliphs”, Saudi Aramco World 57:4 (July/August 2006). 126 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 288, 314, 337. 127 Collingham, Curry, 41 to 45. For more advanced form of khichri in these days see, Rajesh Radhakrishnan “Rice, Lentils and History” in The Hindu (January 8th, 2015) “Khichdi: India’s most underestimated dish Once had an exalted status in royal kitchens across the country” www.sbs.com.au/food/article/2017/02/17/khichdi-indias-most-underestimated-dish-once-had- exalted-status-royal-kitchens, retrieved on “July 3rd, 2017” 128 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 109-110, 113-4, 277 passim.

75 cook dish even now. Recent literature on food and culture (while tracing the regional history of the food items) have consensus that khichḏī/khichṛī is an Indian dish, and the

Muslim immigrants coming from Persia, Central Asia, Arabia and Afghanistan started eating it in a regular manner. Some food experts are of the view that khichṛī is a mixture of indigenous and foreign ingredients such as spices.129 Interesting to note is that various dishes like khichṛī and ḥarīsa, which are still eaten today, were cooked with locally available spices, and thus blended with already existing food traditions. This process explains well the transculturation and ‘translation’ in food items, which was the result of the contact among the already existing food culture and the others coming from Arabia,

Central Asia, Persia, and Afghanistan spreading layers on it.

Amir Khurd explains another food specialty called mundī¸ which was consumed in the sufi circles as well, especially in winters130 for its high energy yield. The dish included rice cooked with lamb, spices and a variety of nuts and raisins. It is a dish of

Arabian (more precisely Yemenite) origin, but eaten in Egypt, Turkey, as well as South

India including Hyderabad (Deccan).131 It can be inferred from the information provided by Siyar al-awliyā that Arabian food culture was more popular in South India, but with the passage of time, many dishes were introduced in north India likewise.

Siyar al-awliyā attests that the Chishtīs were not very fond of using cutlery exported from Persia and outside India. There are many instances where Bābā Farīd and

129 Margret Leeming, A History of Food: From Manna to Microwave (London: BBC Books, 1996), 22. For more details see, Sean William ed., Ethnomusicologists’ Cookbook (New York: Routledge, 2016), 35-40. 130 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 143. 131 Habeeb Salloum Araibian Nights Cookbook: From Lamb Kebabs to Baba Ghanouj (Tokyo: Tuttle Publishers, 2010), 67.

76 few other Chishtī sufis used wooden bowls and gagrī (small pot made of mud).132 The practice of eating in wooden bowl was borrowed from Hindu ascetics, who used it for reducing their appetite. This tradition was followed by the Chishtīs not only in north

133 region but also in Awadh and the eastern regions of India as well.

Furthermore, Khurd refers to many sweet items like mitha’ī (Indian sweets),134 nuts, dry-fruits like munaqā (dried grape seeds)135 and sherbet (sweet drinks),136 usually offered at the end of a meal. Jaggery or guṛṛ is also famous in Siyar al-awliyā, mostly used while cooking sweet dishes, as there was no concept of refined sugar during that time. Most frequently cited sweet dish is ḥalwa,137 cooked with jaggery (or sugar), ghī and sometimes with sesame seed oil.138 Use of milk, dairy products and numerous other dishes cooked in ghī, butter and yogurt were also very common. Among sweet dishes, khīr (rice pudding) cooked with ghī, milk and rice also find reference in the tadhkirah.

Amir Khurd notices chewing betel-leaf (pān), especially by Bābā Farīd and Shaykh

Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā.139 Its chewing is a pre-Vedic tradition in India. It has also been

132 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā 112-13, 198, 284 passim. 133 Claudia Liebeskind, Piety on Its Knees: Three Sufi Traditions in South Asia in Modern Times. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1998), 124-76, 256-59 and S Zaheer Husain Jafri, “Sufi Tradition and Popular Literature: Chishti Ideology: the Awadhi Dialect and Local Practices” in Popular Literature and Pre-Modern Societies in South Asia ed., Surindar Singh, I.D. Gaur (New Delhi: Dorling Kindersley, 2008), 272. 134 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 142. 135 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 156. 136 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 243. 137 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 194, 241, 285 passim 138 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 198. Not much is known about the original home of this dessert, however, it is equally enjoyed and loved in South Asia, Middle East, North Africa, Europe, West Asia and many other areas of the world. Spelling ‘halva’ is used by the English-speaking world, for other parts of the world, xalwo (Somali), ḥalwi/ḥalwa used for Arabic, ḥelwa (Maltese), ḥalvah (Hebrew), ḥelva (Turkish), and ḥalva for Indians. Alan Davidson, The Oxford Companion to Food (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 892. 139 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 142, 194, 218, 245 passim

77 considered good for medical purposes in Indian society.140 However, in thirteenth-and fourteenth-century India it was used as a mouth-freshener after lunch or dinner. Siyar al awliyā’s frequent citations of the Shaykh’s chewing betel leaf show that it was common among Muslims along with Hindus of the time.141 Among fruits, watermelon and pomegranate were popular,142 among grains, rice, jau or barley143 and bājra or millet144 find references in Siyar al-awliyā while jawār or sorghum (which is considered a grain used by the poor) was commonly found in house of the sufi shaykhs. Bābā Farīd, during

145 early days of his life, used to grind and cook it by himself.

Amir Khurd does not only inform about the popular dishes of the time but few important dinning etiquettes as well. Once Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā was having aftār (meal at the time of breaking the fast). The moment he started eating from a bowl, the time came for rolling up the dining sheet and he had to stop himself from taking food

146 immediately.

140 Some trace its origin from Malaysia and Singapore where this tradition is known as makan sireh. Throughout the Asian peninsula it possesses a long history of use. Moreover, there are many ambiguities about the history and origins of cultivation about pān leaves, as it has numerous varieties and names in many parts of the world. Several different opinions have been expressed by the botanists as to the original home of the betel palm. Few considered it as Malayan and Blatter claimed it to be from Malabar, South India. M. Gowda. “The Story of Pan Chewing in India”, Botanical Museum Leaflets Harvard University, vol, 14, no. 8 (1951): 181-214. 141 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 260, 363, 392, 332 and passim. See also, Eaton, India’s Islamic Tradition, “introduction,” Ibn Batūta, Tim Mackintosh-Smith, Hamilton and Alexander Rosskeen Gibb. The Travels of Ibn Battutah. (London: Picador, 2011) and Subhash Ahuja and U. Ahuja, “Betel leaf and betel nut in India: History and uses” Asian Agri-History, vol. 15, no 1. (2011): 13- 35. 142 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā,153. 143 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 52. 144 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 65-66. 145 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 74. 146 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 124-25.

78 2.6 Fabrics and Trends of Dressing

It is important to note that trends in dresses or dressing fashion also exhibit an important aspect of socio-cultural history. The way people dress up disperse a real colour of the cultural trends of a particular time more explicitly than anything else. Though it is not sharply clear from Siyar al awliyā that how rich people dressed, and poor section differed from them in their clothing. Yet it still gives some idea about the common dressing style.

Chishtī khānqāhs became rendezvous for people coming from different economic background,147 and they wore various types of dresses, Indian, Arab, Persian Central

Asian and mostly a blend of indigenous and foreign dressing styles. Flood explains; “The circulation of the modes of Turco-Persian dress in north-western India during this period is indicated by the expanding lexicon of dress and the incorporation of nonindigenous terms (including qabā’) into northern Indian vernaculars.”148 While citing few references to everyday clothing, Amir Khurd informs about very poor people, who put on raw camel skin to protect themselves from the harsh winters.149 Another kind of a jacket or a coat mentioned in the text, is postīn. It has Afghan origins, but equally used in India during the time as it is believed to be made of animal skin, also used in extreme cold.150 Poor people also used to wear an over-garment or a small jacket called mīrza‘ī.151 Referring to

147 For more details see Khaliq Ahamd Nizami, The Life and Times of Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya (Delhi: Idārah-’i-Adabiyāt-i-Dillī 1991) and André Wink, Al-Hind the Making of the Indo-Islamic World: The Slave Kings and the Islamic Conquest 11th to 13th Centuries, vol II (Leiden, New York: BRILL, 1997), 266. 148 Flood, Objects of Translation, 69. 149 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 293. 150 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 80. 151 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 293. Dass maintains that “though very few wear under-coat, another piece called the mirza’ī. The only difference between a coat and a mirza’i is that the later has no skirts─ it may be called a jacket. It is most convenient dress for the working classes by whom it is universally worn instead of the long coat. In summers mirza’ī is made of various sorts of linen, and in winter of different kinds of chintz with lining and cotton.” Ishuree Dass, Domestic

79 clothes, Khurd talks about Tehband or dhotī (also called long loincloth), which is historically a South Asian Hindu dress.152 It is a lightweight clothe wrapped around the lower part of the body, “about five to six yards long and more than a yard wide… It extends from the waist to the knees (of the poor) and that of the higher classes much lower.”153 It is usually of light colours, and sometimes bordered in dyed coloured linens.

Initially, it was named as paridhanā. Some earliest known archaeological sources of second century BC indicate that the primeval dhotī was worn by both the male and

154 female. The Muslims started wearing dhotī or tehband when they settled in India.

The text of Amir Khurd explains that qabā or robe was considered as a dress of piety for the sufis.155 Qabā was a lengthy loose piece of cloth, which some people wear on the top of another clothing. According to Flood, it reflected the high rank of the wearer.156 Kullāh or turban also find mention by Amir Khurd. It is a head-dress, or a long cloth wrapped around the head (with or without a cap) and worn in a specific angle. Amir

Khurd adds that the King’s dress was mukallaff or starched which added grace and glory to his dressing style. Some researchers of clothing industry opined that the world outside

Europe, became known to starch, very late. However, one cannot negate the fact that

Manners and Customs of the Hindoos of Northern India (Benaras: Medical Hall Publisher, 1860), 136. 152 Dass, Domestic Manners and Customs of the Hindoos of Northern India, 136. 153 Dass, Domestic Manners and Customs of the Hindoos of Northern India, 137. 154 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 371. The Derivatives of the dhotī are the panung of Thailand and the sarong of Indonesia and Malaysia, for details see https://www.britannica.com/topic/dhoti (accessed August 24, 2017). 155 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 214-15. 156 Flood, Objects of Translation, 66.

80 starch is being used “over several millennia for a number of different applications,”157 writing like Siyar al-awliyā testifies its use even before thirteenth-century India.

Siyar al-awliyā makes one aware that the kings and the rich wore expensive dresses and they were familiar with the advanced styles and fashions. Formal dressing included kurta (loose shirt) along with dastār (turban) and chāddar (sheet of cloth wrapped around the body). Khurd states that the rich people had a unique sense of clothing. Moreover, use of ‘itr (perfume) was an essential part of clothing.158 Another kind of dress in Siyar al-awliyā is Indian brocade, also known as kamkhāwb. It is mostly woven on silk with silver and gold threads. The origin of the word kamkhāwb is derived from Persian, literally meaning “little dream.”159 The ancient Indians were also familiar with this fabric. It was known as hiraṇya, or gold cloth, woven flowered cloth or puṣpapaṭa. Very few people were familiar with its use during the Sultanate period, when it came to be known as kamkhwāb, and Siyar al-awliyā confirms its use during the said period.

Not only Muslims but Hindu Rajputs and Hindu kings of certain regions used perfumed clothes along with dastār and Turkic qabā as a head dress.160 This adoption and appropriation of Indian and foreign dressing styles by both the elite and common people of the said period highlights the ‘translation’ of dressing trends in India, which means that diverse modes of living and dressing styles existed because multiple dressing

157 Koushik Seetharaman and Eric Bertoft, “Perspectives on the history of research on starch”. Starch vol 64, no 9. (September 2012): 677-682. 158 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā,149. 159 It is believed that probably it has a reference from the intricate embroidery patterns made on it. It is also referred to as “woven flower,” an interpretation which looks more applicable and reasonable to the brocade. See, J. G. Sumathi, Elements of Fashion and Apparel Design (New Delhi: New Age International Publishers, 2002), 55 and The Indian Museum, 1814-1914. (Kolkata: Indian Museum, rpt. 2004, first published 1914), 44. 160 Flood, Objects of Translation, 72.

81 styles and traditions were present. It signifies the potential which Pollock records, “what transpired seems to have happened according to some cultural process of imitation and borrowing less familiar to us as causative than conquest or conversion.”161 Siyar al- awliyā also mentions another type of cloth or fabric known as Chaehmartali, which appears to be some warm or water proof cloth, since it was given by Shaykh Naṣīr al-Dīn

Chirāgh-i Dillī to the father of Amir Khurd for preparing a wrap or a cap (bārānī) for the

162 infants.

2.7 Buildings or Construction

The royal palaces, forts, mosques and many of the buildings constructed by the Sultans of

Delhi are still surviving. These buildings have been highlighted in the court chronicles of that time, and later day writers have also studied various aspects of these buildings.

Scholars opine that buildings built during that time were aimed at strengthening the

Turco-Persian rule. Anthony Welch, an expert on the architectural history of medieval

India, asserts that the fourteenth-century India fostered a distinct cultural heritage.163

Literature on medieval Indian epigraphy reveals that preferences of Qur’anic inscriptions on buildings of the time were governed by a systematic intellectual process,164 and focused at attaining scriptural support for the rule. The inscriptions were not merely

161 Sheldon Pollock, The Language of the Gods in the World of Men: Sanskrit, Culture, and Power in Premodern India (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006), 123. 162 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 245. 163 Anthony Welch, “Architectural Patronage and the Past: The Tughluq Sultans of India” Muqarnas, vol 10, (1993), 315. 164 Alexandar Bain, “Qur’anic Epigraphy in the Delhi Sultanate: The ‘Alai Darwaza,” Unpublished Masters Thesis, University of Victoria, 1992, ii.

82 decorative, as argued by Ettinghausen, “the lettering is the message, rather than its content.”165 Goodman believes:

A building, more than most works, alters our environment physically; but moreover, as a work of art it may, through various avenues of meaning, inform and reorganize our entire experience. Like other works of art-and like scientific theories, too-it can give new insight, advance understanding, participate in our 166 continual remaking of a world.

In addition to the marvellous architectural achievements of the past, the housing and living style of the common people has been silenced in historiographical works. The common men’s housing structure apparently did not survive. It is also believed that the construction styles of various buildings, particularly mosques in India, continuously served as a coalescing point between the Indic and Muslim cultures.167 How the house construction and style helped in translation of different cultures in north India? Siyar al- awliyā helps answer the question, as it depicts common buildings or living place structures. It shows that the sufis were closely and directly associated with the common people, and so was their living style. However, the said text particularly focuses on the khānqāh structure.

Siyar al-awliyā exhibits cultural eclecticism through languages, dress, food and common buildings style during the said period. The complex of buildings and

168 architecturally distinguished khānqāhs extant till today is exclusive to South Asia.

165 R. Ettinghaused, “Arabic Epigraphy: Communication or Symbolic Affirmation” in George C. Miles and D. K. Kouymjian eds., Near Eastern Numismatics, Iconography, Epigraphy and History: Studies in Honor of George C. Miles (Beirut: American University of Beirut, 1974), 307. 166 Nelson Goodman, “How Buildings Mean,” Critical Inquiry, Vol. 11, No. 4 (1985), 652. 167 Flood, Objects of Translation, 226. 168 Simon Digby, Sufis and Soldiers in Aurangzeb’s Deccan (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001), see Introduction. For more details on construction and designs of the Chishtī

83 Siyar al-awliyā voices more about not only the construction of khānqāhs and jamā‘t- khanahs, but some other buildings also. Buildings mentioned by Amir Khurd, include public baths,169 water reservoirs, public guest houses or inns (sira’y),170 and large courtyards in the houses. While mentioning the ethics of cleanliness, Amir Khurd discusses the rules for constructing a toilet, which shows that the people had a good sense of building toilets.171 The portions in the residence of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn, which was a double-storey house, included the following: a jamā’t-khanah, bālā khānah (a high-roof- top room constructed on a raised platform),172 a courtyard with a tree,173 and a terrace or raised ground level in courtyard (chabūtrah-satūn).174 Moreover, there was a ḥujrā

(small-cell/ personal room for meditation) of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā made of wood on the roof top,175 while the ḥujrā of Bābā Farīd was made of bricks with unbaked clay.176 The text also tells us that there were grand and spacious houses found in and around Delhi with great architectural and building designs. Shams al-Dīn ‘Afīf explains the style and interests of Sultan Firūz Shah as hunting, constructing buildings and governing, in which he surpassed his predecessors as a patron of art and architecture.177

Nonetheless, the Chishtīs were least concerned about the magnificence of their buildings

khānqāhs see, Khaliq Ahmad Nizami, Religion and Politics in India During Thirteenth Century. (New Delhi: Aligarh Muslim University, 1961), 205-210. 169 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 137, 374. 170 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 216. 171 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 328-9. 172 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 137-38, 237 passim. 173 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 383. 174 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 137-38. 175 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 282. 176 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 90-91. 177 Anthony Welch, “Architectural Patronage and the Past: The Tughluq Sultans of India” Muqarnas vol 10, (1993), 316.

84 and liked to live in small houses, like Khwaja Aḥmad Badayunī, a disciple of Shaykh

178 Niẓam al-Dīn, who lived his whole life in a hut without walls and ceiling.

Nizami offers a distinction between khānqāh and jamā‘t-khanah and informs that the former used to be a spacious and large building. He attributed the khānqāh structure only with the Suhrawardīs in India and jamā‘t-khanahs with the Chishtīs.179 As jamā‘t- khanahs were comprised of only a large hall with no separate chambers, so everybody lived together there, communally praying, sleeping, studying and having lengthy discussions with each other on diverse themes. While mentioning the jamā‘t-khanah,

Amir Khurd elaborates on how people from different walks of life used to visit the

Chishtī Shaykhs, learn, pray and stay there together.180 From Amir Khurd’s description, it can be inferred that the Chishtī jamā‘t-khanahs were not very large. To Nizami:

Common people, unable to appreciate the distinction, used the word khānqāh even for the Chishtī jamā‘t-khanahs, and now the term is used for all centres of spiritual activity without distinction. The zāwiyahs were smaller places where mystics lived and prayed but, unlike the inmates of khānqāh and jamā‘t-khanahs, did not aim at establishing any vital contact with the world outside. In the 17th and the 18th centuries another type of khānqāh, the dāerahs, came into existence. The primary aim of these dāerahs was to provide place for men of one affiliation to devote their time to religious meditation. They were smaller than the zāwiyahs. 181

2.8 Disease Prevalence and Medicine

Medicine industry was not very developed during those days. However, many among the

Chishtīs were good in medicine and Khwaja Mūsa (son of Maulana Badr al-Dīn Ishāq)

178 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 317. 179 For the Suhrawardīs see, S. Moinul Haq, “The Suhrawardis” Journal of Pakistan Historical Society vol, XXIII, no II (April 1975), 71-103. 180 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 219-20. 181 Khaliq Ahmad Nizami “Some Aspects of Khānqāh Life in Medieval India” Studia Islamica, no. 8 (1957), 53.

85 was an expert doctor.182 Siyar al-awliyā informs that some time it was political and social chaos which gave birth to different sorts of diseases. People mostly suffered from diseases like piles, causing deaths.183 Tuberculosis was also an infectious disease which mostly ended up in the death of infected people.184 However, sufi texts testify the presence of herbal medicine in India during the said period. The sufis had a certain level of trust in that medicine as well.185 Once Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā asked his disciple suffering from tuberculosis to use the medicine suggested by a physician.186 Fever and typhoid was common among the poor section during the times of war and famine.187

Moreover, those having paralysis had no recourse, and many of them remained bed- ridden rest of their lives. Sufi khānqāhs served as a place of healing for the sick people from many of the common diseases through praying, or spiritual healing, by sometimes providing amulets to the needy,188 and sometimes by reciting something and then blowing it to the sick. Sometimes, Bābā Farīd used to give amulets to the sick people. For them, it was a defence mechanism against evil, treatment for sick as well as a blessing for

189 good luck.

In a nutshell it is noteworthy to mention that in the thirteenth-and fourteenth- century North India, there existed a symbiotic amalgamation of Hindu and Muslim cultures. In addition, it would be misleading to see medieval realities with the present

182 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 148, 201-02. See also Dehlavī, Akhbār al-akhyār, 95-96. 183 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 360. Jāndār, Durr-i Nizāmī, 31. 184 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 143-44. Husaynī, Jawami‘ al-kalim, 13. 185 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 143. 186 Muḥammad Jamāl Qiwām, Qiwām al-‘aqa’id. Urdu trans. Nisar Ahmad Farouqi (Delhi: Delhi University Press, 1994), 31 and Fabrizio Speziale, “The Relation between Galenic Medicine and Sufism in India during the Delhi and Deccan Sultanates,” East and West, vol. 53, no. 1/4 (December 2003), 152. 187 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 276-77. 188 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 143, 201-02, 262, passim. 189 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 430-33.

86 lens, for instance, after the nineteenth century the histories written with nationalist perspective categorise Muslims as ‘cruel and warlike,’ these kinds of literature and

190 thinking developed out of British colonial rule.

190 Partha Chatterjee, ‘Nationalization of Hinduism” Social Research vol. 59, no. 1 (Spring 1992): 140-1. See also, “(Re)imag(in)ing Otherness: A Postmortem for the Postmodern in India” in Richard M. Eaton, Essays on Islam and Indian History (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2000), 154.

87 Chapter 3

Spiritual and Religio-intellectual Life in Medieval North India

Social history is interested in processes rather than events or actions. It investigates the ways and outcomes that originate because of those actions or events. Studying social history grounds itself among various aspects of society, and one cannot comprehend a society without studying its religious beliefs or behaviors towards it. The collective belief system of a society plays significant role in human life and impact upon other social institutions. In one form or the other, organized religious practices and beliefs are historically present in nearly all societies. Having said that, it is also important to trace and explore the socio-religious history of medieval north India as it marks the beginning and consolidation of ‘Muslim’ rule in the area. Alongside the changes in religious history, major intellectual shifts can also be witnessed in the said period. Besides migrations, looting, plundering and military conquests, the said era bear testimony to other important developments in the realm of religion, including production of religious literature, eminent scholars, and modes of transmission of knowledge, etc. Strong link between changes in socio-cultural history, knowledge production, exchange of ideas and book trade during this time also need to be explored more. The rich intellectual heritage of this period calls upon the researchers to unveil its complexities and dynamic forces including that of Sufism in Indian context.

It is also true that serious researches into India’s past started off with the

Orientalists’ interests in the era and area. Yet, they looked down upon the Indian people, their languages, literature and achievements in the past. The researchers were Europeans,

88 and so were the addressees of their works, where Indians were only sluggish target of study.1 A plethora of literature produced during the period under study, either in the form of varied genres of sufi literature, and other religious works, historiography or new literary genres have often been over looked. Scholars like Prof. Muḥammad Habib and K.

A. Nizami from Aligarh, Ziyaud-Din A Desai, Hasan Askari of Patna, Muhammad

Aslam, Riazul Islam, Iqtidar Hussain Siddiqui, Annemarie Schimmel, Carl W. Ernst,

Richard M. Eaton, Bruce B. Lawrence, David Gilmartin, and Nile Green along with some others who worked extensively on sufi literature of medieval India, could not pay

2 desirable attention to the educational history and intellectual trends of the period.

Scholars like Simon Digby, Iqtidar Alam Khan, Sunil Kumar, Tanvir Anjum, and Fāṭima

Husain analyzed the sufi-state relationship, whereas scholars like Blain H. Auer, Husain

Ahmad Khan and Hasan Ali Khan see sufi writings and material culture of sufi shrines.

They see the growth of sufi literature as a source of legitimizing authority of the

3 respective silsilah or a Shaykh.

1 Many scholars have argued the same for instance, see, Romila Thapar, The Past and Prejudice (New Delhi: National Book Trust, 1975) and Ronald Inden, “Orientalist Construction of India” Modern Asian Studies, vol. 20, no. 3 (1986): 401-446. 2 All the above-mentioned scholars are well-reputed and world-known names of their respective fields. Medieval India’s social and political history cannot be completely understood without consulting them. However, they, generally did not see the production of sufi literature or other writing, for instance with the educational growth and intellectual milieu of the period. 3 In addition to them, there is an edited work by Sheldon Pollock titled Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions from South Asia (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003) which provides in-depth analysis of the literary achievements from comparative perspective on religious identity and literature like “Buddhist Cultures and South Asia Literatures” along with the role of growth of language and identity formation and literary achievements in South Asia history. Muhammad Noor Nabi, Development of Muslim Religious Thought in India: from 1200-1450 A.D (Aligarh: Muslim University Aligarh, 1962), also highlights the literary and intellectual achievements of the period. He made a pioneering effort in this regard. Iqtidar Husain Siddiqui, Medieval India: Essays in Intellectual Thought and Culture (New Delhi: Manohars, 2003). It is a collection of essays on the culture and social life of medieval time by several renowned scholars, especially by the editor himself. Nonetheless, these essays covered most of the Mughal period, not pre-Mughal era, the era covering by the present study.

89 Since the late twentieth century, history writing saw a shift from political to social issues and instead of tracing the origins (external or internal) of Sufism, the scholars started exploring the inner experience of Sufism. In India the researchers explored varied aspects of social history including Sufism. Nevertheless, there are other discernable intellectual trends on the literary highway of medieval India which has not been much explored, hitherto. The present chapter throws light on the religious behaviours of the north Indian Muslims, major sufi teachings, along with interactions among Muslims and non-Muslims. The chapter reveals that Siyar al-awliyā is not merely a eulogy of sufis, it can serve as an indispensable source for constructing the history of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. It reflects the life at Chishtī khānqāhs and jamā‘t-khanahs as they became centers of spiritual enlightenment and guidance, socio-religious learning, along with being the locus of alternative social universe and religious authority. The chapter also sheds light on the intellectual milieu of the period, analyzing how ‘ulemā, sufis and other Muslims were engaged in studying principles of religion, hadith, fiqh and other important subjects and who were the mainstream scholars? It also elaborates on the major curricula and key subjects of study at that time. The chapter addresses other questions like what kind of literature was being produced? Was there any recognition of female spirituality? How was the interaction between Chishtīyya and other sufi silsilahs?

Other than this, there are other pieces of writings on the educational history or intellectual trends of the time. See for instance, Aneesa Iqbal Sabir, “Muslim Education and Learning under the Delhi Sultans (1206-1398),” Unpublished PhD diss., Department of History, Muslim University, Aligarh, 2008; Saiyid Zaheer Husain Jafri, “Education and transmission of knowledge in medieval India” Intellectual Discourse, vol. 20, no. 1. (2012): 79-102; and Amiya Dev, “History of Indian literature: 500-1399,” Indian Literature, vol. 50, no. 2, (2006): 174-178. This brief essay offers an overview of the writings, especially focusing on the trends in Tamil and Kashmir which does not covers other regions.

90 Section I Religio-spiritual Aspects of History in Siyar al-awliyā

Amir Khurd’s tadhkirah bears testimony to the Indo-Muslim religious life in sufi khānqāhs. It records in detail some of the historic developments in major sufi practices, sufi concept of ethics and morality, sufi recognition of female spirituality, and the institution of khilafat. One sees people coming from diverse walks of life, freely interacting in the Chishtī khānqāhs, debating diverse topics, along with facilitating one another in many ways irrespective of their creeds, castes, beliefs and any other differences. With this content, Siyar al-awliyā also informs its reader how spiritual healing was done and mundane problems of the people were solved in khānqāhs. All these issues have been discussed in the ensuing section along with the impact of Sufism on the religio-spiritual life of the people at large.

3.1 Spiritual Life in Medieval North India

Siyar al-awliyā gives a detailed overview of the spiritual life during the time. Sufism was a vibrant phenomenon in the early centuries of medieval India, which is also corroborated by other non-sufi sources as well. Shihāb al-Dīn Abū al-‘Abbas Aḥmad b. Faḍl Allah al-

‘Umarī known as al-‘Umarī, (d.1349) cites a traveller who informed him that there existed around two thousand hospices and khānqāhs in Delhi and its surroundings.4 The statement shows that during middle of the fourteenth century, Delhi was a central hub for the spiritual life of the sufis. The Indian sufis tried to make their khānqāhs centers of learning and practicing the learned behavior in daily life. It was also mandatory for every sufi to educate himself first. Whatever they taught was also practiced by themselves.

There were hundreds of men busy in instructive teaching and the students used to acquire

4 Shihāb al-Dīn Abu’l-‘Abbās Aḥmad b. Faḍl Allāh Masālik al-abṣār fī Mamālik Al-amṣār. (Cairo: Dār al-Kutub al-Miṣrīyah, 1924).

91 education expanding more than twenty years or so.5 Many a times, there was not enough space under the roof of the khānqāh for attendees or visitors who usually come to listen to and learn from Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā. His khānqāh at Ghiyathpur was thronged by people with all kinds of issues and concerns.6 Moreover, in that period, it was not very common to have more than one affiliations with a silsilah simultaneously, yet few examples do exist, like Qāḍī Ḥamīd al-Dīn Nagaurī, who had both Suhrawardī

7 and Chishtī affiliations.

3.2 Service to Humanity as the Core Sufi Ethical Value

The sufis in medieval times always dispersed the ideas of helping other human beings.

The actual meaning of life for them was to serve people. Founder of the Chishtī Silsilah

Khwaja Mu’īn al-Dīn Ajmerī emphasised on qualities of “river-like generosity, sun-like affection and hospitality like earth” to be present in the individual who desire to follow the path of Sufism.8 The Khwaja asked his disciples that they could serve God only when they “redress the misery of those in distress, fulfill the needs of the helpless and feed the hungry.”9 This type of kindness and caring nature was found in almost all the latter day successors of the Shaykh. Once, a group of people visited Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā, half of them were sitting in the sun while others sat under the shade. He got very upset and asked the ones’ who were under the shade to give some space to accommodate

5 Which means that nearly half of their lives were spent in acquiring education while practically experiencing it at khānqāh. 6 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 574. 7 Sharib, Khawaja Gharib Nawaz, 84. Tanvir Anjum, “Ḥamīd al-Dīn Qāḍī Nāgawrī” in : Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three, eds., Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, Everett Rowson (Boston, Leiden: Brill). 8 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 46. Persian, Khaliq Ahmad Nizami, “Impact of Sufi Saints on Indian Society and Culture.” Islamic Culture, 58. (1984), 36. 9 Nizami, “Impact of Sufi Saints on Indian Society and Culture,” 33. See also, Sharib, Khawaja Gharib Nawaz, 101.

92 others. While addressing those in the sun he said, “It is you sitting under the sun there, but it is me who is burning here.”10 It was the empathetic attitude of the sufis which endeared them to the people. They always felt their misery, sufferings and pain.

Another robust sufi ideal of moral life was forgiveness and patience with others, the following anecdotes would explain it better. Once, a man broke into the house of

Shaykh Ahmad Neharwālī (disciple of Qāḍī Ḥamīd al-Dīn). However, he could not find anything at all. When the Shaykh came to know about it, he offered him a piece of cloth.11 Once a sorcerer spelled magic on Bābā Farīd and he got afflicted. When he regained his health, he forgave that sorcerer for his heinous action.12 Shaykh Niẓam al-

Dīn Awliyā taught the people in his gatherings that even if you have any grievance against someone, you should complain politely and listen to him with forbearance and patience.13 Once, Shaykh Naṣīr al-Dīn Chirāgh-i Dillī was attacked by a qalandar.14 with a knife. He stabbed the Shaykh “almost eleven times” while the Shaykh did not stop him.

He got sever injuries which started bleeding, as his disciples saw the blood coming through the conduit of his ḥujra (private chamber) and qalandar doing this ruthless act, they wished to punish him recklessly. However, the Shaykh did not allow them to do so while forgiving the qalandar with an open heart and provided him twenty silver tankās.15

Amir Khurd also observes the presence of some pseudo sufis or men with deceitful pious

10 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 574. 11 Jamālī, Siyar al-‘ārifīn, 215-16. 12 Jamālī, Siyar al-‘ārifīn, 47- 48. 13 Sijzī, Fawā’id al-fu’ād, 147. 14 Ḥamīd Qalandar. Khayr al-majālis, Nizami, K.A ed., (Aligarh: Institute of Historical Research, Aligarh Muslim University 1959), 286-7. 15 Husaynī, Jawami’ al-kalim, 90-92. It is also cited in Jamālī, Siyar al-‘ārifīn, 131-32.

93 practices who played with the feelings of common masses. The Chishtī shaykhs always

16 condemned those imposters and warned people to be aware of them.

In the same manner, Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā believed that devotion to God could only be achieved through serving humanity, as he declared:

There are two forms of devotion...One is mandatory, the other is supererogatory. Mandatory devotion is that from which the benefit is limited to one person, that is, to the performer of that devotion, whether it be canonical prayers, fasting, pilgrimage to Arabia, invocations, repetitions of the rosary, or the like. But supererogatory devotion is that which brings benefit and comfort to others, whether through the expenditure of money or demonstration of compassion or other ways of helping one’s fellow man...Their reward is incalculable; it is limitless. In mandatory devotion one must be sincere to merit divine acceptance, but in supererogatory 17 devotion even one’s sins become a source of reward.

The sufi approach to ethics and morality was quite different from the conventional religious scholars. The conventional scholars followed an approach that has been termed

‘teleological’, as they determined right and wrong actions merely upon the consequences.

Conversely, the sufis emphasized the inner state of human beings. Their approach has been termed as ‘deontological’, since they judged actions on basis of people’s intentions.18 As for the Chishtī sufis, sinners and pious were all equal. Shaykh Niẓam al-

Dīn Awliyā used to say that even the sinners are often obedient to God in three ways when they commit a sinful action. Firstly, the sinner thinks that whatever he is doing is not lawful, secondly, he knows that God is All-Knowing, and He is watching, and thirdly,

16 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 544-45, 568-69. 17 Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā, Nizam ad-din Awliyā: Morals for the Heart: Conversations of Shaykh Nizam ad-din Awliya recorded by Amir Hasan Sijzi, trans. B. B. Lawrence (New York: Paulist Press, 1992), 95. 18 Tanvir Anjum, “Moral Training by the Mystics: Strategies and Methodologies” Quarterly Journal of Pakistan Historical Society vol, XLVI, no. 1 (1998), 77.

94 he always hopes for His forgiveness.19 Similarly their ‘deontological’ approach can be best understood from the following anecdote. Once, someone asked Shaykh Niẓam al-

Dīn Awliyā about the situation with a non-Muslim in the life hereafter, if he believes in the Oneness of God but does not accept or claim it in front of the Muslims. The Shaykh replied, it is only Allah, Who can decide and not us.20 It shows that sufis did not judge people on the basis of their apparent demeanour or actions.

The Chishtīs were very accommodating and kind towards all people including their Hindu visitors. Through this inclusive sufi approach which was reflected in the khānqāh life, dynamic and progressive forces passed into the social fabric of Indian

Islam. Amir Khurd narrates an incident from the lives of Shaykh Quṭb al-Dīn Bakhtiyār

Kākī and Qāḍī Ḥamīd al-Dīn Nagaurī (d. 1244/45). Once they were together on a journey. On their way, they saw a scorpion killed a snake who was about to sting a man sleeping under a tree. Both were happy to see this miracle by God, Who saved an asleep man. They tried to wake him up and asked to pay thanks to Allah for saving his life, but they found that the man was almost unconscious being drunk. It made them angry. Both started regretting why God had saved a sinner like him? Then they heard a voice saying,

“if I also start taking care of only the pious and virtuous people, where would those sinners go? All the pious and sinners are part of My universe.” This forced them to think that it is only God who decides who is right and who is wrong, and it is not the domain of the human beings. Who is closer to God, the virtuous person who had never committed

21 any sin in his life or the sinner who has repented on his sins.

19 Sijzī, Fawā’id al-fu’ād, 118. 20 Sijzī, Fawā’id al-fu’ād, 232. 21 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 52-53. Sijzī, Fawā’id al fu’ād, 119-120.

95 3.3 Institution of Khilafat or Spiritual Succession Among the Chishtīs

Prior to the beginning of the fourteenth century, the practice of granting khilafat (spiritual succession)22 had already been institutionalized in India. A sufi shaykh might have hundreds of disciples but only a handful of them were granted khilafat, which authorized them to enroll disciples for training and guidance. However, out of these khalīfahs

(deputies), only one was designated as the prime or principal spiritual successor, who led the silsilah after the demise of his mentor. The principal spiritual successor received the

ṭabarrukāt or relics of the earlier sufi shaykhs of his silsilah, which symbolized spiritual authority. Possession of these ṭabarrukāt was a main element to the claims of this

23 authority.

In Chishtīyyah, the spiritual succession was granted from Khwaja Mu’īn al-Dīn

Chishtī Ajmerī to Quṭb al-Dīn Bakhtiyār Kākī (d. 1235) and he transferred it to Bābā

Farīd. His spiritual succession went to Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā, who passed it on to

Shaykh Naṣīr al-Dīn Chirāgh-i Dillī. It is also important to note that the prime successor of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā, Shaykh Naṣīr al-Dīn Chirāgh-i Dillī did not further pass on his relics, as he did not deem any of his khalīfah worthy of taking this responsibility after him. Saiyyid Muḥammad Gesūdīrāz, who was considered his prime successor, was not appointed by his Shaykh; rather after the demise of the former, he himself assumed

22 Spiritual succession means a sufi shaykh provides a legal document called khilafatnamā to one of his disciples. As not everyone among the public can be a disciple but disciples still can be innumerable, however, not everyone from the disciples can be a khalīfah. A khalīfah has the authority to grant discipleship to people with the permission from his shaykh and further spread the doctrines and practices of his Silsilah while establishing his own khānqāh. 23 For scholars like Simon Digby, the possession of these relics often created rivalry among the successors of a Shaykh. For details on this note see, Simon Digby, “Tabarukkāt and Succession Among the Great Chishti Shaikhs” in Robert Eric Frykenberg, ed., Delhi Through the Ages (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1986), 77-89.

96 this charge.24 That is why, the Shaykh ordered his relics to be buried with him. The relics included a khirqah (patched frock of the sufis), a rosary, a wooden bowl and a pair of

25 wooden sandals. These ṭabarrukāt were buried with the body of the Shaykh.

These are all prominent khalīfahs (representatives) of the early Chishtī fraternity.

However, there are several other khalīfahs as well. For instance, Mu’īn al-Dīn Chishtī had a well-known khalīfah. Ḥamīd al-Dīn Sivālī Nagaurī26 other than Quṭb al-Dīn. Other than Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā, another distinguished khalīfah of Bābā Farīd was

Shaykh ‘Alā al-Dīn ‘Alī Ṣabir (d. 1291).27 He is the founder of the Ṣabrī branch of the

Silsilah-i Chishtīyya at Kalyar, a village and usually famous as “Kalyār Sharīf dargah” in present day Uttarakhand, close to Haridwar and Roorkee, India. However, one astonishes when Amir Khurd dismisses him in a few lines, as he does not provide much details of his life, even though he is known to be the founder of another branch of the Chishtī

Silsilah. There can be multiple explanations for this, one assumes that the tadhkirah

24 Husaynī, Jawam‘i al-kalim, 135. 25 Jamālī, Siyar al ‘ārifīn, 123. For a life sketch of Shaykh Naṣīr al-Dīn Chirāgh-i Dillī in Siyar al-awliyā see, Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 237- 247. 26 Ḥamīd al-Dīn was an active khalifāh of Mu’īn al-Dīn at a rural area. While Quṭb al-Dīn was working in Delhi. Thus, both had an equal importance with different sphere of influence. See Gulzar-i abrār, 20. For detailed study on him see Tanvir Anjum, “Ḥamīd al-Dīn Ṣūfī Nāgawrī Sivālī”, in: Encyclopaedia of Islam Three, eds., Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, Everett Rowson. (Boston, Leiden: Brill, see also, B.B. Lawrence, “Islam in India: The Functions of Institutional Sufism in the Islamization of Rajhastan, Gujrat, and Kashmir” Contributions to Asian Studies, vol XVII, no 17 (1982), 34-36. 27 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 184-185. Persian. Ghulam Sarwar, Khazīnat al-aṣfiyā, vol 1 (Kanpur: Naval Kishor Press, 1914), 315- 319. There is also a debate on the identity of this person, Dehlavī, Akhbār al-akhyār (Delhi: 1309), 69. See also Anna Suvorova, Muslim Saints of South Asia: The Eleventh to Fifteenth Centuries, London: Routledge Curzon, 2004). Amir Khurd observes that there were seven supreme khalīfahs of Bābā Farīd, whom he allowed to enroll disciples. these included, Najīb al-Dīn Mutawakil, (brother), Burhān al-Dīn Ishāq, (son-in-law), Jamāl al-Dīn Hasnwī, Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā, Shaykh ‘Alā al-Dīn Alī Ṣabir, (considered to be his nephew), Shaykh ‘Arif, Shaykh Fakhr al-Dīn Safahānī. However, he does not elaborate much on Shaykh ‘Alī Ṣabir and Shaykh ‘Arif. For brief biographical sketch ‘Alā al-Dīn Ṣabir see, Moinul Haq, “Rise and Expansion of the Chishtīs in the Subcontinent (II)” Journal of Pakistan Historical Society (October 1974), 219-21.

97 writer was affiliated to the Chishtīyya-Niẓamīyya branch, that is why he seems silent on the other branch. It can be partially true, nonetheless, it is worth observing that Amir

Khurd is deriving the details about the times of Bābā Farīd from his ancestors and before the Kirmānī family’s arrival at Ajodhan, Shaykh Ṣabir had already gone to Kalyar. The

Kirmānīs did not have any relationship with him, or they did not have any memories of him except few. Another important point to be kept in mind is the personality of Shaykh

‘Alā al-Dīn ‘Alī Ṣabir, who was a Jalālī dervish and did not develop any social interaction with the common people, when he was with Bābā Farīd at Ajodhan. He also enrolled only one person as his disciple, named Turk Pānīpattī,28 and he did not build a proper khānqāh as well. Last but not the least, the Chishtīyya-Sabiriyya branch became known in late fifteenth and early sixteenth century, not during the life of Shaykh ‘Ala al-

29 Dīn Ṣabir.

Other than this, Amir Khurd gives details of many well-known and few lesser known khalīfahs of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā, like Maulana Fakhr al-Dīn Marūzī,

Shaykh Bahā’ al-Dīn Adhamī, Maulanā Jalāl al-Dīn Awadhī and Khwaja Tāj al-Dīn and numerous other.30 These are only a few names and the list of these khalīfahs and disciples is quite long.

28 He is also considered to be the nephew disciple of Bābā Farīd, the later appointed his duty on the langar of his jamā’atkhānah, where he was busy in distributing food among the visitors. It is famous about Shaykh ‘Alā al-Dīn ‘Alī that after a long time, once Bābā Farīd came to know that he does not eat food, the Shaykh asked him why so, he replied that you asked me to distribute, and I am doing my duty. He was a did not establish any khānqāh and avoid meeting people. See Robert Thomas Rozehnal, Sufism Unbound: Politics and Piety in Twentieth-First Century Pakistan (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), 3. 29 Nizami, Tārīkh-i-mashā’ikh-i-Chisht, vol 1, 251, see also Moin Ahmad Nizami, Reform and Renewal in South Asian Islam: The Chishti-Sabris in 18th-19th Century North India (New Delhi: Oxford University, 2017), 2. 30 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 298, 309, 305-06, 311-12 respectively.

98 There is a prevalent view that the sufis were fond of having huge number of disciples to spread their ideology. However, this is not true for many Chishtī Shaykhs, as they were not in favour of having large number of disciples.31 Some of the Chishtī

Shaykhs did not enrol any disciple at all, Shaykh Ḥamīd al-Dīn Nagaurī is a perfect example of it.32 They saw Sufism as a specialized field only for the select few, which was not meant for every layman. Nonetheless, it is also true that it rested upon the ability of those khalīfahs, whom their shaykh considered to be able to enrol others in their discipleship or not. Amir Khurd is of the view that it was Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn who clearly ordered one of his khalīfahs to be quiet and close his doors while he asked the other to enrol as many disciples as he could.33 Amir Khurd also observes in this regard that many khalīfahs of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn like Jamāl al-Dīn Hānsvī and Abū Bakr

34 Tūsī Ḥaidar had their own khānqāhs near River Jamnā adjacent to Andarpat.

Moreover, Amir Khurd clarifies the issue of signing innumerable fake khilafatnamās allegedly signed by Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā when he was approaching his death. Amir Khurd rejects it that the Shaykh was not in his complete senses due to his terminal illness, and people got their khilafatnamās signed by him forcefully. He argues that Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā’s ailment did not prolong more than forty days. He further adds that the Shaykh signed and offered khilafatnamās to those whom he thought to be capable of three months before his death. He did not sign

31 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 148, 260-61, passim. 32 Once a man came to Ḥamīd al-Dīn and requested to admit him in his discipleship, but the Shaykh replied “these days people of Nagaur come to me to learn the traditions of Prophet Muḥammad (PBUH) and therefore I have no time to spare for you and teach you the mysteries of Tasawwuf.” Khaliq Ahmad Nizami, Tarīkh-i Mashai’kh-i Chisht, 148-49; and B. A. Dar, “Shaikh Hamiduddin of Nagaur Scholar-saint of the Thirteenth Century” Journal of the Research Society of Pakistan, vol XN no 1 (1978), 26. 33 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 238. 34 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 181.

99 any khilafatnamah after that.35 Thus, Amir Khurd ends this controversy. It is interesting to note that the Chishtī Shaykhs did not hesitate in cancelling the khilafatnamah, if the recipient was found acting against the rules of the Silsilah (or displease his Shaykh by his actions). Relatable here is the case of Qāḍī Muhai’yy al-Dīn Kashānī, who was amongst the supreme disciples of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā, due to his piety. He belonged to a noble and rich family, however, when he entered in the discipleship of Shaykh Niẓam al-

Dīn, he tore the certificate of financial assistance he used to receive from the government.

After some time, his family started suffering badly due to the lack of finances and someone informed about his poor conditions, to Sultan ‘Alā al-Dīn. He offered Qāḍī

Muhai’yy al-Dīn, his ancestral seat of being qāḍī and jurist of Awadh, along with some other gifts. Hearing this, Qāḍī Muhai’yy al-Dīn fled to his Shaykh to inform him about the situation. Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn got angry and said, ‘it must be you, who had this desire in your heart, that is why it came to you. The Shaykh cancelled his khilafatnamah and held it in abeyance for one year. After a year when the Shaykh’s annoyance with the

36 Qāḍī was over, then he granted him the khilafatnamah again.

3.4 Healing and Problem-solving by the Sufis

As discussed earlier, the sufis sought nearness to God through serving the people around them. The common people frequently came to them for seeking solution of their mundane issues and problems. For instance, the khānqāh of Bābā Farīd was thronged by the people who visited him in order to seek solutions to their problems through the blessings and prayers of the sufis. Sometimes, the sufis offered them a glass of water after reciting a holy verse over it. Sometimes these solutions were mostly in the form of a simple request

35 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 222-23. 36 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 295-6.

100 for prayers or getting ta’wīdh (amulets) from the Shaykh.37 Generally, a ta’wīdh consisted of paper on which he used to write either Qur’anic verses or any of the names of Allah. There were many close disciples or assistants with the Shaykh who wrote them for the people. The practice of writing ta’wīdh became part of the Indo-Muslim devotional life.38 It was only because of the flexible outlook in the khānqāh of Bābā Farīd which attracted people from diverse castes and creeds, including Hindus, in a large number. They used to come to listen to him and to solve their problems of multiple types, either the problems were related to their health or other queries.39 Like once a man complained to Bābā Farīd that “I have too many daughters and poor financial conditions,

I am in acute tension about the thought of their marriage”40 Once, a man came to Bābā

Farīd and requested him to write a letter of recommendation to Sultan Balban on his behalf and the Shaykh wrote the letter for him asking the Sultan to fulfil the need of that man, by the grace of Allah Almighty.41 Another man came with a complaint that his employer was very harsh with him.42 One man came lamenting his concerns to Shaykh

Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā regarding the marriage of his daughter. The Shaykh recommended

37 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 430-33. For more on sufi healing see, Abu Abdullah Ghulam Moinuddin, The Book of Sufi Healing (Rochester: Inner Traditions International, 1991). 38 For an in-depth study on this issue by Richard M. Eaton, “The Political and Religious Authority of the Shrine of Bābā Farīd.” 39 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 73, 74 and passim. Qiwām, Qiwām al-‘aqa’id, 31. Bruce B. Lawrence, “Healing Ritual Among North Indian Chishti Saints of the Delhi Sultanate Period” Studies in History of Medicine (1980): 124. Momin, “The Role of Sufis in Fostering Inter-Cultural Understanding and Conciliation in India,” 266. 40 Qalandar, Khayr al-Majālis, 147. 41 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 72-73. 42 Sijzī, Fawā’id al-fu’ād, 147.

101 his daughter to be married to one of his disciples.43 This kind of service mechanism in medieval sufi khānqāhs, in the words of a scholar, was: a rational construct in which dimensions of purity/impurity, defilement and sacralization were articulated with a broad and variable range of content, including medical as well as political, psychic as well as economic aspects of life. The saint symbolically embodied fundamental properties of a classificatory system in the matrix of which all institutions (medicine, economics, politics, etc.) and institutionally related behaviour (healing of the 44 body, manipulation of power, disposition of resources, etc.) were necessarily framed.

Many difficulties faced by the people were also solved by the intuitive faculty of the sufi shaykhs. For instance, once an old man came to Khwaja Uthmān Hārwanī (d.1220/21)45 in acute misery as he had his son lost since last forty years. He turned old, sick and gloomy due to his loss, he requested the Shaykh to pray as he did not know either his son was alive or dead. The Khwaja was meditating at that time, after that, he asked the people in that gathering to pray for his son. Later, the Khwaja asked the old man to go home without any tension. He returned home and there were many people gathered outside his house, who congratulated him on returning of his son safely.46 The sufi shaykhs also helped many Sultans in the need of hour through their intuitive faculties. When Sultan

‘Alā al-Dīn sent his army to conquer Warrangal (a city in the present day South Indian state of Telangana) and he heard no news about his army after many days. He sought for

Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā’s intuitive help to inform him about the situation with his army at Warrangal. The Shaykh replied to the messenger of Sultan, Malik Qarā Bēg (also a disciple of the Shaykh) in a positive way, predicting the success of his army. After

43 Ḥamīd Qalandar, Khair al-Majālis, 85. See also, Nizami, Some Aspects of Religion and Politics, 214. 44 Abdul Hamid el-Zein, “Beyond Ideology and Theology: The Search for the Anthropology of Islam” Annual Review of Anthropology, no 6 (1977): 251. 45 See, Muhammad Ghulam Sarwar, Khazīnat al-asfīya (Lacknow: Nawal Kishore) vol 1, 256. 46 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 44. There are several other anecdotes in many genres of the sufi literature for instance, see Jandār, Durr-i Nizāmī, 28-29.

102 some time, Sultan ‘Alā al-Dīn heard the real news of success in Warrangal, which made him have more trust and believe in the spiritual and intuitive authorities of the Chishtī

47 Shaykh.

3.5 The Chishtī Doctrine and Practice of Faqr

Among the various precepts of the Chishtī Silsilah, one central tenet taught and practiced in the personal life of the Chishtī sufis, especially during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, is faqr or voluntary poverty. They led a life based on faqr with no personal desire of wealth accumulation. Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā used to quote Junayd al-

Baghdadī (d. 910): “I found God among the poor people in the streets of Medina.”48

There are numerous examples from the lives of Chishtīs when they preferred living on meagre livelihood but did not accept offerings from the political authorities. Shaykh

Ḥamīd al-Dīn Sivālī Nagaurī rejected to accept a grant of help from the governor of his area and preferred living with his meagre livelihood.49 Once Bābā Farīd lost his child to death due to poor living and shortage of food. Most of the days in a month, his family and people living in his khānqāh had nothing to eat. As futūḥ or unasked for charity50 were not always available during his stay at Hānsī. Zanbīl (begging bowl, a tradition initially adopted by the Chishtīs during Bābā Farīd’s time), was also circulated in the neighboring

47 Baranī, Tārīkh-i Fīrūzshāhī, 331-32. There are two versions of the same story. It was not necessary to give details of these versions. Same version of like Baranī can be seen in Farishtah, Tarīkh-i Farishtah, vol 1. 401-2. For the other version of the story see, Jamālī, Siyar al-‘ārifin, 77-78. 48 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 559. Nizami, “Impact of Sufi Saints on Indian Society and Culture,” 32. 49 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā 156-58. Detailed incident has been cited in chapter five, how Shaykh Ḥamīd al-Dīn Sivālī refused to accept an offer from the governor when he heard that the Shaykh has nothing to eat at his home and offered a grant of land from the government. 50 For a detailed study on futūḥ system see, Riazul Islam, Sufism in South Asia: Impact on Fourteenth century Muslim Society (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), Chap. 3: 87-150.

103 area for collecting charity in cash or in kind.51 All the eatables, nuts and dry fruits presented in the khānqāh were meant only to serve and entertain the visitors as a kind gesture. The shaykhs never took interest in eating those expensive dry fruits in public or private.52 It is worth mentioning that when Bābā Farīd died and his successors needed non-baked bricks to put inside his grave, they could not find any, so, they had to take

53 some from the wall of his house.

Nevertheless, the Chishtīs did not impose their faqr on the common masses and tried to help them even if one requests the sufi to seek political favour for him (details supra).54 However, the Chishtīs always condemned spending too much money for personal pleasures.55 Their khānqāhs created a rich culture of serving where wealthy helped the needy. In the same manner, the Chishtīs had no hesitation in counseling the rich, as they did the poor, even if this could mean bearing financial losses. Despite of the fact that ultimately, they had to bear financial loss. Like once, Shaykh Najīb al-Dīn

Mutawakkil admonished a rich man named Eitem,56 not to spend too much money on his daughter’s wedding (as he spent hundred jītal)57 only to show off. The Shaykh argued that it was the exploitation of resources which Allah has bestowed you with, and you should have had spent half of this amount on resolving the sufferings of the common people to please the Lord. While in response to this advice, Eitam fired the Shaykh from

51 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 65, 66, 113, 114 and Passim. N. R. Farooqi, “The Early Chishti Sufis of India: An Outline of Their Thought and an Account of the Popular Appeal of Their Shrines” Islamic Culture vol 11, no. 1 (2003), 24. 52 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 124-25. 53 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 90-91. 54 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 72-73. 55 Siyar al-awliyā is full of such instances where one is helping the other in financial terms. 56 Eitam had constructed a grand mosque and named it after his own name as ‘Masjid-i Eitam.’ Shaykh Najīb al-Dīn Mutawwakil was appointed as the imām of this mosque by him. 57 The incident has also been referred to in chapter two of the thesis.

104 his job of leading (imāmat) the ‘Mosque Eitam.’58 He did not hesitate to leave that job and went to his elder brother (Bābā Farīd) at Ajodhan. Important to analyse here is that the Chishtīs never cared about finances when it came to offering moral counceling.

The prime khalīfah of Bābā Farīd, Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā also followed suit. However, it is important to note that during his times, a huge amount of futūḥ was pouring in his khānqāh in Delhi. The Shaykh emphasized that if someone gift you something without asking, take it, and that was why he himself used to accept futūḥ, but distribute it immediately without spending a single penny on himself.59 Once Sultan ‘Alā al-Dīn sent five hundred coins of gold to the Shaykh, as he was happy to hear about his success of Warangal (details supra) and the Shaykh received the futūḥ money while granting the whole to a qalandar named Asfandyār of Khurasan.60 It is noteworthy to mention that Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā used to evacuate his store-room every Friday, before leaving for Friday prayer. In the same manner, a prominent khalīfah of the

Shaykh, Shaykh Quṭb al-Dīn Munawwar also refused to accept an offer of land grant of

61 two villages from Sultan Muḥammad ibn Tughluq.

3.6 The Sufi Views on Female Spirituality

In order to get a better understanding of the socio-religious and spiritual life of the medieval sufis, it is important to know about their views on female spirituality. To comprehend a civilization to its best and to recognize its excellences and limitations, it is very important to pay attention to the status of women in it. Civilization, to a greater extent is the outcome of its people’s capability to manage some of their selfish and

58 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 78-79. 59 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 560-61. 60 Jamālī, Siyar al-‘ārifin, 78. 61 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 250-51.

105 strongest impulses entrenched in man’s nature.62 It would be useless to explore Siyar al- awliyā to get a gendered perspective and the issues of equality of sexes, women empowerment and liberation. The history of the remote past, like that of medieval India, cannot and should not be viewed through the lens of the present-day realities, ideas and perceptions. Medieval Indian history needs to be studied in its own terms. Amir Khurd, who was a product of his age, did not write much, or paid much attention to females like that of men. For example, giving a chronological account of the Sultans of Delhi at the end of the book, Amir Khurd misses Sultana Raḍiyya (r. 1236-1240), the only female ruler during the Delhi Sultanate.

As for the sufi women, Amir Khurd is not absolutely silent on them. He gives few names of the sufi women, but mostly as mothers, sisters and wives of the renowned sufis.

Most importantly, he refers to a celebrated ninth-century sufi woman named Rabi‘ā‘ al-

‘Adawiyyā (d. 801), and also cites one of her poetic verses dealing with the theme of showing kindness to others and giving solace to the hearts of the distressed.63 There are number of other sufi women mentioned in Siyar al-awliyā like Bībī Khadījah the wife of

Shaykh Ḥamīd al-Dīn Sivāli Nagaurī. Amir Khurd also tells about the piety and spituality of her though without taking her name. In order to indicate her very high spiritual status, the writer of Siyar al-‘ārifīn recalls her as ‘Rabi‘ā‘ of her own times,’ he further adds into

62 A. S. Alketar, Status of Women in Hindu Civilization, (New Delhi: Motilal Banarasidas, 1959), 1. 63 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā¸ 129. For details on her spiritual life see, Margaret Smith, Rabia The Mystic and Her Fellow Saints In Islam: Being The Life And Teahcings of Rabia Al Qaysiyya of Basra Togather With Some Account of The Place of The Women in Islam (New York & Lodon: Cambridge University press, 1984), Abu Abd Al-Rahman Al-Sulami, Early Sufi Women: Dhikr an-Niswa Al-Mutaabbidat As-Sufiyyat Eng trans., Rakia. E. Cornell. (Louisville: Fonz Vitae, 1999), 134. Khwaja Farīd ‘Aṭṭār, Tadhkirat al-Awliyā, (Bombay: Karimī Press, 1321), 46.

106 one’s knowledge about her by telling that she was used to keep fasting most of the time.64

Her husband used to consult her on every important matter such as accepting or rejecting land grants. Once, the muqtā (governor) of Nagaur sent some cash to Shaykh Ḥamīd al-

Dīn and offered a land grant but with the consultation of his wife, he refused to accept.

(see details in chapter five) It seems from the incident that it was Bībī Khadījah, who persuaded him not to accept the grant, as Amir Khurd quotes her words, ‘do you want to destroy your dervishī only in return of few tankās.’65 She willingly lived an austere life, and most porobably followed vegetarianism along with her husband. However, she was famous for her generosity as well and no needy would go empty handed from her house.

The compiler of Sarūr al-ṣudūr observes that even after her demise, people visited her

66 grave for granting of their prayers.

Amir Khurd mentions the daughters and mother of Bābā Farīd in a relatively detailed manner. He recounts the story of Bābā Farīd’s mother, Bībī Qursum without taking her name. She was a bearer of influential career of sufi morality and an emblem of piety and spirituality. A non-Muslim family converted to Islam, influenced by her sufi ethics. (details infra) Her story shows that female spiritual power was accepted the way it was. Her death was also a mystery, as she is said to have died in a jungle while on her way with her son, Shaykh Najīb al-Dīn Mutawwakil. Nobody could see her dying and she

67 almost vanished from earth.

In addition, Amir Khurd informs that Bābā Farīd had three daughters, namely, (i)

Bībī Mastūrah (the eledest one; known for her piety). (ii) Bībī Fāṭima (the wife of

64 Jamālī, Siyar al-‘ārifīn, 9. 65 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā. 157. 66 Nagaurī, Sarūr al-ṣudūr, 9. 67 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 88-89.

107 Maulana Badr al-Dīn Ishāq, after the death of her husband she came to Delhi but soon died afterwards, while her sons, Muḥammad and Khwaja Mūsa were brought up by

Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā). (iii) Bībī Sharīfah (famous for her piety; who became a widow in her youth, and spent rest of her life in worship).68 Important to note here is that the Chishtīs of medieval India did not pass on the khirqah of khilafat to a female successor, but they approved their spirituality. As Bābā Farīd acknowledged the piety of his daughter, Bībī Sharīfah but he did not pass it on to her. He states, “if it was lawful to pass on the khirqah of khilafat to females, I would have given it to my pious daughter

Bībī Sharīfah, If all of the women become like her, they would surpass all men.”69 Once, his principal khalīfah Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn also quoted: “if suddenly a lion appears from a forest, who would ask whether the lion is male or a female?”70 What appears from these statements is that the Chishtī shaykhs recognized, celebrated and acknowledged their spiritual power during the medieval times, yet it was neither customary nor conformable for them keeping in view the spirit of that age to appoint a female on a seat of khilafat, giving her a major role and responsibility of leading a sufi silsilah.

The tadhkirah writer refers to the piety, devotion and spiritual blessings of Bībī

Fāṭima Sām of Andarpat. She was contemporary of Bābā Farīd and very close to Shaykh

Najīb al-Dīn Mutawwakil. Schimmel remarks, “she was distinguished with an inner light.”71 Amir Khurd writes that whenever, Shaykh Najīb al-Dīn had nothing to eat, she would become aware and visit him with something to eat like rotī (whole wheat Indian

68 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 191-193. 69 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 191. 70 Abd al-Ḥaqq Muḥadith Dehlavī, Akhbār al-akhyār fi asrār al-abrār (Deoband: Kutabkhanā-i Rahimīyyah, n.d), 295. See also K. A. Nizami, Tarīkh-i-Mashā’ikh-i Chisht vol. 1, (Delhi: Idārah- ’i-Adabiyāt-i-Dillī, 1979), 21. 71 Schimmel, My Soul is a Woman, 52.

108 bread). The Shaykh used to smile and say that Sultans cannot know about my situation as they can never be such clairvoyant like Bībī Fāṭima.72 Amir Khurd further adds that after her demise, her tomb in Delhi was visited and respected by Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā and it became a place from where common people seek blessings.73 Besides this, Bābā

Farīd’s statement about her is also worth noting. Amir Khurd quotes his words, “Bībī

Fāṭima Sām was not a woman, she was a male in a female appearance.”74 One cannot and should not analyse this assertion in the light of the present day feministic discourse, which is very much Euro-centric. The medieval Muslim societies had their own dynamics and need to be studied in their own terms. The above statement indicates that Bābā Farīd recognized and acknowledged her spiritual faculties in an open manner.

In addition, the text also mentions some miraculous incidents from the life of

Amir Khurd’s grandmother Bībī Ranī, who is portrayed as a sufi woman. While living at

Ajodhan, she was devoted to Bābā Farīd, and used to perform cleaning, washing clothes and other similar duties for Bābā Farīd’s jamā‘at-khānah. Later, she moved to Delhi and remained associated with the khānqāh of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā.75 Amir Khurd also informs that his mother, Mariyam Khātūn (though he does not take her name), was a pious and spiritually inclined lady, like his grandmother.

Moreover, Amir Khurd mentions Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā’s mother Bībī

Zulekha, and also highlights her spirituality by calling her ‘Rabi‘ā of her times’76. Amir

Khurd informs about her intuitive faculty, citing the words of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn

72 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 168. 73 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā. 168. See also Joya Kakar, “Sufism and Women: A note on Two women sufis and Their Dargahs in Delhi” in H. R. Saiyid Zaheer Husain Jafri, The Islamic path: Sufism, Poitics and Society in India (New Delhi: Rainbow Publishers, 2006), 276. 74 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 576. Jamālī, Siyar al-‘ārifīn, 100. 75 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 171, 115, 208. 76 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 94.

109 Awliyā “whenever, she had to come across some work, she would become aware of its result in her dream.”77 Whenever, Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā faced dire situations after her demise, he used to visit her grave while stating that, ‘I am not leaving for anywhere, until you ask God to solve my problem.’ 78 It shows that her prayers were granted during her lifetime as well, and she might have a reputation for that as Amir

79 Khurd adds that needy people used to visit her tomb for prayers.

Another important sufi woman who finds mention in this tadhkirah is Mādir-i mo’mināṇ. Her real name is not recalled but her spiritual characteristics have been highlighted. Her title which literally means the ‘mother of the faithful’ indicated her elevated spiritual status. She was the slave-girl of Shaykh Jamāl al-Dīn of Hānsī, who communicated his master’s messages from Hānsī to Bābā Farīd in Ajodhan.80 It seems that those were not ordinary messages dealing with some mundane issues; rather they carried strong mystical content. It is noteworthy to mention that the distance from Hānsī to Ajodhan was considerable, and for this communication any male could be employed, but it was Shaykh Jamāl al-Dīn’s trust in her that she was chosen for the task. A person travelling on the path of Sufism cannot afford any miscommunication regarding his spiritual experiences, which one needs to communicate to one’s murshid or spiritual guide/preceptor.

Amir Khurd recounts a dream seen by his pious and devout wife, who later became the disciple of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā, and her dream turned into reality.81

In addition to female spirituality among the Chishtīs, the sufi women in Suhrawardī

77 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 149-50. 78 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 150-51 79 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 94-95. 80 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 180-81. 81 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 151-52.

110 Silsilah have also been mentioned in their contemporary sources with reference to their male relatives including their fathers, husbands or their sons and brothers.82 Either they have been recalled by their relation to their male kins or have not been remembered at all.83 For instance, Bībī Tignī is remembered in association with her husband Shaykh

Makhdūm-i Jahāniyāṇ Jahāngasht (d. 1384) of Uchh. The Shaykh’s great-granddaughter

Bībī Jawindī is also recalled by her relation to the great-grandfather. After her demise, the tomb attracted people from every corner of the city, as she came to be known as a jalālī dervish.84 The Suhrawardī Shaykhs enrolled women in their discipleship as Jamālī asserts in Siyar al-‘‘ārifīn,85 but they did not grant them khilafat or make them Shaykhās like the

Chishtīs.

Broadly speaking, the tadhkirah does not elaborate much on the lives of female sufis. Nonetheless, it is worth keeping in mind that although female’s spiritualty is associated with their sufi father, brothers, sons and husbands the recognition of the female spirituality exists in any way. It was customary in those days not to mention the names of women. Their relationship with men was often the point of reference, this is

86 what the literature of the time reflects.

82 Manan Ahmad Asif, The Book of Conquest: The Chachnama and Muslim Origins in South Asia (Cambridge, Massachusetts, London: Harvard University Press, 2016), 128. 83 There are no female saints in more than twenty biographies in Masood Hasan Shahab, Khiṭa Pāk-i Uchh (Bahawalpur: Urdu Academy, 1968). 84 There is a confusion on the issue that either she was great-granddaughter of Shaykh Jalāl al-Dīn Jahangasht or (the Shaykh was her grandfather) Jalāl al-Dīn Surkh Bukharī known as Surkhposh. Hasan Ali Khan has tried to end this confusion. See Hasan Ali Khan, Constructing Islam on the Indus: The Material History of the Suhrawardi Sufi Order, 1200-1500 AD (Delhi: Cambridge University Press, 2016), 222. 85 Jamālī, Siyar al-‘ārifīn, 253. 86 Ghazanfar, “Silencing of Women in Chishti Hagiographical Traditions in South Asia.”

111 3.7 Chishtī Sufi Worldview Regarding Hinduism and the Hindus

Studying socio-religious history of medieval India cannot be fully grasped without taking a look at the relationship of the Hindus and Muslims. As India was a home to the Hindu population before the Muslims established their rule here, they had to incorporate Hindus in their administrative machinery. That is why Hindus were very important part of the

Indian bureaucracy and army during the medieval times, and played significant roles in politics, administration and defense. Sultan Maḥmūd’s son Sultan Mas’ūd (1030-40), for instance, appointed Tilak87 as the commander of the troops at Ghazna. He never faced any trouble being Hindu but always performed well.88 Similarly, during Sultan Quṭb al-

Dīn Aybeg’s times, a Hindu Ranā was appointed as Sahib-i Burīd (intelligence officer).

These are only a few examples of the inclusion of the Hindus in state administration, which would suffice here.

The court chroniclers like Baranī, who represented the conventional religious scholars, thought the local coverts to Islam as low-born, and advised the Sultan to be aware of these low-born including the Hindus as they were only meant for paying jizyā

(non-Muslims’ tax living under a Muslim rule). The Chishtī approach towards Hindus, however, was quite different, as the former were sympathetic and accommodative towards them. According to the Chishtī sufi worldview, “infidelity and faith, orthodoxy and heresy were all mere expressions: there was no such thing as absolute opposition or antagonism; everything was conceived in relative terms because in the final analysis all was God’s creatures.”89 The social interaction of the Chishtīs with the Hindu followers

87 Tilak was a son of Hindu barber, belonging to the low strata of Hindu caste system. However, he possessed good qualities of speaking and writing both Hindi and Persian. 88 Abul Faḍl Baihaqī, Tarikh-i al Subuktigīn. Ed., W.H. Mosley (Calcutta: n.d, 1862), 503-4. 89 Muzaffar Alam, The Languages of Political Islam, 82.

112 was as free and fair as with the Muslims. Consciously and unconsciously, the sufis’ efforts were geared to harmonize the Hindu Muslim relations. Once, someone presented a pair of scissors to Bābā Farīd which he refused to take by saying, “give me a needle instead, for I do not cut, I join.”90 Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn used to quote many aḥādīth of the Prophet (PBUH) related to the protection of the rights of non-Muslims. In the words of a scholar, this accommodative culture in India “originated in an environment of reconciliation, rather than refutation, co-operation rather than confrontation, co-existence

91 rather than mutual annihilation of the politically dominant Islamic strands.”

Unlike the conventional ‘ulemā, the Chishtīs respected religious truths of

Hinduism and never appreciated proselytizing their religious conversion, even if it was ordered by the ruler of the time.92 Many Chishtī Shaykhs had close and personal contacts with the Hindus. For instance, the wandering mendicants along with many yogīs had close interaction with Bābā Farīd.93 Amir Khurd observes a Hindu follower of the Shaykh who was never forced by him to convert to Islam. He was loved and treated like the

94 fellow Muslims.

Here, it is interesting to note that Siyar al-awliyā does not give much evidences about it, which is understandable given the relatively conventional approach of Amir

Khurd. However, Fawā’id al-fu’ād, which is the collection of the malfūẓāt of Shaykh

90 Same quote has been associated to Shaykh Burhān al-Dīn Gharīb (khalīfah of Shaykh Niẓam al- Dīn Awliyā) in his collection of malfūẓāt. Ḥammād b. ‘Imād Kashānī Ahsan al-aqwāl (collection of malfūẓ Shaykh Burhān al-Dīn Gharīb), 10. Momin, “The Role of Sufis in Fostering Inter- Cultural Understanding and Conciliation in India,” 265. 91 Rashiduddin Khan, “Composite Culture as a new national identity” in R. Khan, ed., Composite Culture of India and national integration (Shimla: Indian Institute of Advance Studies, 1987), 36. 92 Details of Sultan Muhammad Tughluq’s orders to sufis being missionary and Chishtī aversion to it, discussed in chapter five. Like Maulana Fakhr al-Dīn Zarrādī and Maulana Shams al-Dīn Yahyā refused to accept his order to proselytize Hindus. 93 Sijzī, Fawā’id al-fu’ād, 5. 94 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 102.

113 Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā, provides ample empirical evidence to suggest that the Chishtīs not only acknowledged Hindu spirituality, but also believed that a non-Muslim can equally bear mystical connections with the Divine. It is not the prerogative of the Muslims alone, and the Hindus can also attain spiritual elevation leading to salvation.95 Once, Shaykh

Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā recalled his interaction with a Hindu yogī in the khānqāh of Bābā

Farīd and expressed his consensus and satisfaction with the answers given to him by the yogī over an issue.96 Similarly, Shaykh Ḥamīd al-Dīn Nagaurī who was bestowed with an esteemed spiritual caliber,97 used to say about a Hindu living in Nagaur that he was

“Khuda parast,” 98 or a believer in God.

Apart from accepting the religio-spiritual truths of Hinduism, the Chishtīs accepted and incorporated influences from Hindu and Buddhist practices such as bowing before the shaykh, offering water to visitors, circulating zanbīl (adopted by Bābā Farīd), shaving the heads of new initiates, audition assemblies or samā‘ (adopted by Khwaja

Mu’īn al-Dīn Ajmerī), eating in wooden bowl (initially adopted by Bābā Farīd)99 and inverted penances or chilla-i m‘akūs (adopted by Bābā Farīd).100 Moreover, Hindus

95 Sijzī, Fawā’id al-fu’ād, 84, 238-45. Shackle argue that the major differences of opinion and ideas among Hindus and Muslim during the medieval period, were not based on the core differences of their faiths but they were “marked more by class” Christopher Shackle, “Beyond Turk and Hindu: Crossing the Boundaries in Indo-Muslim Romance” in David Gilmartin and Bruce B. Lawrence ed., Beyond Turk and Hindu: Rethinking Religious Identities in Islamicate South Asia (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2000), 56. 96 Sijzī, Morals of the Heart, 161-178. 97 Darā Shikoh Qadirī, Safīnat al-awliyā, (Karachi, n.d: 1959), 129. 98 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 158. 99 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā 116, 284. 112, 198 and passim see also, Liebeskind, Piety on Its Knees, 124-76, 256-59, Jafri, “Sufi Tradition and Popular Literature,” 272. 100 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 160-162 Urdu. 116, 284, Sizjī, Fawā’id al-fu’ād, 137, 158-9. See also K. A. Nizami, ed., Khair al-Majālis, 65, 66 and 150. For secondary sources, K. A. Nizami, Some Aspects of Religion and Politics in India During Thirteenth Century, 178-9. As stated earlier, Aziz Ahamd argues that practicing chilla-i m‘akūs has been derived from Hindu Yoga. Ahmad, An Intellectual History of Islam in India, 38. For some more details, Carl W.

114 believes about Ātmā (human soul) and Parmātmā (The Divine Soul) are always one and the same, which is exactly the same to waḥdat al-wujūd (The Unity of Being) a belief in

101 Sufism.

Noteworthy to mention is that it was not merely the translation of one religious ideals into the other, but as Geertz highlights, it’s the strong relationship between religion and culture. As discussed in the previous chapter, that both culture and religion are connected, and the religious practices manifest the socio-cultural requirements of a given community,102 that is why, religious practices reflect the cultural traditions while the cultural expressions are also affected by the religious beliefs. Medieval ‘Indo-sufi’ culture also reflects the intersection of both religion and culture. The inclusive approach of the sufis had great significance not only for the Muslims but for the non-Muslims as well.103 The rhythmic songs composed by the sufis were sung not only by the Muslims but also by the Hindus. Bābā Farīd was one of the first Indian sufis to compose poetry in

Punjabi and Persian languages, Siyar al-awliyā gives few citations of his Persian poetry which “neatly express the point in discussion.”104 These verses were later incorporated in

Gurū-granth Sahib, the Holy Book of the Sikhs.105 Worth mentioning is the influence

Ernst, “Situating Sufism and Yoga’ Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Third vol. 15, no. 1 (2005), 15-43. 101 Raziuddin Aquil, “Music and Related Practices in Chishti Sufism: Celebrations and Contestations” Social Scientist, vol. 40, no. 3/4 (2012), 20. 102 Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures (New York: Basic Books, 1973), 89. 103 Malik, Islam in South Asia: A Short History, 141. 104 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 363, 464, 473, 476. K.A Nizami, The Life and Times of Shaikh Farid-u’d-Din Ganj-i-Shakar (Aligarh: Muslim University Aligarh, 1955), 84. See also, Nishat Manzar, “Mysticism and Humanism: Sufis as Poets, Connoisseurs of Music and Scholars of Comparative Religion and Mystic Philosophy,” in The Islamic Path: Sufism, Society and Politics in India, ed. S. Z. H. Jafri and H. Reifeld (New Delhi: Rainbow Publishers, 2006), 237. 105 Lajwanti Rama Krishna, Panjabi Sufi Poets (Calcutta: Oxford University Press, 1938), S. R. Sharda’s Sufi Thought: Its Development in Punjab and Its Impact on Punjabi Literature, from Baba Farid to 1850 AD (New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1974), N. Hanif, Biographical

115 which society received at large as a result of this religious accommodation and behaviour. It also had major impacts on the course of Bhaktī movement in India.106 Not only the Chishtīs’ but Suhrawardīs at Uch and Isma‘ilī teachings in thirteenth-and

107 fourteenth-century India established base for the Bhaktī movement.

Not only during their lifetime but even after their deaths, the dargahs of the

Chishtī Shaykhs were also comfort zone for many mix gatherings of Muslims and non-

Muslims. For instance, the shrine of Khwaja Mu’īn al-Dīn Chishtī turned into a famously known pilgrim place in West-India.108 It was not merely during the thirteenth-and fourteenth-century India that the Chishtīs had pluralistic approach towards other religion, it continued in later times as well. For instance, a seventeenth-century Chishtī sufi of

Allahabad, Shaykh Muḥibb-Allah (d. 1648),109 once replied to a query of Prince Darā

Shikoh Qadirī (d. 1659) regarding discrimination between Muslims and Hindus in these words:

Encyclopedia of Sufis: South Asia (New Delhi: Sarup and Sons, 2000), 88. Shackle, “Punjabi Sufi Poetry from Farid to Farid”. 106 For details see Tara Chand, Influences of Islam on Indian Culture. 107 For details see, Shackle, C. and Z. Moir, Isma'ili Hymns from South Asia: An Introduction to the Gināns, (Richmond: Curzon, 2000). “The belief system that he (Pir Shams) started as the Satpanth endured for many centuries, it changed shape and diversified, as basic anatomy does from a simple chromosome. Shams’s religious concepts may well have been the initial fuel that fired ideas and systems like the Bhakti movement in Hinduism, the Mughal emperor Akbar’s Din- I Ilahi or even Sikhism.” See Khan, Constructing Islam on Indus, 248. 108 P.M. Curie, The Shrine and Cult of Mu’īn al-Dīn Chishtī of Ajmer (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1989), 20-65. It is also important to note which Michell Boivin highlights in his study of Sindhi dargahs that visit of the both Muslims and Hindus to the shrine of Jhoke Sharif show their association to a same regional and local identity without any religious bias. He further elaborates the visit as a more of a ‘social and cultural process’ rather than a religious one. See, Michel Boivin, “The Sufi Center of Jhok Sharif in Sindh (Pakistan): Questioning the Ziyārat as a Social Process,” in Clinton Bennett and Charles M. Ramsey, eds., South Asian Sufis: Devotion, Deviation and Destiny. (London: Continuum International Publishers, 2012), 107. 109 Abū Sa’id of Gangōh was amongst the prominent disciples of Shaykh Muhibb-Allah. The shaykh was the follower of Chishtī Silsilah. For details see Sugrue, “Authority and Legitimacy in Medieval India”, 36.

116 …justice requires that the thought of the welfare of men should be uppermost in the minds of rulers, so that people might be protected from the tyranny of the officials. It does not matter if one is a Believer or a non-Believer. All human beings are the creatures of God. If one has such feelings, one will not differentiate between a Believer and a non-believer and will show sympathy and consideration 110 towards both.

Like the Chishtīs some of their contemporary Suhrawardīs at Uchh in medieval times also had a pluralistic view of other religions and their religious practices. A recent study on Suhrawardīs of Uchh during medieval India provides details regarding their views of other religions. The Suhrawardī shaykhs created a “Satpanthi, or True Path, tradition of worship including Sunnis, Shi’as, Hindus and Christians. Their inclusive purpose was demonstrated in the site plans and original designs of buildings of the Suhrawardī Order in Multan and Uch.”111 However, the Suhrawardī Shaykhs of Multan were quite different in their approach towards the Hindus and Hinduism.

3.8 Sufis and the Question of Conversion to Islam

Siyar al-awliyā mentions the early Chishtī settlements in Hindu-dominated towns of

Ajmer and Nagaur, which was followed by the popularity of the settler sufis among the local inhabitants. Shaykh Ḥamīd al-Dīn was amongst the first generation of a Muslim family, born in Western India (Ajmer).112 He died in the last half of the thirteenth century which means that Muslim population was already there long before the establishment of

Turkish rule in north India. However, the tadhkirah observes that conversion was a major

110 Nizami, “Impact of Sufi Saints on Indian Society and Culture,” 45-46. See also Hephzibah Israel and John Zavos, “Narrative of Transformation: Religious Conversion and Indian Tradition of ‘Life Writing” South Asia: Journal of South Asia Studies, vol 41. no. 2 (A PRIL 2018): 352- 365. See also, Matthew Sugrue, “Authority and Legitimacy in Medieval India: The Chishtī Order in the Mughal Empire and Deccan Sultanates, 16th -18th Centuries” Unpublished Master thesis Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nava Scotia, 2009, 37. 111 Khan, Constructing Islam on the Indus, xvi. 112 Nagaur, Surūr al-ṣadūr, 566. See also, Moin ul Haq, “Rise and Expansion of the Chishtis in the Subcontinent” Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society. vol xxii (July 1974), 180.

117 problem in India during the early twelfth century. The Hindu leader of Malwā and Ajmer,

Prithivirāj Chohān, tried to ward-off Khwaja Mu’īn al-Dīn Ajmerī due to his clout, as both the new Muslim converts as well as the Hindus were attracted to him. The converts had to either hide their conversion or suffer multiple problems from their Hindu masters.113 The situation only changed over a period of time. As it has already been emphasised by Richard W Bulliet that conversion as a process continued in a very slow manner, then it is often thought.114 Eaton also concludes from sufficient quantitative data that the whole process of conversion for the Indian Muslim took almost five centuries or

115 more.

The earlier discussion and details on the Chishtī worldview to the religious beliefs and cultural ethos of the non-Muslims makes it clear that they did not believe in proselytizing.116 More precisely, the Chishtīs believed that only socializing with the common people and listening to their problems could release their tensions, (which ought

113 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 47. Noticeably, this specific example is from twelfth century – north-western India, When Shaykh Mu’īn al-Dīn Chishtī Ajmerī came to India and Prithavi Raj Chuahan was ruling that area. 114 Richard W. Bulliet, Conversion to Islam in Medieval Period: An Essay in Quantitative History (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1979). 115 Richard M. Eaton, “The Political and Religious Authority of the Shrine of Baba Farīd” 263- 284. 116 Carl W. Ernst, Eternal Garden: Mysticism, History and Politics at a South Asian Sufi Center (Albany: State University New York, 1992), 164. It is also important to note what Gaborieau argues that “orthodox conception of religious life cannot be reduced merely to the concepts inherent to the Islamic tradition, proper, and it is but a modernist’ ideal that neither corresponds to history nor to the reality ‘on the ground’: total Islamization is not a fact, but rather an ideal which has never been achieved, not in the central areas of Islam and certainly not in the Indian Subcontinent where Muslims have remained a minority.” See Marc Gaborieau, “Typologies des Spécialistes religieux chex les musulmans du souscontinebt Indien”, in Archives des Sciences sociales des religions vol. LV, no. 1 (1983), 29-51 cited in Sami Gabriel Massoud, “Sufis, Sufi Turūq and the question of Conversion to Islam in India: An Assessment”, Masters’ thesis. Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University, Montreal; 1997, 132.

118 to be the aim of one’s life) rather than giving them sermons to change their heart.117 As it was neither an easy task to change the hearts, nor was appreciated by the sufis. It was only the religious ‘ulemā with staunch religious outlook, who stressed on conversion.

Contrarily, the sufis never had the one-point agenda or the single objective of converting non-Muslims to Islam. As Muhammad Habib argues: “The wholesale conversions attributed to Muslim mystics of this period (i.e. medieval period) are found in later day fabrications only and these works must be totally discarded. The Muslim mystics did not

118 bother about conversions: it was no part of their duty.”

Orientalists like T.W. Arnold believed that it was only the sufi section of the society who played a major role to increase the number of Muslim population in medieval times.119 In fact, Arnold judged and analyzed the activities the Muslim sufis through the lens of Christian missions, which worked on the single-point agenda of conversion to Christianity. The sufis can not be equated with the Christian missionaries.

In addition, historiographical writings aimed at recording political and military history of medieval India continuously presented a bigoted picture of Islam and Muslims towards non-Muslims in India, using sources like Afīf, Barani and Isāmī, etc. These works glorified the Turko-Persian and Afghan military campaigns, and equated the extension of political rule with the spread of Islam.120 It is very late that sufi literature was taken

117 Sijzī, Fawā‘id al-fu’ād, 308. See also Siddiqui, Composite Culture under the Sultans of Delhi, 24. 118 Muhammad Habib and Khaliq Ahmad Nizami, Collected Works of Professor Mohammed Habib. (New Delhi: People’s Pub. House, 1974), 76. 119 T. W Arnold The Preaching of Islam: A History of the Propagation of the Muslim Faith Second Edition. (London: Constable & Co, 1913). 120 Eaton, India’s Islamic Traditions, Introduction by the editor, 1-34.

119 seriously,121 and now it is acknowledged that sufis, particularly the Chishtīs and the

Qadirīs, did not play a direct role in preaching or conversions of non-Muslims to Islam. It is maintained that the sufis in medieval India actually adapted themselves to the local

Indian milieu through incorporating thoughts and practices from socio-cultural and

122 religious life of the Indians.

The early Chishtī tadhkirahs do not state much about conversion, as the Chishtīs had no regular program of converting non-Muslims to Islam. Amir Khurd informs that the doors of Chishtī khānqāhs were open for people having any religious identity. That is why Siyar al-awliyā refers to only a few examples of conversion.123 One among those deals with the mother of Bābā Farīd (Bībī Qursum).124 Not only the Chishtīs but also

Suhrawardīs of Uch (though not of Multan), in medieval times believed in religious

121 After Muhammad Habib, scholars like, Khaliq Ahmad Nizami, Bruce B Lawrence, Carl W Ernst, Nile Green Richard M. Eaton Yohannan Freidman, Ali Asani and many others utilized sufi literature for writing history of a certain period and place. 122 For details see Iqtidar Hussain Siddiqui. Composite Cultures under the Sultanate of Delhi (Delhi: Primus Books, 2012). 123 Bruce B. Lawrence rightly observed that sufi writings of thirteenth-and fourteenth-century offer few references of conversions, however, these exclusively dealt with the individual examples who converted by conviction. Bruce B. Lawrence, “Early Indo-Muslim Saints and Conversion” in Yohanan Friedmann, ed., Islam in Asia, vol 1, South Asia, (Boulder: Westview Press, 1984), 116. 124 Once, she was praying in her room at mid-night, while the rest of the family members were sleeping. A thief broke into the house and he became blind. Immediately he uttered if there’s any male around, he is my father and brother, and if female, she is my sister and mother. Whoever is there in the house, I became blind due to his fear (holy terror). I request him/her to pray for my eyesight. Bībī Qursum prayed for him and his eyesight was recovered at the very moment. Khurd, further goes on and states that a man came, carrying a clay pot of filled with yogurt He had his family along. When asked about who are they? The man replied ‘I entered the house with wrong intensions but with the horror of the lady I lost my eyesight and regained it when I requested her to pray for me, after that I promised to myself I would not do these bad deeds again. I am with my family right now, we need to convert to Islam. Then the whole family converted to Islam. Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 880-89.

120 pluralism.125 Contrary to that, many sufis belonging to other silsilahs did not share this

126 vision.

Amir Khurd has rarely mentioned anecdotes related to conversion as if it was happening there on daily basis, not worth-mentioning. Or one can also argue that he was only representing those who were Muslim immigrants or the ashrāf and did not like to mention the local converts. Whatever was the case, it is obvious that Chishtīs were never interested in proselytizing. As Amir Ḥassan Sijzī notes:

A disciple of the master [Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā] arrived and brought a Hindu friend with him. He introduced him by saying, “this is my brother”. When he had greeted them both the master asked that disciple. ‘does this brother of yours have any inclination towards Islam?’ ‘It is to this end, replied the disciple ‘that I have brought him to the master, that by the blessing of your gaze he might become a Muslim,’ The master became teary eyed. ‘You can talk to this people as much as you want,’ he observed, no one’s heart will be changed, but if you find the company of the righteous person, then it might be hoped that by the blessing 127 of his company the other will become a Muslim.

Irrespective of who the ‘righteous person’ could be, the Shaykh exhibited his liberality and open-mindedness. He had no fervour to convert that Hindu visitor, though hoping that he would be persuaded to do so under some conditions.128 They did not believe in the idea of abrupt “change of heart” and mind.129 The Chishtīs were very conscious of the fact that abrupt change of faith (by tongue) can never change the heart. The Shaykhs

125 Khan, Constructing Islam on the Indus, 234. 126 For instance, the renowned sixteenth/seventeenth-century Naqshbandi sufi, Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindī (d. 1624) responded to a letter of a Hindu, who asked if he could be a Naqshbandi without renouncing Hinduism, that “the humiliation of non-believers was a requirement for properly honoring the Islamic faith,” and that “cows should be slaughtered to demonstrate the supremacy of Islam.” Yohanan Friedmann, Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindī: An Outline of His Thought and a Study of His Image in the Eyes of Posterity (Montreal: McGill Queen’s University Press, 1971), 72-73. For a brief comparison between the approach of Chishtīs and Naqshbandi-Mujadadi see Green, Sufism, 91. 127 Sijzī, Fawā’id al-fu’ād, assembly 40. 128 Lawrence, “Early Indo-Muslim Saints and Conversion”, 113. 129 Ernst, Eternal Gardens, 157.

121 could see through the marginal differences between inner thoughts and apparent

130 characters.

Not only their lives, the Chishtī shrines or dargahs also carried the same outlook.131 Pinto informs about the dargah of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn, “There was a Hindu woman who is visiting the dargah for over last thirty years to ensure that her only surviving child continues to live.” 132 Bābā Farīd’s tomb in Pakpattan is visited by pilgrims including the Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and others. Similarly, the shrine of

Shaykh Naṣīr al-Dīn Chirāgh-i Dillī is venerated both by the Muslims and Hindus who

133 come to his tomb and pray for blessings for themselves.

3.9 Relationship of the Chishtīs with the Suhrawardīs

Amir Khurd’s work is specifically focused on the Chishtīs in north India but it also throws some light on few of the practices and beliefs of the Suhrawardīs, another prominent sufi silsilah of the period under study. The khānqāh life of both the silsilahs had some marked differences: the Chishtīs believed in the doctrine of faqr, as discussed earlier, while the Suhrawardīs practiced ghinā (resourcefulness). The khānqāhs and life style of the former was simple and austere while that of the latter was lavish with some

130 This is an indication to the incident occurred at the khānqāh of Bābā Farīd, when a group of black cloaked dervishes visited him. The master of the group was separated from the rest of the group and locked away for three days. His companions were provided with food outside, though, by third day, Bābā asked them they would only be released if they accept Islam, properly. By hearing that they confessed that it’s been thirty years they have hidden their identity and under this dervish cloak there’s idolater’s belt. It shows that Bābā Farīd could see what others did not and most importantly, he wanted them to either accept Islam openly or if not then do not pretend to be so, as it creates various problems for many. Amir Khurd, Siyar al- awliyā, 158. 131 Digby, “The Sufi Shaikh as a source of Authority in Medieval India,” 71. 132 D. Pinto “The Mystery of the Nizamuddin Dargah: The Accounts of Pilgrims” in C W Troll ed., Muslim Shrines in India, (Mumbai: Oxford University Press, 1987), 114. 133 J. J. Roy Burman, “Hindu-Muslim Syncretism in India,” Economic and Political Weekly vol. 31, no. 20 (May 1996), 1215.

122 degree of grandeur. Particularly, the Suhrawardīs of Multan believed in pursuing spirituality amid wealth and property.134 They believed that mere possession of wealth did not deter a person from following the path of Sufism, it was, in fact, the attachment with it that was detrimental to the health of the soul. Bahā’ al-Dīn Zakariyya (d. 1262) lived a life of relative luxury and enjoyed cordial relationship with the rulers and elite of the society, especially those in army. Even a Suhrawardī sufi, Shaykh Jalāl al-Dīn Tabrizī criticized him for this. Once he wrote a letter to Bahā’ al-Dīn Zakariyya condemning him

135 by calling him a “man of the world.”

Furthermore, the Chishtīs had a close connection with the common people, while the latter welcomed only select visitors. Noteworthy to mention is that the Chishtī view of living amid the common people and staying away from men of politics, which exhibit their ‘bottom to top’ approach. They believed that if one requires spiritual training, one should live amongst the people and share their sufferings and practise devotion to God in seeking to solve their real-world problems. Amir Khurd frequently cites instances from the life of Bābā Farīd getting involved in public dealings in order to help others in need.

He further adds that Shaykh Naṣīr al-Dīn Chirāgh-i Dillī once asked his mentor, Shaykh

Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā to allow him to go to a secluded place in the wilderness so that he could get completely severed from the people, and get involved in the remembrance of

Allah, as he argued that he could not absorb himself in the remembrance of God in midst of people. The Shaykh, however, did not allow him and replied, “Naṣīr al-Dīn, you have

134 See also, Simon Digby, “The Sufi Shaikh as a Source of Authority in Medieval India” in Purusartha Islam et Societé en Asie du Sud: Islam and Society in South Asia, vol 9. Marc Gaborieau, ed., (Paris: Éd. de l'Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales,), 64. 135 Sijzī, Fawā’id al-fu’ād, 172. See also, Sunil Kumar “Politics, The Muslim Community and the Hindu-Muslim Relations Reconsidered: North India in the early Thirteenth Century” in Rethinking a Millennium: Perspectives on Indian History from the Eighth to the Eighteenth Century: Essays for Harbans Mukhia. ed., Rajat Datta (Delhi: Aakar Books, 2008.) 144.

123 to live in Delhi in midst of the people, and you have to endure hardships and sufferings inflicted by them.”136 Shaykh Ḥamīd al-Dīn Nagaurī used to quote Khwaja ‘Abd al-Allah

Anṣarī that to “bring solace to the human heart was a greater act of devotion than offering countless genuflexions of prayers”.137 Moreover, according to Aḥsan al-aqwāl (the malfūẓ collection of Shaykh Burhān al-Dīn Gharīb (d. 1340), compiled by his disciple

Ḥammād b. ‘Imād Kashānī), Shaykh Burhān al-Dīn Gharīb advised one of his disciples that “doing good to people is better than sitting in a lonely corner.” Moreover, once Zayn al-Dīn Shirazī (a disciple of Burhān al-Dīn, d. 1371) complained that the visits of people disrupt his prayers, to which the former replied that “when the brethren come, the supererogatory prayer is finished.”138 In short, the Chishtīs preferred to stay away from the rulers and others who exercised political power. On the contrary, the Suhrawardīs of

Multan pursued ‘top to bottom’ approach, as they collaborated with the state and rulers, at times fulfilling their political demands and needs. Shaykh Bahā’ al-Dīn believed that in

139 order to bring change in society, it was necessary to have strong links with the rulers.

Another difference in the sufi practices of both the silsilahs is that the

Suhrawardīs had a strict legalistic outlook and they believed in conversion more than the

Chishtīs did.140 The former also did not share the same appreciation for samā‘as the

Chishtīs. However, it is also true that some of their Shaykhs practiced it in solitude. In

136 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 237. 137 Nagaurī, Sarūr al-ṣudūr, 17, as cited in Nizami, On Sources and Source Material, 65. 138 Ḥammād al-Dīn Kashānī, Aḥsan al-aqwāl, 21. 139 Nizami, Some Aspects of Religion and Politics in India, 185-229, K. A. Nizami, “Early Indo- Muslim Mystics and Their Attitude Towards the State” Islamic Culture, vols. 22. (1948) 387-398. 140 For instance, the Suhrawardīs challenged the Chishti position on their failure to attend the congregational prayer at mosque. Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā¸158-160. 124 addition, the Suhrawardīs did not appreciate prostration141 of disciples before their shaykhs. On the contrary, it was neither discouraged nor appreciated much among the

142 Chishtīs while also practiced by all the Shaykhs of the Silsilah.

By and large, both the Chishtī and Suhrawardī Shaykhs enjoyed cordial relations, but sometimes contested the views and practices of each other. For instance, a worth mentioning record of exchange of letters that took place between Shaykh Bahā’ al-Dīn

Zakariyya Multanī and Shaykh Ḥamīd al-Dīn Sivālī Nagaurī. Khurd extracts a major content of those letters in Siyar al-awliyā which explains scholarly ambience of the time,143 along with a detailed discussion on multiple themes revolving around the question of faqr and ghinā, i.e. who is very especial and dear to God? What is the difference between evil fear/illusion and revelation of God, how can they be differentiated? What is the pain and what’s the cure? What is the reality of ma‘arifah/gnosis? What is the background of it? What is meant by recognizing one’s self? Shaykh Ḥamīd al-Dīn Nagaurī also asked him why did he keep this world closer to him?144 Probably, the family of Shaykh Bahā’ al-Dīn Zakariyya did not like it, and that was why one day, one of his sons while visiting Nagaur asked Shaykh Ḥamīd al-Dīn

Nagaurī the reason for the latter’s failure to attend the congregational prayer at the mosque. The former also urged the ‘ulemā’ to act against him, but Shaykh Ḥamīd al-Dīn

141 According to a Dictionary definition the meanings for qadambosi, “touching the feet of the person respectfully approached with the right hand, and then kissing the latter; respectful salutation; obeisance.” F. Steingass, John Richardson, and Francis Johnson. A Comprehensive Persian-English Dictionary: Including the Arabic Words and Phrases to Be Met with in Persian Literature, Being, Johnson and Richardson’s Persian, Arabic, and English Dictionary, (New Delhi: Asian Educational Services, 2008). 142 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 60, 106-07, 148, 300 and Passim 143 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 158-64. 144 He might be pointing out at the accumulation of wealth by Shaykh Bahā’ al-Dīn and the Suhrawardīs close relations with the state. Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 158.

125 responded to him arguing that Nagaur was not a city, but a small town, where there was no central or jam‘ mosque, and the rules of a city could not be applied there. It is believed that the son of Suhrawardī Shaykh intended to disgrace the Chishtī sufi that he should not have questioned Shaykh Bahā’ al-Dīn about the latter’s accumulation of wealth in the

145 first place. In this way, he had tried to settle the score with the Chishtī Shaykh.

Amir Khurd cites instances when the Chishtī and Suhrawardī Shaykhs held meetings amid mutual respect. For instance, once Shaykh Bahā’ al-Dīn Zakariyya

Multanī was visiting Delhi, and he went to the same mosque where Shaykh Quṭb al-Dīn

Bakhtiyār Kākī was also present. When the earlier was leaving, Shaykh Quṭb al-Dīn put his shoe before him with his hands,146 which reveals how they revered each other.

Similarly, once Bābā Farīd was told that his Suhrawardī counterpart Bahā’ al-Dīn

Zakariyya had said something negative about him. Bābā Farīd immediately dismissed it, replying that it was not appropriate, and did not match the decorum of the assemblies of

Bahā’ al-Dīn Zakariyya. When the latter came to be aware of all this, he wrote a letter to apologise and appreciate the former’s behaviour and stated miyaṇ-i mā-o-shumā ‘ishq bazī ast, “we two have the game of ‘ishq between us.” Bābā Farīd replied, ‘ishq hast, bazī

147 nīst, “its ‘ishq, not a game or competition).

One may add here that the famous Suhrawardī text, ‘Awarif al-m‘uārif (a classical book on taṣawwuf) composed by Shaykh Shihāb al-Dīn Ḥafs ‘Umar Suhrawardī (d.

1234) was taught in Chishtī circles, and Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā used to quote many references from it.148 Moreover, whenever the Suhrawardīs visited the Chishtī

145 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā¸158-160. 146 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 61. 147 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 77. 148 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 249-250, 400, 495 passim.

126 khānqāhs they had healthy session with lengthy debates over many religious and spiritual issues. It was religio-spiritual training of the sufis not to say goodbye to their fellows without offering some gift. The Suhrawardīs had to come and visit Delhi Sultans at the capital, and on the way, they used to stay for a while with Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn at

Ghiyathpur. Once Shaykh Rukn al-Dīn (d. 735/1335, son of Shaykh Ṣadr al-Dīn b.

Shaykh Bahā’ al-Dīn Zakariyya) visited Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn at Ghiyathpur, where he was well received by the latter. Shaykh Rukn al-Dīn denied any claims to set up his khānqāh at Delhi (suggested by the ruling Sultan of that time) in any enmity or jealousy of the former.149 Siyar al-awliyā provides details of three meetings between Shaykh Rukn al-Dīn and Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā. The three meetings ended up on a kind note and both of them took care of each other’s respect and esteem. Nevertheless, at one point where both had different opinions regarding the reason of Prophet (PBUH)’s migration from Makkah to Medina, but one did not impose his opinion over the other.150

Afterwards, Shaykh Rukn al-Dīn led the funeral prayer of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā.

There are numerous anecdotes related to the Chishtī and Suhrawardī Shaykhs where both acknowledged the spiritual authority and jurisdiction over geographical territories, a concept referred to as wilayat in Sufism.151 Once, a singer named ‘Abd-

Allah Rūmī visited Bābā Farīd at Ajodhan and stayed there for some time. When he was leaving for Multan, he requested the Shaykh to pray for his safety, to which the latter

149 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 135-141. Dehlavi, Akhbār al-akhyār, 65. See also, Digby, “The Sufi Shaikh as a Source of Authority”, 64. 150 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 137-8 and passim. K. A. Nizami, “Early Indo-Muslim mystics and their attitude towards the state,” 388-92. and Aziz Ahmad, “The sufi and the sultan in pre- Mughal Muslim India,” Der Islam 38, (1962): 142-7. Digby, “The sufi Shaikh as a source of authority in mediaeval India,” 63-5. 151 For a detail study on the wilayat and apparent problems over it see, Digby, The Sufi Shaykh and the Sultan,”

127 replied: “my territory is from this place (Ajodhan) to that ma‘uzā (village), which is at a distance of so many karohs, up to the point of a water reservoir. You will reach that point safely. The area from that point onwards to Multan is under the charge of Shaykh Bahā’ al-Dīn.”152 However, at times the sufis of the two silsilahs viewed it as a conflict of interests. Once Shaykh Quṭb al-Dīn Kākī visited Multan for some level of education, the then governor of Multan Naṣīr al-Dīn Qubacha requested him to stay and settle there permanently. The Suhrawardī sufi, Shaykh Bahā’ al-Dīn Zakariyya thought of it as an incursion into his wilayāt. So, he visited the Chishtī Shaykh at his place and conveyed a subtle message for leaving his domain by placing his [Chishtī Shaykh’s] shoes towards the direction of Delhi. Shaykh Quṭb al-Dīn Bakhtiyār got his message and left Multan

153 right away.

Other than these examples, there are few references when this spiritual jurisdiction became a point of confrontation. One incident goes like this that during

Sultan Iletmish’s reign, he appointed Shaykh Najm al-Dīn Sughra (a thirteenth-century

Suhrawardī-Kubrawī sufi) as Shaykh al-Islam.154 He had very good relations with

Khwaja Mu’īn al-Dīn Chishtī. Once the latter visited Delhi and also went to see Najm al-

Dīn Sughra at his place, but he found the latter did not show any warmth to him. The

Shaykh asked him whether it was his high political position that had made him so arrogant, to which Sughra replied: “I am the same friend of yours, but it’s one of your disciples who does not acknowledge my position.” Hearing this, Khwaja Mu’īn al-Dīn

152 Sijzī, Fawā’id al-Fu’ād, 137-138. 153 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 61. Jamālī, Siyar al-‘ārifīn, 20. K. A. Nizami, State and Culture in Medieval India (New Delhi: Adam Publishers, 1985), 196-97 and Nizami, The Life and Times of Shaikh Farid-u’d-Din Ganj-i-Shakar, 17. 154 Shaykh al-Islam was the highest designated government official, who serves to legal matters of the state.

128 Chishtī Ajmerī smiled and told him that he would take Quṭb al-Dīn Bakhtiyār Kākī with him, as the latter had a great following in Delhi in those days, which made Sughra feel threatened. Nevertheless, when Khwaja Mu’īn al-Dīn intended to take Quṭb al-Dīn with him, the people of Delhi along with Sultan Iletmish requested not to take him along.

155 Thus, the Khwaja was compelled by their requests to leave Quṭb al-Dīn in Delhi.

In the above anecdote, the sufi with Suhrawardī affiliation had problem with the

Chishtī shaykh and the same Chishtī shaykh had very good friendship with other

Suhrawardī sufis like Qāḍī Ḥamīd al-Dīn Nagaurī, Shaykh Bahā’ al-Dīn Zakariyya, Jalāl al-Dīn Tabrizī (1244/45) and his contemporaries. Thus, these kinds of incidents based on jealousy were merely personal and only few and far between. They cannot be generalized as an institutionalized conflict between the two silsilahs. Despite their ideological differences, they never imposed their ideology over the other, though they often tried to convince others of their viewpoint.

Section II Socio-religious and Intellectual Aspects of Medieval India

It has been argued that the Muslims in medieval India did not produce original work, and they only wrote commentaries of the Qur’an and some renowned works of literature.156

Iqtidar Hussain Siddiqui states:

Orientalists evinced interest in the study and research in Islamic historiography produced only in Arabic. It is said that no Western or Indian scholar paid attention to the study of Medieval Persian historical works produced in Ghazna or India, it was only in the 1960s that Peter Hardy studied the historical literature produced under the

155 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 54. See also, Kumar “Politics, The Muslim Community and the Hindu-Muslim Relations Reconsidered,” 144-146. Kubrawī source criticize Shaykh Quṭb al-Dīn Bakhtiyār Kākī for attracting people of Delhi, Shaikh Shua‘ib Manerī, Manaqib al-aṣfiyā (Calcutta: n.d, 1895), 121-22, as cited in Digby, “The Sufi Shaikh as a source of Authority in Medieval India,” 65. 156 Aziz Ahmad, An Intellectual History of Islam in India (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1969), 38.

129 patronage of the sultans of Delhi. He analysed histories of the fourteenth-fifteenth centuries. But no serious effort was made to study the thirteenth-century India-Persian historians who inspired the coming generations of historian. In 1983, K. A. Nizami’s On historians of Medieval India contained two chapters on Hasan Nizami and Minhaj al-Sirāj Juzjani respectively but Nizami has failed to make distinction between history 157 and other literature that may serve as sources of information…

However, these views have been challenged by recent scholarship, as there was much more going on other than this. The intellectual trends were geared to preserve and secure

Muslim heritage,158 along with the production in diverse branches of knowledge. For instance, history of Indian music is incomplete without mentioning Amir Khusrau. As discussed in the previous chapter that he is the father of Hindavi/Urdu poetry and master of Indian music. Isamī being first panegyric, Siyar al-awliyā was first sufi tadhkirah produced during the said period, last but not the least Fawā’id al fu’ād very first malfūẓ, a unique genre of its own kind, was also produced there. The literary efforts of medieval

Indians, especially by the sufis have not been explored at its fullest although they have important share in Islamic historiography. Moreover, one of the problems with latter-day scholars of the said period is that they tend to view the inception of the intellectual history of South Asia from Mughal period onwards, deemphasising the pre-Mughal

Muslim contributions and sufis’ role in the intellectual growth of the Muslims of South

Asia.

The following section explores the intellectual life in the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century North India, with a particular focus on the ‘ulemā’s role, education

157 Iqtidar Husain Siddiqi, Indo-Persian Historiography up to the Thirteenth Century (New Delhi: Primus Books, 2010), 13. 158 The heritage which was sacked and destroyed by the Mongol invasion at Baghdad. All the literary men, scholars, jurists, poets, skilled labour migrated to the India. Which was land of opportunities at that time. For details see, Noor Nabi, Development of Muslim Religious Thought in India.

130 system, curricula and books studied, production of non-sufi and sufi literature, including tadhkirah and malfūẓ production.

3.10 Role of ‘Ulemā or Muslim Scholars in Indian Society

Before discussing the role of ‘ulemā, it is imperative to define who is an ‘ālim or a scholar. An ‘ālim is often understood as a person who has a deep knowledge of the

Qur’an, tafsīr or its exegesis, hadith (study of the sayings of Prophet PBUH), fiqh or the

Muslim jurisprudence, along with other branches of knowledge such as logic (manṭiq), syntax (naḥw) and grammar, etc. In medieval times those who served a good portion of their lives in learning these subjects and had expertise in them were appointed as qāḍīs

(judges), or on other important government positions to advise the rulers on religious matters. Along with it, sufis also had very good knowledge of these subjects and also taught Qur’anic exegesis, hadith, fiqh, etc. in their khānqāhs.159 So the sufis were also

‘ālim, whether they served on important government positions or not. The text informs us that it was imperative for a sufi to be well-educated.160 For instance, Maulana Fakhr al-

Dīn Zarrādī (d. 1347) a disciple of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā, was an eloquent speaker and his writings on the legality and principles of samā‘ prove him a great scholar

161 as well.

The khānqāhs served as important loci of knowledge and learning where the shaykhs taught their disciples in many subjects. For instance, Shaykh Naṣīr al-Dīn

Chirāgh-i Dillī was known as ‘Abū Ḥanīfa Thānī due to his strong grip over

159 Siyar al-awliyā is filled with such examples and Ami Khurd explains multiple times where Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn and almost all of his sufi disciples were taught these subjects. Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 106, 226, 400 passim. See also Jandār, Durr-i Nizāmī, 66-77. 160 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 107-08. 161 He is only one example, the details of such scholars will be discussed in details below.

131 jurisprudence, and he trained a number of scholars as well.162 Maulana Shams al-Dīn

Yaḥyā was also a distinguished disciple of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā and an accomplished sufi of his times. Besides this, Amir Khurd recalls him as a well-versed religious scholar who had expertise in various disciplines of religion.163 Maulana ‘Alā al-

Dīn Uṣūlī, the teacher of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā at Badayūn, spent his life in misery and most of the times, he had nothing to eat except seeds of oil. He was a sufi and a learned religious ‘ālim.164 Shaykh Yousaf is yet another name, an outstanding khalīfah of Shaykh Naṣīr al-Dīn who composed a book Tuḥ’fat u’n-Naṣaih, a distinguished work on shari‘ā and hadith. Shaykh Kamāl al-Dīn was another dear khalifāh of the Shaykh, who excelled in tafsīr and hadith.165 Another profound scholar of hadith was trained by him named Qāḍī ‘Abd al-Muqtadir. The latter composed Munāqib al-ṣiddīqīn.166 Hence, it can be argued that a sufi shaykh was both a sufi and an ‘ālim based on his educational training and knowledge. However, an ‘ālim was not always a sufi. These two are overlapping categories, though in sufi literature, the ‘ulemā were considered men of

167 ‘intellect’ and the sufis as men of ‘ishq (Divine love).

It is also true that some sufis also served in the governments. Most of them were

Suhrawardīs who served as Shaykh al-Islam (the ‘chief of Islam’, juris-consultant for the

162 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 48-56, 237-44. 163 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 223-232. 164 Qalandar, Khayr al-Majālis, 190. Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 419. 165 Nizam uddin Ahmad Bakhshi, Tabaqat-i-Akbari of Khwajah Nizamuddin Ahmad: (A History of India from the Early Musalman Invasions to the Thirty-Eighth Year of the Reign of Akbar), ed. B. Prashad, trans. Brajendranath De (Calcutta: Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1927), 287. 166 Bakhshi, Tabaqāt-i-Akbarī, 299. 167 In the words of Bruce B Lawrence, “Any generalizations is subject to exception, and in medieval India there were also ‘ulemā whose sincerity as teachers and preachers made them natural allies of the sufi shaykhs. Examples of such exceptional ‘ulemā abound in the malfūzat and tazkirah literature” B. B Lawrence “Islam in India”, 43. see K. A. Nizami, Some Aspects of Religion and Politics in India During the Thirteenth Century, 150-73.

132 government), an official position created by Sultan Iletmish.168 Shaykh Bahā’ al-Dīn

Zakariyya held this position at Multan. Later, it became a ‘hereditary position’ in his family.169 There could be more than one Shaykhs al-Islam seated at different regions. For instance, when Shaykh Bahā’ al-Dīn Zakariyya was at Multan under this portfolio,

Shaykh Najm al-Dīn Sughra held this position at Delhi. On the contrary, the Chishtīs usually denied serving under government positions with the conventional religious

‘ulemā. The former believed that there was a huge gap between the political

170 truths/realities and the religious ideals of the latter.

The qāḍīs were paid very high by the government and they enjoyed much respect among public. Most of them were contented with the administrative duties in ecclesiastic department as jurists and judges. These kind of ‘ulemā limited themselves to the principles of formal religion (shari‘ā)171 as if outside these boundaries there was no flexibility in Islam.172 Many among the ‘ulemā were only famous for their eloquence and proselytization like Ḥusām Dervesh who was much celebrated in medieval India. Ḍīa’ al-

173 Dīn Baranī praises him much for his command over language and expression.

168 Tanvir Anjum, Chishtīs Sufis in the Sultanate of Delhi 1190-1400: From Restrained Indifference to Calculated Defiance (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2012), 112. It was a permanent office under the Delhi government also an honorific title conferred upon eminent religious scholars by the Delhi Sultans. For a brief account of those who were bestowed this title by Iletmish, see Rekha Joshi, Sultan Iltutmish (Delhi: Bhāratiya Publishers, 1979), 44-46. 169 Muhammad Salim, “Shaykh Baha al-Dīn Zakariyya of Multan”, Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society vol XVII, (January 1969), 9. 170 Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā was an authority on all the religious science, when he was at Ajodhan, an old friend came to see him and said you could have gone to a post of qāḍī and earn much. The Shaykh smiled and said I prefer living like this. I am walking on the path of ‘ishq. See also Annemarie Schimmel, Islam in the Indian Subcontinent, (Leiden: Brill, 1980), 14. 171 For details on shari‘ā, akhlaqiyāt and its relationship with the state see Muzaffar Alam, “Shari‘a and Governance in the Indo-Muslim Context” in, Beyond Turks and Hindus: rethinking religious identities in Islamicate South India, ed., David Gilmartin and Bruce B. Lawrence (Gainesville and Tallahassee: University Press of Florida, 2000), 216-245. 172 Nabi, Development of Religious Thought in India, 128. 173 Baranī, Tarikh-i Firūzshāhī, 131.

133 Contrarily, sufi texts like Sarūr al-ṣudūr describe his voracity or unlimited greed for accumulation of wealth, as he looted huge amounts of gold during the reign of

Kaiqubad.174 This led to an ideal distinction, rather dichotomy, between ‘ulemā-i akhirat

(the scholars concerned more with the life hereafter; the true scholars) and ‘ulemā-i dunyā (the scholars concerned more with the worldly interests).

Other than preaching Islam, some of the scholars reached at the peak of knowledge. Baranī in Tarīkh-i Firūzshāhī informs that Maulana Ẓahīr al-Dīn of Bhakkar was amongst the most learned and acclaimed scholars who reached at the zenith of knowledge like al-Ghazzālī and al-Rāzī during the ‘Alā’ī (of Sultan ‘Alā al-Dīn Khaljī) period.175 It is also true that these eloquent and expert scholars were sometimes unable to satisfy their students, or unable to solve all the religious queries of their students, and so

176 they had to seek help from the sufis like Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā.

Important to note here is that the professional ‘ulemā under the state machinery were required to preach Islam and not the sufis.177 As discussed earlier in the chapter that the Chishtīs had no interest in making efforts to directly preach Islam, this remained a major distinction between conventional religious ‘ulemā and the Chishtīs. The ‘ulemā mostly remained inflexible and conservative in their outlook.178 Modern scholarship on medieval India maintains that nothing could be argued explicitly regarding ‘ulemā’s

174 However, Surūr al-sudūr looked at his insatiable thirst for wealth and worldly desires, his flattering behaviour. Nagaurī, Sarūr al-Sadūr, 49 as cited in Nizami, On History and Historians. However, Surūr al-sudūr looked at his insatiable thirst for wealth and worldly desires, his flattering behaviour. 175 Baranī, Tarīkh-i Firūzshāhī, 514. al-Lakhnavī, Nuzhat al-khwatir vol 2, 66. 176 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 224. Simon Digby, “The Sufi Shaykh as a Source of Authority”, 62. 177 Ernst, Eternal Garden, 160. 178 For a detailed study on the role of ‘Ulemā in Delhi Sultanate see Aziz Ahmad, “The role of Ulemā in the Indo-Muslim History” Studia Islamica.no. 31, (1970), 1- 13.

134 attitude towards the Hindus and people professing other faiths. Notably, Ādāb al-ḥarb wa-shajāʿa (The Etiquette of War and Valour) by Fakhr-i Mudabbir (d. 633/1236) does not state anything about the Hindus,179 as if they were not present in the society.

However, the fact remains that the Muslims were in minority at that time, and they needed human resource from Hindu subjects for running state machinery. The ‘ulemā did not appreciate Hindu masons building the sacred places or mosques for the Muslims.

180 Later, they had to realize that it was not possible without their help.

Generally, the Ḥanafī fiqh was studied and followed in northern India by the

‘ulemā. Nevertheless, the Chishtīs were open to, and were well-conversant in other schools of fiqh particularly Shafa‘ī and Malikī.181 The ‘ulemā always had a prestigious position throughout the period of Delhi Sultanate. Sultan Iletmish had soft corner for the sufis, and that was why he took side with sufis whenever, there was a clash between the

‘ulemā and sufis on issues like samā‘ or devotional music.182 (details infra)

3.11 Education System in Medieval India

Education is a process of reconstruction of mind and intellect. To study the religio- intellectual milieu of medieval India, it is imperative to explore its system of education.

Muslim education system evolved in pre-colonial India in conformity with the Muslim tradition. There was no uniformity of education and standardized stages of education

179 Fakhr al-Dīn Muḥammad b. Mubārak Shah (known as Fakhr-i Mudabbir) Adābal-ḥarb wa’shujā‘a, ed. Ahmad Suhaili Khwansari (Tehran, 1968). For more on him see Auer, Blain, “Fakhr-i Mudabbir”, in: Encyclopaedia of Islam Three. 180 Anthony Welch, “Architectural Patronage and the Past: The Tughluq Sultans of India” Muqarnas, vol. 10, (1993), 313. 181 In many cases Bābā Farīd taught Imām Mālik’s teachings and his ideas were appreciated by him, which maintains the idea that no matter whatever, fiqh you follow, but you should be aware of all. 182 Khaliq Ahmad Nizami, “Iltutmish the Mystic”, Islamic Culture, vol. xx, (1946): 165-80.

135 system like present times. Neither court chronicles nor sufi literature provide any reference to such divisions. It was only the teacher, or the subjects of study which could define any stage.183 One can find its example in Amir Khurd’s explanation of Maulana

Akhī Sirāj’s learning.184 As discussed earlier that seeing medieval realities with the present-day lens may create multiple historiographical problems and thus distort historical reconstruction.

Education also plays an important role for the social mobility of the people. It is often called the movement of groups or individual from one social placement to the other within the same society or strata. One can move either down or up the hierarchy. There are multiple factors or indicators which affect social mobility, for instances, sources of income, occupations, prestige, politics, demographic structure, and education.185

Education was a powerful indicator of social mobility in medieval India. Both informal and formal streams had very important contributions for bringing up social mobility. It proved to be a gateway to the high professional seats during the early medieval India, when the state was expanding, and institutional development was underway. Only some of the religious scholars got state positions, whereas many others could not. For instance,

Maulana ‘Alā al-Dīn Uṣūlī, who was a great scholar of his time and he was a teacher of

Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā. However, he preferred his meagre livelihood and not

183 Sabir, “Muslim Education and Learning under the Delhi Sultans, 113. 184 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 289. 185 For details see Adams, Don, and Janet Adams. “Education and Social Development.” Review of Educational Research 38, no. 3 (1968): 243-63, And Neelsen, John P. “Education and Social Mobility” Comparative Education Review vol 19, no. 1 (1975): 129-43. (accessed on April 23rd, 2017).

136 allied himself with the state. He could live with empty stomach for more than three

186 days.

The education given in sufi khānqāhs was very much based on the intension of seeking knowledge and not for the sake of attaining worldly positions.187 For a basic level education (imbued with religious fervor) children were sent to makṭab,188 where they learnt how to read Qur’an and other books.189 Afterwards going further in learning other subjects, the process relied upon ability of the learner, interests, availability of resources like books, and experienced teachers. There was a loose organizational structure in the makṭab, madrassah, mosque and khānqāh. In the same manner, there were a few examples of physical infrastructure for education, makṭabs were mostly attached to mosques and run by the influential people, and teaching was usually common within the

190 mosque building at that time.

The place of learning did not matter, it could be the house of a teacher, a mosque, a madrassa or a khānqāh.191 The teaching method was dialectical, scholastic and concentrated discussion while interpreting various books.192 There were no prescribed rules for the selection of curricula. Students could go and learn one book in detail from

186 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 419. For details on his life see Sijzī, Fawā’id al fu’ād, 165-66; Qalandar, Khayr al-majālis, 180, 190-91. Dehlavī, Akhbār al-akhyār, 77. 187 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 85. 188 For its history see Chahryar Adle, History of Civilization of Central Asia, Vol vi Towards the Contemporary Period: From the Mid-Nineteenth to the end of Twentieth Century (Turin: UNESCO Publishers, 2005), 33. 189 Like Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā was sent to makṭab first. Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 198. 190 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 106. 191 Ḍiya’ al-Din Baranī informs about the development of madrassas in medieval India and the Sultans’ interest in it, however, the information still does not cover fully the system of education in India. See Muhammad Habib and Afsar Umar Salim, The Political Theory of the Delhi Sultanate (Delhi: Kitab Mahal, n.d.), 18. For the presence and growth of madrassas in medieval period see, Saiyid Zaheer Hussain Jafri, “Education and transmission of knowledge in medieval India” Intellectual Discourse, vol 20 no.1 (2012), 81. 192 M. Martin Richard, ed., Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World, Vol. 2. (New York: Macmillan Reference, 2004), 418-19.

137 one teacher having expertise in the field and going to the other expert for other subjects of study. Therefore, for medieval period in India it is not appropriate to apply the concepts of ‘curricula’ or syllabus in modern connotations. For instance, some of the teachers were expert in exegesis and others in grammar or principles of religions and other would be interested in linguistics and rational sciences.193 The scholars were preferred over any institutional barrier, they were institutions within themselves. In fact, much of the educational system was teacher-centric, where scholars being teachers and trainers were cherished.

The students in sufi khānqāhs had to undergo rigid discipline and self-control.

The inmates were taught to cleanse their soul and enhance their inner beauty.194 The learned inmates of khānqāh used to have academic debates and discussions on regular basis.195 Those who had grip over one subject (or on a classic book) used to read aloud so that others could listen and learn from him. If the audience had any query, they would ask the Shaykh to throw light on those difficult points. Consequently, they attained a broader and better vision of relevant subjects. This is the reason why sufi khānqāhs have been considered centers of learning and knowledge. Other than those who had interest in taṣawwuf there were many others including teachers, instructors, students, common people and ‘ulemā who used to visit Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā for their queries or just to learn in his majālis.196 The sufi shaykhs and ‘ulemā had their personal libraries or

193 Abdul Qadir Badayuni, Muntakhib ut tawarīkh, Vol.3, ed. Maulvi Kabiruddin Ahmad Ali (Calcutta, Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1869), 23,67,77. Ali Rahman, Tadhkirah ‘ulama-i-Hind (Lucknow: Nawal Kishore, 1914), 62. 194 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 450-51. 195 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 294-95. 196 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 129-132.

138 books collections, for instance, Khurd informs that there was a big library was attached to

197 the jamā‘at-khānah of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā.

However, getting education meant differently for both the sufis and ‘ulemā.

Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā in one of his majālis cited Shaykh Jalāl al-Dīn Tabriz that the “sole drive of ‘ulamā in receiving education is limited either to get a job of a teacher, or an administrative post of a Ṣadr-i-jahāṇ (Head of Religious Affairs in the Sultanate of

Delhi) or a qāḍī (judge).” The ‘ulamā aimed at nothing greater but a sufi aspired for various stages of self and spiritual growth and development.198 For sufis education was aimed at seeking service to humanity, which eventually leads to God.199 Learning at khānqāh did not mean producing people with a certificate in hand who search merely for jobs but to excel in every field of knowledge and practicing it as well. While quoting

Caliph ‘Umar b. ‘Abd al-Azīz (r. 717-720) Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā stated that when one acquires education he becomes respectable in the eye of people. However, when he acts upon it he becomes dear to God.200 Shaykh Naṣīr al-Dīn Chirāgh-i Dillī

201 explained the same in these words, “purpose of knowledge is action…”

Nevertheless, from Siyar al-awliyā one may take an impression that education was also a private enterprise, and not exclusively public affair. There were many state patronized madrassas that existed during that time. Even in the early thirteenth century when Shihāb al-Dīn Muḥammad Ghaurī (r 1203-1206) established his rule in India, founded many madrassahs inspired by the rational sciences, as alluded by Hassan Nizami

197 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 288. 198 Sijzī, Fawā’id al-Fu’ād, 237. 199 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 186. 200 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 534-35. 201 Qalandar, Khayr al-majālis, 253.

139 in Tā‘j al-ma‘āthir.202 However, Siyar al-awliyā names only one institution, that is

Madrassah-i M‘uizzī and its expert scholars.203 Amir Khurd does not mention the educational conditions of the Hindus or their intellectual caliber. One can argue that it was due to his “Muslim’ elite representation,” 204 and another silence in his work.

3.12 Academic Disciplines

The literary ambience that evolved during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in India is eminent. According to some scholars, it was a highest time for the intellectual development of medieval India.205 Siyar al-awliyā exhibits awareness of the learned people with the diverse range of literary corpus of the time. They were well acquainted with the classical literature besides the time-honored scholars and writers. Indian

Muslims became saviour of the Muslim intellectual tradition which was threatened by the

Mongol invasions in the Middle East,206 to which they further added much. The literature produced gave inspiration not only to the future generations but shaped major part of classical Persian literature as well.207 This is a unique time in the history of Indo-Muslim literary productions as they had their own Indian taste, fulfilling the needs of the Indian

202 Taj al-Din Hasan Nizami, Tajud Din Hasan Nizami’s Taj al ma‘athir (The crown of glorious deeds) Mohammad Aslam Khan, Chander Shekhar, and Bhagwat Saroop eds., (Delhi: Saud Ahmad Dehlavi, 1998). 203 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 388. 204 See Balachandran “Exploring the elite world in the Siyar al-Awliyā”. 205 Jafri, “Education and transmission of knowledge in medieval India”, 79-80. 206 It was a time when Mongol onslaught was outing an end to the Muslims’ political as well as intellectual heritage. Sufis and scholars here in India, to a larger extent dedicated their lives to save this classical heritage of philosophy and scholarship. 207 Siddiqi, Indo-Persian Historiography Up to the Thirteenth Century, 13-14.

140 Muslims.208 It is of immense value for its celebrated achievements in prose-writing, biographical literature, numerology, religion and many other disciplines discussed below.

Apart from the Quran, tafsīr, hadith, fiqh, the subjects of study during the said period generally included adab (literature), naḥw (grammar), lughat (study of words),209 syntax, ṭibb (medicine), maths, astronomy, akhlaqiyāt (ethics/morality), philosophy, kalām (scholasticism), manṭaq (logic), calligraphy (khaṭṭaṭī/khushkhaṭī),210 numerology,

211 and rules parsing translation.

3.13 Curricula and Classical Literature Studied

Amir Khurd brings one’s attention to the classical literature studied at that time. The ensuing discussion focuses on the books mentioned in Siyar al-awliyā, though in addition to them, other works might also be studied.

Qūt al-Qulūb fi mu‘amalāt al-maḥbūb wa waṣf ṭarīq al-murīd ila maqām al- tawhīd (The nourishment of hearts in dealing with the Beloved and the description of the seeker’s way to the station of declaring oneness) by Muḥammad ibn ‘Alī, known as Abū

Ṭalib al-Makkī (d. 996)212 was a popular work on Sufism, studied in medieval India. The

208 For details see Schimmel, Islam in the Indian Subcontinent, Jamāl Malik, Islam in South Asia: A Short History (Leiden: Brill, 2008), and Siddiqi, Indo-Persian Historiography Up to the Thirteenth Century. 209 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 100, Sijzī, Fawā’id al-fu’ād, 148-49. 210 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 367. 211 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 573-8. 212 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā 256-7, 488. Sijzī, Fawā’id al-Fu’ād, 141. A PhD dissertation by Saeko Yazaki takes exception from the argument which proves Qūt al-Qulūb as a sufi work. It has two sections, first attempts to introduce current scholarship on the authorship of the book. It has focused on a figurative picture of the heart shared by numerous societies. The second section has attempted in exploring the nature of the book within the framework of Tasawwuf particularly, and of religion generally. It has also managed to discuss the reliability of (supposed work) al-Makki’s ‘Ilm al-qulūb. See, Saeko Yazaki, “A Study of Abū Talib al-Makki” Unpublished PhD diss., Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Edinburgh, 2010.

141 author was a famous sufi, a Shafa‘ī jurist and an expert of hadith in Baghdad. His book has also been used as an important source by Ghazzālī for his Iḥyā-i ‘ulūm al-dīn.

Amir Khurd refers to Abū Said Abu’l Khayr (d. 1049) at places, but without mentioning the any of the names of his books. Notably another remarkable work on

Taṣawwuf famous among Indian students and scholars of Sufism alike was Al- risalā-’i

Qushayrī fi-‘ilm al-Taṣawwuf by Abu’l-Qāsim ‘Abd al-Karīm al-Qushayrī (d 1074). The work still occupies an important position amongst the sufi study circles. Amir Khurd acknowledges that he was following the organizational style of Risalā-’i Qushayrī in his

213 own work.

Siyar al-awliyā mentions Abū Ḥamid Muḥammad al-Ghazzālī (d. 1111),214 who was known for his knowledge of Sufism, law and theology. He had expertise in multiple branches of traditional religious (Islamic) sciences. He was also a well-known sufi- scholar. In India, as informed by Amir Khurd, various renowned works of Ghazzālī were studied and taught, particularly in the Chishtī sufi circles. His world known work on reconciliation of Sufism and orthodox Islam was Iḥyā-i ‘Ulūm al-dīn (Revival of the

Religious Sciences). His work Kitāb al-arba’īn fi uṣūl al-dīn (The Forty Chapters on the

Principles of Religion)215 was an abridged edition of the Revival. In addition, there was

Mishkāt al-anwār (The Niche of the Lights) by Ghazzālī, which deals with the inner enlightenment and guidance towards the Divine. The Indian scholars always taught

Ghazzālī’s sensitivities concerning man’s longing for nearness of God. Jawāhir al-

Qur’ān wa duraruh (Jewels of the Qur’an and its Pearls) by Ghazzālī covered some of

213 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 14, 471. 214 For a detailed study on Ghazzālī and its influence on India see Edward Craig, Routledge Encyclopaedia of Philosophy: Genealogy to Iqbal (New York: Routledge, 1998), 64-67. 215 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 145.

142 the major themes of the Qur’an. It comprised of Ghazzālī’s interpretations of multiple problems pertaining to the study of the Qur’an. Amir Khurd records that Shaykh Niẓam

216 al-Dīn used to read Jawāhir al-Qur’ān regularly.

Another early thirteenth-century work on Taṣawwuf consulted immensely during that time was ‘Awārif al m‘uārif by Shaykh Shihāb al-Dīn Abū Ḥafs ‘Umar Suhrawardī

(d. 1234). He was a prominent sufi of Suhrawardī Silsilah who popularized it in India. In this work he relates the concept of love with everyday life. The work is acknowledged as a ‘magnum opus’ in Sufism. It was famous among all while Chishtī sufis studied and

217 learnt it by heart.

Abū Bakr ‘Abd-Allāh b. Muḥammad b. Sahavar b. Anuservan al-Rāzi (d. 1256) commonly known as Najm al-Dīn Dayā or Najm al-Dīn Rāzī. He was a Persian sufi of

Kubrawiyya Silsilah.218 who wrote important works on Sufism. He belonged to Sunni

School of thought while followed the Ash‘arī tradition in this work. However, most popular among all is his marvellous work Mirṣād al-‘ibād min al-mabdā‘ elā’l-ma’ād.219

Amir Khurd recollects a memory from a gathering of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā where Amir Ḥassan Sijzī cites example from Mirṣād al-‘ibād while there was a

216 Amir Khurd Siyar al-awliyā, 383. 217 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 106, 226, 400 and passim. 218 He was a disciple of Najm al-Din Kubrā (d.1221), who was a celebrated thirteenth-century sufi from Khwarizm who the founder of Kubrawī Silsilah. He wrote Ādāb al-ṣufiyyā but Amir Khurd only mentions Mirṣād al-‘ibād of Najm al-Dīn al-Rāzī. 219 Hamid Talgar has translated the book into English from Persian. Najm al-Din Dayā Abū Bakr al-Rāzī, The Path of God’s Bondsmen, The Mersād al-‘ibād min al-mabdā’ elā ‘l-ma’ād: From Origin to Return. Trans, Hamid Algar, (Delmar, N.Y: Caravan Books, 1982), For a brief introduction on it see, Lewisohn, Leonard, and David Morgan. The Heritage of Sufism. 3, (Oxford: Oneworld, 1999).

143 discussion going on, on the use of musical instruments.220 This implies that the book deals with the rules of conduct and principles of Sufism, including sufi music.

Siyar al-awliyā maintains an impression that Indo-Muslims had an easy access to the contemporary scholarship like Gulistan-i Sā‘dī by Shaykh Musleh al-Dīn Sā‘dī of Shirāz

(d. 1292).221 It is one of the most influential works on ethical teachings and sufis’ lives.

Amir Khurd quotes many verses in Siyar al-awliyā from this collection.

For the teaching of tafsīr or Quranic exegesis, Al-kashshāf ‘an haqā’iq al-tanzīl, was used as an important source. It is a commentary of the Qur’an rendered by a

Mu‘tazilah scholar named Abu’l Qāsim Maḥmūd ibn ‘Umar al-Zamakhsharī (d.1144). It is referred to recurrently in Siyar al-awliyā. During the literary discussions in his khānqāh, Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā used to discuss the comparative interpretations rendered by +khsharī in his tafsīr.222 On the other hand, the tafsīr was criticized for its

Mu‘tazilah philosophical content by various ‘ulemā and sufis like Bahā’ al-Dīn

Zakariyya.223 It shows that as compared to their contemporary Suhrawardīs, the Chishtīs had a relatively soft position on this work. Zamakhsharī authored another book titled Al- mufaṣal anmūzāj. It is an important work on Arabic grammar (naḥw). Amir Khurd refers

224 to this work as well.

Bābā Farīd was an expert scholar who taught the most difficult books on the subject of theology like Tamhīd al-muhtadā. Probably, the complete name of the work was Kitāb al-tamhīd fī bayān al-uṣūl (Book of introduction to the Elucidation of the

220 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 520-21. 221 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 447. 222 Like discussion on Surah Fateh and comparison of Ibrahim Nakhai and Hassan Basrī. Siyar al-awliyā, 439. 223 Jamālī, Siyar al’ārifīn, 116. Annmarie Schimmel, Islam in Indian Subcontinent, 15. 224 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 451.

144 Principles [of Religion]) by Abū Shakūr Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Sayyid b. Shaykh al-

Sālimī, a late eleventh century scholar. Amir Khurd refers to the book as Tamhīd al- muhtadā and informs that it dealt with uṣūl-i hadith.225 Its importance can be observed from the khilafatnamah copied in Siyar al-awliyā in which the Shaykh especially permitted his principal khalīfah, Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn to study and then teach this book to his students.226 Other than the above-mentioned work, Abū Shakūr also authored a book titled Kitāb al-tamhīd fī bayān al-tawḥīd (Introduction to the Explanation of the

Unity of God). One should not get confused between the two works as Amir Khurd mentions the title like Tamhīd or Tamhīd al-muhtadā. However, the context in which he refers to the work makes one aware that it was Salimī’s Kitāb al-tamhīd fī bayān al-uṣūl

227 and not Kitāb al-tamhīd fī bayān al-tawḥīd.

Among the Chishtī fraternity, they had specialists in hadith like Wajīh al-Dīn

Pāilī.228 They had strong grip over the subject and taught books like Maṣābīḥ al-Sunnah by Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥusayn ibn Masū‘d b. Muḥammad al-Farra’, known as Al-

Baghawī (d.1122). The author was another book by a prominent Persian Shafa‘ī scholar.

Schimmel argues that Maṣābīḥ al-Sunnah became known to the Indians from mid- fourteenth century,229 however, Amir Khurd learnt Maṣābīḥ in his student life, which

225 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 106, 117-120. 226 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 117-118. 227 Very little is known about his life as the Ḥanafī scholar who lived in Transoxiana in the second half of the fifth/eleventh century. Little else is known of his biography, as the Ḥanafī biographical dictionaries do not mention him. His teachings, however, are well attested and extant in numerous manuscripts, although it has not yet been edited. Rudolph, Ulrich, “Abū Shakūr al-Sālimī”, in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three. eds., Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, Everett Rowson. accessed on 12 October 2017. 228 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 101. 229 Schimmel, Islam in the Indian Subcontinent, 15.

145 suggests that Indians literary circles were familiar with it even in the twelfth century.230

So Schimmel’s observation does not seem to be correct.

Another major book of hadith is Jami‘ al-uṣūl fi hadith al-raṣūl written by Imām

Majd al-Dīn al-Mubārak Ibn al-Athir (d. 1210) covered a major part of medieval Indian syllabus.231 It is a collection of the transmissions compiled in the seminal hadith collection, Muwatā by Imām Mālik (d. 795). In a likely manner, Mashāriq al-anwār, a book of hadith compiled by Razī al-Dīn as-Sāghanī (d. around late thirteenth century), is a fine admixture reorganization of Ṣaḥīh Bukhārī and Ṣaḥīh Muslim. It became a standard work of Muslim tradition (hadith) and taught in medieval India. With 2253 aḥādīth in total, Mashāriq became the most distinguished book to be learnt by the eminent students of medieval India. The chief feature of the collection is that author has disregarded asnāds (verifications) of the transmissions while keeping the names of transmitters in it.

Indian scholars did not merely master the knowledge of hadith from Mashāriq but also produced further commentaries on it. A Chishtī sufi, Maulana Sham al-Dīn Yahyā, who was a disciple of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā, wrote a commentary on it.232 In addition, a Suhrawardī sufi, ‘Abd al-Qadir ibn ‘Abd-Allah also wrote a commentary on it with the title Al-Maysir Tuḥfat al-abrār.

Mishkāt al-Masābīḥ by Muḥammad ibn ‘Abd-Allah Khaṭīb al-Tabrizī (d.1340)233 was also taught during the said period. It opened up some further sources of teaching

234 hadith in India. It is also referred to as Mishkāt-i sharīf (The Noble Lamp).

230 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 207, also see Anna Suvorova, Muslim Saints of South Asia: The Eleventh to Fifteenth Centuries (London: Routledge, 2004), 215. 231 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 640. 232 Dehlavī, Akhbār al akhyar, 96. 233 It is an extended version of Maṣābih al-Sunnah. 234 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, Urdu trans Aijaz al Haq Qudusi, 71, 71, 77, 78.

146 Another important subject of study was fiqh, for sufis it was very important to have its deeper understanding. Book on Ḥanafī fiqh by Imām Nafey was commonly studied during medieval India.235 However among many renowned works on fiqh Uṣūl al- bazdawī kanzul wuṣūl ‘ilam ma‘rifat al-uṣūl takhrīkh aḥādīth uṣūl al-bazdawī was also famous in the said period.236 The work is written by ‘Alī b. Muḥammad b. al-Ḥassan b.

Abd al-Karīm b. Mūsa b. ‘Isa, known as Abū al-Yasr al-Baḍdawī (d. 1099),237 who was an excellent work on the principles of law by the early jurists of Ḥanafī school. The book also contains important rules for the knowledge of hadith extraction and its verification.

In the likely manner, for a deeper study of the principles of fiqh, another work studied in medieval India was Al-hidaya fī sharh bidayat al-mubtadī, commonly known as al- hidaya. It is a legal manual written in twelfth century by Burhān al-Dīn al-Marghinanī (d.

1197), who was considered among the most celebrated and esteemed jurists of the Ḥanafī school. His work is considered the most significant and effective Ḥanafī (fiqh)

238 compendium, which provided base for future commentaries.

Amir Khurd’s reference to a law book of Ḥanafī school, composed by Aḥmad ibn

‘Alī al-Sa’atī (d. 1296) is also worth mentioning. It is titled as Majmā‘ al-baḥrain wa multaqa al-nayyirain. Its several references in Siyar al-awliyā reveal its central role in the field of legal studies.239 Another work studied during the period was Majmā‘ al-fatawā written by celebrated Ḥanbaī jurist, Ibn Taimiyyah (d.1328). This treatise is comprised of fatwās or legal pronouncements. There are other themes in the work as well, but Amir

235 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 60. 236 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 502 237 Muchammed Sajfiddinoviĉ Asimov, History of Civilizations of Central Asia (Vol.4, Part-2) (Motilal Banarsidass Publishers: 1992), 127-8. 238 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 416, 523. 239 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 219, 266, 267, 289 Passim.

147 Khurd discusses only its one aspect, and also cites a paragraph from the book.240

Noteworthy to mention is that not only Ḥanafī but Malikī and Shafa‘ī fiqhs were also studied and understood. The Chishtīs used to exchange books among them, for instance, copies of Taṣrīf-i Malikī and Tuḥfat al-Barāt of Shaykh Mujadad al-Dīn Baghdadī

(disciple of Kubrawī sufi Shaykh Najm al-Dīn Kubra) are worth mentioning in this

241 regard.

Abu’l Faḍl Muḥammad ibn ‘Umar, popularly known as Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d.

1210), left a rich corpus of literature on theology and philosophy. He authored Kitāb al- arba‘īn fi uṣūl al-dīn (The Forty Chapters on the Principles of Religion).242 This should not be confused with Arba’īn of Imām Ghazzālī. Amir Khurd particularly mentions it as writes Arba‘īn al-Rāzī, meaning the Arba‘īn of Imām Rāzī. 243 It is a major work of theology (kalām), which deals with the questions like God’s creation of this world and

His own existence.244 He states:

We [the Asha‘rites] believe that God is neither body nor substance, and that He is not in space; yet we believe that we can see God….Our companions have given an intellectual reason for the possibility of seeing God, but we have brought twelve objection against it which cannot be answered. Therefore, we only say that 245 we can see God by appealing to transmitted reasoning, i.e. the Quranic text.

240 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 99. 241 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 267. 242 Rāzī, Kitāb al-arba’īn uṣūl al-dīn (Hyderabad: Dairat’l-Ma‘arif-il-Uthmāniyya, 1934) in Seyyed Hossein Nasr, The Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia, ed., Mehdi Amin Razavi Aminrazavi (London: New York: Routledge, 2013). 243 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā¸539. 244 Diego R. Sarrió Cucarella, Muslim-Christian Polemics Across the Mediterranean: The Splendid Replies of Shihab Al-Din Al-Qarafi (D. 684/1285) (Boston: Brill, 2015), 276. 245 Rāzī, Kitāb al-arbaīn fi uṣūl al-dīn, 190 as cited in Nasr, The Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia. For a general account on al-Rāzī’s work see, Yasin Ceylan. Theology and Works in the Major Works of Fakhr al-Din al-Razī (Kuala Lumpur: ISTAC, 1996).

148 According to Amir Khurd, in addition to the above, some books on other genres were also taught in medieval India. For instance, a Ḥanafī scholar Imām al-Qudūrī (d. 1037) wrote Mukhtaṣar al-Qudūrī,246 on a unique genre (which came out during the Abbasid period), called mukhtaṣar (precise). It refers to a small manual of legal treatise. It was created to assist a speedy training of lawyers to avoid boredom of lengthy volumes.

However, later, it developed as a mode of access in the basics of Muslim law for the educated men. Some famous mukhtaṣars include Egyptian scholar, Khalīl ibn Ishāq al-

Jundī’s Mukhtaṣar of Khalīl and Mukhatṣar al-Qudūrī by al-Qudūrī.

Yet another genre of literature read was maqamāt, introduced by Abū Muḥammad al-Qāsim ibn ‘Alī al-Ḥarirī (d.1122) popularly known as al-Qāsim.247 He wrote a book on it called maqamāt, which is consisted of short stories numbering around fifty. Every story is associated with a well-known Muslim city of that time. It is an excellent work of

Arabic belles-letters, and medieval Indian Muslims were acquainted with it. Ḥarirī used different grammatical reconstruction to elaborate the sophisticated and astonishing wealth of Arabic language. In order to illustrate nearly all themes (except for military expeditions) almost all the literature produced afterwards, (related to Islamic or Arabic history culture) used the images from Muqāmāt-i-Ḥarirī.

Furthermore, Amir Khurd refers to Khamsā-i Nizamī, which is a collection of poems written in Persian by Jamāl al-Dīn Abū Muḥammad Ilyās ibn-Yūsuf ibn-Zakkī, known as Nizamī Ganjavī (d. 1209).248 It is an extended and detailed document of five poems called khamsā. Indo-Muslim subjects and classical literature of study informs that they were aware about the historicity of any language i.e. Sayubiyah (founder of Arabic

246 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 289. 247 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 101. 248 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 219.

149 language) was a known figure among the Indian Muslims.249 For Arabic grammar Ibn

Mālik, Abū ‘Abd-Allah Jamāl al-Dīn Muḥammad b. ‘Abd-Allah b. Mālik al-Tā’ī i-

Jayyānī’s (d. 1274) Al-kafiyā al-shafiyā al-Kubrā was taught. It is consisted around three thousand verses.250 The text informs the daily routine of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā that he was used to study Harzīmanī as well as Harz-i Kafī almost every day. In a nutshell, the basics of Muslims education and learning were firmly laid down during early medieval India.

3.14 Production of Non-Sufi Literature in Medieval India

The aim of the present study is not to fill in the gaps in Siyar al-awliyā though it tries to highlight the silences in it. Since Amir Khurd was writing a book primarily dealing with the lives of the Chishtī sufis and the sufi literature, he did not pay much attention to the non-sufi religious and other texts produced in medieval India. The study of Siyar al- awliyā reveals that Indians had their literary borrowings from around the world and particularly their textual narratives were styled mostly in conformity with the Persian world, particularly during the period under study.251 With the grounds provided by the

Persian traditions, Muslims produced immense literature, as they wrote distinctive works during the medieval period, which became primary reference to the modern religious thought.252 There is much debate over ‘originality of thought’ in the literature produced in

249 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 289. 250 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 289. He was a scholar and also produced the famous Khulāṣa al- alfiyya. It is also a versification of Arabic grammar. Around forty-three commentaries have been found for Khulāṣa al-alfiyyā. Arik Sadan, The Subjunctive Mood in Arabic Grammatical Thought (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2012),329. 251 For details of the Muslims’ literary textual borrowings see Nile Green, Making Space: Sufis and Settlers in Early Modern India (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2012), see “Between Texts and Territories: An Introduction,” 1. 34. 252 In the words of a scholar, “the comparative study of religions has been rightly acclaimed as one of the great contributions of Muslim civilization to mankind’s intellectual progress.” The

150 India.253. Recently, many scholars like I. H. Siddiqi have rejected the above idea, and instead argued that the way intellectual culture was promoted during medieval India was marvellous, incomparable and unrivalled by any of their counterparts in Central Asia or

Iran.254 Besides his personal poetry, famous Persian poets like Hafiz, Nizami, Sina‘ī,

Khaqānī and others were studied which was a major tradition of the time. Isfahānī style

(Isfahān a famous city of Persia from where it originated) of composing and reading/reciting poetry witnessed the introduction of new genres and themes. It was introduced in South Asia quite early. Amir Khurd informs that it was Shaykh Niẓam al-

Dīn Awliyā who suggested Amir Khusrau to compose poetry in Isfahānī style, which comprised of the use of sheer symbolism in figurative language.

Indo-Persian literary style is a distinct form, different from Persian prose and poetry. As discussed previously that Amir Khusrau’s poetry is prime example in this manner, who imbibed elements from both the traditions. Indeed, Khusrau’s Indo-Persian poetry predominantly reflects the literary ethos of that time.255 Amir Khurd in Siyar al- awliyā quotes poetic verses of many renowned poets not only from Persian world but also his seniors and contemporaries in medieval India including Bābā Farīd, Amir Khusrau,

base for these studies was provided by the literary tradition of medieval Period. Franz Rosenthal, “Preface”, in Bruce B Lawrence, Shahrastani on the Indian Religions (Moulton: Moultan & co, 1976), 5. 253 For example, K.A. Nizami, Religion and Politics in India, 276, Muhammad Habib, “Chishti Mystic records of the Sultanate Period” in Medieval India Quarterly, vol 1, no 2 (Oct 1950), 17- 22. However, this idea has been challenged by scholars like Richard Eaton, in Sufis of Bijapur, 1300-1700: Social Roles of Sufis in Medieval India. (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1978) see also Anjum, “Vernacularization of Islam and Sufism in South Asia: A Study of the Production of Sufi Literature in Local Languages,” and Siddiqi, Indo-Persian Historiography Up to the Thirteenth Century. Especially Siddiqi’s critique on K.A. Nizami is also worth studying. There are many others as well. 254 Siddiqi, Indo-Persian Historiography Up to the Thirteenth Century, 13. 255 Mehrdad Ramezannia, “Persian Print Culture in India, 1780-1880,” Unpublished PhD diss., Centre for Historical Studies School of Social Sciences, Jwahar Lal Nehru University, Delhi, 2010, see chap 1.

151 Amir Ḥassan Sijzī, and his personal poetry. Siyar al-awliyā is remarkable in this regard that it conveys some nuncupative pieces of Bābā Farīd to the generations to come.

Lewis suggests that in India, “serious historical writing begins with the coming of

Islam” or Muslim.256 Having said that, it is important to note few historiographical and other genres of literature produced during the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century India.

For instance, these include Hasan Nizami’s Taj al-ma‘athir (The crown of glorious deeds), and Jawām-i al-Ḥikayat wa lawām i al riwayat (Collection of stories and

Illustrations of History) of Maulana Nūr al-Dīn Muḥammad Aufī. Among many marvellous works of Ḍiya’ al-Dīn Baranī, his Tarīkh Firūzshāhī, Ma‘athir-i Sada’āt,

Ḥasratnamā, Thanā-’i Muḥammadī are excellent historiographical and literary productions.257 Abd al-Malik Isāmi’s Futūhu’s Salāṭīn,258 Amir Khusrau works include

Dīwān-i Amir Khusrau, Dawal Rānī Khiẓar Khan,259 Qirā’n al-ṣādayn, khaza’in al-futūḥ, baḥr al-wasṭ and many more. Among autobiographies, Sīrat-i Firūzshāhī by Sultan Firūz

Shah Tughluq is an excellent example.

Amir Khurd mentions Taṣrīf-i Badarī written on the rules of grammar by Shaykh

Badr al-Dīn Ishāq and informs that Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā took personal interest in its writing, and he also gone through its manuscript, which included poetic verses by the author as well.260 Unfortunately, this book did not survive. Other examples are Taṣrīf- i Uthmānī and Taṣrīf-i mukhtaṣar by Maulana Fakhr al-Dīn Zarrādī. The former was a

256 Bernard Lewis, Islam from the Prophet Muhammad to the Capture of Constantinople: Politics and War, vol. 1 (New York: Harper and Row, 1974), xviii. 257 Peter Hardy, “Didactic Historical Writings in Indian Islam: Ziyā al-Dīn Baranī’s Treatment of the reign of Sultan Muhammad Tughluq (1324-1351)” in Yohanan Friedmann Islam in Asia vol 1. South Asia (Jerusalem, The Hebrew University: Mognas Press, 1984), 38-59. 258 Abd al-Mālik ʻIṣāmī, and Mahdī Ḥusain. Futūhu’s Salāṭīn or Shāh nāmah-i Hind of ‘Isāmī (London: Asia Publishing House, 1967). 259 Amir Khusrau, Dawal-Rānī Khiẓar Khan ed., Rashid Ahmad Salim (Aligarh: n.d. 1917). 260 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 172-74.

152 treatise on qawai‘d-i ṣarf in mufaṣil261 or the principles of etymology, and the latter was a book on grammar. Amir Kh-urd does not mention works produced by his contemporary

Chishtī sufis such as Fakhr al-Dīn Zarrādī’s writings Risalā ‘Uthmāniā, Risalā khamsain,

262 Risalā kashshāf al-qanā’.

Laṭā’if al-tafsīr was written by Maulana Qāsim, who was the maternal nephew of

Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā and paternal nephew of Khwaja Abū Bakr.263 Amir Khurd quotes writers’ own words from this work that how studying Hidayā, Kashshāf, al-

Mashāriq and other substantial works of tafsīr in Arabic and Persian languages helped him conceiving the idea of writing this book. He aimed at writing Laṭā’if in a way so that

264 everyone could understand it.

Above all there are some other eminent literary figures whose mention seems inevitable here. For example, Ḍiya’ al-Dīn Naqshābī (d. 1350), a Chishtī fellow who wrote on different genres of literature.265 He was a man of intellect whose writings exhibit the bold position of the Chishtīs and their liberality of thought during the thirteenth-and fourteenth-century India. Naqshabī’s work on sexology titled Lazzat al-

Nisa (Pleasures of Women) is a perfect example of it.266 In addition, the reference of

261 Claude has given very good explanatory definition of this branch of knowledge in Islamic learning tradition. See, Claude Gilliot, “The ‘collections” of the Meccan Arabic Lectionary” in Nicolet Boekhoff-van der Voort, C. H. M. Versteegh, and Joas Wagemakers, eds., The Transmission and Dynamics of The Textual Sources of Islam: Essays in Honour of Harald Motzki (Leiden: Brill, 2011), 118. 262 ʻAbdulḥaʼī ibn Fakhr al-Din al-Hasanī, and Abulḥasan ʻAlī Nadvī. Nuzhat al-khwāṭir wa- bahjat al-masāmiʻ wa-al-nawāẓir: mutaḍāmin ʻalá tarājim ʻulamāʼ al-Hind wa-aʻyānihā. vols 2, (Bairut, 1931), 103-9. 263 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 206 and 7. 264 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 205-207. 265 For a brief life sketch and his works like see K. A. Nizami, “Maulāna Diya ad-din Nakhshabī,” Burhan (Nov 1951), 273-302. 266 His inspiration came from Sanskrit discourse on how to make love and secrets of love or Ratīrahasyā. Sexology/Kamasutra. The book is divided into ten chapters. It includes themes like sexual intercourse, types of medicines and food items with aphrodisiac properties. He also wrote

153 Masū‘d Bakk (d. 1387) is also merits mention here. Though most of his works could not survive, the scattered literal remains inform that he was an excellent sufi author of that time. His worth mentioning works are Nikāt al-‘ashiqīn, Mir‘at al-‘arfīn, Rawā’ih and a

Persian diwān. His Mir‘at al-‘arfīn and diwān are popular due to their excellent qasīdās

(odes), ghazal (love poems) and rubā‘iyāt (quartrains). His works are sometimes credited

267 like Amir Khusrau.

In addition, Qāḍī Ḥamīd al-Dīn Nagaurī wrote exceptionally during the period.

However, the most famous are his four volumes, including Nawāwi, Lawā’ih, Risāla-i

‘ishqīya and Khayālāt al-‘ushshāq due to its uniqueness of literacy style. The first work is a partial commentary of the Qur’an, and a commentary on forty different ahādith, while the Risālah explains the dialectical subtlety that existed during the period under study.268

These are only a few examples of the literature production of various types and genres, during the said period. Other than these there is a bulk of sufi literature produced in north

India by Chishtī Silsilah, discussed below.

3.15 Production of Sufi Literature

The literature produced at sufi khānqāhs in medieval India was dynamic and well- conversant to the exigencies of that time. The role of the Indian sufis in providing new

some other important works like, famous, Ṭūṭī namā, Lawrence, An Overview of Sufi Literature in the Sultanate Period, 22-23, Rizaul Islam, Sufism in South Asia: Impacts on the Fourteenth Century Muslim Society (Karachi: Oxford Univ. Press, 2002.), 435 see also Sunil Sharma, Amir Khusraw: The Poet of Sultans and Sufis (London: Oneworld Publishers, 2005), chapter two. and Nizami, “Maulāna Diya ad-din Nakhshabī.” 267 Some of excerpts are quoted from his Mir‘at al-‘arfīn in ‘Abd al-Ḥaqq, Akhbār al-akhyār, 165. See also Lawrence, An Overview of Sufi Literature in the Sultanate Period, 27. 268 Though these works do not exist yet there are reference of Lawā’ih in Sijzī, Fawā’id al-fu’ād, 128, 162. Few excerpts from Risāla are mentioned in ‘Abd al-Ḥaqq, Akhbār al-akhyār, 42. Noor Nabi, Development of Muslim Religious Thought in India: From 1200 AD to 1450 AD (Aligarh: Muslim University Aligarh, 1962), 56. Also mention in Bruce B. Lawrence, Notes From the Distant Flute (Tehran: Imperial Iranian Academy, 1978), 64-65.

154 streams to the Islamic ideal is also incomparable. As Eaton in “Sufis and Literati” explains that the sufis documented their teachings along with experiences in poetry and prose. Their writings are of special importance for their share in the growth of different genres of literature which is tremendous.269 On the one hand, the Sultans patronized political and military writings, while on the other, the sufis trained their disciples to write on biographical accounts, sufi poetry, theological issues and sufi themes including socio- religious questions like samā‘. Fawā’id al fu’ād and Siyar al-awliyā are its prime examples.

The developments in sufi literature particularly malfūẓ¸ naṣā’iḥ, tadhkirah, isharāt and sufi poetry are remarkable. These literary outputs are also nearly incomparable as they are profound in terms of diversity of themes. Amir Khurd mentions a number of scholars and their pieces of writings in Siyar al-awliyā. A few of them have been remembered in other contemporary works, however, others have lost in the dust of history. Their contributions towards poetry and growth of languages like Hindavī, and its varied dialects, Urdu, Sindhī, Punjabī, Marathī, Gujaratī, and Bengalī, etc. have been discussed in detail in chapter two of the present study. For the principles of the path of

Sufism Shaykh Ḥamīd al-Dīn Nagaurī wrote Uṣūl al-ṭarīqah,270 other than this, the treatises on samā‘ are also worth mentioning writings of the period like Kashf al-miftaḥ min wajūḥ al-samā‘ and others have been dealt with in the next chapter.

Literary history of fourteenth century medieval India witnessed a remarkable development in terms of the composition of tadhkirah literature. As it has been discussed

269 Richard M. Eaton, “Sufis and Literati” in Sufis of Bijapur, 135-73. 270 Amir Khurd has copied a major portion of the text in his work whereas, he did not mention the title of the book but it is noteworthy to mention that he has used a word “naqal” means copying which suggest that it is an extract. Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā,160-164.

155 in the previous chapters that Siyar al-awliyā is the very first tadhkirah of its kind. Works like Kashf al-maḥjūb and a list of other tadhkirahs produced after Siyar al-awliyā, such as Siyar al-‘arīfin, Akhbār al-akhyār fi asrārul abrār, Zād-ul-muttaqīn fi sulūk ṭarīq al- yaqin, Akhbār al-Aṣfiyā and some others written until seventeenth century have earlier been discussed in chapter one in detail.

3.16 Malfūẓāt Literature in Siyar al-awliyā

In India, a unique genre of sufi literature called malfūẓ (compilation of the conversations of a sufi shaykh during his majālis or assemblies, by his disciple) also developed.

Compilation of malfūẓ, as an exclusive literary genre is distinct to medieval India. The introduction of this genre in India is usually associated to Amir Ḥassan Sijzī who was a close disciple of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā, and compiled his majālis in Fawā’id al- fu’ād .271 There is no doubt that something similar to this was also compiled by

Muḥammad b. Abū Rau’f Luṭf-Allah outside India in 1145-46 AD, titled as Ḥalāt-wa- sukhanan-i-Shaykh Saiyyid Faḍlullah ibn Abul Khayr al-Maihānī. Nevertheless, the art of malfūẓ writing got popularity and took a definite shape by the Chishtīs in the medieval

India. Amir Ḥasan Sijzī compiled accounts of the total of one hundred and eighty-eight assemblies or majālis of his Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā from January 1308 to

September 1322 and titled it Fawā’id al-fu’ād.

Noteworthy to mention is that since the research spirit incited the scholars to start writing on the Chishtī Silsilah, Fawā’id al-Fu’ād is considered as the very first malfūẓ.

Siyar al-awliyā rejects this idea by referring to many malfūẓāt other than Fawā’id al-

271 Sijzī, Morals of the Heart, 5.

156 fu’ād.272 This might be true that Chishtī Shaykhs not penned down any tradition by themselves however, they trained their disciples to do so and compile their malfūẓ. There are many malfūẓāt mentioned in Siyar al-awliyā before Ḥasan Sizjī compiled Fawā’id al-

Fu’ād. Amir Khurd mentions the malfūẓāt of Bābā Farīd written by Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn

Awliyā. Technically altogether dismisses the validity of this argument. Furthermore,

Amir Khurd states that he is writing from the malfūẓāt of Khwaja Mu’īn al-Dīn Ḥassan

Sijzī.273 The scholars have either not read Siyar al-awliyā thoroughly or missed this part of the book.

Maulana Badr al-Dīn Ishāq collected the malfūẓāt of Bābā Farīd with the title

Asrār al-awliyā. As discussed earlier that he was not only a close disciple of Bābā Farīd, but married to his daughter Bībī Fāṭima as well. It is fascinating to note that Amir Khurd dedicates a lengthy paragraph to the malfūẓāt of Bābā Farīd compiled by Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā, without mentioning its title.274 It is also important to note that Amir

Khurd extracts excerpts consisting around four pages, from the malfūẓāt of Bābā Farīd.

He does not mention the name of the compiler but indicates that someone compiled

275 around five hundred malfūẓāt of the Shaykh.

Other than this, there is a malfūẓ collection of Amir Khusrau titled Afḍal al- fawā’id, though Amir Khurd does not state the title. The latter includes some extracts from the collection Afḍal al fawā’id. The collection is divided into two parts. First part

272 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 88. Hasht Bahisht (a collection of the eight malfūẓāt of eminent Chishtī Shaykhs) Urdu trans. Ansar Sabiri, (Lahore: Progressive Books, 1996). 273 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 466. 274 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 74. 275 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 74- 79.

157 accounts thirty-four majālis whereas the second part gives details of seventy-one

276 assemblies of the Shaykh.

The Durr-i Niẓamī is an unpublished malfūẓ collection of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn

Awliyā compiled by his disciple Maulana Shah ‘Alī Jāndār around 1308-25.277 There is another extremely important malfūẓ collection of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā by the same disciple, titled as Khulaṣat al-laṭa’if. It is important because it is the very first malfūẓ in South Asia in Arabic language. Amir Khurd has extracted a paragraph in Siyar al-awliyā,278 due to which the name survived as there is no manuscript of this collection available now. Moreover, there is another malfūẓ collection of Shaykh Niẓam al Dīn

Awliyā compiled by Khwaja Shams al-Dīn Dharī (a disciple of the Shaykh) mentioned in

Siyar al-awliyā.279 In addition, Tuḥfat al abrār Karamat al akhyār is yet another malfūẓ of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā compiled by Shaykh Azīz al-Dīn Sufi. Amir Khurd particularly remarks that the Shaykh himself gone through its text.280 Its manuscript is also not extant now.

Furthermore, Khwaja Saiyyid Muḥammad, (grandson of Bābā Farīd and son of

Saiyyid Badr al-Dīn Ishāq and Bībī Fāṭima) compiled another malfūẓ of Shaykh Niẓam

276 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 473. It was first published by Muṭbā Rizvī in October 1887. Amir Khusrau, Afḍal al-fawā’id (Delhi: Muṭbā Rizvī 1887) in Hashat Bahisht, the translation of this malfūẓ collection has been mentioned with two separate titles first volume is titled as Afḍal al-fawā’id and the second is Raḥat al-muḥib-i bīn. 277 Jandār, Durr-i Niẓamī, Urdu trans., M. Yasin Ali (Delhi: Saiyyid al-Mutābi Press, n.d.). K. A. Nizami mentions its two manuscripts which are placed at Asiatic Society Calcutta and Salar Jung Museum Hyderabad. See Abdul Aziz Sahir, “Nizam al-Din Awliya aur un kay Khulfā’ kay Malfūẓātī Adab kā Ta‘rufī Ja’iza” Tahqiqī Zaiwi’y, vol. 2 (2013): 21-22. 278 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 148. 279 The name was supposedly malfūẓāt al-mashaykh since the manuscript is not available so one cannot state it with surety. Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā¸ 318. 280 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 202.

158 al-Dīn Awliyā titled Anwār al Majālis.281 Amir Khurd mentions yet another malfūẓ of the

Shaykh namely Majmū‘ al-fawā’id by Abd al-Azīz ibn Abū Bakr ‘Khwahir Zadā’

(maternal cousin of the Shaykh).282 The later generations of the Chishtī sufis continued compiling malfūẓāt of their shaykhs, like a malfūẓ of Shaykh Ḥasan Maḥmūd Chishtī (d.

1574) compiled by one of his sons Muḥammad Chishtī.283 However, this also does not exist now. Many others continued writing on the principles of Sufism and different aspects of the ṭarīqā, like Saiyyid Ḥusayn Bandanawāz Gisūdarāz.284 Noteworthy to mention is that there are and could also be many malfūẓāt of the Chishtīs not mentioned in Siyar al-awliyā, for instance, Qiwām al-‘aqai’d by Muḥammad Jamāl Qiwām

(grandson of Muḥammad Jamāl ‘Shams al-‘‘ārifīn’), however, the aim of the section is to highlight the fact that there are more Chishtī malfūẓāt than it has been assumed.

The study of Siyar al-awliyā reveals the fact for the scholars of Sufism in South

Asia, (especially of the Chishtī Sufism) that many malfūẓāt of Bābā Farīd existed in those days, which have generally been considered non-existing. Moreover, Amir Khurd frequently refers to the ‘writings’ of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn, which might include small treatises or letters,285 which reveals that certain writings could be attributed to him. This kind of literature was according to the needs and aspirations of Indian Islam. Asim Roy throws light on this idea in late twentieth century that this literature was contributory in

281 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 200. 282 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 207. 283 Ziauddin A. Desai, “Persian Sources of the Social and Cultural History of Medieval Gujrat” in Muzaffar Alam, Francoise Nalini Delvoye and Marc Gaborieau eds., The Making of Indo-Persian Culture: Indian and French Studies (Centre de Sciences Humanies: Manohar, 2000), 398. 284 For a detailed study in his works and his teachings see, Syed Shah Khusro Hussaini, Sayyid Muhammad Al-Husainī-i-Gīsūdirāz (721/1321-825/1422): On Sufism (Delhi: Idārah-i Adābiyāt-i Delli, 2009 rpt.; first Published 1983). 285 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 124, 126-27, 324, 350-51, 223, 391-92, 407, 490, 427, 449-50, 416.

159 recasting Islamic ideals to the common perception of people in syncretistic moulds.286

His idea is that sufis have integrated the native or vernacular traditions and local trends of

Indian Islam. The sufi writings had an underline idea for the acknowledgement of pluralism of Islam and help spreading powerful acculturation and syncretic traditions.

286 Asim Roy, “Islamization in South Asia with especial reference to the Bengali Speaking Region: A conceptual and Historical Re-evaluation.” In Geoffrey A. Oddie, ed., Religious Traditions in South Asia: Interaction and Change (Cornwall: Curzon, 1998), 36.

160 Chapter 4

Samā‘ or Devotional Sufi Music in Medieval Indo-Sufi Culture

Samā‘ or devotional sufi music and dance is one of the most important and distinguished

Chishtī practices. Some scholars maintain that samā‘ can be seen as a practice of

“integrating modus operandi,” experienced by the Chishtīs to segregate themselves from other silsilahs.1 Nonetheless, it is just one of the explanations of this practice. The

Chishtīs’ concept of listening to music meant to have a close connection with God in an ecstatic dancing position. For them, it was a part of worship to God, a form of dhikr and meant for spiritual enhancement and realization of the Divine. In South Asia, samā‘ assumed the form of qawwālī, which has stimulated not merely the spiritual seekers and poets, but the common audiences alike, as a religio- and socio-cultural expression.2

However, the conformity of music with the Qur’an and sunnah, in other words, its legality has been a subject of lengthy debate. Its controversial standing is not new; philosophers and jurists were always in debate in its favour or opposition. Along with it, some of the sufi groups not only advocated the practice in defence of samā‘.

The present chapter discusses the Chishtī sufi musical tradition of samā‘, its various aspects like raqṣ (dance), and the legal debate on it. The chapter also throws light on dissemination of Chishtī samā‘ practice from north to southern regions of India. It explore various Chishtī writings on samā‘ written during the period under study. The

1 Bruce B. Lawrence, “The Early Chishtīs Approach to Samā‘ ” in Sacred Sound: Music in Religious Thought and Practice, ed. J. L. Irwin (Chico: Scholars, 1983), 95. 2 Robert Rozehnal, “A ‘Proving Ground’ for Spiritual Mastery: The Chishti Sabiri Musical Assembly” The Muslim World (October 2007), vol. 97, 657. 657- 677 see also James Richard Newell, “Experiencing Qawwāli: Sound as Spiritual Power in Sufi India” Unpublished PhD diss. Department of Religion, Graduate School of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, 2007. See introduction.

161 chapter also discusses qawwālī as a unique genre of sufi music in South Asia. In addition to it, the chapter tries to address the questions like what was ḥalāl, ḥarām and other juridical categories for samā‘, how samā‘ was theorized and practiced by the Chishtīs in

South Asia, and were they able to satisfy the contentions raised by their fellow sufis or the ruling authorities?

4.1 The Early Muslim Discourse on Samā‘: A Historical Background

Samā‘ has remained the “most widely known expression” of Sufism throughout the world.”3 Before discussing this practice in South Asia it seems pertinent to briefly discuss its origin and history outside this region. The term samā‘ is originally derived from an

Arabic word, al-sāmi‘ā‘ which means ‘audition’ or ‘listening’. For the sufis, this listening can only be impactful when listened to with an “ear of the heart.” In earliest Arabic dictionaries, it means “musical performance,”4 and a humble listening to the music or sufi poetry with an intention to increase one’s understanding and awareness of the Divine.

However, as a technical sufi term, it refers to ‘listening’ to music in order to experience spiritual states through inducing mystical trance. Usually, it is attended accompanying others to be part of a discourse of Human-Divine-Love. This gathering is called as meḥfil-i samā‘ which is organized under the guidance of a shaykh.

The origins of practicing samā‘ seems difficult to trace before the eighth and ninth centuries. However, the ones who first advocated samā‘ and the legality of music, were earliest among the sufis. They thought that music was not merely a spiritual staple, but permissible and desirable religious practice. In the words of Nasr:

3 Schimmel, Mystical Dimensions of Islam, 179. For a good introduction to the formative phase of Sufism, see Ahmet. T. Karamustafa Sufism: The Formative Period (Edinburgh University Press, 2007). 4 D.B Macdonald, “samā”, Encyclopaedia of Islam 1. vol IV, 121. See also John. Spencer. Trimingham, The Sufi Orders in Islam. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), 195.

162 The question of the significance and legitimacy of music in the total structure of the Islamic tradition, is not merely juridical or theological. It involves most of all the inner and spiritual aspect of Islam, and therefore whatever ambiguities exist on the juridical level, the ultimate answer, especially as far as the relation of 5 music to Islamic spirituality is concerned, must be sought above all in Sufism. The above assertion is important to note, since many sufis became primary patrons and guardians of music, in addition to the rulers and nobility. The sufis propounded samā‘ when puritanism was a dominant ideology, and discouraging music cultivation was a prominent trend in socio-cultural fabric of the Muslim society. However, it is noteworthy to mention that during early medieval times it was practiced with more fervour than the present times.6 Saiyyid ‘Alī Hujwirī writes in his work that even animals used to listen to music without understanding the content of these songs, which were known as ‘camel

7 songs’.

From its very inception, classical music (both Turkish and Persian), remained associated with ritualistic samā‘, and the musicians as well as poets largely had a sufi background.8 These include among others, Abū Naṣr al-Sarrāj (d.988)9 Ikhwān al-Ṣafā

‘the brethren of purity’ (8th or 10th century), Abū Bakr al-Kalābadhī (d.990),10 Abū Ṭalib

5 Seyyed Hosain Nasr, “Islam and Music: The Views of Rūzbihān Baqlī, The Patron Saint of Shiraz.” In his Islamic Art and Spirituality, 151-62. (Suffolk: Golgonooza Press, 1987), 153-54. 6 Aslam, Salaṭīn-i Dehlī wa Shahān-i Mughliyyā ka dhauq-i mausiqī, 7. 7 Once there were three or four hungry camels, when their owner took them to a water reservoir, a ghulām (servant) started singing a song and the camels ran towards the singing voice without drinking water. Kashf al-maḥjūb, 211. 8 Jean Louis Michon, “Sacred Music and Dance in Islam.” In Seyyed. Hossein Nasr ed., Islamic Spirituality II: Manifestations, 469-505. (New York: Crossroad, 1991), 494. See also Walter Feldman, “Mysticism, Didacticism and Authority in the Liturgical Poetry of the Halvetī Dervishes of Istanbul.” Edebiyat: The Journal of Middle Eastern Literatures. vol IV, no. 2. (1993), 243-66. 9 His Kitab al-Luma’ fil Taṣawwuf has been considered as the first work written on the legality of music in Islam. 10 Muḥammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Yaqūb al-Bukharī al-Kalabadhī (d. 990 at Bukhara) composed the most important work of Sufism during the early period of Islamic history namely Kitāb al- ta‘arruf li-madhhab ahl al-taṣawwuf. The book has been translated from Arabic to English by A. J. Arberry. Abū Bakr al-Kalābādī, Kiṭāb al-ta‘arruf li-madhhab aḥl al-taṣawwuf : The Doctrine

163 al Makkī (d. 996 AD)11 Abu’l Qāsim ‘Abd al-Karīm Ḥawazan al-Qushayrī (d.1072 AD), and ‘Alī ibn Uthmān al-Hujwīrī (d.1076)12 and Persian sufis not only supported samā‘ being an integral part of spirituality and their contemplation, but one also finds the celebrated theologians arguing in its favour while establishing validity through a theological standpoint.13 Possibly the most eminent among them was Abū Ḥamid

Muḥammad al-Ghazzālī (d. 1111), who composed Iḥyā’ ‘ūlam al-dīn (The Revival of the

Religious Sciences), his best known work for which he has ever since been acclaimed.

The work has ascribed some major rules for attending the samā‘ gathering. Ghazzālī’s mystical exegesis and attitude to the sufi music soon had a key part in the later debates on the permissibility and legitimacy of music in Islam.14 Later, in the thirteenth century, the

Mevlevis under Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (d.1273) and his descendants introduced a distinct sufi musical tradition along with dance. Once he was asked to give his judgment on music, to which he said, “Music is the creaking of the gates of paradise!’ whereupon one man said,

of the Sufis. Eng. trans. A. J. Arberry (Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1935). 11 For details of his works and contributions see Atif Khalil, “Abul Talib al-Makkı and The Nourishment of Hearts. (Qūt al-Qulūb) in the Context of Early Sufism.” The Muslim World vol. 122, no. 2. (2012): 335-356. 12 He was the first sufi in South Asia to support sufi music here. His writing Kashf al-Muḥjub (The Revelation of the Veiled) is the world-known work on Sufism. ‘Alī b. Uthmān al-Julla bī Hujwīrī, Kashf al Maḥjūb The Oldest Persian Treatise on Sufism, Eng. trans. Reynold A. Nicholson. reprint (Lahore: Islamic Book Service, 1992). 13 There are numerus examples for it but to quote only one, Ibn Khaldūn (d. 1406), “clearly shared the view of most of the cultured elite of his time who realized that Sufism was the essence of Islam, vindicated the value of mystical concerts,” S. Casewit, “The Mystical Side of the Muqaddimah: Ibn Khaldūn’s view of Sufism.” Islamic Quarterly. vol XXIX no. 3. (1985), 182. (see also Ibn Khaldūn Al Muqaddimah 3 vols. trans. F. Rosenthal. (New York: Routledge, 1958). To see a general narration of the opposition history concerning audition of music, see Arthur Gribetz, “The samā controversy: Sufi vs. legalist.” Studia Islamica. vol LXXIV no. 74. (1991), 43-62. 14 Abu Ḥamid Muhammad al-Ghazzālī, Kimīyya-i-Sa’adat (Alchemy of Eternal Bliss). Eng. trans. Muhammad Asim Bilal. (Lahore: Qazi Publications, 2001) and. Abū Ḥamid Muḥammad Al- Ghazzālī. Ihyā-i ‘ulūm-al-Dīn. Revival of Religious Learnings Eng. trans. Fazl ul-Karim. (Karachi: Darul-Ishaat, 1993). See also Leonard Lewisohn “The Sacred Music in Islam: Samā in the Persian Sufi Tradition” British Journal of Ethnomusicology, vol 6: (1997), 3-4.

164 ‘I don’t like the sound of creaking gates!’ so Rūmī replied, ‘You hear the doors when they are being closed, but I hear them when they are opening!”15 It is maintained that “the intense love for music that the Mevlevis inherited from their master Jalāl al-Dīn has

16 inspired many classical musicians” in later centuries.

There is no doubt that listening to samā‘ was also opposed by the ‘legalists’ or the legal-minded Muslim scholars who viewed listening to music as blasphemous. They associated it with some heinous acts like intoxication, fornication and usury. Besides arguing that every musical activity, either listening to it or playing instruments are essentially sacrilegious. They interpreted for instance, a reference from the Qur’an, lahwa al- hadith, “idle tales/talks” (Surah Luqman 36: 6) and based their argument on it, and even tried to ban singing.17 Farmer explains:

Islam has no mosque-music comparable with the musical service of the Christian Church. There is neither priesthood nor choir in the mosque, in the occidental sense. Islam is far too personal a religion for that. Yet music in praise of Allah has always found a most fervent expression both inside and outside of the mosque, e.g. in the ‘reading’ of the Quran, in the cantillation of the adhan or call to prayer, in the music of the sufi and dervish fraternities, and in the simple religious chants 18 of the people.

15 Annemarie Schimel, ‘The Role of Music in Islamic Mysticism” in Hammarlund, Tord Olsson, Elisabeth Ӧzdalga eds., Sufi Music and Society in Turkey and Middle East (Istanbul: Swedish Research Institute, 2001), 10. 16 The music composers in the Ottoman Empire produced fine pieces of Turkish classical music. The seventeenth-century musician, ‘Itri, for instance, along with many others were either members of, or loosely associated with, the Mevlevi Silsilah. Annemarie Schimel, Mystical dimensions of Islam. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1975), 325. 17 H.G Farmer, ed., trans. Music: The Priceless Jewel (from the Kitāb al ‘iqdal Farid of lbn ‘Abd Rabbihi (d. 940) (Bearsden, Scotland: n.p, 1942). To see other verses from the Qur’an, read in context of prohibition or permission of music, Roy Chaudhry have done extensive discussion, Makhan Lal Roy Choudhury, Music in Islam. (Calcutta: Asiatic Society, 1957). 18 Henry George Farmer, “The Religious Music of Islām,” The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, no. 1/2(April 1952), 62.

165 Those who stood up against music include theologians like Ibn Abī Dunyā (d. 894),19 later in thirteenth century a preacher and Hanbalī jurist, Ibn al-Jawzī (d. 1201),20 the fourteenth century jurists and scholar Ibn Jama‘ā (d. 1338)21 along with Ibn al-Hajjāj (d.

1336), and zealous theologian Ibn Taymiyyā (d.1327). Ibn-Taymiyyā dubbed practitioners of samā‘ as infidels. Nevertheless, the anti-samā‘ prejudice of exoteric clericalism showed a reflection of broader differences and discussions going on between the sufis and the custodians of Islamic puritanism right from the earliest days. As Gribetz states, “the difference of opinion regarding samā‘ can be viewed as part of a larger controversy which exists between the sufis and the legalists, namely the sufi support of the Neoplatonic “eros” doctrine, and the Hanbalī orthodox support of the “nomos” doctrine.” 22 Likewise, Ikhwān al-ṣafā or the ‘Brethren of Purity’ argued why music was opposed because “as for the reason for the interdiction of music in certain of the prophets….. it relates to the fact that people do not use music for the purpose assigned it by the philosophers, but for diversion, for sport, for incitation to enjoy the pleasures of their lower world.”23 Problems only arise when the appetite of the animal-self pushes people towards the splendours of this world.

19 He is known for being the earliest writer who opposed the legality of music in Islam. His work is known as Dhamm al-malāhī (Censure of instruments of Diversion) written in 9h century. As this was the first or the earliest known written treatises against samā‘ so one can probably derive that sufi devotional music was made semi-institutionalize probably during eighth century. 20 Leonard Lewison in “The Sacred Music in Islam” has written him “the Ash’arite theologian and preacher,” 3. 21 He was a Shafa‘ī Muslim jurist and scholar under the Mamlūk Period in Egypt and Syria. His known tadhkirah is Tadhkirat al-sami‘ wa al-mutaka/lim fi adiib al-‘ālim wa al-muta‘allim. Ibn Jama‘ā (comp. 639-733/1241-1333). For details see, Muhamad Said Husain, “Ibn Jama‘ā’s Educational Thought” unpublished Master’s essay. Institute of Islamic Studies, MacGil University, Montreal, 1995. 22 A. Gribetz, “The samā controversy,” 52. 23 Michon, “Sacred music and dance in Islam”, 470.

166 In the words of Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazzālī, “samā‘ is necessary for the people of knowledge, perfection, serenity and union” 24 as it is a practice of love. There are very few among the sufis who viewed samā‘ as reprehensible, for instance, Muhyyī al-Dīn ibn al-‘Arabī (d. 1240). He wrote nearly six-hundred books and in some of his works were against samā‘.25 However, if one reviews his works minutely, especially Futūḥāt al-

Makkiyyā (The Makkan Revelations), it offers opinions apparently favouring samā‘.

Later, the Chishtīs are also among those silsilahs who accepted the practice and included certain musical genres into their doctrines. The Chishtīs in India are known to initiate this practice at fullest as a direct path to reach out to God.

4. 2 Non-sufi Music in Medieval India

The early Muslims had initial contacts and had familiarity with Indian music long before the thirteenth century. The famous traveller, Abū ‘Uthmān ‘Umar ibn Bahr al-Jāhiz (d.

869) and the celebrated geographer-historian, Abū al-Ḥassan ‘Alī ibn al-Husayn al-

Mas‘ūdī (d. 956) commented on Indian music in favourable terms as early as ninth and tenth centuries in their famous works of that time.26 It is important to note that in India,

Hindus sing and listen to the music as a religious obligation and a social norm, which was not practical for Muslims due to their socio-religious training under the legalist-minded

24 See al-Ghazzālī, Kimiyya-i-Sa’adat and al-Ghazzālī. Ihyā al ‘ulum-al-Dīn. 25 Roger Boase and Farid Sahnoun, “Excerpts from the Epistle on the Spirit of Holiness: Risāla Rūh al-quds”, in Ibn al-‘Arabī, S. Hirtenstein & M. Tiernan, Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabī: A Commemorative Volume, (Shaftesbury: Element, 1993), 51-2. 26 He is considered as a genius of Arab prose-writers at that time. He was the grandson of a black slave who received high level education in Basra and Iraq, and became one of the period’s leading intellectuals. Al-Jahiz is best known for his Kitab al-Hayawan, Book of Animals. It is an anthology of animal anecdotes, representing a curious blend of fact and fiction. His Kitab al- Bukhala, Book of Misers a witty and insightful study of human psychology which reveals Arab character and society than any other book of the time. Al-Mas‘ūdī, the tenth century Arab historian, is considered as the very first Muslim scholar who combined geography and history together. He is known for his famous work Murūj al-dhahab wa maʿādin al-jawāhir, The Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems.

167 ‘ulemā.27 A major change in the attitude of Indian Muslims towards the art of music went a long way in wiping off the stigmas attached to it. Nonetheless, it is commonly believed that in the initial period of Turco-Persian rule in India, music suffered a lot. Yet not much attention has been paid towards sufi music produced in the sufi gatherings. The contacts of the Muslims with Persian culture where music was popularized by the sufis, “who believed in the efficacy of music as a means of elevating the soul and as an aid to spiritual progress” brought about great change in the attitude of Muslims towards this very significant art.28 The Indian socio-cultural settings changed and developed by the time. During the times of Sultan Shams al-Dīn Iletmish when Qāḍī Minhāj al-Sirāj

Juzjānī was appointed as a qāḍī, music and samā‘ assemblies got popularity in Delhi due to the latter’s personal interest in samā‘.29 Later, during Sultan Balban’s reign the influx of immigrants from Baghdad and its surroundings gave more strength to the socio- cultural changes along with the exchanges of ideas. Thus, with this symbiotic cultural vicissitude, the rigid position was softened for the adoption of music as a socio- religious/spiritual practice in the Indo-sufi culture.

Many of the Sultans including ‘Alā al-Dīn Khaljī, Firūz Tughluq and Muḥammad ibn Tughluq were very fond of music.30 Shams Sirāj ‘Afīf asserts in his Tarīkh-i

27 ‘Ulemā from where they trace their identity, the Arabs, who used to sing their poetry with their musical instruments, see R. A. Nicholson, A Literary History of the Arabs (Cambridge, The University Press, 1962), 123. Moreover, Shah Wali-Allah in his famous Hujjat Allah al-baligha (The Profound Evidence of Allah) explains about the role and importance of music in his chapter “nikah” while quoting a hadith from Prophet (PBUH), “the only difference between ḥalāl and ḥarām is that nikaḥ (marriage) includes voices and daf (drum). You should perform nikaḥ ceremony at mosques and announce it there with playing daf.” Shah Walī Allah explains that only difference between nikaḥ and zina (adultery) is voice and daf. Shah Walī Allah, Ḥujjat al-Balighā (Karachi: Muṭbū‘ā asba al-muṭābe‘, n.d.), 372. 28 For details on this see, Mahomed Abbas Shushtery, Outlines of Islamic Culture: Historical and Cultural Aspects. (Banglore: Bangalore Press, 1938). 29 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 519, 526. 30 Aslam, Salaṭīn-i Dehlī wa Shahān-i Mughliyyā ka dhauq-i mausiqī, 28-39.

168 Firūzshāhī that due to Sultan Firūz Tughluq’s interest in music, Indians got familiarity with new trends in music while Delhi came to be known as a home to music. It is worth noting that during his reign when Tarīkh-i Firūzshāhī, Fatāwā-i Jahandarī and other remarkable books were produced, works like Ghanīy’at al-maniyya, Farīd al-zaman fi ma‘rfat al-ḥān, Kanz al-taḥaf and others are also worth mentioning literary contributions of the same time. It appears that the Risalā Ghanīy’at al-maniyya was written during

1355-56.31 Before this a Chishtī adept, Amir Khusrau, who was patronized by the Sultans of Delhi, thought about Indian music as superior than the musical traditions of rest of the world, as he is also known to set new trends in Indian music.32 (details infra) Moreover, sultans in the southern regions of India were also great patrons of music and poetry like

Sultan Ibrahim Adil Shah II (r. 1580-1627) of Bijapur (a city and a district of Karnataka

33 State in present day South India).

4.3 The Chishtī Practice of Samā‘ in Medieval India

As discussed earlier that for sufis music is a way to come closer to the Divine, that is why it occupies an important place in the sufi ideology. It has been understood as a path which opens a way to get closer or nearer to God. The practice of samā‘ in India prior to the

31 The writer of the risalā is not known yet, however one written manuscript can be found at India office library, London. The text is comprised of twenty-seven pages. Its year of writing can be deciphered through abjad system in this verse, Aān roz kaz ahdas jahan mehmal būd. (Catalogue of Persian manuscripts; India Office library, Oxford 1903 manuscript no 2763), as cited in Aslam, Salaṭīn-i Dehlī wa Shahān-i Mughliyyā ka dhauq-i mausiqī, 31-33. Khurshid Laqa Begum, The Earliest Persian Manuscript on Indian Music (Aligarh: Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh, n.d.), 1. 32 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 301-3. 33 His interests in poetry and music are also noted by Mughal ambassador Asad Beg, Joshi, “Asad Beg’s Mission,” 193, and also by Emperor Jahangir, Tuzuk-i Jhangirī 1, 272. However, according to Michell and Zebrowski, he had almost “morbid sensitivity to music and art”. George Michell and Mark Zebrowski, The New Cambridge History of India: Architecture and Art of the Deccan Sultanates (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 163. See also Richard Maxwell, The Sufis of Bijapur, 1300-1700: Social Roles of Sufis in Medieval India (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1978), 98-101.

169 twelfth century, was sporadic, and not institutionalized, before it was cherished by the

Chishtīs most often with certain sanctioned renditions. The Chishtīs wondered how samā‘, being an adequately appropriate expression/voice, could be prohibited? To them, listening to music is to open oneself to an influence, to a vibration of Superhuman Origin

Who makes sounds to awaken in us the echoes of a primordial state and arouse in the heart a longing for the union with Him. For them, samā‘ always remained a recommended practice and not merely permissible. It reflects a personalized subjective emotion for God but only permissible or ḥalāl for aḥl-i ḥāl, i.e. those who are sufi- inclined and have a strong sentiment of Divine love, and not permissible or ḥarām for aḥl-i Qāl, i.e. the non-sufis immersed in worldly affairs.

The first Chishtī sufi in India who adopted the use of music for devotional purposes was Khwaja Mu’īn al-Dīn Ajmerī. There existed a strong tradition of religious music among the Hindus, so an already existing religious practice was appropriated by him and translated in Muslim terms. He popularized the practice of samā‘ in India.34

Noteworthy to mention here is that practicing samā‘ became Indianized by the Chishtīs.35

The process of framing sufi music into indigenous colour or making it Indianized was a multi-layered phenomenon, which involved poetry, music, language and etiquettes of listening. Worth observing is that it was part of ‘religio- and socio-cultural’ process of the

Indo-Muslim history, which equated and translated various already existing norms into

34 Shameem Burney Abbas, The Female Voice in Sufi Ritual. Devotional Practices of India and Pakistan. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002), 136-137. 35 Qureshi, Sufi Music of India and Pakistan, 84-5. Hussaini, Sayyid Muhammad al-Husaynī Gisudirāz Kashshaf Ghani, “Seeking a sufi heritage in the Deccan,” Sharma, Records, Recoveries, Remnants and Inter-Asian Interconnections Decoding Cultural Heritage. 222-238.

170 Indo-Muslim vogue of life.36 Michel Boivin argues that listening to sufi music (either at khānqāhs or their shrines) became a ‘social process’ to which both the major communities in India could relate in the present times.37 Thus, the same was followed by the ssuccessors of Khwaja Mu’īn al-Dīn , Khwaja Quṭb al-Dīn Bakhtiyār Kākī and

Shaykh Ḥamīd al-Dīn Sivālī Nagaurī were also very fond of samā‘ and felt great delight in listening to music. It is worth noting that the former Khwaja Quṭb al-Dīn died in an ecstatic state while listening to samā‘.38 Equally important is the name of Qāḍī Ḥamīd al-

Dīn Nagaurī (who had both the Chishtī and Suhrawardī affiliations), who was also famous for his love of samā‘ gatherings, for which he had to face multiple problems like

39 the issuance of fatwās against him.

Later, the Chishtī successor of Khwaja Quṭb al-Dīn Bakhtiyār Kākī, Bābā Farīd followed the tradition of samā‘ with an extreme Divine devotion. Whenever he could not find a qawwāl (the singer) right at the moment of desire (to listen to samā‘) he would start reading the letters of Qāḍī Ḥamīd al-Dīn Nagaurī addressed to him, and reach at the stage of ecstasy.40 Following Bābā Farīd, his prime and the most celebrated khalīfah

Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā accepted and championed a cause to listen to music and attend the samā‘ assemblies, due to which he also had to face severe criticism from the

36 Michel Boivin observes the same about the sufis of Sindh during fourteenth century “Sindhi Sufis were embedded into the local context” Boivin “Shivaite Cults and Sufi Centres,” 32. 37 Boivin, “The Sufi Center of Jhok Sharif in Sindh (Pakistan)”, 106. 38 Dehlavī, Akhbār al-akhyār, 26. Raziuddin Aquil calls Khwaja Quṭb al-Dīn Bakhtiyār Kākī as music aficionado and explains that he was in rapture for over three days and finally got a blissful delight in death. Aquil, “Music and Related Practices in Chishti Sufism,” 17. 39 Once Maulana Sharaf al-Dīn (a great ‘ālim of his times in Delhi) got sick and Qāḍī Ḥamīd intended to go to see him to clear the air on the issue of samā‘. They went to see him when Maulana said I don’t want to see the face of the man who recalls Allah as ‘beloved’. Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 519-21. 40 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 502; Sijzī, Fawā’id al-fu’ād (Lahore, 1966), 254; Dehlavī, Akhbār al-akhyār, 37; For a deeper understanding of love of God see also, Shihāb al-Dīn Suhrawardī, The ‘Awārif -ul-Ma‘ārif, Eng. Trans., H. Wilberforce Clarke (Lahore: Ashraf Publishers, 2001 rpt,; first published, 1981), 183-88.

171 shari‘ā minded ‘ulemā. However, he did not stop practicing and listening to it. Regarding those who did not appreciate samā‘ the Shaykh used to say “they do not have taste for it,

41 that is why they do not listen to it.”

Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā thought of samā‘ as a sufi catalyst for new ones on this path and the sufi adepts, who are engaged in it with self-control and sobriety.42 Amir

Ḥassan Sijzī once stated that:

the kind of solace and delight I find in samā‘, I cannot have it anywhere else. Only the people of the path get into the fire of Divine love through which they can find this delight. If this was not the case, how eternity could be acquired, and 43 eternity has a blissful delight.

Amir Khurd represents the Chishtī position on samā‘. He argues that the chirping of birds and chanting of adhān (Muslims call for prayer) were also a kind of music. Thus music, like other attractive things, draws the listener nearer to his Creator Who is the Source of beauty. The external ambiguity between the love relationship between the Creator and the creatures has inevitably stirred the strings of debate on samā‘. Amir Khurd further narrates that once he saw Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn’s piece of writing which stated that God knows the language of mosquitos, bee and all other insects and birds. Once Caliph ‘Alī heard the sound of nāqūs (a musical instrument), and asked the people whether they knew what the sound said, to which they replied no. He told them that it was praising

44 God.

Having said this, noteworthy to mention that most of the Chishtī sufi heirs were expert in the art of music. For instance, Bābā Farīd’s grandson Khwaja Mūsa was a

41 Sijzī, Fawā’id al-fu’ād, 386. 42 Rozehnal, “A ‘Proving Ground’ for Spiritual Mastery”, 657. 43 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 496. 44 Caliph ‘Alī interpreted the sound as Subhan Allah ḥaqun ḥaqun innal Mualā qad Yabqā. Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 496.

172 trained musician and derived great delight and pleasure from it.45 He was also very well trained in different works of arts and poetry. Moreover, the Chishtī Shaykhs trained their disciples in poetry and new genres in Indian music, which was a hallmark of Hindu social and religious life in India.46 Its prime example is Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā who patronized the world-famous musician, Amir Khusrau. Amir Khursau added to the repertoire of musical methods, new instruments, like tāls and ragās, (“a rāga or rāg is a musical framework for improvisation parallel to a melodious mode) as well as the theory of music. Khusrau also initiated a new genre of qawwālī and improvised wina into sitar

(sehtar/sitar having three wires) and developed ṭablā also by splitting drum into two complementing musical instruments.47 This admixture of South Asian cultural and musical trends explains the diversity, variety and multiplicity of its regional cultural colour, distinct from other parts of the world. The rāgs and the genre of qawwālī are exclusive to the classical Indian music and do not exist in the history of European classical music tradition.

As a matter of fact, the Chishtī sufis not only appreciated music (though with certain conditions) but helped develop new improvisations in Indian music. Listening to samā‘ as a holy practice had a fundamental congruence amongst sufi concept of music,

Indian religious traditions and its social structure.48 Indian music is a blend of its religio-

45 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 201-202. 46 For Amir Khusrau’s introduction of new rags, see Aslam, Salaṭīn-i Dehlī wa Shahān-i Mughliyyā ka dhauq-i Mausiqī, 19-25. 47 Experts of musicology credit Amir Khusrau with the invention of sihtār before this, it was iktāra. Amir Khusrau added 2 more wires in it and named it sihtāra. It has been considered that sitar is an updated version of sur tār. Syed Hassan Askari, Amir Khusrau: Ahwāl-o āsar (Delhi: n.d, 1975), 371. See also Mirza, The Life and Times of Amir Khusrau, 239. 48 Qureshi, Sufi Music of India and Pakistan, 128.

173 and socio-cultural expressions.49 The term ‘religio- and socio-cultural’ indicates a process of social and cultural change for the Muslims in India along religious lines, initiated by the sufi ideology. The ritualistic practice of sufi music specialized by the Chishtīs samā‘ during medieval India had its own special taste and colour on the musical history.50 The

Chishtī fondness of samā‘ brought sufi music into Indo-Muslim social vogue, operative in larger Hindu dominated society. These trends played dynamic role in the development and growth of Indian music in later centuries. As stated earlier that many sufi shaykhs played dynamic role as patrons of music. For instance, in sixteenth century a great court musician and one of the nine ‘jewels’ of Emperor Akbar, Tansen (d. 1589) was associated with a Shaṭṭārī sufi, Shaykh Muḥammad Ghauth of Gwaliār.51 In this way, in the Mughal period this approach of Indian sufis helped Muslim rulers in further growth and advancement of music in India.52 There are numerous other examples which show

53 that later Muslims were attracted to music and showed deep interest in it.

However, noteworthy to mention is that the prime khalīfah of Shaykh Niẓam al-

Dīn Awliyā, Shaykh Naṣīr al-Dīn Chirāgh-i Dillī did not practice samā‘, though he has

54 been noted being sensitive to the “effects of poetry sung without musical instruments.”

49 Alison Arnold, The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: South Asia: The Indian Subcontinent. (CT: Taylor and Francis, 1998), 17. 50 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 300-1 and for more details see chapter nine of the book. 51 A. R. Momin, “The Role of Sufis in Fostering Inter-Cultural Understanding and Conciliation in India,” in Jafri and Reifeld, The Islamic Path, 272. Kalika Ranjan Qanungu, Islam and its Impacts on India (Calcutta: General Publishers,1968), Henry M. Elliot, The History of India, As Told by Its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period, Vol 5. (London: Trubner, 1873), 482. 52 For instance, in the courts of the Mughal emperors Akbar, Jahāngīr, and Shah Jahān, music flourished on a grand scale. For details, see Aslam, Salaṭīn-i Dehlī wa Shahān-i Mughliyyā ka dhauq-i Mausiqī. 53 Alison Arnold and Brunozz Nettle. eds., The Garland Encyclopaedia of World Music: South Asia: The Indian subcontinent. vol 5. (New York, London: Garland Publishing, 2000), 48. 54 Khaliq Ahmad Nizami, The Life and Times of Shaikh Nasiruddin Chiragh. (Delhi: Idarāh-i Adabiyāt-i Dillī, 1991), 60. Nizami quotes several instances from Saiyyid Gisudarāz when his Shaykh was absorbed in samā‘.

174 Yet the most famous disciple of Shaykh Naṣīr al-Dīn Chirāgh-i Dillī, Saiyyid

Muḥammad ibn Yousaf Ḥussaynī, popularly known as Saiyyid Gisudarāz (d. 1422) followed the Chishtī suit in the Deccan plateau, along with many others. Thus, not only in north India that Chishtīs had a strong role in the development of sufi music but they played far-reaching role in southern regions as well. Even before Saiyyid Gisudarāz,

Chishtī sufis Maulana Fakhr al-Dīn Zarrādī visited Dawlātabad and practiced samā‘ there

(details infra).

Apart from the Chishtī-Niẓamīs, the Chishtī-Ṣabrīs, who lived mostly in the

Doab-Awadh areas particularly, Kalyar, Allahabad, Thanesar, Gongoh and Panipat, also practiced samā‘ with deep interest in music.55 For instance, Shaykh Abd al-Quddūs

Gangohī (d. 1537), his khalīfah Shaykh Jalāl al-Dīn Thanesarī (d. 1582), his succeeding khalīfah and son-in-law Niẓam al-Dīn Thanesarī, who later became the “sole spokesman of Chishtī-Sabri branch” all were fond of samā‘.56 Below are the important allied practices and concepts of samā‘ elaborated by the Chishtī Shaykhs, as evidenced from

Amir Khurd’s work.

4.4 Ecstatic Dance (raqṣ) in Samā‘

55 Nizami, Reform and Renewal in South Asian Islam, 47. 56 Abdul Quddus Gongohī used to state that music of samā‘ could even burn the wet wood in the jungle. See Shaykh Rukn al-Dīn, Laṭa’if-i Quddusī (Kanpur: Sabri Publishers),108. For Niẓam al- Dīn Thanesarī see Muzaffar Alam, “The Mughals, the Sufi Shaikhs and the Formation of Akbari Dispensation” in Expanding Frontiers in South Asian and World History: Essays in Honour of John F. Richards, eds. Richard M. Eaton, David Gilmarton, Munis D. Faruqui, John F. Richards, Sunil Kumar (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013), 159. However, the Chishtīs always had to face criticism from their counterparts not only in thirteenth and fourteenth centuries but it continued in the later times. For instance, Khwaja Baqī-bi-Allah had a competitive attitude to his contemporary Chishtīs whom the former used to condemn much for the latter’s practice of samā‘. See Baqī bi-Allah, Kulliyat-i Baqibillah eds., Abu’l Hassan Zayd Faruqi and Burhan Ahmad Faruqi, (Lahore: Din Muhammad Press, 1967), 42-3 see also Alam, “The Mughals, the Sufi Shaikhs”, 160.

175 Dance or raqṣ is also associated with samā‘ assemblies when the listener of samā‘ becomes feels elated with the Divine love, and moves his body, sometimes in a uniform way or sometimes not. It is always considered as a discovery and realization of the ecstatic position which must accompany temporary loss of senses, decision power and consciousness.57 It is a state when one’s sensual abilities are partly suspended for the physical world. Wajd or ecstasy is also called emotional trance, induced by songs or music.58 Many people asked Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā that why the listener of samā‘ dance on the music of the qawwāls in an unconscious and unaware state, to which he replied that the listener becomes heedless towards the sexual/animal desires and his conscious, which makes him come closer to the Divine. The Shaykh further added that in response to “alastū bī Rabikum” Am I not Your Lord? at the Day of Primordial Covenant some said “ballā” (yes, you are my Lord) with their tongue, other raised their hands and some with nodding their heads. In samā‘, one repeats the same movements the way he had said ballā. From that day on, this unconsciousness is entrenched in them. Whenever they listen to samā‘, this condition effects them, and ḥarkat (motion) and ḥairat

(bewilderment) appears to them.59 Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā once stated that ‘one among the ninety nine names of Allah is ‘Al-Wajid,’ which is derived from wajd meaning “the One who perceives and possesses everything” so the ṣahib-i wajd (a person

60 fallen in or in a state of ecstasy) finds and reached nearer to his Creator.

57 Javed Nurbakahsh, Sufi Symbolism vol 1. (London: Khaniqahi-Nimatullahi Publications, 1984), 189. 58 Gilbert Rouget, Music and Trance: A Theory of the Relations Between Music and Possession (Chicago, London: University of Chicago Press, 1985), 297. 59 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 499 and 504. See also, Aditya Behl, Love’s Subtle Magic: An Indian Islamic Literary Tradition: 1379-1545. ed., Wendy Doniger (Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 322. 60 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 496-97.

176 While explaining the bewilderment and feelings of amazement regarding ecstasy which one gets from a meḥfil-i samā‘ Amir Khusrau wrote a ghazal. He says,

Namī danum cheh manzil būd shab ja’y kay man būdam beher sū raqṣ-i bismil būd shab ja’y kay man būdam I do not know the place where I was last night, People were frantically dancing around me where I was last night He goes on saying at the end of the ghazal (love poem),

Khudā khud Mīr-i majlis būd andar lāmakān Khusrau Muḥammad sham‘-i meḥfil būd shab ja’y kay man būdam God himself was the Master of the assembly, Khusrau was beyond time and space Prophet Muḥammad (PBUH) was the centre-point of the assembly where I was last night

These verses from Amir Khusrau throw light on his inner experience in ecstasy when he participated in a samā‘ assembly at his Shaykh’s house. He was able to transcend time and space, and be present in the assembly of the Prophet (PBUH) in spiritual terms.

Maulana Fakhr al-Dīn Zarrādī wrote in his Risalah about Khwaja Uthmān

Makkī’s explanation of ecstasy. The latter propounded that its etymology can be traced from wajd because ecstasy is among the top secrets of Allah and its trustees/guardians are the true believers. In a state of ecstasy, the veil is lifted on an individual and he is enabled to keep an eye on the rival (i.e. the carnal self), to recognize his enemy in order to fight against it the evil while upholding the desire/intension and purpose. This state only appears when the listener of samā‘ makes himself totally unaware of his surroundings with suspending his five senses. As soon as he becomes unaware about what is happening with and around him, this stirs up most of his movements.

The tadhkirah writer Amir Khurd records that once he saw a piece of paper written by Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā which explained about bodily movements and loosing conscious-self of the listener during samā‘. He informs that some people lose

177 their consciousness, but they do not surrender their serenity. However, some totally get lost in it and even if they are hit by hot red rod (during that state), they would not know about it. On the other hand, some feel that they are present in front of God during this state in such a way that even if a rose petal comes under their feet, they would come to know about it, but this state comes only for those having highest spiritual calibre. Amir

Khurd continues the words of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā on raqṣ or movements during samā‘. He said that the movements arise because of the love of God, and are desirable.61 However, if these movements lead to some aggressive acts, then it is prohibited. If a person tears clothes, dances and make movements, through which he becomes helpless in the situation (maghlūb’l-hāl), he would not be impeached/punished.

On the other hand, if one adopts it in his complete senses only to show off to people, it is prohibited. In addition, he continued that if there is any lust in the hands of the dervish, it falls down when he claps during samā‘. The animal desire also falls down when his feet touch the floor, and when he vociferates, it kills the animal desire in him. He further elaborated that when Prophet Muḥammad (PBUH) brought Imām Ḥassan and Ḥusain to raqṣ, he uttered these words, “fires of the eyes have burnt it, burnt that little kind of thing.”62 The Chishtīs mostly recommend dance along with samā‘. Once Bābā Farīd put his hand on the Maulana Badr al-Dīn Ishāq’s shoulder while he was in dancing ecstatically, before the meḥfil reached at the zenith. The former asked one of his disciples, Maḥmūd Patwah, “Maḥmūd! are you alive or dead?” Listening to this made

Maḥmūd dance. From this day on, Amir Khurd quotes his father, saying that whenever

61 Fawā’id al-Fu’ād, conversations of Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā compiled by Amir Hasan Sijzī, Persian text along with Urdu trans., Khwaja Hasan Thanī Niẓamī (New Delhi: Urdu Academy, 1991), 419. 62 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 504.

178 Maḥmūd Patwah visited any samā‘ gathering he remained amongst the first ones to fall into ecstasy. Amir Khurd further adds that Fakhr al-Dīn Zarrādī wrote in his Risalā that some people were asked due to a melodious voice, why all the body parts naturally start vibrating? They said that it was “‘ishq-i ‘aqlī” which does not need the (Divine) Beloved to speak but smile, slight eye movements and gestures are enough, in a metaphorical

63 sense. It is called spiritual dialogue.

The Chishtīs adopted raqṣ in samā‘ gatherings. It is important to note that their contemporary sufis of Mevleviyya Silsilah in Tukey and beyond instituted the celebrated

‘whirling dervish dance’ after the demise of Rūmī in 1273. Rūmī’s son, Bahā’ al-Dīn

Walad (d. 1312).64 Schimmel argues that samā‘ was institutionalized only in Mevleviyya’

Silsilah.65 Notably, the whirling dervish dance is relatively disciplined with well coordinated movements of the participants, while the ecstatic dance or dhamāl in South

Asia is not disciplined. It is much more ecstatic, and many people experience life transforming enlightenment in the state of ecstasy during dhamāl. Javad Nurbakhsh maintains that once an old man was asked about the reality of wajd. He replied that acceptance of ecstasy is the real ecstasy. Though, ‘ulemā believe that ecstasy lies in the heart, and its real charisma cannot be explained through pen and tongue. But the truth is that it is the conscious self who takes it out through eloquence and singing of beautiful

63 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 504. 64 Seyed Ghahreman Safavi and S. C. R. Weightman. Rūmī's Mystical Design: Reading the Mathnawī, Book One. (Albany: SUNY Press, 2009), 24-25. See also Shems Friedlander, Nezih Uzel, and Shems Friedlander. Rumi and the Whirling Dervishes: Being an Account of the Sufi Order Known as the Mevlevis and Its Founder the Poet and Mystic Mevlana Jalaluʼddin Rumi. Cairo, (Egypt: American University in Cairo Press, 2003). 65 Annmarie Schimmel, Deciphering the Signs of God: A Phenomenological Approach to Islam. (Albany (N.Y.): State University of New York Press, 1994), 89-111.

179 poetry, while coming out it creates movement in the body parts. However, an advance

66 degree of ecstasy has been understood in ecstatic dance.

Many disciples of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā like Fakhr al-Dīn Zarrādī used to dance on their toes in ecstatic state in samā‘ gatherings. Moreover, Khwaja Abd al-

Reḥman Sarangī, Maulana Rukn al-Dīn Chāghmar along with Khwaja Aḥmad Badāyūnī and many others used to lose consciousness in dance.67 Their dancing movements were not coordinated and disciplined as their moves come entirely out of ecstasy. Later, dhamāl became an integral part of the ‘shrine culture’ in South Asia as some shrines are particularly known for it, e.g. Shah ‘Abd al-Laṭīf Bhitaī (d. 1752) and Lāl Shahbaz

Qalandar (d. 1274) in Sehwan, Sindh, Shah Jamāl (d. 1671) in Lahore.

Last but not the least, the ecstatic movements in Chishtī raqṣ was always considered as an outcome of devotional ‘ishq. There was a preacher in Badayūṇ, who was asked for his views regarding samā‘ and ecstatic dance. He replied that whenever he became selfless and out of control, he could dance on a hot bread plate (tawā). This example describes samā‘ as a condition in which one becomes oblivious of the environment as well as one’s own condition. Amir Khurd informs that Shaykh Badr al-

Dīn Ghaznavī, a disciple of Quṭb al-Dīn Bakhtiyār Kāki, was a very aged man. People were usually curious about his dance in that old age. Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā used to say that it was not he who danced, but his ‘ishq which made him move and dance. He further added that if one was fraught with ‘ishq, he would always stay in dancing state.68

Ernst and Lawrence quote a couplet from Ḥamīd al-Dīn Sivālī Nagaurī’s Risalā-’i samā‘ in this regard,

66 Nurbakhsh, “Sama” 57-58. 67 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 316-18. 68 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 505.

180 “Every ecstasy that is derived from samā‘ 69 Is a taste that relieves the soul of anxiety.” Most importantly, Amir Khurd observes that samā‘ was not merely practiced by the

Chishtīs but by early Kubrawī sufis, Shaykh Mujadid al-Dīn Baghdadī and Najm al-Dīn

70 Kubra.

4.5 Types of Samā‘

To avoid any confusion, Khurd continues, Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā delineated six types or kinds of samā‘ and the grounds on which they were permissible or prohibited.

These are ḥalāl (legal/permissible), ḥarām (unlawful/forbidden), mubāḥ (merely permissible), makrūḥ (abominable/permissible but disliked) and two others are ḥājim and ghair-ḥājim. It is the responsibility of the samā‘ bearer or listener that he should differentiate between ḥalāl, ḥarām, mubāḥ and makrūḥ. When the listener is entirely inclined towards God or the Truth, samā‘ is ḥalāl for him. Samā‘ is ḥarām when the listener’s inclination and attention is completely towards the love of a human being.

There are certain important things which would make samā‘ mubāḥ. To Bābā Farīd, listening or attending to samā‘ created stir in the hearts of the listeners and sharpened the light of love of the Beloved. If the listener in a state of ecstasy during samā‘ is inclined more towards Allah, this is mubāḥ and if his inclination is more towards the love of human being, then samā‘ is makrūḥ for him. Ḥajim is another type which attracts people when an individual moves, it cannot be explained further, according to Amir Khurd. Last in this list is ghair-ḥājim,71 explains Amir Khurd, which is defined as an effect that

69 Nagaurī, Sarūr al-ṣadūr, 33-37 cited in Carl W Ernst & Bruce B. Lawrence. Sufi Martyrs of Love: Chishti Sufism in South Asia and Beyond (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002), 38. 70 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 516-18. 71 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 500.

181 should stir the heart to see and think only and only about Allah; the Creator. The listener may also think about his own Shaykh or about a pious person in samā‘.

The central feature of samā‘ is dhikr or remembrance of God. For the sufis it must lead the listener to meditate which must result in augmenting of his love of God, so that he could maintain his nearness with God. This connection makes all the attendees of samā‘ find union with God. This process develops their spiritual realization by inducing ecstasy. The most important purpose of samā‘ is to induce ecstasy, which in turn leads to enlightenment, and eventually reveals the mysteries and brings the soul nearer and nearer to his Creator.

4.6 Rules and Regulations of Samā‘

To acquire the desired functions of samā‘ it is imperative for the listener to follow the guiding rules and set etiquettes of the gathering. These are mandatory, otherwise samā‘ can never be considered mubāḥ. The rules regarding a samā‘ assembly are prescribed clearly, however, the risks attached to the individual listener are always there.72 Centuries before Amir Khurd, the eleventh-century sufi theorist, Saiyyid ‘Alī Hujwirī, in his monumental work, Kashf al-maḥjūb, discussed almost similar kinds of rules for attending samā‘. He states that a sufi should try to avoid samā‘ and if he cannot, he should practice without exaggeration to save its lucidity and charm. Samā‘ gatherings cannot be held in an improper place or space. A master should be there to preside the gathering. No women, boy or teenagers should be allowed to attend the gathering. A restriction for the musician is that he should be a staunch follower of shari‘ā. It is more appreciable for a

72 Lawrence, “Early Chishtī Approach to samā‘ ”, 71.

182 sufi to control his state of ‘wajd’ (ecstasy) gracefully. One should also avoid passing any comments on the quality of music in the assembly.

According to Siyar al-awliyā, to begin with, “one must consider time, place and the people taking part.”73 First among all is time. It must be arranged at a time when heart feels relaxed and one has no tension at all. Amir Khurd refers to Fakhr al-Dīn Zarrādī’s

Risalah-i samā‘, which states that time may become an obstacle between God and man. It can be inferred that samā‘ assembly should not be arranged during the prayer timings, as the assembly (most of the time) prolongs, the best time is after ‘isha prayer. So that nobody is in hurry and everyone gets free from his daily chores. Saiyyid Muḥammad

Husaynī Bandanawāz Gisūdarāz (d. 1425) also preferred night over day for holding samā‘ assembly in his Asmār al-asrār 74.The second thing to keep in mind is the right place, and environment should be very conducive which could brighten the soul. Most probably, best place suitable for meḥfil-i samā‘ is the khānqāh of a sufi or a clean and open ground. Thirdly, the audience should be in the same state of mind and having a taste for samā‘. Before attending the gathering one should wear clean and perfumed dress, as the appearance gives strong feeling of the inner purification or cleanliness.

Amir Khurd borrows the etiquettes of samā‘ from Fakhr al-Dīn Zarrādī’s work, which he acknowledges as well, and states that samā‘ should be listened to with full care and devotion. Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā was so cautious about his attendance with devotion that whenever he intended to attend the assembly, he would minimize eating two days prior to it. Nevertheless, it was not prescribed as mandatory for the rest. He

73 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 493. Javad Nurbakhsh, “Samā” in his In the Tavern of Ruin: Seven Essays on Sufism. (New York: Khaniqahī-Nimatullahī Publications, 1978), 42. 74 Saiyyid Muḥammad Husaynī Bandanawāz Gisūdarāz, Asmār al-asrār, ed., S. Atta Husayn, (Hyderabad: n.p, 1931), 99, as cited in Hussaini, Sayyid Muhammad Al-Husainī-i-Gīsūdirāz, 129.

183 adds that the attendees should not pay attention to other listeners or the audience in the gathering. It was not admirable as it could distract them. Clearing the throat and pandiculation should also be avoided. A listener’s head should be bowed down so that he might be able to busy himself in contemplation. This contemplation would make him control clapping, dancing and other such actions. If he still became uncontrollable, he should dance while wailing (giryā), and then it was considered desirable. Yet with one condition, that it should not be hypocritical because crying, weeping reduces the grief.

Dance with movements is a result of extreme happiness (surūr), and all happiness is desirable. Most importantly, the dance must not create problem or anxiety in the hearts of

75 the audience.

Reciting the Holy Qur’an before starting the assembly is also an important protocol. Amir Khurd records that Shihāb al-Dīn Suhrawardī in his ‘Awarif al-ma‘ārif quoted Khwaja Mumshad ‘Alī Dinawarī, who once saw Prophet Muḥammad (PBUH) in his dream and asked him about samā‘, to which the Prophet replied, “I do not deny it but there are only a few people who recite Qur’an before and after the assembly.”76 It shows that it was a prevalent practice at that time.

According to the Chishtī tradition, the reciter or the singer (qawwāl) of the poetry should be an adult man, neither a kid nor a woman could be the reciter. He is called musm‘ā and he should be pure in heart and strong in character. He could also sing in his beautiful heart-touching voice. Amir Khurd informs that when the children of Adam heard the words of Primordial Covenant, “Am I not your Lord” (details supra) all the spirits got absorbed in its delight. Thus, those who came into this world, whenever hear a

75 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 493. 76 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 494.

184 beautiful voice, their spirits tremble and are moved by the memory of that Divine speech, because of its influence in the beautiful voice.77 The fourteenth-century sufi, Rukn al-Dīn

Kashānī (d. around 1337) quotes Shaykh Junayd Baghdadī’s (d. 910) statements which offers the same interpretation regarding the relationship of beautiful voice to the

78 Primordial Covenant with God.

Moreover, Amir Khurd highly emphasizes on the attributes of samā‘ that could only be proved attainable by a spiritually advanced listener, or mustamā‘ (the listener, or the participant of the gathering.) Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā once said that samā‘ was not completely permissible and not completely prohibited. He was asked then what was it? He asked about the listener.79 It shows that the role of listener was central to the samā‘ gathering. So, the heart of the listener should not be devoid of remembrance of Allah. A

80 true listener should not lack the following conditions:

• Firstly, he should be indifferent to worldly affairs (mujard taba‘), and should not

intend to merely seek pleasure and enjoyment except remembrance of Allah.

• Secondly, if the listener listens to something, he should imagine any metaphorical

figure.

• Thirdly, the listener should get completely absorbed himself in samā‘. The

exposition to the state comes only from Allah.

• Fourthly and lastly, Amir Khurd cites the views of Zarrādī that the listener should

instate samā‘ on the (Divine) Truth. He must be an intense observer like those

Egyptian ladies who deeply involved themselves in the sight of Prophet Yousaf

77 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 499-500. 78 Ernst, Eternal Garden, 151. 79 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 492. 80 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 493.

185 and cut their fingers badly as they had no idea what had they done to themselves?

Having said that it is important to note that according to Amir Khurd only the

spiritually awakened souls could attain this state.

Amir Khurd also seems to be critical of his contemporary samā‘ gatherings, as he argues that most of these samā‘ gatherings were full of young teens, the depravity and decadence in its ambience could not be defined. He further adds that people listened to and danced in samā‘ like young teens so that others could take pleasure in it and the teens

81 could get fame.

According to Amir Khurd, it was mandatory for the attendee of samā‘ to adjust himself with rest of the gathering. If one man stood up for a true ecstatic dance, the rest must accompany him. Once Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā was late for a samā‘ meḥfil when he reached, so he stayed away from the central place. However, he stood up when the participants of the gathering stood up, people asked him why did he do so, while he was not sitting among them. The Shaykh replied that it was imperative to accompany the movements of the members of the assembly.82 Otherwise the Shaykh, as Amir Khurd observes, used to stand up only when the gathering reached at its peak and everyone was dancing while not paying attention to the rest. He never made any loud cries or slogans but only sighs, no one was ever able to see any change on the Shaykh’s face when he cried/wept. Amir Khurd explains that Allah likes the tears as those resemble pearls. One should not wipe them with a piece of cloth but with hand and rub on the body so that he

83 could find solace in it.

81 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 493, 532. 82 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 494. 83 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 508- 509.

186 From Siyar al-awliyā it appears that the Chishtīs always paid strong attention to the listener of samā‘. Thus, while arranging a samā‘ session it was considered obligatory for the listener to observe his demeanour. The reason being that one could not do anything unless his character and actions were not exposed unto himself. Qāḍī Ḥamīd al-

Dīn Nagaurī informed that once there was a samā‘ gathering and expert qawwāls were present there. However, the real flavour was lacking. The organizers felt the deficiency and requested everyone to assess themselves so as to identify if any of them was having harsh feelings against others. The organizers urged them to resolve it first. All of them forgave each other, yet this also could not help. Then, a mendicant entered there and recited a verse about the beauty of the Beloved. Thereupon, the audience fell into ecstasy that one of the listeners died immediately and the rest had to stop him not to say it twice.84 It indicates that earlier in the gathering either qawwāls or the listeners had some problem with their animal-self which proves to be a hindrance on the way to achieve the desired flavour of the gathering, which was later covered up by the verse recited by the mendicant.

Yet another important condition implies that whatever is recited/sung (the content of the poetry) should be sober and not be vulgar and humorous. It is called masmū‘. The highest status of samā‘ is attained when it is listened to with deep understanding. This profound understanding proceeds to ecstasy.85 The next stage is bodily motion. However, this varies from person to person. Sometimes, it was not necessary for a Chishtī Shaykh to have a group of people around, but only strong and meaningful poetic content proved enough to stir his ecstasy. Once Bābā Farīd desired to listen to samā‘, but there were no

84 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 501. 85 Amir Khurd quotes this from Maulana Fakhr al-Dīn Zarrādī in his Risalah abaḥat-i samā‘ who have cited Imām Ghazzālī for this. 187 qawwāls (the singer of sufi poetry) present at that time. He asked Maulana Badr al-Dīn

Ishāq to bring Qāḍī Ḥamīd al-Dīn’s letter, which the latter had written to Bābā Farīd. The

Maulana brought the desired letter and started reading it:

Faqīr, haqīr, zaī’f, nahīf Muḥammad atta k banda darweshs ast 86 Wa az saro dīdah khāk qadam Īshanast Poor, humble, weak, old Muḥammad Atta is the servant of the mendicants and he is only dust of their feet.

After listening to these initial verses, Bābā Farīd lost his conscious mind and fell into ecstasy, and by the end of the letter he read a quatrain dealing with the beauty of the

Divine Beloved. What strikes in this anecdote is that the Chishtīs emphasized on the content. In the absence of any singer or qawwāl, Bābā Farīd did not desire anyone to sing for him, but he only asked for the recital of the letter. Ecstatic state was attributed clearly on the strong effect of the words in that letter. There are several other incidents of Bābā

Farīd’s ecstatic condition tempted by the letters he received from Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn

Awliyā. The following verse is also a strong example of it. At another moment, Bābā

Farīd was alone and he started recitation of poetry from Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā’s letter, which talked about the revelation of Divine mysteries and secrets, and the former

87 fell into the state of ecstasy.

86 Āaṇ ‘aqal kujā k dar kamal-i tū rasd Wa āaṇ rūḥ kujā k dar jamāl-i tū rasd Gīrum k tū pardāh bar giraftī zī jamāl Wa āaṇ dīdah kujā k dar jamāl-i tū rasd Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 502. Sijzī, Fawā’id al-fu’ād, 254. Dehlavī, Akhbār al-akhyār, 37. 87 Nizami īen Chey isrār ast kiz khātir ‘ayān ker dī Kisy sarish namī dānand zuban dar kush zuban dar kāsh Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 503. Sijzī, Fawā’id al-Fu’ād, 254-55.

188 Not only this but Chishtī Shaykhs and their disciples lost their life during samā‘.

As stated earlier that when Shaykh Quṭb al-Dīn Bakhtiyār Kākī heard the impactful verses, he fell into deep ecstatic state in which he was ruptured for around three days, followed by his demise. This kind of ecstasy can also be understood with the help of the concept of ‘liminality,’ first offered by a folklorist Arnold van Gennep and later developed by Victor Turner in his “Liminality and Communitas.”88 ‘Liminality or liminal phase’ is a state where one leaves behind an older state (or position/stage) while he enters into a new state, however, before entering the short interval or period (between these two states) is called liminality or liminal phase.89 So Shaykh Quṭb al-Dīn experienced a state of liminality in ecstasy after losing his consciousness and physical senses but before dying. In other words, in his case, it refers to the intermediary state between life and death in which he remained for three days.

Besides this, Amir Khurd narrates a story of a qawwāl named Junayd, who read some verses (cited below) in front of Shaykh Sharaf al-Dīn Kirmanī90 while the letter died after listening to it. Shaykh Sharaf al-Dīn Kirmanī uttered the words ‘dar bā khatm wa jan dādam’ and died. These are only a few examples of the meaningful poetry heard

91 with devotion and deep contemplation.

Another worth mentioning aspect of samā‘ is the musical instruments. Amir

Khurd asserts that musical instruments like rabāb or rubāb (a kind of viol or lute) and others should not be used in the gatherings. Once Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā was told

88 Victor Turner, The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure (New Brunswick: Aldine Transaction Press, 2008), see chapter “Liminality and Communitas,”, 358-374. 89 Turner, The Ritual Process, 359. 90 He belonged to the town Sarastī. Probably, he was not a family member of Amir Khurd’s immediate family. 91 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 500-1.

189 that few mendicants had danced in a public assembly with chang (a Persian musical instrument similar to harp) and rabāb. The Shaykh condemned it.92 Going beyond the shari‘ā laws was always displeasing and unacceptable. Amir Khurd informs about another similar kind of anecdote where few disciples of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā attended a samā‘ gathering with musical instruments. The Shaykh also condemned it.

Besides, this the Shaykh explained that in his ancestral tradition, musical instruments were not allowed. The earlier Shaykhs of his Silsilah used to fall in ecstasy while listening to one verse, whether the singers were present or not, or whether the musical instruments were used or not, because they had the sentiment of Divine love in their hearts.93 It indicates that in medieval times before Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā sometimes musical instruments were used in samā‘ gatherings. However, he argued that it was the sentiment of Divine love that was a prerequisite for samā‘, and not the musical instruments. Regula B. Qureshi rightly observes that Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā

94 “vacillated” regarding the use of musical instruments in samā‘ gatherings.

It can be inferred that it was only in Chishtī Silsilah (and most probably among the Indian Suhrawardīs as well) that the use of musical instruments was considered objectionable during that time. On the other hand, many sufi shaykhs like Shaykh Junayd

Baghdadi along with other sufis in Baghdad, Syria and Rome, sufis of Silsilah

Kubrawiyyah in Samarqand, Bukhara, and those associated with Silsilah Firdawsiyyah in

India at that time used musical instruments like shabanā (a double-reed conical oboe of

92 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 520-21. Sijzī, Fawā’id al-Fu’ād, 418-19. 93 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 522-23. 94 Qureshi, Sufi Music of India and Pakistan, 82.

190 India, similar to shehnāī’), chang and rabāb in their samā‘ assemblies.95 Notably, one must fulfil all the above mentioned conditions for the gathering, otherwise it would not be considered mubāḥ or permissible.

Another significant aspect of samā‘ is the symbolic content of poetry sung in the gatherings. Some major symbolic idioms used in the poetry of samā‘ assembly include hair, complexion, and sight. The curl ringlet of hair is a metaphor for nearness as it has been invoked in the Holy Qur’an as well.96 Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā argued that one should imagine jannāh (paradise) from the Beloved’s complexion, and see His mercy using one’s eye sight. He quoted a verse from the Qur’an to explain this metaphor.97

Another metaphor is ‘time;’ Maulana Fakhr al-Dīn Zarrādī argued that the ‘serial time’ creates hindrance between man and God. Other than this, poets also use symbolic idioms like facial features, its shine, and black mole. The shine of the face symbolizes the splendour or light of one’s faith, while the black mole refers to the darkness of the sins.

However, Amir Khurd observes a warning that if one thought of these symbolic terms in any other connotations, it would create problem to his spiritual status.98 Qureshi maintains that this shows that to see Divine love as a dynamic force of hāl (spiritual state) and maqām (spiritual status), it ought to be refined spiritually and espoused

95 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 524, 530-31. See also K. Z. Ashrafyan, “Central Asia Under Taimur from 1370 to The Early Fifteenth Century” in History of Civilization of Central Asia Volume IV; The Age of Achievement: A.D. 750 to the end of the fifteenth Century. ed., A. S. Asimov, C. E. Bosworth (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 1999), 337. 96 lī yaqrabūnā ila-Allah-ī zulfā. “So that they can make us (closer) intimate friends of Allah”Qur’an: 39: 3). As cited in Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 494. 97 walitasnā’ alā a’inī (Qur’an, 20: 39 ) To provide me with an eye o f mercy.Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 494. Persian 98 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 494-95.

191 emotionally.99 Thus, appreciating poetic content with its desired connotation is a duty of a participant of a samā‘ gathering.

As a matter of fact, the metaphoric idioms of poetry are like examples which ought to be invoked according to a context. Examples help elucidate the meanings, these give a definite shape to a vague idea and turn doubt into beliefs, bring the absent into present. That is why Allah has given a lot of examples in the Qur’an. Shaykh Niẓam al-

Dīn Awliyā elaborated on the poetic content that on the Day of Judgement, Allah would ask whether a listener of love poetry delved into its Divine interpretation. People would reply that they had done it out of their love and passion. Then, Allah would forgive them

100 with mercy.

4.7 Dissemination of the Practice of Chishtī Samā‘ in India

Bruce B Lawrence observes the Chishtī samā‘ in India in these words:

from the period of the Delhi Sultanate through the Mughal era samā‘ assumed a unique significance as the integrating modus operandi of the Chishtī Silsilah, Chishtī apologists adopted a distinctive attitude to samā‘: far from being an embarrassment to them, as the literature sometimes suggests, samā‘ was aggressively defended as an essential component of the spiritual discipline or exercise incumbent on all sufis. The Chishtī espousal of samā‘ also served a valuable practical function: it separated the Chishtī saints from the Suhrawardiyyas, their major mystical rivals in the pre-Mughal-era of Indian Islam, and opposed them to the ‘ulemā, those too comfortable spokesmen for official, i.e., government sanctioned, Islam. Samā‘ became, if not monopoly of the Chishtīyyah, the preeminent symbol crystalizing their position vis-à-vis other Indo-Muslim 101 leadership groups.

99 Qureshi, Sufi Music of India and Pakistan, 81. 100 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 496-97. Gisudarāz, Khātimah, ed., S. ‘Atta Husayn. (Hyderabad, 1937) 31-31 in Husaynī, Sayyid Muhammad al-Husaynī Gisudirāz,137. 101 Lawrence, “The Early Chishtī Approach to Samā‘,” 74.

192 Samā‘ did not remain confined to north India as the Chishtīs practiced and diffused it to the south and other parts of India as well. There are no evidential proofs to show signs of practicing samā‘ in Deccan region prior to the advent of the Chishtīs.102 Scholars of

Indian Sufism consider Shaykh Burhān al-Dīn Gharīb (d.1337) and his brother Muntajib al-Dīn (1276-1309) amongst the first Chishtīs in Deccan.103 The former was a khalīfah of

Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā who was awarded with the walayā (spiritual jurisdiction over a specific dominion) of Deccan plateau.104 There are some evidences which suggest that Muntajib al-Dīn Zar Zarī Zar Bakhsh was also living in the region prior to Burhān al-

Dīn’s arrival.105 However, based on the evidence provided by Siyar al-awliyā and other contemporary sources, it appears safe to state that initial dissemination of qawwālī and samā‘ in south India was done by Burhān al-Dīn Gharīb.106 However, it is also worth mentioning that Amir Khurd records samā‘ gatherings held by Fakhr al-Dīn Zarrādī at

Daulatabad,107 but he does not provide the dates of these gatherings. By all means,

Burhān al-Dīn Gharīb lived until 1337 and Zarrādī died in 1347, so it is difficult to

102 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 279-282. and see also Newell, “Experiencing Qawwāli”. 144- 157. 103 Mantajib al-Dīn was famously known as Zar Zarī Zar Baksh Siyar al-awliyā, 116-17 Persian. 104 He was amongst the closest of the disciples of the Shaykh. The Shaykh usually quotes his jealousy with other visitors, see Amir Hassan, Hidayat al-qulūb wa ‘inayat ‘ullām al-ghuyūb (Khuldabad: Farid al-Din Saleem. Comp. 1344-67), 146. 105 Oral accounts suggest that Burhān al-Dīn’s brother, Zar Zarī Zar Baksh, may have preceded him in Khuldabad. It might be concluded that Zar Zarī Zar Baksh may have initiated the practice of samā‘ prior to Burhān al-Dīn’s arrival, although there are no written records found for this. Carl Ernst is also doubtful about his connection with Silsilah-i Chishtīyyāh. Ernst, Eternal Garden, 235-236. See also, Muhammad Suleman Siddiqi, “Origin and Development of the Chishtī Order in the Deccan: 1300-1585 A.D.” Islamic Culture, 51. (1977): 212. and Newell, “Experiencing Qawwāli”. 137. 106 Rukn al-Dīn Dabīr Kashānī, Nafā’is al-anfās (Khuldabad: Farid al-Din Salim. Comp 1331- 37), 49. See also, Ernst, Eternal Garden, 119. 107 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 427.

193 assume either the latter’s congregation held before the former’s settlement in Daulatabād,

108 during his life or after his death.

What seems remarkable here is that Burhān al-Dīn was not the only one (during this time), who popularized the practice of samā‘ outside north India but other fellows of the Silsilah also participated actively. In Gujrat, Maulana Ḥisam al-Dīn, and in South,

Khuldabād was home to a many Chishtī shaykhs, such as Burhān al-Dīn Gharīb and his disciple, Zayn al-Dīn Shirazī. Their khānqāhs, located near the city, played a prominent role in the society as well as politics of the Deccan. Moreover, one of the most well- known Chishtī Shaykhs of the region is Saiyyid Muḥammad Husaynī Bandanawāz

Gisūdarāz who, despite his long stay in Delhi, is usually associated with the Deccanī city of Gulbarga, where he lies buried as well. He also popularized samā‘ there. Most importantly, his recognition of music as a piece of art is also valuable. He used to state that music belongs to a higher world. In short, it was by the hands of Chishtī sufis that it spread to different parts of India. However, this practice did not remain confine to the

109 thirteenth and fourteenth centuries but continue till today even beyond Indian borders.

4.8 Chishtī Writings on Samā‘

The Chishtī sufis did not only disseminate the practice through holding assemblies but also by writing treatises on samā‘. The Chishtī writings were different in attitude in relation to the earliest known works of Sufism, written outside India. For instance, these were more daring in advocating practices like samā‘, as these writings were essentially

108 Regardless of the fact that how the Chishtī Silsilah was brought to the region and when sama‘ was practiced at first, it is worth noticing that the Silsilah firmly took roots in major Deccanī cities of Khuldabad and Daulatabad (modern Indian state of Maharashtra, after the early fourteenth century)Maharashtra is on the western coast of India. Muhammad Suleman Siddiqi, The Bahmani Sufis (Delhi: Idarāh Adabiyāt i Dillī, 1989), 44. See also Ernst, Eternal Gardens. 109 William Rory Dickson, Living Sufism in North America: Between Tradition and Transformation (Albany: State University of New York, 2015), 74-97.

194 written in defense of it. The Chishtī writers found new ways to prove the legality of samā‘.110 Siyar al-awliyā provides with ample information on it. Lawrence and Ernst define the categories of Chishtī writings on samā‘in South Asia in these words:

Yet the literary legacy on samā‘ from the Delhi Sultanate sufis of the Chishtīs Order is itself enormous, diverse and informative. It consists of three kinds of writings: independent essays on samā‘; chapters on samā‘ that appears in biographical accounts of saints (tazkiras) or books devoted to theological inquiry; and anecdotal references to samā‘ in malfūzat or recorded conversations of major saints. Each category has its special value. Collectively they present a unique 111 profile of samā‘ as it first functioned in a predominantly non-Muslim region.

The Chishtī writings on samā‘ were usually aimed at its legalist interpretation, so they defended the practice in Indian milieu. While few scholars’ selective approach has misled the readers about the writings and literature produced on samā‘ in India. For instance,

Molé in his Essays argues that four Indian authors were important theorists of samā‘, and these were ‘Alī Hujwīrī, Gisudarāz, ‘Alī Hamdānī and Muḥammad Nūr-Allāh. Bruce

Lawrence, however, criticizes him arguing “By no means do they exhaust the list of early

Indian sufi authors who speculated about samā‘, some from an original perspective that marked a theoretical contribution different in tone as well as in content from their ‘ajamī predecessors.”112 Molé along with some others discredited the thirteenth and fourteenth century Chishtī literary contributions to samā‘.

Samā‘ was “the integrating modus operandi”113 of the Chishtīs during these centuries, as well as up till now. Siyar al-awliyā provides enough evidences of literature

110 Ernst & Lawrence. Sufi Martyrs of Love, 43-44. 111 Ernst & Lawrence. Sufi Martyrs of Love 36. 112 Molé’ “Essay, La Danse’ extatique en Islam” Orientales (Paris 1963), 147-228 cited in Bruce B. Lawrence, “The Early Chishtī Approach to Samā‘ ”, 73 in Islamic Society and Culture: Essays in Honour of Professor Aziz Ahmad Milton Israel and Narendra. K. Wagle (Delhi: Manohar, 1983). 113 Lawrence, “The Early Chishtī Approach to Samā‘ ”, 73. 195 production on samā‘ during the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century India. These have been written on its legality, principles, etiquettes and conditions to be followed along with important aspects of music. Here is its empirical evidence, as found in Amir Khurd:

Fakhr al-Dīn Zarrādī’s three writings (i) Risalah i samā‘,114 (ii) Risalah abaḥat-i samā‘,115 and (iii) Kashf al-Miftaḥ min wujūh al-samā‘116, and Maulana ‘Alam al-Dīn’s

(grandson of Shaykh Bahā’ al-Dīn Zakariyya Multanī) treatise on samā‘ titled

Maqṣidah.117 In addition, Amir Khurd himself has written a major section on samā‘ in his

Siyar al-awliyā. It appears that it was an independent treatise on samā‘ but it was appended to Siyar al-awliyā. Moreover, it is important to note that he was silent on

Ḥamīd al-Dīn Nagaurī’s Risalah Uṣūl al-ṭarīqah, which is considered to be the earliest work exclusively on the subject of samā‘ in India. Noteworthy to mention is that this tradition did not end here but grew more aggressive with the passage of time. Chishtī

118 Shaykhs like Saiyyid Bandanawāz Gisūdarāz wrote much in this regard.

4.9 Suhrawardī Sufis on the Question of Samā‘

Amir Khurd offers some important information about Suhrawardī attitude towards samā‘.

Before we discuss it, it seems pertinent to briefly explore the position of Suhrawardī texts regarding it:

Music does not give rise, in the heart, to anything which is not already there. So, he whose inner-self is attached to anything else than God is stirred by music, to sensual desire but the one who is inwardly attached to the love of God is moved, by hearing music, to do His will. … The common folk listen to music according to nature, and the novice listen with desire and awe, while listening to the suit brings them a

114 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 495. 115 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 492, Jandār, Durr-i Nizāmī, 71. 116 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 230. Probably, the second and the third treatises were the same but with a different title. 117 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 530. 118 For details of his works see, Hussaini, Sayyid Muhammad al-Husaynī Gisudirāz.

196 vision of the Divine gifts and grace, and these are the gnostics to whom listening mean contemplation. But finally, there is the listening of the spiritually perfect to 119 whom through music, God reveals himself unveiled. These words of Shihāb al-Dīn Suhrawardī show that he was not against samā‘ or music but permitted its use in certain conditions. There is an anecdote related to the Shaykh’s life recorded by Amir Khurd, who informs that once Shaykh Shihāb al-Dīn Suhrawardī called for the qawwāls to arrange a samā‘ gathering requested by Shaykh Auḥad al-Dīn

Kirmanī (d. 1238).120. However, he himself was not part of it and engaged himself deeply in praying, so that he could not have any idea about what was going on around him. Amir

Khurd further adds that Shaykh Najm al-Dīn Kubra used to comment on this attitude of the Shaykh in these words: “Whatever best attributes can possibly be possessed by a man,

121 were there in Shaykh Shihāb al-Dīn Suhrawardī except a taste for samā‘.

Many scholars of Sufism who believe that Suhrawardīs did not practice samā‘ and were opponents of the Chishtīs in this regard, are somewhat misleading. A qawwāl named Abū Bakr Kharaṭā (known as Abū Bakr Qawwāl) testifies about a samā‘ gathering arranged by Shaykh Bahā’ al-Dīn Zakariyya Multanī at his place.122 Amir Khurd records an anecdote when Shaykh Bahā’ al-Dīn Zakariyya was informed by a man named Abd-

Allah Rūmī that once he sang in front of Shaykh Shihāb al-Dīn Suhrawardī. Shaykh

Bahā’ al-Dīn replied, ‘if our Shaykh has listened to samā‘ then we should also listen to it.’ At night after offering his ‘isha prayer and recitation of the Holy Qur’an, the Shaykh

119 Shihāb al-Dīn Suhrawardī, The ‘Awārif -ul-Ma‘ārif, as quoted in Abdal-Hayy Moore, The Music Space /Poems Daniel (Philadelphia: The Ecstatic Exchange, 2007), 10-11. 120 Shaykh Auḥad al-Dīn Kirmanī was deeply attached to samā‘ just like his Chishtī fellows. Once, he came to Bābā Farīd and requested him to arrange samā‘. When the assembly started, he along with Shaykh Jamāl al-Dīn Hānsvī and Shaykh Badr al-Dīn Ghaznavī could not even resist dancing. Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 505. 121 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 524. 122 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 100.

197 listened to the singing of Rūmī in private, and danced as well, while getting the light turned off. When the samā‘ ended, the Shaykh got up and left that room immediately.

The next morning Rūmī was presented with gifts from the Shaykh.123 The anecdote shows that the Shaykh not only liked listing to it but also danced, and was happy as well, as he awarded the singer too. So it would not be wrong here to state, that the Suhrawardīs were never in staunch opposition to samā‘ but they did not practice it publicly. Not only this, some of the Suhrawardī sufis openly supported it, such as Qāḍī Ḥamīd al-Dīn Nagaurī.124

Fawā’id al-fu’ād informs that Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn also appreciated his efforts in

125 popularizing samā‘ in Delhi, along with Juzjānī.

Amir Khurd adds that another Suhrawardī sufi, who was a disciple of Shaykh

Ḍiya’ al-Dīn Rūmī,126 was very fond of listening to samā‘. When he died, his Shaykh

(Ḍiya’ al-Dīn) saw him in his dream where he had received a top-ranked position in jannah (paradise) but he seemed unhappy, though. The Shaykh congratulated him and asked why he was sad? He replied that no doubt he had received that top-ranked position but the feeling he used to have in samā‘ could not be found there.127 It can be inferred that the Chishtī text of Amir Khurd recorded important evidences of Suhrawardī sufis who were pro-samā‘. Besides, it is also important to note that when Sultan Ghiyath al-Dīn

Tughluq called meḥzar (public debate) on samā‘ it was the Suhrawardī sufi, Shaykh

‘Alam al-Dīn (the grandson of Shaykh Bahā’ al-Dīn) who gave final the verdict in favour of samā‘ (details infra).

123 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 525. 124 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 526-28. 125 Sijzī, Fawā’id al-fu’ād, 407-8, Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 526. 126 Among the important sufis of Silsilah Suhrawardīyyah, He was a close disciple and khalīfah of Shaykh Shihāb al-Dīn Suhrawardī, when he came to India Sultan Quṭb al-Dīn Mubārak Khaljī became his disciple. 127 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 500.

198 4.10 Opposition to and Public Debates on Samā‘

Samā‘ was practiced and appreciated by various sufi silsilahs throughout the world, except a few. Schimmel observes that ‘certain practices are restricted to only a segment of the believers and are disliked by others; one of these, is the sacred [music] dance …’

128 In India, it remained a well-grounded Chishtī practice. One can also see other sufi silsilahs involved in it, who largely did not consider it as a focus of their practice. Among others, Indian Suhrawardīs, Firdausīs and Kubrawīyyahs were prominent. It is also noteworthy to mention that the ‘wholesale rejection’ of listening to samā‘ was voiced merely by the close of sixteenth and seventeenth centuries by Shaykh Aḥmad Sirhindī (d.

1624).129 His followers in the Naqshbandīyya-Mujaddīdiyya tradition in South Asia shared his aversion to music.130 However, Buehler reminds the readers that other sub-

131 branches of Silsilah Naqshbandīyyah, practiced samā‘ openly.

The Chishtī practice of samā‘ raised doctrinal problems for the Chishtīs. Another major problem with the critics of samā‘ was their random selective ‘piece-meal approach’ rather than taking the holistic perspective. Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā believed that the one who disapprov samā‘ was in three kinds of situations: either he was deprived of listening to good quality of music, or he was conceited regarding his good deeds, or he was tasteless, and not attracted to samā‘ due to his dullness.132 On theoretical

128 Annmarie Schimmel, Deciphering the Signs of God: A Phenomenological Approach to Islam (Albany (N.Y.): State University of New York Press, 1994), 89-111. 129 Lawrence and Ernst, Sufi Martyrs of Love, 44-45. 130 Lewison, “The Sacred Music in Islam”, 4, see also Green, Sufism, 91. 131 He states that among them ‘the lineages that followed the teachings of Baqī Bi-Allah (d. 1603) and Amir Abu’l-‘Alā (d. 1651).’ Moreover, Buehler further adds that Naqshbandīyya- Mujaddīdiyya never had a large following in South Asia. Arthur J. Buehler, Sufi Heirs to the Prophet. The Indian Naqshbandiyya and the Rise of the Mediating Sufi Shaykh (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1998), 73. 132 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliya, 522.

199 grounds, samā‘ is connected with a paradox greater than itself. The problematic issue for the critics was their focus on external appearance of the participants of these gatherings,

133 and not their internal state revealing higher truths.

Nevertheless, the Chishtīs had to face severe criticism from different sections of the society, particularly the ‘ulemā. Most of the time they condemned the Chishtī

Shaykhs for their practice of samā‘ followed by raqṣ as un-Islamic. Sufi tadhkirahs are filled with numerous anecdotes in this regard. Once a samā‘ assembly was arranged at a personal residence, cites Amir Ḥassan Sijzī, where both Qāḍī Ḥamīd al-Dīn Nagaurī and

Shaykh Quṭb al-Dīn Bakhityār Kākī were present. A staunch critic of the practice,

Maulana Rukn al-Dīn Samarqandī tried to disrupt the gathering along with his heated dialogue against samā‘. However, Qāḍī Ḥamīd al-Dīn Nagaurī managed the situation in such a way that he could not do much.134 Amir Khurd states that during Qāḍī Ḥamīd al-

Dīn Nagaurī’s time there were many scholars of Delhi who stood against him for the permissibility of samā‘. They also sought legal or juridical decrees against samā‘. Many renowned scholars of the time wrote in favour of the validity of samā‘. Amir Khurd claims seeing those answers by himself.135 The composer of Gulzar-i abrār shares almost the same view that it was common for the sharī‘ah-oriented ‘ulemā, to prepare fatwās against the Chishtī samā‘.136 This indicates that there was a strong opposition to samā‘ from ‘ulemā, who sometimes even tried to prevent its holding by forceful means.

133 Lawrence, “Early Chishtī approach to Samā‘,” 69. 134 Sijzī, Fawā’id al-fu’ād, 407, -8, Jamālī, Siyar al-‘ārifīn, 148. Both the Shaykhs had a profound taste for samā‘. Some argue that the one got his taste from the other in one way or the other. Fro details see, Rizvi, A History of Sufism in India, vol 1, 196, see also Isḥāq, Asrār al- awliyā in Hasht Bahisht, 8-9. 135 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 798. 136 Māndvī, Gulzār-i abrār, 47-48.

200 ‘Isāmī cites regarding two muftis Qāḍī ‘Imād and Qāḍī Sa‘ad, who were attached to the court, always objected the practice of samā‘. They induced Sultan Iletmish against

Qāḍī Ḥamīd al-Dīn Nagaurī who practiced samā‘ with great fervour. The former forced the Sultan to call the Shaykh for a public debate so that he could prove its legality in

Islam.137 The Shaykh responded that its legality always depends upon the listener, i.e. samā‘ was lawful for the ahl-i ḥāl (those who are spiritually inclined and enlightened).

The Shaykh also commented that ‘those who write fatwās against samā‘, are still in wombs of their mothers (not born yet)’.138 Nevertheless, by the end of the discussion

Sultan Iletmish found himself guilty for calling the Shaykh in his court and apologized.139

Similarly, once Sultan Ghiyath al-Dīn (who himself was unaware about the legitimacy or

illegitimacy of samā‘) was told that Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn listened to samā‘ and

thousands of people follow him in this action. Among others, Qāḍī Kamāl al-Dīn

(Ṣadr-i Jahān) persuaded the Sultan against Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā. The Sultan angrily ordered for the Shaykh’s presence in a public debate in his court. Qāḍī Muhai’yy

al-Dīn Kashānī and Maulana Fakhr al-Dīn Zarrādī accompanied the Shaykh. Qāḍī Jalāl

al-Dīn, the Nai’b Ḥakim, started questioning the validity of samā‘, and the Shaykh

responded to all the questions referring to aḥādīth of Holy Prophet (PBUH). After a round of discussion, the Sultan asked the Suhraward A qawwāl named Abū Bakr Kharaṭā

(known as Abū Bakr Qawwāl) testifies about a samā‘ gathering arranged by Shaykh

137 ‘Isāmī, Futūḥ al-Salāṭīn, 112-13. 138 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 520. 139 ‘Isāmī, Futūḥ al-Salāṭīn, 113-114. The author of Gulzar-i abrār informs that those two muftis once went to Shaykh Quṭb al-Dīn’s samā‘ with an intension to disrupt it, however, later, they themselves deeply went into ecstasy and became the disciples of the Shaykh. See Manḏavī, Gulzār-i abrār.43.

201 Bahā’ al-Dīn Zakariyya Multanī.140 Sufi, ‘Ilm al-Dīn (the grandson of Bahā’ al-Dīn

Zakariyya) for his views on it, who had travelled around the world. The Suhraward A qawwāl named Abū Bakr Kharaṭā (known as Abū Bakr Qawwāl) testifies about a samā‘ gathering arranged by Shaykh Bahā’ al-Dīn Zakariyya Multanī.141 Shaykh replied that sufi music was commonly practiced since the times of Shaykh Junayd Baghdadī and

Shiblī along with other sufis in Baghdad, Syria and Rome and other parts of the Muslim world.142 The Sultan became silent on hearing this but Qāḍī Jalāl al-Dīn (who was famous for his enmity against the sufis) forced the Sultan to give his verdict. However,

Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā asked the Sultan not to give any verdict upon it, the Sultan

143 acted accordingly and kept silent in it.

Despite ‘ulemā’s aversion to samā‘, the sufis tried to estrange themselves from these conflicts. Thus, this popularity of music could be found not only among the Chishtī khānqāhs but also in a much larger “devotional milieu across sufi fraternities historically.”144 It was so intense that some of them gave their teachings through music.145 Among the most eminent from twentieth century Chishtī sufis, Shaykh Inayat

Khan (d. 1927) is a well-known name. He was a ‘sufi-musician’ who not only popularized samā‘ in India but beyond its borders and in the Western world as well.

140 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 100. 141 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 100. 142 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 529-30. 143 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 530. See also, The Life and Times of Shaykh Nizam u’d-din Auliya, 119. Aziz Ahamd, “The sufis and the Sultans in Pre-Mughal Muslim India”, 150. 144 “Music and Related Practices in Chishti Sufism,” 31. 145 Peter Heehs, Indian Religions: A Historical Reader of Spiritual Expression and Experience. (New York: New York University Press, 2002), 491.

202 Chapter 5

Socio-political and Socio-economic Aspects of Medieval Indian History

Politics and economy are two most integral parts of a society. Studying social history cannot be completed without looking at its political and economic conditions during a specific time. The present chapter is therefore divided into two sections: the first section explores aspects of socio-political history of medieval India and the second section tries to study aspects of socio-economic history through Siyar al-awliyā. Before proceeding further, it is important to keep in mind that Siyar al-awliyā is primarily a sufi text and not directly relevant for reconstructing political and economic history of medieval India in detail. Besides, it is also worth noting that sufis in one way or the other, directly or indirectly remained relevant in medieval India’s socio-economic and socio-political profile. Based on these small references which the said tadhkirah provides, the following chapter is an attempt to investigate these two aspects of medieval Indian society.

Section I Socio-political History in Medieval India

The formation of Muslim polity in India by close of the twelfth century attracts attention of many historians. However, to give a coherent interpretation to socio-political history of this time is quite a difficult task. Since the period under study ushered an age of wide- ranging socio-political changes, it marks the firmly persisted military, political and socio- cultural presence of Turco-Persian Muslims. They established their rule in north India while attempting to conquer southern regions and beyond. Besides, the period also witnessed a shift from traditional military conquests and political biographies to proposing political theories. Fatāwā-i Jahāndarī by Ḍiya’ al-Dīn Baranī is an excellent example of it. However, the socio-political history sees a bit different in these chronicles

203 than it is presented or discussed in the contemporary sufi writings. Historians have either overplayed the extent to which the state outreached to the people, through its political machinery or institutions, or assumed a detachment between the state and society.

There were processes through which the Turco-Persian state interacted with numerous social groups, particularly the sufis, and the interactions between sufis and the sultans has a significant role in Indian historiographical tradition.1 So it is important to seek the impacts of the state policies on people and the relationship of the state with major social actors. In this regard, the study of Siyar al-awliyā can help address some questions, and it can offer another side of the picture of socio-political accounts.

Although Amir Khurd does not go into the minute details of politics, the political scenery presented on this canvas can still serve the task.

The present section deals with the administrative structure of the Sultanate of

Delhi, along with the institutional coercion which was rampant there. The section also throws some light on law and order situation during the said period and the building construction, particularly mosques by the sultans and the nobility. As the study is based largely on sufi literature, that is why it explains the socio-political history through varied aspects of state-sufi relationship. The chapter shows the sultans trying to get in touch with the sufis; sometime getting barakah (blessings) or otherwise, out of fear of losing their space and legitimacy to rule. In this light the chapter discusses questions like how

Chishtī khānqāhs served as a comfort-zone against the miseries of the government

1 Green, Making Space, 260, Blain Auer also argue that the development of Sufism and state formation in India began at the same time so it is important to see political history of India it is also important to see the relationship between these two, see Blain H. Auer, “Intersection Between Sufism and Power: Narrating the Shaykhs and Sultans of Northern India, 1200-1400”.in John Curry and Erik Ohlander, ed., Sufism and Society: Arrangements of the Mystical in the Muslim World, 1200–1800 (New York: Routledge, 2012), 18.

204 authorities? To what an extent the eminent Chishtī Shaykhs had interacted with their contemporary sultans and nobles? and how far they secured their own space? The chapter is an attempt to see these dynamic interactions between society, state and the sufis in the political environ of the Sultanate of Delhi.

5.1 Administrative Structure of the Sultanate and Institutional Coercion

Muslims in India inherited a system of governance from their predecessor Sassanids of

Persia and blended it with Indian political norms and traditions. Most of the offices of the

2 Delhi Sultanate seemed a bit different than the previous administrative structure of India.

In Siyar al-awliyā Amir Khurd observes some government positions/offices. He talks about wilāyat (a province) and an iqṭā‘ (an administrative unit in a province). Titles of some offices cited by him include dāroghah (gate keeper), Shaykh al-Islam (a religious scholar, who has awarded honorary title by the government), kotwāl (the chief officer of the police for a city or a town), mīr-i shikār (in-charge of the hunting department) qāḍī

(head of the judiciary), mīrdād (in-charge of judicial department), ‘āmil/mutaṣarf

(revenue collector), muqtā-dar, Mīr-i Iqtā’3and Ṣadr-i Jahān (in-charge of religious and judicial affairs in the Sultanate).4 Amir Khurd also informs that Amir Khusrau served as the musḥafdār (keeper of the copy of the Quran) when he was in Multan under Prince

Muḥammad. Amir Khurd is silent on the question of the appointment of non-Muslims or

2 For the polity in early-medieval period in India before Delhi Sultanate see B. D. Chattopadhyaya, “Political Processes and Structure of Polity in Early Medieval India: Problems of Perspective” Social Scientist, vol. 13, on. 6 (Jun 1985), 3-34 for a short history of the political administration and transition from the pre-medieval to medieval India see Salma Ahmed Farooqui, A Comprehensive History of Medieval India: Twelfth to the Mid-Eighteenth Century (Chandigarh, Delhi, Longman, 2011). 3 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 311. For details on the administrative structure of India see I. H. Qureshi, The Administration of the Sultanate of Delhi (Lahore: Ashraf Publishers, 1942). 4 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 250-51, 273-4 and passim. Kamāl al-Dīn was appointed as ṣadr-i jahān under Sultan Ghiyath al-Dīn Tughluq at Delhi and ṣadr-i jahān of Deogīr under Sultan Muḥammad ibn Tughluq. Tarīkh-i Firūzshāhī, 649.

205 Hindus on high state positions, but another tadhkirah-writer, Jamālī informs about the non-Muslims being appointed at high ranked administrative positions, i.e. for Multan and

Uch regions, Firūz Shah Tughluq (r. 1351 to 1388) appointed Nawāhūn, a Hindū as dāroghah.5 Amir Khurd further informs about officer of mint (taxāl),6 ṭashatdār named

Ibrahim,7 sharābdār or the officer who provided water or drinks (not necessarily

8 alcoholic) to the Sultan.

Before going into the details of the sultans and sufis as sources of authority, it is important to see their ways of asserting authority. Simon Digby explains their authorities as competing and conflictual.9 Taking insights from the work of O’Dea and O’Dea regarding the perception on institutionalization of religion, and Theodore Long’s analysis of the power of religious leaders, 10 the Chishtī sufis’ authority was more cultural than structural in medieval India. They were more culturally conscious and aware than the state and its functionaries. So, both the state and sufis in medieval India were far different in assertion of their authority. The power of the sufi was exercised in moral training of the people and society rather than merely in conflicts with the state.

The sufis always sought to provide solace to other people as a prime duty of a human being. Shaykh Ḥamīd al-Dīn Nagaurī used to quote that “to bring solace to the human heart was a greater act of devotion than offering countless genuflexions of

5 Jamālī, Siyar al-‘ārifīn, 231. 6 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 307, 350 7 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 439. 8 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 109. Qureshi, The Administration of the Sultanate of Delhi, 65, 69. 9 Simon Digby, “The Sufi Shaykh and the Sultan: A Conflict of Claims to Authority in Medieval India” Iran, vol. 28 (1990), 71-81 10 Thomas F, O’Dea and Janet K. O’Dea, Readings on the Sociology of Religion (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1982).

206 prayers”.11 Whereas the energies of the court writers were directed to prove that the sultans or rulers were created out of this world, and they could hardly be wrong.12 That is why it is common in the medieval period that one sees people coming to the sufi shaykhs to solve their mundane and other issues including the grievances against the state, which has been almost ignored or silenced in the court chronicles by Minhāj, Baranī or ‘Isāmī.13

These court historians only highlighted military campaigns of the Sultans.14 Studying the tadhkirah literature sheds more light on the state policies and the coercive ways of their implementation. Amir Khurd cites few incidents in this regard which are enough to make one imagine the conditions of the state institutions, such as prisons of the time. He records that one of his uncles named Saiyyid Kamāl al-Dīn was employed in the army of

Sultan Muḥammad ibn Tughluq. Once, the Sultan sent him to a prison of Bhāksī near

Deogīr, (due to some unknown reason), where he was treated harshly. Amir Khurd continues that whosoever was sent to that prison, never came back alive, due to a huge number of dangerous and deadly snakes, scorpions, rats and others hazardous creatures and insects.15 At another point in the tadhkirah he asserts that during the reign of Sultan

‘Alā al-Dīn Khaljī it was normal to capture anyone without any proof of the accused being guilty. Qāḍī Muhai’yy al-Dīn Kashānī also got imprisoned in jail during that time despite his innocence.16 Interestingly, Amir Khurd recalls Muḥammad ibn Tughluq as a

11 Nagaurī, Sarūr al-ṣudūr, 17, as cited in Nizami, On Sources and Source Material, 65. 12 Syed Hasan Askari, “Amir Khusrau as Historian” in Historians of Medieval India, ed., Mohibbul Hassan (Meerut: Meenakshi Parakshan, 1968), 27. 13 There are numerous incidents cited in sufi literature and not in state chronicles that poverty - ridden man or others, depressed by the state officials used to visit the Chishtī sufis. Fawā’id al- fu’ād, 147. 14 ‘Isāmi, Fatūh al-Salatīn, 315-16. However, at some points he has mentioned about the miserable impact of those campaigns on the masses, and not at a large. 15 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 214-15. 16 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 143, 425, See also Jandār, Durr-i Nizāmī, 30. 207 tyrannical and a despotic ruler,17 who forcibly implemented his policies. For instance, while recording Sultan Muḥammad ibn Tughluq’s policy of spreading Islam by sending preachers in remote regions of the Sultanate, Amir Khurd observes that Maulana Shams al-Dīn Yahyā (d. 1346) got severely afflicted by an abscess after he received the Sultan’s orders to move to Kashmir, however, the Sultan did not pay attention to his ailment and

18 ordered for his presence in his court as he doubted about the disease.

On the contrary, the sufi khānqāhs served as a place of comfort for those who were tired of cruelties of the rulers.19 Amir Khurd also observes the highhandedness of some of the state officials who mostly served against the interests of the common people.

It is also important to note that whenever any poor man come in the jamā‘t-khanah of

Bābā Farīd to take refuge from the atrocities of the state officials, nobody could ever dare to take him.20 Ḍiya’ al-Dīn Baranī notices only few incidents of the ill behaviour of those in power but not in detail. Baranī records the murder of one of Malik Baqbaq’s servants by his master, when the former was drunk.21 Siyar al-awliyā cites many of such instances of those who were notorious for their atrocities such as Niẓam al-Dīn Naderbārī, also known as Mukhliṣ al-Mulk,22 who served as ‘dādbakk/amīrdād’23 under Sultan

Muḥammad ibn Tughluq.

17 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 228. 18 Amir Khurd informs it was such a severe ailment that after few days the Shaykh died. Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 228. Khazīnat al-‘aṣfiyā, vol 1, 349. 19 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 334. 20 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 196. 21 Malik Baqbaq was among the dear confidants of the Sultan Ghiyāth al-Dīn Balban, leader of four thousand horsemen and landholder of Badā’ūṇ. Z̤ iyā’ al-Dīn Baranī, Tārīkh-i Firūzshāhī. (Calcutta: Asiatic Society, 1862), 40 and H. M. Elliot and John Dowson, The History of India as Told by its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period. (London: Trübner and Co, 1867–1877), 101. 22 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 252.

208 More importantly, the Sultanate officials harshly treated the peasants without whose efforts the agricultural land could not produce much. The ‘kharāj’ or land revenue they paid to these officials was a major source of revenue of the Sultanate of Delhi. If the crops produced well so was the kharāj. W. H. Moreland argues that peasants fed the state by paying revenue. The Sultans often remained busy in punitive expeditions against the rebellious ṣubedārs and nobility. In this way the peasants’ duty only was the payment of revenue to the state. They were not told what the demand was, how was it assessed or in what form it was collected?24 High political appointments of the state officials were derived as a favour of their master (sultan), and not as a credit of the merit.25 It was the sufis like Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā at that time who could criticize the Sultans’ measures when they were against the interests of the people.26 The nobility was tenderly cared and nursed by granting of financial favours. Sultan Jalāl al-Dīn Khaljī (the founder of dynasty) was against the ill-treatment of nobles.27 Thus, the Ilberī Turks who gained dominance under preceding kings, were considerably patronized by Jalāl al-Dīn.28

However, this attitude could not best serve in the interests of the common people. Jamālī

23 Dādbakk/ amīrdād was a post under Delhi Sultans. Administratively it was a very important position. He was responsible to execute all the decisions made by the courts. All the building responsible for Public welfare were also under his command. 24 W. H. Moreland, The Agrarian System of Moslem India (Allahabad: Vanguard Press, 1963), 41. 25 Sunil Kumar, “Iqta‘ and the Effort to Balance Autonomy with Service: Military Commanders and their Relations with 13th and 14th Century Delhi Sultans”, Presidential Address: Medieval History Section, Punjab History Congress, Patiala 2007, 2. https://www.academia.edu/1266253/_Balancing_Autonomy_with_Service_Frontier_Military_Co mmanders_and_their_Relations_with_the_Delhi_Sultans_in_the_13th_and_14th_centuries_ (accessed on January, 2018). 26 Muzaffar Alam, Françoise Delvoye Nalini, Marc Gaborieau, eds., The Making of Indo-Persian Culture: Indian and French Studies (Manohar Publishers, 2000), 51. 27 Firūz, Futūḥāt-i Firūzshāhī, 11. 20 28 ‘Afīf, Tarīkh-I Firūzshāhī, 382-83.

209 in Siyar al-‘‘ārifīn observes that there were troubled relations among the nobility; Afghan

29 and their non-Afghan counterparts.

The sufis, particularly the Chishtīs, who lived among the common masses, were well aware of the institutional coercion that existed in the Sultanate. Therefore, at times the sufis had to intervene to save a junior from the wrath of his senior official. For instance, once Bābā Farīd saved a mīr-i shikār (in-charge of royal hunt) from the imminent cruelty of a governor of Ajodhan.30 Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā once discussed the oppression of the government officials for collecting revenues or taxes.

Amir Khurd records about a cruel and furious kotwāl of Lahore, who pressurized a poor

31 dervish to pay tax for his small piece of land, which he could not afford to pay.

The Chishtīs did not appreciate becoming part of the Sultanate machinery. They viewed the state institutions as a means of public exploitation and coercion. It was mandatory for the khalīfah (though not for disciples) not to join the government service.32

As pointed out earlier, that Qāḍī Muhai’yy al-Dīn Kashānī had to face cancellation of his khilafatnamah for over a year due to this reason. Notably, Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā completed his formal education and requested Shaykh Najīb al-Dīn Mutawakkil to pray for him to become a qāḍī (a judicial officer) but the latter replied, “do not become a qāḍī but something else.”33 It reveals that the sufis particularly viewed the profession of judiciary as a source of trouble for the people, instead of solving their problems. Though, the historiographical literature based on court histories argue for a well-maintained

29 Jamālī, Siyar al-‘ārifīn, 195. 30 Jamālī, Siyar al-‘ārifīn, 57-59. 31 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 578. 32 Even Bābā Farīd’s son Khwaja Niẓam al-Dīn, who was a worldly man, was a government servant under Balban, but since he did not pursue the path of Sufism, he was never asked to resign. Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 135, 189. 33 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 128.

210 judicial administrative set up in the Sultanate of Delhi,34 the sufi literature reveals that the system at times failed to deliver justice.

It is important to note that not only in prose, the sufis also pointed out the coercive behaviour of state officials in their poetry. Shaykh Badr al-Dīn, in his Taṣrīf-i badrī portrayed miserable conditions of masses due to the highhandedness and arrogance of the rulers, jurists and state officials.35 Furthermore, Amir Khurd relates the death of

Maulana Fakhr al-Dīn Zarrādī to the drowning of ship. It was over-burdened with the royal stuff, though it was not meant for such a heavy load.36 This shows that the cargo and merchant ships were not taken care of.

Another point worthy to mention is that the sufi khānqāhs provided space to people to avoid state coercion. One of Bābā Farīd’s disciple Muḥammad Shah Ghaurī, who served in the army of the Sultanate, fled from the battle-field while on the military expedition and came to Ajodhan.37 He probably felt disgusted slaying people and thus quit his job. The only place he felt secure was Bābā Farīd’s khānqāh, where he sought shelter as he feared coercion from his employers. As pointed out above, when people took refuge from the atrocities of the state officials in the sufi khānqāhs, nobody could

38 ever dare to take them back.

34 U. N. Day, The Government of the Sultanate (New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, 1972), 112. 35 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 173-74. 36 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 275. 37 Sizjī, Fawā’id al-fu’ād, 108-9. Islam, Sufism in South Asia, 174. Story explicit a problem of interests in state job and call of the spirit. 38 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 196.

211 5.2 Law and Order Situation

The sufi discourse throws some light not simply on the Indian social and political culture,39 but on the law and order situation of the respective times as well. In this regard,

Siyar al-awliyā observes that there existed political and social chaos due to the Mongol invasions.40 Furthermore, the situation at the local level was not very good at large.

Looting and plundering was common in neighbourhood of the capital in north Indian region. One can only infer that situation only got better after ‘Alā al-Dīn Khaljī’s policies, as Amir Khurd does not give any clear clue on this. It is Baranī in Tārīkh-i

Firūzshāhī, who observes that ‘Alā al-Dīn Khaljī worked extensively on the prevention of these social evils in the society.41 One assumes that prior to it, looting or plundering were common but not reported. However, Amir Khurd narrates an incident from the life of mother of Bābā Farīd (Bībī Qursum), that she was praying in her home at night and a burglar broke into her house. It shows that in the early thirteenth century, writ of the state was also weak. Yet, the above-mentioned observation of Baranī regarding ‘Alā al-Dīn

Khaljī shows that law and order situation came under control, at least to some extent.

The historians of the Sultanate era like Baranī and Shams Sirāj ‘Afīf do mention a few instances of siyāsa (capital punishment) but Amir Khurd does not refer to anything about it.42 As pointed out above, the story of Saiyyid Kamāl al-Dīn Amir Aḥmad b.

39 Muzaffar Alam, “The Debate Within: a Sufi Critique of Religious Law, Tasawwuf and Politics in Mughal India” South Asian History and Culture vol. 2, no, 2. (2011), 152. 40 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 276. 41 Baranī, Tārīkh-i Fīrūz Shāhī, 283-87. 42 Shams Sirāj ‘Afīf, Tārīkh-i Fīrūz Shāhī. (Calcutta: Asiatic Society, 1888), 504-508 and see also Shams Sirāj ‘Afīf, Medieval India in Transition: Tarikh-i Firoz Shahi: A First-Hand Account. trans, R. C. Jauhri. (New Delhi: Sundeep Prakashan: 2001), 272-74. For a detailed study on the relationship between capital punishment siyāsa and shari‘ā see Blain Auer, “Dial M for Murder: A case of passion killing, criminal evidence and Sultanic power in Medieval India” ASIA; vol 68, no. 3 (2014): 667-82. For details on the military power of the sultan see in this regard, Simon

212 Saiyyid Muḥammad Kirmanī (the paternal uncle of the tadhkirah-writer) shows that in order to control law and order the Delhi sultans had maintained many prisons in several cities. During Muḥammad ibn Tughluq’s reign, as Amir Khurd maintains that the condition of the prisons was dangerously cruel. Nevertheless, the tadhkirah does not provide much details about it.

5.3 Mosque Construction by the Sultans and Nobility

The Delhi Sultans paid much attention to construction of the physical infrastructure, particularly the mosques. Mosques in any area symbolized the extension of political authority of the sultans as well as indicated the growing number of Muslim population.

Mulla Da’ūd Bidarī (d. 1414), in Deccan argued that the Sultans always desired and tried to disseminate Islam through constructing mosques on the Indian soil.43 They named these mosques after their own so that their name could be commemorated and celebrated.

It was possibly a public display of piety. According to the available historical evidence, around three thousand mosques were built during the Sultanate era.44 Not only sultans but nobles and rich Muslims who have had enough resources, took great interest in building huge mosques. Among many, there were Mosque of Malik ‘Izz al-Dīn,45 Mosque of

Digby, War-horse and elephant in the Delhi Sultanate: a Study of Military Supplies. (Oxford: Orient Monographs, 1971). 43 His work Tuḥfat al-salāṭīn is not available now. Yet it is cited by many like Ferishta, as cited in Navina Najat Haidar, Marika Sardar, eds., Sultans of the South: Arts of India's Deccan Courts, 1323-1687 (New York: Yale University Press, 2011), 217. See also Muḥammad ‘Abd al-Jabbār Mulkapūrī, Maḥbūb al-waṭan, Tazkirah-i Salāṭīn-i Dakan, vol. 1, Dar bayān-i salāṭin-i Bahmaniyyah, (Urdu Lithograph), (Hyderabad: Maṭbā‘-i Fakhr-i Nizāmī), 92, 70 as cited in Ernst, Eternal Garden, 191-201. See also Haroon Khan Sherwani, Dakan kī Bahmanī salāṭīn. (Naʼī Dihlī: Taraqqī’ Urdū Board, 1982), 55, 80. 44 For a detailed study regarding construction of mosques on the foundations of temples see, Cynthia Talbot, “Inscribing the Other, Inscribing the Self: Hindu-Muslim Identities in Pre- Colonial India,” Comparative Studies in Society and History, vol 34, no. 4 (1995), 692-722. 45 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 137.

213 Eītam,46 Mosque of Kīlokharī, Mosque of Najm al-Dīn, Mosque of Mirī and numerous others. It was believed that the numbers of mosques suggested the development and dynamics of the population, and the cities or towns. Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Shams al-

Dīn al-Maqdisī, (d. 991), an Arab geographer, asserts that the presence of a splendid mosque was considered prerequisite for a town.47 Sultan Firūz Shah Tughluq also bears this testimony in his work Futūḥat-i Fīrūzshahī,:

Among the gifts which God bestowed on me, His humble servant, was a desire to erect public buildings. So, I built many mosques and colleges and monasteries, that the learned and elders, the devout and the holy, might worship 48 God in these edifices, and aid the kind builder with their prayers.

However, the patronage of these mosques showed some undesirable results also. Once a

Qāḍī named, ‘Abd-Allah, also called Qāḍī Muḥammad Abū al-Faḍl of Ajodhan, appointed an imām (prayer leader) at jami‘ mosque. Once, the latter committed a mistake in recitation during a congregational prayer, so Bābā Farīd asked the people to pray again. However, the Qāḍī did not like this act and spoke ill about Bābā Farīd.49 Similarly, another incident related to Shaykh Najīb al-Dīn Mutawakkil’s life shows how he had to pay the price by leaving his job of imāmat (leading the prayer) at the mosque of Eītam, built by an influential Turkish noble. Eītam spent a huge amount of money on her

46 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 178. 47 al-Maqdisī, Aḥsan al-taqāsīm fī maʿrifat al-aqālīm (The Best Divisions in the Knowledge of the Regions) as cited in Muchammed Sajfiddinoviĉ Asimov, History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The Age of Achievement: A.D. 750 To the End of the Fifteenth Century vol.4, Part 2. (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 1992), 33. 48 Fīrūz Shah Tughluq, Futūḥāt-i Firūzshāhī. ed., Shaikh Abdur Rashid. (Aligarh: Department of History, Muslim University, 1954), 49 Amir Khurd goes on saying that the Qāḍī had a bad reputation of being stubborn and recalcitrant. The Qāḍī stated, “I do not know from where these people came and are assembled here (at Ajodhan)”. The Shaykh however ignored it. Immediately someone told that the Qāḍī got paralysis. Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 84-85.

214 daughter’s wedding, but when Shaykh Najīb al-Dīn came to know about it, he criticized

Eītam and suggested him to spend money in helping the needy and not the way he did.

However, it became a bone of contention between the two and Eītam expelled him from the job.50 One finds that the Chishtī concept of piety did not revolve around constructing mosques at every corner of the city streets, but they taught and practiced the way to serve the humanity. Famously quoted Khwaja Mu’īn al-Dīn Chishtī Ajmerī’s words are enough to define the Chishtī understanding and perception of religiosity, “to develop river like

51 generosity, sun like affection and earth like hospitality.”

5.4 Varied Aspects of State-Sufi Relationship

The coeval development of Sufism and the Sultanate of Delhi in the thirteenth- and fourteenth- century India is distinct to South Asia, as Delhi arose as a celebrated centre of

Indo-Muslim rule, along with a centre of Sufism. Thus, studying socio-political history cannot be understood without viewing the state-sufi relationship at that time. It is a complex phenomenon, understood and interpreted in various historiographical contexts and approaches. Most commonly known is conflictual approach between the two, popularized by Simon Digby.52 It is only in 1990s that scholars like Richard M. Eaton highlighted other factors in the debate. Eaton in his Sufis of Bijapur views strong social roles of the sufis and termed them as warriors, literari, landed elite, scholars and reformers. The sufis had diverse type of relationships with the state alongside, performing

50 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 78-79. 51 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 46, Nizami, “Impact of Sufi Saints on Indian Society and Culture.” 36. 52 See Digby, “The Sufi Shaykh and the Sultan” 71-81. For details on the historiographical contexts, see Sunil Kumar, “Transition in the Relationship between Political Elites and the Sufis: The Thirteenth-and Fourteenth-century Delhi Sultanate” in State Formation and Social Integration in Pre-Modern South and Southeast Asia eds., Karashima Noboru and Hirosue Masashi (Tokyo: The Tokyo Bunko, 2017), 204-6, 203-38.

215 multiple roles in the society.53 Thus, it is logical to assume that state-sufi relationship in medieval India had various aspects and levels, ranging from symbiotic and cordial to sometimes conflictual, depending upon the Silsilah, personalities and situations.54 Both were independent and at the same time both depended upon each other being part of the same society. Fatima Hussain opines the same in these words:

The survival, consolidation, and expansion of the Sultanate could not be the same without the existence and growth of Sufism, which continuously supported it through its tacit, implicit, ways and means. However, the contrary could be true. Without the existence and expansion of the Sultanate, Sufism could still have thrived in the Subcontinent as it imbibed in itself dynamics and flexible 55 characteristics.

The Chishtī Shaykhs in the early centuries of the Sultanate of Delhi managed to maintain their alienation from the state, by not accepting land grants, distributing futūḥ in cash or kind immediately, not enrolling themselves in any government service and by avoiding meeting the Sultans being independent in their lives from the government.56 Riazul Islam highlights that by end of the fourteenth century the Chishtīs still sought to avoid politics,

53 Eaton, Sufis of Bijapur, see also Kumar, “Transition in the Relationship between Political Elites and the Sufis,” 205. 54 As the Suhrawardīs always had cordial relationship with the Sultans of Delhi, However, the Chishtīs stayed away from the state. Even then, a change in the Chishtī policy was seen in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, especially in Deccan, Bengal and other regions. Md. Ghulam Rasool, Chishtī Nizami Sufi Order of Bengal till mid-15th Century: and its Socio- Religious Contributions (Delhi: Idarāh Adabiyāt-i Dillī, 1990), See chapter 3, 145. See also Tanvir Anjum, “Mediational Role of the Sufis in the Islamicate South Asia: A Conceptual and Empirical Study” Journal of the Research Society of Pakistan., vol. 51, no. 1, (2014): 157-177; Tanvir Anjum, “The Symbiotic Relationship of Sufism and Politics in the Islamicate South Asia” Journal of the Research Society of Pakistan, vol. 53, no. 1, (2016): 95-113; for more details see Anjum, Chishtī Sufis in the Sultanate of Delhi 1190-1400 and Aziz Aḥmad, “Sufi and Sultan in pre-Mughal India”. Der Islam, vol 38, (1962): 142-153. 55 Fatima Hussain, The War That Wasn’t: The Sufi and the Sultan (New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, 2009), 208. 56 See Anjum, Chishti Sufis in the Sultanate of Delhi, 1190-1400, 102-114, see also Currie, The Shrine and Cult of Mu‘īn al-Dīn Chishtī of Ajmer, 65, 89-94, Ishtiyaq Aḥmad Zilli, “Early Chishtis and the State” in Sufi Cults and the Evolution of Medieval Indian Culture, ed., A. Taneja (New Delhi: Northern Book Centre, 2003), 54.

216 but they could not avoid the grave political situations of the time.57 Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn

Awliyā was more steadfast in his active avoidance of political concerns and the state.58

Nevertheless, the Chishtīs also extended their tacit or unvoiced support to the state on various occasions, especially during warfare or any critical time. As pointed out above, the Sultan also sought the blessings or barākah of the sufi shaykhs, which Omid Safi refers to as “firāsat designating narratives.”59 For instance, the leader of an army campaign to conquer Chanderī requested Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn to propose a name from his disciples to accompany the army, so that the army could have his blessings and protection. He argued that under his shelter they would win for sure. In response to his request Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā nominated Maulana Yusuf to accompany them to

60 Chanderī and blessed him with wilāyat.

Moreover, one aspect of the state-sufi relationship has been seen through geostrategic lens, i.e. the site/place of the Chishtīs khānqāhs. Starting with the khānqāh of the Shaykh of the Silsilah Khwaja Mu’īn al-Dīn Ajmerī, who resided in Ajmer, the then capital of the Kingdom of Prithvirāj Chauhan. Later, the khalifāh (spiritual successor) of Khwaja Mu’īn al-Dīn, Khwaja Quṭb al-Dīn Bakhtiyār Kākī established his khānqāh at Delhi. It was the capital of Delhi Sultanate and a major center of political, cultural and economic activities of the time. Later, Bābā Farīd became the leader of the

57 Riazul Islam, “Sufism and Economy: A Study in Interrelationship A Study of the Futuh System in South Asia during the Fourteenth Century” The Indian Historical Review 18 (1992): 40. 58 Islam, Sufism in South Asia, 243. 59 Omid Safi, Politics of Knowledge in Premodern Islam: Negotiating ideology and Religious Inquiry (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006), 129. See also Auer, “Intersections between Sufism and power,” 25. 60 He was also given the wilāyat of Chenderī at that time by the Shaykh. Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 287.see also Simon Digby, “Before Taimur Came: Provincialization of the Delhi Sultanate through the Fourteenth Century” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, vol. 47, no. 3, (2004), 310.

217 Silsilah and he had his khānqāh at Ajodhan. Though it was not fully developed during that time. Amir Khurd highlights that his jamā‘t-khanah was located at the major route from and to the capital which appealed frequent visitors from all walks of life. From here,

Ajodhan turned into a major city-center. Its development has been discussed later in detail in this chapter. In the same manner, the jamā‘t-khanah of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn

Awliyā was situated in Ghiyathpur, in the suburbs of Delhi. During his lifetime, thirteen sultans ruled over Delhi. Most of them greatly revered him, though a few had hostility towards him. Later, his khalīfah Shaykh Naṣīr al-Dīn Maḥmūd Chirāgh-i Dillī got established at Delhi. Nevertheless, he had no good terms with Sultan Muḥammad ibn

Tughluq. While another spiritual successor of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā named

Burhān al-Dīn Gharīb was sent to Deccan, who established his jamā‘t-khanah in

61 Khuldabād, close to the capital of Bahmanī kingdom.

However, the location of the Chishtī khānqāhs did not allow the Chishtī Shaykhs to stay in complete aloofness from the state. The very initial occurrence in this regard comes with the Ghurī’s attack of India. Khwaja Mu’īn al-Dīn Ajmerī settled at Ajmer in

India before Muḥammad Ghurī’s conquest, he had a negative experience of word- exchange with Prithavī Rāj, the ruler of Ajmer. The Shaykh prophesized his downfall and the victory of Ghurī over him. Here, the Shaykh was openly taking sides with the Muslim ruler. It is commonly believed that Ghurī’s success materialized because of the Shaykh’s blessing.62 Another instance comes from the reign of Naṣīr al-Dīn Qabachā, the governor of Multan under Sultan Iletmish who declared independence from the centre. When Quṭb al-Dīn Bakhtiyār Kākī, Shaykh Bahā’ al-Dīn Zakariyya and Shaykh Jalāl al-Dīn Tabrizī

61 For details in this regard see Ernst, Eternal Gardens. 62 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 46-7.

218 were in Multan, Naṣir al-Dīn Qabacha came to seek their help against his enemy forces.

Shaykh Quṭb al-Dīn provided him with an arrow and ask to throw it while pointing at his enemies in the dark. He did the same and won the battle.63 With these kind of anecdotes

Amir Khurd infers that whenever the Sultans needed help against the rebels, the sufis did whatever they could. Raḥat al-Qulūb recounts an identical incident when Sultan Bahlul

Lodhī (r. 1451-1489) received a spiritually treated stick at the shrine of Shaykh Niẓam al-

64 Dīn Awliyā, which helped disperse the enemy.

5.4.1 Between the State and Society: Mediational Role of the Sufis

In addition to the geo-political compulsion, the strong social contacts of the Chishtīs with common people also became a reason for the sufis to get in touch with the rulers and the state officials. The Chishtīs approach can be termed as bottom to top. According to them, solving the difficulties of the populace would indirectly help save the state from inside. In this regard, Anjum argues that it was not just in South Asia, but Sufism played an important role of mediating between the kings and the people elsewhere in the Islamicate world as well.65 The sufis being mediators between the society and the state always tried to relieve the distress of the common people by helping them in multiple ways. As stated earlier that Khwaja Mu’īn al-Dīn Ajmerī always stressed about eliminating the misery and agony of those in pain while helping the helpless. He viewed it as the noblest act of compliance to Allah.66 Following this tradition, the sufis not only strengthened the assimilative nature of Indian culture but their mediational role between common people and the state was strong enough to create balance in the society.

63 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 50-51. 64 Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā, Raḥat al-Qulūb, 34. 65 Anjum, “Mediational Role of the Sufis in the Islamicate South Asia,” 163. 66 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 46.

219 At many times, the sufis had to approach to the government officials to redress the grievances of the masses. Generally, the common people were not able to access the mesmerizing royal buildings of the Sultans with torn or tattered clothes. They could only find solace in the thatched hut of a sufi. Not merely the Chishtīs but Suhrawardīs also played their part in this regard. Notably, whenever the Suhrawardī Shaykh Rukn al-Dīn visited Sultan Quṭb al-Dīn Mubārak Khaljī ibn. ‘Alā al-Dīn at Delhi, he used to come with the applications or appeals of the poor and needy to the Sultan so that he could issue orders to their problems. In this way the commoners could find an indirect but easy way to approach the Sultan.67 Though, there were many among the Chishtīs who did not like the company of the nobility or those in authority, they had a central part in mediating between the state and society. The Chishtīs’ proclivity to stay away from political authority in the early centuries is very clear from Siyar al-awliyā.68 Shaykh Niẓam al Din

Awliyā always advised his khalīfahs (though not ordinary disciples) not to accept land grants or any stipend from the state. So, it was usual for the Chishtīs to reject land grants when offered from the sultans of Delhi.

However, they never hesitated if there was any need to write to the Sultans in order to solve the problems of the needy ones.69 As stated previously that once a man requested Bābā Farīd to write a letter to Sultan Balban on his behalf. He wrote him, “I am presenting his case first before God and then to you and if you fulfil his need, you would

67 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 139. 68 The Shaykh’s advice to Khwaja Noah in this regard is worth mentioning. And there are numerous others as well. (discussed in the chapter below) Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 204 Persian. For an in-length interpretation see also Anjum, Chishti sufis in the Sultanate of Delhi 1190-1400, 102-114. 69 As it seems from the Sultanate’s political scenario that the government authorities and their appointees were not always able to solve the queries of the common people. Simon Digby, “The Sufi Shaykh as a source of Authority”, 62.

220 be paid with thanks, but the real Giver is Allah and If you fail to do so then the real

Forbidder is Allah and you would be punished.”70 Similarly, once Khwaja Quṭb al-Dīn

Bakhtiyār Kākī had to visit Sultan Iletmish to secure the ancestral land of the heirs of

Khwaja Mu’īn al-Dīn Chishtī Ajmerī, he asked him without any hesitation to give orders in their favour, as it was their right.71 Similarly, once a man visited Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn

Awliyā and complained that he was facing trouble in the cultivation of his land as the local ruler of Nagaur harassed him. So, the Shaykh wrote a letter to the local ruler in

72 order to resolve the issue.

Attempts to celebrate one city or another like Deogīr (Daulatabād) by Sultan

Muḥammad ibn Tughluq was only because the Sultans wanted to get their respective cities worldwide fame.73 They offered administrative positions to the sufis, as to utilize their public and social influence for political interests, since the Sultans knew that the latter did not rule the hearts of the people but only geographical territories. Abd al-Wahid in Saba‘ sanābil writes that Sultan Muḥammad ibn Tughluq had problematic and troubled relationship with the sufis. Siyar al awliyā serves as a corrective text towards the wrong impression accepted by the historians like Maulana Abd al-Wahid, Ferishta and Ibn-i

Baṭṭuṭa regarding Muḥammad ibn Tughluq that the king had developed an attitude of

74 aversion towards the sufis and ordered them to serve the king like his servants.

70 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 72- 73. 71 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 53-54. 72 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 148. 73 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 148. 74 Particularly, it has usually been considered by historians like Mir Abdul Wahid Bilgrami Saba sanābil (Kanpur: Nizami Press, 1873). 64. Ibn Batuta, and Agha Mahdī Ḥusain. The Reḥla of Ibn Bat̤ t̤ ūt̤ a (India, Maldive Islands and Ceylon). vol. II, (Baroda: Oriental Institute, 1976), 54. and Farishta, Tarīkh-i farishtah, vol 11, 399, argued that Sultan Muḥammad ibn Tughluq had developed an attitude of aversion towards the dervishes and ordered them to serve him like servants. But this seems problematic. Siyar al-awliyā gives another perspective regarding the

221 However, the tadhkirah under study provides an alternative perspective. The nature of their work was clearly indicated in some cases, the duties assigned to the sufis and dervishes were administrative and missionary in nature. In the words of Amir Khurd, the following were the Sultan’s religious and political sentiments and the reason for sending the sufis from Delhi to Deogīr:

In those days Sultan Muḥammad Tughluq sent the people to Deogīr and was anxious to conquer Khurasan and Turkistan and to overthrow the descendants of Chengiz Khan, he summoned all the elite and grandees of Delhi and its neighbourhood. A big tent was pitched, and pulpit was placed on which the sultan 75 sat in order to exhort people to carry jihad against the kuffār.

Amir Khurd informs that Muḥammad ibn Tughluq also requested Shaykh Mu’iz al-Dīn

(Shaykh ‘Alā al-Dīn’s son and grandson of Bābā Farīd) to settle in Gujrat. Knowing the popularity of Shaykh Mu’iz al-Dīn, he thought it would be beneficial for his political motives to be achieved. Muḥammad ibn Tughluq stated that ‘it would be great if the affairs of the government can be completed under your kind supervision, as the religion and state both are twins.’ Over this, Shaykh Mu‘iz al-Dīn departed to Gujrat, where he

76 died at the hands of the rebels.

5. 4.2 Symbiotic Relation of the Ruling Elite and the Sufis

In South Asian history, another pattern of the relationship between the two is collaborative. For Auer, even some of the court writings of the Sultanate period and the

issue about the aim of the Sultan in granting the services of the sufis. It was to preach Islam by them. 75 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 271. the point has also been taken up well by Siddiqui in 1977. see also Mahmud H. Siddiqui, “The Sufi’s Memoirs Written in India from the Beginning up to the16th Century A.D: With Special Reference to Kashaf-ul-Mahjūb, Siyar-ul-Auliyā and Siyar-ul- Arifīn” PhD diss. Department of Persian & Urdu, University of Baroda, 1977, 122-23. 76 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 196.

222 sufi tadhikrahs were interdepended. Both borrowed either images or ideas from each other, to some extent.77 It is also pointed out by Ernst:

The polarity between mystical and royal historiographies should not be taken as absolute and exclusive, but as a symbiotic relationship. In medieval Islamic society, Sufism and court were never totally separate from one another. For all that the early Chishtīs may have refused land endowments form Sultans, they nonetheless relied on gifts (futūḥ) from all classes of society, especially the wealthier classes. Many leading Chishtī disciples were members of the court of the administration. Far from being anarchists or even democrats, the Chishtī masters clearly regarded the royal institution, with appropriate Islamic orientation, 78 as the normal form of regulating society.

The state needed support from the sufis for various reasons; political and personal. As pointed out earlier, the sultans sought the support of the sufis, reason being the sufis had popular support, “the Chishtī saints identified themselves with the local conditions of life and won the affection and good will of the indigenous population.”79 Few of them honestly sought the sufis’ blessings in order to gain worldly success as well as spiritual elevation. For instance, Sultan Balban offered Maulana Kamāl al-Dīn Zahid (an eminent scholar of hadith and teacher of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā) to be the imām or prayer- leader, however, he refused to accept the offer, and replied, we are only left with our prayer and now you want to take it. For this, many of them visited the sufis’ khānqāhs as well as shrines, and others invited them to their courts and also offered them titles, donated land grants, money and fixed monthly or annual stipends. There was another category of the sultans who tried to win the support of the sufis, for their political motives like winning political legitimacy. Some of them tried to win the support of the populace

77 See, Blain H. Auer, “Intersection between Sufism and Power”, 17. 78 Carl W. Ernst, Eternal Garden, 88-89. 79 K. A. Nizami, “Historical Significance of Mulfūz Literature”, 184.

223 through constructing sufi shrines. For instance, Sultan Muḥammad ibn Tughluq

80 constructed the tomb of Shaykh ‘Alā al-Dīn at Ajodhan.

Moreover, there were many a times when sufis were successful in influencing the political authorities in their policies or actions for the people. As it has been discussed in length under ‘mediational role’ of the sufis that for this they had amicable or cordial relations with the sultans. Many among the followers of the Chishtī sufis were government employees. For instance, many disciples of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā were close to the Sultans of Delhi, such as Maulana ‘Alī Zanbīlī, Malik Nuṣrat, Amir

Khusrau and many others to Sultan ‘Alā al-Dīn.81 In this way the sufis could get the public grievances redressed directly from those in authority. On the one hand, the state also tried to maintain good connections with the sufis to ensure its internal sustainability.

Sultan Iletmish had political alliance with the Mongols outside India to maintain the territorial integrity of his Empire at the borders,82 while Sultans like Balban built such a persona of aloofness from the public which was meant to provide stability to its government. Despite such policies, all of the Sultans also needed to have good relations with a strong section from among the people, and the sufis in medieval India were a handful of people with strong social influence, that was why the Sultans could not stay away from them.

80 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 196. For the shrines in Deccan see Ernst, Eternal Garden, 201- 215. 81 They were amongst the close confidants of the Sultan. Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 279. 82 Roohi Abida Ahmed, “Foreign Relations of Delhi Sultanate” PhD diss. Aligarh: Department of History, Aligarh Muslim University, India, 1991, 18.

224 Similarly, the Suhrawardīs of Multan provided enough support to the Delhi

Sultans against the Mongols for internal stability and external security,83 as the

Suhrawardī sufis accepted royal patronage, not merely in ceremonial terms, but they also accepted futūḥ and any administrative posts under the Sultans of Delhi such as Bahā’ al-

Dīn Zakariyya of Multan and his successors, Shaykh Rukn al-Dīn Multanī and many others, as earlier mentioned in detail.84 Many among the Delhi Sultans also tried their best to develop cordial and smooth relationships with the Chishtīs, like they had with the

Suhrawardīs. The Sultans recurrently tried to offer land grants, money and other gifts to the Chishtīs as well in order to be in the “good books of the sufis” and to maintain a respectable public face.85 However, the Chishtī Shaykhs and their prominent khalīfahs did not accept land grants but only futūḥ, which they distributed at the earliest.

5.4.3 State-Sufi Conflict

The conflictual relationship between the two is based on their differences of ideals of conception of powers. The sufis viewed worldly power as a source of corruption for human soul. However, the political/temporal power was all that mattered for the sultans.

Most commonly the Chishtī ideology to stay away from the state turned problematic for

83 Sijzī, Fawā’id al-fu’ād, 206-207. K.A. Nizami, “The Suhrawardi Silsilah and Its Influence on Medieval Indian Politics” Medieval India Quarterly, III (1957), 109-49. Anjum, Chishti Sufis in the Sultanate of Delhi, 113-14. 84 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 158-64. Ibn Baṭṭūṭa Rehla, 70, Baranī, Tarīkh-i Firūzshāhī, 179. See also Nizami, “The Suhrawardi Silsilah and Its Influence on Medieval Indian Politics.” 85 Fouzia Farooq Ahmed, Muslim Rule in Medieval India: Power and Religion in the Delhi Sultanate. (London, New York: I.B. Tauris, 2016), 62. Historians like ‘Isāmī asserts that the state was saved internally and externally from Mongol invasions during sultan Muḥammad ibn Tughluq’s rule only due to the Sultan’s visit to Khwaja Mu’īn al-Dīn Ajmerī. ‘Isāmī, Futūḥ al- salāṭīn, ed., Usha (Madras: University of Madras, 1948), 455. See also, Richard. M. Eaton, “Temple Desecration and Indo-Muslim States” in Beyond Turks and Hindus, 251-52.

225 may sultans.86 Pomp and show associated with the sultans was never appreciated by the

Chishtī sufis. Amir Khurd counts that whenever Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā got to know about the royal grandeur, his face showed a sudden dismay and change in his disposition.87 That was why, when Sultan Jalāl al Din Khaljī desired to meet Shaykh

88 Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā, he altogether refused to see him.

These differences sometimes led both the sufis and the state to a point of confrontation. One of the factors that contributed in this regard was a latitudinarian attitude, religiously heterogeneous position and indigenous disposition of the Chishtī sufis. It was not easily acceptable for the ‘ulemā, particularly those allied to the state, as well as some nobles and sultans. The ecumenical boldness of Chishtī sufis endorsed their existence in harmony with the non-Muslim inhabitants of India. Their khānqāhs served as an asylum for many along with a resting place for the travellers.89 The Chishtīs believed that real power could only be achieved through the betterment of one’s soul. However, the temporal power had a different ideal in this regard which became problematic for

90 both of them, and sometime reached to the highest level of aggression.

Most of the time the conflict erupted because the Chishtī sufis did not allow state interference in their khānqāhs, while retaining their autonomy unlike the Suhrawardīs. As cited above that the Chishtī Shaykhs refused to accept land grants and stipends from the

86 For an overview of state-sufi conflict in medieval South Asia, see Tanvir Anjum, “State-Sufi confrontation in Islamicate South Asia: A Causal Typology” Journal of Asian Civilization. vol, 37, no. 1 (July 2014), 149-71. 87 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 131-132. 88 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā,135. 89 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 196. Maksud Ahmad Khan, “Khānqāhs: Centers of Learning” in Sufis Sultans and Feudal Orders (Professor Nurul Hassan Commemorative Volume), ed. Mansura Haidar (New Delhi: Manohar Publishers, 2004), 71. 90 Muzaffar Alam, The Language of Political Islam in India: 1200- 1800. (London: Hurst, 2004), 82.

226 state. There are numerous examples of it, for instance, once Malik Ikhtiyār al-Dīn (one of the Shamsī nobles) offered gifts and money to Shaykh Quṭb al-Dīn Bakhtiyār Kākī, the latter refused to accept.91 In the likely manner, Shaykh Ḥamīd al-Dīn Sivālī Nagaurī also refused to accept the land grant offered by a governor of district Nagaur. The Shaykh preferred living on his meagre livelihood.92 Bābā Farīd also refused to accept the land endowments offered by Sultan Balban.93 By the same token, either it was Sultan ‘Alā al-

Dīn Khaljī and Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā or Sultan Muḥammad ibn Tughluq and

Shaykh Quṭb al-Dīn Munawwar, the Chishtī sufis response to the Sultans was almost the same, which is exemplified by a statement by Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā :‘I am busy praying for the sultan and people, I have nothing to do with the state business.94 In addition to the Chishtīs, Suhrawardī sufis like Makhdūm-i Jahaniyan, despite having very good relations with Sultan Firūz Tughluq, was reluctant in accepting official responsibilities when offered by the Sultan.95 These are only a few examples which show

91 Ikhtiyār al-Dīn was a slave of Iltutmish, among the bandagān-i Shamsī. (Shamsī Nobles), who later married to one of his sisters. When he went to the Shaykh, the Shaykh showed him that under the sheet/sack (on which the latter was sitting) there was a channel of silver flowing constantly. Thus the Shaykh said that he does not need the money. For detailed note on the nobles of Shams al-Dīn Iltutmish see Sunil Kumar, “When Slaves were Nobles: The Shamsī Bandagān in the Early Delhi Sultanate” Studies in History vol. 10, no. 1, (1994): 23-52. See also Peter Jackson, The Delhi Sultanate: A Political and Military History, (Cambridge: University Press, 1999), 63 and Ahmad, Muslim Rule in Medieval India, 63-70. 92 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 156-58. Not only Shaykh Ḥamīd al-Dīn but other known sufis and khalīfahs of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā, like Wajīh al-Dīn Paelī earned money on his own and refused to accept a government scholarship fixed for the educationalists. 93 He came up with an offer of ownership of two villages from the Sultan Naṣīr al-Dīn Qabachā. While Balban himself was his minister at that time. Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 250 and elsewhere. 94 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 134. 95 Shams Sirāj ‘Afīf, Tarīkh-i Firūzshāhī (Manaqib-i Firūzshāhī), Urdu trans. Mawlawi Muhammad Fida ‘Ali Talib (Hayderabad: Dar al-Tab‘ Jami’ah ‘Uthmaniyyah, 1938), 256-57 also in Firūz Shah Tughluq, Futūḥat-i Firūzshāhī, ed., Shaikh Abdur Rashid (Aligarh: Department of History, Muslim University, 1954), 5 For specifically on Makhdoom Jahaniyan see Sakhawat Mirza Tazkirah-i Hazrat Makhdūm Jahaniyan Jahangasht (Hyderabad: Institute of Middle East Cultural Studies, 1962), 39.

227 that the Chishtīs’ way of maintaining a certain level of aloofness and independence from the state which became problematic for both of them.

Amir Khurd records about the fame of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā, and Sultan

‘Alā al-Dīn’s becoming concerned about it as he felt threatened. The Sultan was also told by his courtiers that nobody was left in the city who had not visited the Shaykh’s khānqāh. Even some nobles and royal princes became disciples of the sufis, i.e. Shadī

Khan and Khizar Khan (also a crown prince), the sons of Sultan ‘Alā al-Dīn Khaljī were disciples of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā. The things were reported to him in such a way that he took it as a threat to his rule. In addition to this, there were various government employees under the Sultan who left government jobs when they became disciples of the

Shaykh. It became another point of alarm for the Sultan. An example in this regard is

Qāḍī Muhai’yy al-Dīn Kashanī.96 Once, during the reign of Sultan ‘Alā al-Dīn, a mīr-i iqta‘ named Mu’id al-Dīn left his government service and became a disciple of Shaykh

Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā. The Sultan requested Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn to send him back, but the latter replied that Mu’id al-Dīn was busy in doing his job (remembering Allah in the disguise of a dervish). The Sultan got angry due to this reply and again sent his messenger with a message: “whether the Shaykh is transforming everyone like himself?”

96 Qāḍī Muhai’yy al-Dīn Kashanī’s case is worth mentioning here. He had a government job under ‘Alā al-Dīn and a prestigious life style. However, when he received Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn’s discipleship, he gave up his previous life-style. However, his family who was used to live with luxuries was up-set and somebody informed Sultan ‘Alā al Dīn Khaljī about the deplorable condition at his home. He ordered for re-assigning his post of Qāḍī of Oudh along with the ownership of various villages and gifts to him. The Qāḍī told his Shaykh that the Sultan has given such orders without any of his desire or consent. Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn became angry and said you must have thought something like this in your mind. According to Khurd, the Shaykh’s took his khilafatnamah back from the Qāḍī and put behind at a corner It is commonly believed that Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn was angry at him for nearly one year and when after a year his resentment ended, he gave the khilafatnamah back to him and reassigned him with his discipleship. Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 295-6.

228 to which the Shaykh replied “no, but better than myself.”97 Then the Sultan tried to approach the Shaykh through various means to know about the intensions of the latter, and also wrote a letter to the Shaykh and asked him for guidance in administrative matters.98 The Shaykh refused to do so out-rightly saying that he had no concern with the

Sultan and his administration, and that he was living in the city praying for the Sultan and

99 his people and if he persisted, the latter would move to another place.

Moreover, there were many among the sultans who had personal grudges against the sufis. Notably, Sultan Quṭb al-Dīn Mubārak Khaljī (r. 1316-1320) had a problematic relationship with Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā. Amir Khurd recounts an incident after which the Sultan developed personal grudge against the Shaykh. The story goes on like that once the Sultan constructed a mosque and named it, Masjid-i Mirī. On the first

Friday congregational prayer in the mosque, the Sultan ordered for all the ‘ulemā and sufis to come and pray there. However, Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā did not go there by saying that the mosque near to his residence deserved his presence more.100 The Sultan considered it as a personal insult. Yet another similar kind of incident contributed much in this regard. Sultan Quṭb al-Dīn set a tradition of meeting with all the ‘ulemā, nobles and sufis at the first day of every month at his court. However, Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn

Awliyā never visited his court for the purpose and sent his servant Iqbal, instead. The

Sultan was instigated by some nobles against the Shaykh. Resultantly, the Sultan placed strict orders for the presence of the Shaykh at his court at the first of the coming month.

97 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 311. 98 It can be inferred that he was not offering a direct job to the Shaykh but only wanted to know his intensions. Or even if he was offering a job in real sense, he wanted to bribe the Shaykh with a strong position so that he may leave his way and cannot over rule ‘Alā al-Dīn Khaljī. 99 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 132-35. 100 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 150.

229 The Shaykh got distressed over this as he never wanted to do so. Thus, the Shaykh visited his mother’s tomb in Delhi, and prayed to get rid of this tension. However, before the start of the new month, Sultan Quṭb al-Dīn died an accidental death, which Amir Khurd

101 credits as a miracle of the Shaykh through the blessing of his mother.

There were some among the Chishtīs who feared their death at the hands of the

Sultans as they did not fulfil the latter’s demands. For instance, Maulana Fakhr al-Dīn

Zarrādī used to predict that he saw his head hanging in the inn of Sultan Muḥammad ibn

Tughluq.102 Once Sultan Muḥammad ibn Tughluq invited the Maulana along with two other Shaykhs at his court and later regretted for not being able to kill Fakhr al-Dīn

Zarrādī.103 Siyar al-awliyā also records Sultan Muḥammad ibn Tughluq’s disrespectful words about Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā in one of his court gatherings.104 It is quite possible that he tried to tease the disciples of the Shaykh, Shaykh Naṣīr al-Dīn Chirāgh, present in that gathering, or he could be jealous of the Chishtī influence which they exerted over common public.

Nonetheless, Amir Khurd clearly asserts that the Chishtīs did not pursue the

Sultans’ political goals, while continuing their own practices whether liked by the latter or not. Its best example is Maulana Zarrādī’s performance and his arrangement of samā‘

101 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 151. 102 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 271. 103. Among the other two there were Shaykh Naṣīr al-Dīn Maḥmūd, Maulana Shams al-Dīn Yahyā and Maulana Fakhr al-Dīn Zarrādī. Before the arrival of earlier two, the king asked Maulana Zarrādī to help him in the campaign against the descendants of Changaiz Khan. Maulana replied “Inshā’ Allah” (as Allah wills). The king got irritated and said it is a doubtful sentence. Maulana replied, ‘it is the only phrase he used for the future’. The Sultan got angry but asked the Maulana to advise him, to which Maulana replied “leave the anger.” The Sultan asked about what kind of anger, the latter stated ‘anger like animals’. With this he showed more expressions of annoyance and anger but could not do anything as they were his guests. Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 271-73, Dehlavī, Akhbār al-akhyār, 91-92. 104 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 273.

230 assemblies in Daulatabād.105 On the one hand, the Sultan made strict polices for the establishment and success of his second capital city at Daulatabād while calling upon the sufis and ‘ulemā there. On the other hand, the Chishtīs were not interested in pursuing his ambitions, which became an obvious reason for the problematic relation between the two.

There was yet another point of confrontation between the sufis and sultans, however it

was a bone of contention between the sufis and the shari‘ā-minded ‘ulemā as well,

many of whom were associated with the state. As discussed in the previous chapter that

‘Isāmī cites about the two ‘ulemā, attached to the court, who objected to the Chishtī practice of samā‘. They instigated Sultan Iletmish against Qāḍī Ḥamīd al-Dīn Nagaurī who practiced samā‘ with a great fervour. The Sultan asked the Shaykh to prove the legality of the practice.106 However, later the Sultan found himself guilty for calling the

Shaykh in his court and apologized.107 Similarly, Sultan Ghiyath al-Dīn was told that

Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn listened to samā‘. Among others, Qāḍī Kamāl al-Dīn (Ṣadr-i

Jahān) persuaded the Sultan against the Shaykh. The Sultan angrily ordered for the

Shaykh’s presence in a public debate in his court.108 By the end the Sultan kept silent as

105 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 427. 106 ‘Isāmī, Futūḥ al-Salātīn, 112-13. 107 ‘Isāmī, Futūḥ al-Salātīn, 113-114. The author of Gulzar-i abrār informs that those two muftis once went to Shaykh Quṭb al-Dīn’s samā‘ with an intension to disrupt it, however, later, they themselves deeply went into ecstasy and became the disciples of the Shaykh. See Manḏavī, Gulzār-i abrār, 43. 108 Qāḍī Muhai’yy al-Dīn Kashānī and Maulana Fakhr al-Dīn Zarrādī accompanied the Shaykh. Qāḍī Jalāl al-Dīn, the Nai’b Hakim, started questioning the validity of samā‘, and the Shaykh responded to all the questions referring to ahadīth of Holy Prophet (PBUH). After a round of discussion, the Sultan asked the Suhrawardī sufi, ‘Ilm al-Dīn (the grandson of Bahā’ al-Dīn Zakariyya) for his views on it, who had travelled around the world. The Suhrawardī Shaykh replied that sufi music was commonly practiced since the times of Shaykh Junayd Baghdadī and Shiblī along with other sufis in Baghdad, Syria and Rome and other parts of the Muslim world. Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 529-30.

231 he was astonished to see how the Shaykh defended his argument.109 Its details can be seen in chapter four.

109 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 530. See also, The Life and Times of Shaykh Nizam u’d-din Auliya, 119. Aziz Ahamd, “The sufis and the Sultans in Pre-Mughal Muslim India”, 150.

232 Section II Socio-economic Life in Medieval India

The word socio-economic delineates the idea of inter-relationship between society and economy. It focuses on societal effects of all economic activities going on in a society.

Economic conditions shape many aspects of social life. In context of medieval Indian studies, the main objective of any socio-economic study is about seeking out economic activities and conditions which can be seen in terms of production, professions, wealth and prosperity, circulation of wealth, trade, trade goods, trade centres, revenue and taxation, revenue-collectors and their attitude, currency, pricing, employment, poverty, drought and famine, social mobility, and so on. The Marxist historians argue that examining forces for historical change would be easy, if one view it through socio- economic profile of any polity. As far as roots of the medieval India’s socio-economic history are concerned, those are as old as its political and military history. However, the study does not view history from any particular perspective, and the present section provides details about the economic life and activities during the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century north India. It addresses the questions such as how sufi khānqāhs became central place of economic activities and social mobility, and in return how it helped in urbanization. How wealth was in circulation, what socio-economic evils such as hoarding and black marketing existed there, what was the currency of the time, what were the major trade goods and routes along with important trading cities or centres in medieval India. It also sheds some light on the most common occupations of the people as well.

233 5.5 Historiographical Genesis of Medieval India’s Economic History

Presenting a comprehensive picture of socio-economic life during the thirteenth- and fourteenth- century India is a difficult task. Narration of political activities caused callous negligence towards the economic life of the masses. Though a plethora of literature has been produced in and about India, the travelogues produced provide some information regarding Indian socio-economic conditions. The works of Ibn-i Baṭṭūṭa (d. 1369) provide a good backdrop to the works in the succeeding centuries, such as by Niccolo de’

Conti (d. 1469) Athnasius Nikitin (d. 1475)110, Abdur Razzaq Samarqandī (d. 1482),111 and many others in later centuries.

In secondary works, Irfan Habib’s Economic History of Medieval India, 1200-

1500 can be regarded as a pioneering work written on economic activities and conditions of the period under study. Irfan Habib, a Marxist historian, viewed historical changes through the lens of economic conditions. An edited work by Irfan Habib and Tapan

Raychaudhuri (1982) also provides a full backdrop to the economic history of medieval

India. It is a collection of essays contributed by many renowned scholars like Simon

Digby and Burton Stein along with the editors.112 However, one should keep in mind that it has also focused on south India and multiple essays written in this work, try to investigate the economic and agricultural reforms in southern parts of India. Another

110 There is a great extent of literature produced in twentieth century which focused on the travel writings of Nikitin. For instance, Walther Kirchner, “The Voyage of Athanasius Nikitin to India, 1466-1472” American Slavic and East European Review, 5, (1946), 46- 54; A. S Morris, “The Journey Beyond three seas”, Geographical Journal, vol. 133, no. 4. (1967), 502-8, see also Muzaffar Alam and Sanjay Subrahmanyam eds., Indo-Persian Travels in the Age of Discoveries, 1400-1800. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007). 111 Alam & Subrahmanyam, Indo-Persian Travels in the Age of Discoveries, 92, 94, 159, 112 Tapan Raychaudhuri and Irfan Habib, eds., Cambridge Economic History of India vol: 1 ca 1200- ca 1750 (New York & London: Cambridge University Press, 1982). It is an extension of Cambridge Economic History of India published in 1922.

234 remarkable effort done in this regard is by K. N. Chitnis’s Socio-economic History of

Medieval India (1990).113 The book informs about the life of common people in medieval

India. It gives equal importance to north and south Indian history, in this regard. Topics include commerce and trade, agrarian system, currency, in addition to others. This can also be regarded among the pioneering works which has not been much appreciated.

There are some other works which partly deals with economic history.

What is lacking in all these works is the use of sufi literature, which can partly help paint the blank pages for thirteenth- and fourteenth- century India’s socio-economic portrait. It shows that the socio-economic life was not static in these centuries but kept on changing, though these changes were neither glaringly perceptible, nor abrupt, as Iqtidar

Hussain Siddiqui rightly observes:

Recently, attention has been drawn to the hagiographical literature, epigraphic material, and literary works that supplement the meagre information available in the historical works about socio-economic conditions in India during pre-Mughal times. The odds bits pieced together from the chronicles, supplemented by explorations of other source material, may hopefully enable us to reconstruct a 114 fuller portrait of the society of the Delhi Sultanate then hitherto.

5.6 Socio-economic Profile of Medieval India

Siyar al-awliyā informs its reader about numerous facets of socio-economic profile of the time. One sees medieval women extracting oils at home (home industries) besides farming vegetables for personal use. Merchants trading between the major cities to the far

113 K. N. Chitnis, Socio-Economic History of Medieval India. (New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers, 1990). 114 Iqtidar Hussain Siddiqui, “Social Mobility in the Delhi Sultanate”, in Medieval India: Researches in the History of India, 1200-1750 ed., Irfan Habib. (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1998), 22.

235 of places.115 It observes the differences in high and lower classes of people. Professional men, skilled craftsmen, government officials, jurists and important clerks were well to do.

By and large the upper position in state administration were assigned to those belonged to

116 high stature.

The masses were poor and had no access to the basic necessities of life. The study of Siyar al-awliyā informs that it was very cheap under Sultan Balban that one could get forty kilograms of melon for just two jītal. One jītal was enough to buy two kilograms of bread or rotī, however most of the people even could not afford spending this much for the basic necessity.117 They did not possess adequate clothes to put on and went almost barefoot. Most of the peasants and labourers lived in thatched huts. Their houses were shabby with poor living conditions, while suffering desolation and pain during winter.

Most of them could not afford buying clothes and only wore raw animal skins. They slept

118 by pressing their bodies against their knees.

Amir Khurd informs that once a poor man visited Shaykh Quṭb al-Dīn Bakhtiyār

Kākī and plead against his misery, “I have several daughters, (waiting to get married) but no means of livelihood.”119 Jawāmi‘ al-kalim recounts that once Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn met an old woman, who fetched water from a far-off well, instead of River Jumnā flowing nearby. The Shaykh asked her about the reason, she told in response, that they her family could not afford eating on regular basis, while the water of River Jumnā serves as an appetizer. To avoid hunger they used to drink water from a well. Her reply brought

115 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 158-59. Surūr al-ṣadūr, MS (Maulana Azad Library, Aligarh Muslim University), 91 as cited in Aslam, Malfūẓātī adab kī tarīkhī ahammiyat, 83, and Raychoudhary, Social Cultural and Economic History of India, 76-77. 116 A Rashid, Society and Culture in Medieval India (Calcutta: Firma Publishers, 1969), 5. 117 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 113. 118 Amir Khusrau, Qirān al-sa’dain, (Lucknow, n.p. 1945), 38-42. 119 Qalandar, Khaiyr al Majālis, 37.

236 tears in his eyes, and he managed food supply for this poor family on a regular basis.120

These cases show that there existed poverty in the neighbouring regions of the capital, not much counted by the court historians, as well as how the sufi shaykhs were helping in lessening the economic miseries of the people. The Chishtī jamā‘atkhānah served as a

121 secure place of comfort and ease for those who were tired of economic hardships.

Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā used to eat very little, when he was forced to eat more he could not devour a bite, as he knew about the hunger of a lot of people starving in the city. Unlike the sufis, most of the Delhi sultans did not show interest for those in misery.122 There was a huge difference between the opulence, pomp and luxury of the sultans, nobles and wealthy merchants, and desolation and poverty of the common people. As discussed above, the nobility was less bothered about the mundane social problems of the people, rather invested its energies in the court. For instance, the nobles helped Sultan Mu’iz al-Dīn Kayqabād (r. 1286-90) not only in enthroning him but also in giving himself to a life of luxury and indulgence.123 Kayqabād had no interest in administration, nor was he doing anything for the welfare of the people, it seemed as if he ascended to the throne exclusively for ‘dine and wine’. Careless towards the welfare of the people, Baranī recounts:

It was common to observe obscenity and erotic activities…. The price of wine increased tenfold and the people were submerged in gaiety. Everybody seemed immune to sorrow, anguished anxiety, dread and fear…. The purses of the wine

120 Husaynī, Jawāmi‘ al-kalim, 90-91. 121 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 196. 122 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 138. H. Nelson Wright, Catalogue of the Coins in Indian Museum Calcutta: Including the Cabinet of Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. 2 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907), 4. See also Henry Nelson Wright, Coinage and Metrology of the Sultans of Delhi (New Delhi: Oriental Books Reprint Corporation, 1974 rpt.; first published 1936). 123 Isāmī quotes that Kayqubād abandoned himself to pleasure without attending to the business of the state, for details, Isāmī, Futūḥ al Salāṭīin ed., A.S Usha (Madras: University of Madras, 1948), 186.

237 sellers were loaded with gold and silver tankās. Irreparable, charming and immoral dancing women were immersed in gold jewellery. Nobles and notables 124 preferred gambling, drinking and arrangement of luxurious parties. The Delhi Sultans generally used to spend much of their time with courtiers and confidants.125 The saddles of their horses were made of gold, and they used to take shower in gold bath tubs.126 While commenting on the possession of wealth by the rich people and their urge for accumulating more wealth, Shaykh Ḥamīd al-Dīn sufi, (who himself lived in a village) opined that wealth possesses the characteristic of a serpent and

127 the person who cares for wealth, in reality, cares for the serpent.

5.6.1 Socio-economic Evils

By and large, the Sultans generally did not spend their time, energies and resources for noticing the socio-economic state of the people.128 Contrarily, the sufi khānqāhs were an easily accessible place where the common people could get access and resolve their mundane issues. The Chishtīs always saw socio-economic evils such as hoarding and black marketing as curse to the society and prohibit people to commit them. Shaykh

Niẓam al-Dīn directed his disciples not to store or stock anything additional to one’s needs. He stated, “whatever you get, do not hold it in your possession and spend it on immediately.”129 It indicates that hoarding was common during the period. However,

124 Baranī, Tarīkh-i Firūzshāhī, 122, 130-1. Sultan Kayqabād is also known to spend all of revenue money after his return from Awadh. See Khusrau, Qirān al-sa’dain, 77. 125 ‘Afīf, Tarīkh-i Firūzshāhī, 145-46. 126 Rehla of Ibn-Battuta, Eng. tr. Mehdi Hussain, 69- 73. 127 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 158-64. 128 For example, Balban’s policies of pomp and show, ‘Ala al-Dīn’s interest towards military campaigns Kayqabād’s extreme indulgence in luxury Muhammad Tughluq’s policies of expansion etc. Moreover, Irfan Habib opines that Turkish slaves and Ghurid nobility always indulged in solving their conflicts over political ascendency. Irfan Habib, “Formation of the Sultanate Ruling Class of the Thirteenth Century” in Irfan Habib, Medieval India (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1992), 8. 129 He directed these words to one of his disciples Khawaja Taqī al-Dīn Noah. Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 204.

238 hoarding was not a rare phenomenon specific to Sultan Muḥammad ibn Tughluq’s reign, it existed before him. For example, Surūr al-ṣudūr records that Shaykh Ḥamīd al-Dīn uttered these words for the hoarders, “they feel delighted while causing misery to others.”

He often used to comment that rich people in his time believed in extravagance and storing more than they needed.130 Some sources suggest that due to Sultan ‘Alā-al-Dīn’s economic measures, hoarding and black marketing had almost disappeared. The prices of essential goods were managed by the state and were followed strictly with positive outcomes. Nonetheless, these economic or market reforms were implemented in the capital and its and surroundings, but the rest of the country could not get benefit from them. A large quantity of grain was stored in state granaries in Delhi, and when Ibn

131 Baṭṭūṭa visited India in 1334, he consumed the rice stored during ‘Alā al-Dīn’s time.

Sultan Muḥammad ibn Tughluq had introduced token currency in his reign. It was first experiment of this kind in India, but it miserably failed.132 Here it is important to highlight that Siyar al-awliyā recounts the reasons of hoarding during Sultan Muḥammad ibn Tughluq’s time, one among them was existence of fake coins in the market.133 It caused inflation in prices and problems for the common masses. Many a times there were fluctuations in the prices, i.e. one betel leaf was worth ten tankās which seems very expensive for the said period.134 ‘Afīf recounts that the prices of grocery items reached extremely high and in the last days of Sultan Muḥammad ibn Tughluq, many of his

130 Surūr al-ṣudūr, 22, 58. 131 As cited in, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan The History and Culture of the Indian People: The Delhi Sultanate (Bombay: Ramakrishnas, 1960), 29. 132 For details, see Husain, Rise and Fall of Muhammad bin Tughluq, 234-37. 133 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 353-354. 134 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 320.

239 governors revolted against him.135 Jawami‘ al-kalim adds that later, with the enthronement of Sultan Firūz Tughluq, grain prices again rose very high, as one kilogram

136 of grain was sold for six jītal.

There were always some black money holders in the market. For instance, gold, which was used as a medium for exchanging goods in ancient and medieval times, was also hoarded in the later period in India.137 In this regard, the case of Maulana Ḥusām

Dervish (the religious scholar and orator associated with the court of Sultan Balban) can be an example in point. Surūr al-ṣudūr records his greediness. When Sultan Jalāl al-Dīn ascended to the throne, people appealed against the Maulana, as he kept an immense amount of gold in his possession in the previous reign of Sultan Mui‘zz al-Dīn

Kaiqabād.138 An Arab geographer Shihāb al-Dīn al-‘Umarī (d. 1348) also informs that gold was a hoarded commodity in India at that time.139 On the other hand, Bābā Farīd and all the Chishtī shaykhs condemned these social evils such as black marketing and hoarding. Amir Khurd informs that the Chishtī Shaykhs like Bābā Farīd advised business ethics and rules to the people, as they instructed the traders not to sell anything which

140 people could not afford, or they did not want to buy.

135 Firūz Tughluq was enthroned and the Prime Minister of Sultan Muḥammad ibn Tughluq was not in his favour. This led to political disturbance in the country. For details see Shams Sirāj ‘Afīf, Tarīkh-i Firūzshāhī, (Hyderabad: Kutubk̲ h̲ ānah va Idārah-yi Taḥqīq-i Mak̲ h̲ t̤ūṭāt-i Mashriqī, 1988), 37. 136 Husaynī, Jawami‘ al-kalim, 103. 137 Dietmar Rothermund, An Economic History of India (London: Neeraj Publishing House, 1988), see chapter 1. 138 He is recalled by Baranī for the fluency and eloquence of speech. Baranī, Tarīkh-i Firūzshāhī, 131. 139 Shihāb al-Dīn Abu’l ‘Umarī, Masalik al Absar fi Mamalik al Ansar. Portion related to India, ed., with Urdu trans. By Khurshid Ahmad Tariq, Delhi, 1961. English trans. of the same portion: (1) Otto Spies, S. A Rashid and S.M.Haq, Masalik al-Absar, etc.,( Aligarh 1943); I.H. Siddiqi and Q.M. Ahmad, A Fourteenth Century Arab Account of India, etc., (Aligarh, 1971), 66-68. 140 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 76.

240

5.6.2 The Role of Sufi Khānqāhs in Economy, and Futūḥ as a Source of Circulation of

Wealth

The economic activities that took place at the sufi khānqāhs played significant role in the socio-economic life during the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century India. The in-house economy of a Chishtī jamā‘t-khanah or khānqāh was dependent on niyāz (offerings) or futūḥ (unasked charity) in cash and kind.141 The rich devotees, nobles, royal princes and other family members, merchants, military commanders, provincial governors and high state officials visited these khānqāhs and often present offerings, which helped in running the expenses of the khānqāh as well as alleviating the economic miseries of the poor masses.

Futūḥ was a staple source for the Chishtī khānqāhs. Its sources were diverse, and the amount varied from one khānqāh to another and from one Shaykh to the other. Bābā

Farīd had no source of livelihood other than futūḥ from the people. However, during his times, the flow of cash grants was very limited, as was during the early years of Shaykh

Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā.142 In Ajodhan, Bābā Farīd’s family and disciples used to rely mostly on the futūḥ, from which they also hosted the daily visitors. At times, some of the inmates of khānqāh were assigned the duty to circulate zanbīl (a begging bowl) for collecting charity including food stuff. At times, they either had to live on wild fruits

141 An unasked money or grant of charity. It has been termed as futūḥ, offered by rich disciples, devotees and sometimes by sultans. The real spirit if futūḥ is that it is not offered on regular basis but irregular. See Habib, Hazrat Nizam al-Dīn awliyā, 98. 142 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 76-77. ‘late lean of Bābā Farīd and early phase of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā is termed by Rizaul Islam in, Islam, Sufism in South Asia, 99-100.

241 (pīlū) or the collections through zanbīl.143 However, Bābā Farid lived an austere life, as he had a blanket which he used as a quilt. Its length was not enough to fulfil his need during winters. Even when the Shaykh died, his family could not afford buying a wrapping sheet for burial and bricks for the grave.144 This explain two things; at first the

Shaykh did not consume futūḥ money for his personal use, and secondly the futūḥ was distributed immediately and not stored for the next day. The brother of Bābā Farīd,

Shaykh Najīb al-Dīn Mutawwakil was also a prominent sufi who spent his whole life in poverty. Most of the time, he was unable to satisfy his basic needs and bear the

145 hospitality of his visitors.

The khānqāh of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā saw an extension of the futūḥ.

However, during the early stage of his life, Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā could not afford buying rotī, when it was worth one jītal for two kilogram.146 Later on, a huge amount of futūḥ started pouring in. Khayr al-majālis, the malfūẓ of Shaykh Naṣīr al-Dīn Chirāgh-i-

Dillī, informs that the major donations of grains came from Hindu nayaks, some of whom possessed ten thousand animals for transportation and others had around twenty thousand.147 The abundance of futūḥ, however, could not change the Shaykh’s life style and he did not look at it for personal usage. Major portion of the collected money at jamā’atkhānah of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn was dispensed publicly, while he used to spend

143 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 272-3, 82. For a detailed discussion on the issue see, Islam, Sufism in South Asia, 107-8. 144 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 99-100. 145 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 177. It is also worth noting that on Eid day he was used to dispense all whatever he had, before going for Eid prayer, However, sometimes he could not do so because he had nothing. 146 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 113. Jāndār, Durr-i Nizamī, 96. 147 Qakandar, Khair al-majalis, 240-41.

242 rest of the amount on the needy individuals.148 Amir Khurd informs that sometimes the rich disciples and devotees were advised by the Chishtī Shaykhs to provide monthly stipend to those not able to earn due to the old age. An example in point is that of Shaykh

Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā who asked a rich man to fix monthly stipend of a poor man unbale

149 to earn his livelihood.

Besides this, Siyar al-awliyā poignantly adds to our knowledge that there were many among the khalīfahs of the Shaykh who faced deplorable economic difficulties. For instance, it highlights Shaykh Quṭb al-Dīn Munawwar’s reliance on God while his family had nothing to eat.150 When Shaykh Quṭb al-Dīn was living in Hānsī, he was offered one lac of jītal but he did not spend a single penny on himself, and gave away to those who were in need of it.151 In the same manner, when Maulana Ḥusām al-Dīn Multanī, recounts

Amir Khurd, was appointed as khalīfah of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā, the former informed the latter about his economic difficulty: “I receive futūḥ very occasionally, one half of the portion I give to my kids, other half I keep for the visitors. However, most of the time I do not get futūḥ and my kids suffer ultimately, I have nothing to offer to my visitors also.” The Shaykh advised him not to expect offerings from visitors, and also

152 suggested him the ways such as borrowing money.

148 Sometimes this task was done by his attendants. Jawamī al-Kalim, 91. 149 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 261. 150 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 403. 151 Sijzī, Fawaid al Fuā‘d, 227-28. It is not the only incident but, on several occasions, especially when Sultan Muhammad b. Tughluq forced him to visit the Sultan at his court and after his departure, he sent One lac tankas to Shaykh Quṭb al-Dīn Munawwar, which he refused to accept and finally two thousand tankas were accepted by him. However, dispensed them at dargāh of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn, and Shaykh Quṭb al-Dīn Kākī. Some of them presented to Shaykh Naṣīr al-Dīn Mehmūd and the rest were given to different people around there. Amir Khurd, Siyar al- awliyā, 255-6. 152 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 260-61.

243 It is important to note that nearly all the khānqāhs bore free kitchen (langar) opened for all in need and visitors from far off places and the expenses of the langar were dependent on futūḥ resources.153 The concept of offerings at Chishtī khānqāhs proved as an alternative solution for black-marketing. At a time of economic upheaval and disturbances, there were many who could not purchase food items from the market, while the Chishtī khānqāhs provided eatables to fill out their stomachs.154 These khānqāhs became a place to get free food for those who could not afford it. The economy of khānqāh was also a source of conflict with the state, since Sultan Jalāl al-Dīn Khaljī,

‘Alā al-Dīn Khaljī, Quṭb al-Dīn Mubārak Khaljī and Muḥammad ibn Tughluq remained curious about the huge running expenses of the khānqāh of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn

Awliyā. Sultan ‘Alā al-Dīn Khaljī also banned his nobles and high state officials to visit his khānqāh and make offerings. However, to the surprize of the Sultan, the Shaykh

155 doubled the expenditures on langar or public kitchen after the prohibition.

Almost all the sources of the said period maintain that the Chishtī Shaykhs shunned the land grant offers from political authorities for personal use,156 but they accepted money and other gifts while distributing them at the earliest.157 Shaykh Niẓam

153 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 163, 195-96. Nafāi’s al-Anfās, malfūẓāt of Maulana Burhān al- Dīn Gharīb compiled by his disciple Imād Kashanī also refers Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn’s deep concern for the distribution of langar. Nizami and Anjum are of the view that this open kitchen (langar) did not start until the establishment of Bābā Farid’s khānqāh at Ajodhan. For details see Nizami Some Aspects of the Religion and Politics in India during Thirteenth Century and Anjum, Chishti Sufis in the Sultanate of Delhi 1190-1400. 154 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 261, 334. See also Surūr al-ṣudūr, 48. 155 Jamāl, Qiwām al-‘aqā’id, 91-92. It was a matter of curious concern for the Delhi Sultans. For details in this regard see Anjum, Chishti Sufis in the Sultanate of Delhi 1190-1400, 189-205. 156 It was especially associated with the khānqāh of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn when the futūḥ grants increased by the time at Delhi. Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 102, 295 and passim. Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā, Raḥat al-Qulūb, 39-40, Sijzī, Fawā’id fu’ād, 80-81, Ahmad Yadgār, and John Dowson, Tarkīkh-i Salaṭīn-i Afaghanā, of Ahmad Yadgār, Makhzan-i Afghanī and Tarīkh-i Khan-Jahān Lodī, of Ni’amatulla. (Calcutta: S. Gupta, 1955), 6. 157 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 157, 131, 246 and passim.

244 al-Dīn once told Burhān al-Dīn Gharīb to “take worthy people as disciples, and about donations, no rejecting, no asking, no saving (la radd wa la kadd wa la madd).”158 In

Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn’s khānqāh, it was customary to distribute everything among needy people, while the storehouse was cleaned on weekly basis, and the Shaykh personally ensured it before going to Friday prayers. Contrarily, as mentioned earlier, Bābā Farīd used to get the distributions done on daily basis. Nevertheless, food grains were stored for a short period of time in the khānqāh of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā, probably for a few days. Siyar al-awliyā records that anbār-khanahs or storage rooms existed at the jamā‘t- khanah of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā where grains were stored.159 In Jawāmi‘ al- kalim, Akbar Husayni refers to a hujra-i mēwah where fruits were stored for a few

160 days.

More importantly, the Chishtī khānqāhs had a significant part in distribution of wealth and circulation of money in the medieval Indian society. The Chishtīs strongly believed in the circulation of wealth and encouraged it. Eaton rightly opines that the

Chishtī khānqāhs worked like a nexus for redistribution of material wealth in India.161

Once, Bābā Farīd was told about a very rich man who never spent a single penny in the way of God while arguing that he was not authorized by God to spend his money. The

Shaykh condemned him that it was only his lame excuse, and if he (the Shaykh) were appointed as his finance manager, he would spend his entire wealth in just three days and

158 Kashānī, Aḥsan al-aqwāl, 82-83. 159 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 163. 160 Husaynī, Jawāmi‘ al-kalim, 91. 161 Richard M. Eaton, “Political and Religious authority of the Shrine of Baba Farid” in India’s Islamic Traditions (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 266 also in Richard M. Eaton, “Political and Religious authority of the Shrine of Bābā Farīd” in Moral Conduct and Authority: The Place of Adab in South Asian Islam Barbara Daly Metcalf ed., (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984), 337.

245 clear out his treasury while not even a single penny would be spent without God’s permission.162 This kind of ideal and practice of circulation of wealth contributed much in the economic uplift of the poor. These khānqāhs were also a socio-economic institution rather than just a religious institution as assumed by many. The life at khānqāh gave the disciples an opportunity of helping others at hour of need, when there was no other public recourse to help them at large. The Chishtī khānqāhs contributed much in the circulation of wealth not only in form of money but by facilitating the poor, needy and travellers with essential goods, such as food and household articles, etc.

Court histories praise Delhi Sultans and their military expeditions while they are silent about the people back home who were suffering in pain and hunger. If the Chishtī

Shaykhs were unable to solve the financial difficulties of all the people in need, they lived such a life that the inhabitants could relate themselves to them.163 A poor men could contemplate that he was not alone in his hunger, poverty and misery. On the contrary, the

Suhrawardīs, who received immense wealth, land grants and futūḥ intakfes had no huge distributions for the common good.164 Unlike the Chishtī tradition, they believed in the storage of wealth,165 or its utilization was only meant for the close disciples and relatives of the Suhrawardī shaykhs.166 The Chishtīs’ storage rooms were not as huge as the

162 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 404. 163 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 156-57. 164 Saiyyid ‘Alā al-Dīn ‘Ali. Jāmi‘ al-‘Ulūm,(malfūẓāt of Makhdūm-i Jahāniyān of Uch), ed., Qazi Hussain (New Delhi: n.p., 1987) also see Siyar al-‘ārifīn, 106, 129. For Suhrawardīs see, Haq, “The Suhrawardis”, 88-90. 165 Husaynī, Jwāmi‘ al-kalim, 213. 166 There is a famous quotation by Shaykh Bahā al-Dīn, ‘there are two kinds of people, general public and the select ones’ His Khānqāh was consisted on a large area, while providing separate independent accommodation to the inmates of the khānqāh. For details see Nizami, Some Aspects of the Muslim Religious and Social Life in the Thirteenth Century India., 220- 27.

246 Suhrawardīs in Multan and Uch.167 Under Shaykh Bahā al-Dīn Zakariyya, the

Suhrawardīs had a stored treasury room filled with gold tankās, as Nizami maintains that he was the wealthiest sufi of that times.168 Many a times the local officials sought financial help from him. On the other hand, the Chishtī concept regarding the futūḥ intake and its distribution is that “futūḥ māl (cash and kind) belonged to God, some of it could

169 be used by me, some by you, some by someone else and some by helpless person.”

5.6.3 Sufi Khānqāhs and Urbanization

Formation of Delhi Sultanate at the close of the twelfth century occupies an important position in Indian history which ushered an age of heightened urbanization. In a short span of time, clusters of small hamlets turned into major cities. Indeed, when historians differ about the extent of its urbanizing process prior to the thirteenth century, they are explicitly clear on point that after Muslim rule in India, old towns and rural areas grew into many new cities.170 The everyday needs of the financially stable people in these urban centres contributed to the formation of different forms of arts and crafts, as well as adoption and creation of new professions. City growth, arts and craft production, and commerce saw considerable development in medieval India. Besides, one cannot negate the importance of sufi khānqāhs which played a crucial part in the socio-cultural process.

167 Riazul Islam, Sufism in India, 106-7. 168 Nizami, Some Aspects of Religion and Politics in India during Thirteenth Century, 226. 169 For details see, Husaynī, Jawami‘ al-kalim, 39. 170 The debate over the extent of urbanization in early medieval India can be followed in the writings of R. S. Sharma and B. D. Chattopadhyaya. Sharma characterizes the early medieval period as a period of urban decay that witnessed the break-down of an earlier social, economic and political order. The establishment of the Delhi Sultanate in such a milieu represented a break, causing renewal of urban economies. Chattopadhyaya’s notion of change between the seventh and the thirteenth centuries, on the other hand, emphasizes progressive transformation of the socio-economic order, the formation of the Sultanate in this sense signified continuity and not a break. See R.S. Sharma, Indian Feudalism, c.300-1200, (Calcutta: University of Calcutta, 1965) and B.D. Chattopadhyaya, The Making of Early Medieval India, (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1994).

247 These khānqāhs helped transform towns into urban centres, as the sufi shaykhs attracted

171 visitors, who stated thronging these places.

There are innumerable examples to understand this change and the role of sufi khānqāhs in it. Not only residential places of the sufis but also the places where they ever stayed during their itinerary, attracted a mass of people all around India. For instance, during the early phase of Bābā Farīd’s life, he was ordered by his mentor Shaykh Quṭb al-Dīn Bakhtiyār Kākī for inverted chillah (chillah-i makūs). In search of a place of solitude, Bābā Farīd reached at Kothaywāl (written by Amir Khurd as Kathowālā) near

Multan. It was a remote and unknown village at that time. Later, people started visiting

Bābā Farīd and due to his persona, it attracted a rich clout from all around the neighbouring areas.172 Thus, the unknown and far-off town turned into a major town.

Bābā Farīd did not like huge gatherings around him, and thus left Hānsī after staying for nearly nineteen years there. The Shaykh now moved to Ajodhan (now Pakpattan in present day Punjab, Pakistan) where he spent the rest of his life. Ajodhan was also a place surrounded by the deserts and bushy forest, wild animals and snakes were found everywhere. Once Bābā Farīd was bitten or stung by a snake173 and it is also believed that the mother of Bābā Farīd was also devoured by a beast of the forest on her way to

171 I. H. Siddiqi, Delhi Sultanate: Urbanization and Social Change (New Delhi: Viva Books, 2009). The book breaks the traditional convictions that urbanization in medieval India was shaped exclusively by the economic factors and changes. It highlighted the importance of cultural and social processes which also played along the economic happenings. Siddiqi, Composite Culture Under the Sultans of Delhi, Chapter 1. 172 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 64-65. 173 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 80-81. Jamālī, Siyar al-‘ārifīn, 33-35. Khaliq Ahmad Nizami, The Life and Times of Shaikh Farid-u’d-Din Ganj-i-Shakar (Delhi: Idarāh Adabiyāt-i Dillī, 1998), 36. See also A.N Khan Islamic Architecture in South Asia: Pakistan, India, Bangladesh (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2003), 72.

248 Ajodhan.174 Nonetheless, after some time the Shaykh was not alone and people from all walks of life started visiting him at Ajodhan. Few even settled there which also contributed to the increased number of followers, adepts and disciples. An isolated place with wild animals turned into a major urban centre, whose geo-strategic importance cannot be overstated. It is a main ferry through Sutlej along with the adjoining points of the major western routes from Derā Ismail Khan and Dera Ghazī Khan in present-day

Pakistan.

Not only Bābā Farīd but his prime khalīfah Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā also avoided living in the main city, and choose to live at the outskirts of Delhi. Notably,

Ghiyāthpur was a small town at the suburbs of Delhi, before Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn

Awliyā settled there. However, later it became a very famous neighbourhood adjacent to

Delhi.175 The course of this development is vividly observed by Ḍiya’ al-Dīn Baranī in these words:

Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā opened his doors of discipleship …. (people from all walks of life), plebeian and nobles, poor and rich, urban citizens and villagers, learned and illiterate, free and slaves ... men and women, soldiers and warriors, young and old, shopkeepers and servants, all visited. A lot of platforms with thatched roofs were built on the way to Ghiyathpur from the city, water vessels were kept, wells were dug…many servants and hafiz were stationed at every point 176 to provide comfort for the people who were visiting the Shaykh at Ghiyathpur.

This process transformed Ghiyathpur into a major town, which is famously called New

Delhi (Hazrat Niẓam al-Dīn). The presence of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā and existence of his khānqāh led to a new habitation in the region. As a result of the provision

174 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliya, 88-89. 175 For details in this regard see Gordon Risley Hearn, The Seven Cities of Delhi (London: W. Thacker & co., 1906). 176 Ḍiya’ al-Dīn Baranī, Tarīkh-i Firūzshāhī, ed., Saiyyid Ahmad Khan. (Calcutta: Bibliotheca Indica, The Asiatic Society of Bengal 1862), 343-45.

249 and arrangements of living near the khānqāh, different kinds of businesses flourished in the area. It became a part of the urban centre of Delhi. Delhi of the time gradually consisted of many cities grouped together. Each of them had a special name. Besides

Delhi proper, the other chief townships were Sirī (founded by Sultan ‘Ala al-Dīn Khaljī),

Tughluqabād (founded by Sultan Ghazī Tughluq), Jahān Panah (residence of Sultan

Muḥammad ibn Tughluq), and Firūz Shah’s city and fort called Kotla. 177 Al-Qalqashandī cites Shaykh Abū Bakr that there are nearly twenty-one cities in number to which the name of Delhi was given.178 The architecture of Delhi gives an idea of the life of its residents during the said period as well as of provincial capitals, port towns and other important cities. Consequently, this helped in the evolution of city’s economy, it became one of the great centres of industry in Asia.

Noteworthy to mention is that Amir Khurd highlights the stay of Maulanā Fakhr al-Dīn Zarrādī at a place near River Jumnā which later developed into a city named

Firūzabād, established by Sultan Firūz Tughluq.179 Another small town named Kilokharī,

6.5 kilometres northwest of Delhi,180 became populous when Sultan Mui‘z al-Dīn

Kaiqabād decided to leave Lāl Maḥal and built a grand palace with a marvellous garden at the bank of River Jumnā. Rich people started building their own palaces at Kīlūkehrī

(ordered by Sultan Jalāl al-Dīn Khaljī) which turned into a major urban centre.181 Not

177 For details see. Hearn, The Seven Cities of Delhi. 178 Otto Spies, An Arabic Account of India in the 14th Century Being Translation of the Chapter on India from Shihāb al-Dīn Abu’l- ‘Abbas al Qālqashindī, Kitab Subḥ fi sinā‘ al-In’shā, (Stuttgart: Verlag, 1936), See First section. 179 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 265. 180 This township was established during Sultan Iltemish’s reign and soon after fourteenth century, the city could not maintain its glory. Iqtidar Alam Khan, Historical Dictionary of Medieval India (Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press, 2008), 91. 181 Aniruddha Ray, Towns and Cities of Medieval India: A Brief Survey, (London & New York: Routledge, 2017), 38.

250 only due to the royal palaces but many renowned sufis like Maulana Wajīh al-Dīn Yousaf

182 lived there, and the locality was also known for a large number of devotees.

Some places received celebrated fame due to the presence of famous sufis and eventually emerged as central townships. For instance, Shaykh Quṭb al-Dīn Munawwar was sent to Hānsī by Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā.183 Shaykh Wajīh al-Dīn Yousaf was deputed at Chanderī,184 Shaykh Akhī Sirāj to Bengal,185 Maulana Ḥamīd al-Dīn Multanī was sent to Gujrat,186 and last but not the least, the Chishtī Shaykhs sent their disciples to

Awadh and neighbouring regions as well.187 Amir Khurd records the names of some less known places. For instance, the town named Khar (in the present day Punjab, Pakistan),

188 Dharīwāl, Dīkrī, Kīchh, Ḥarababād, and many others.

Other sources like Masālikul Absār informs that in Delhi in addition to the palace of the Sultan, there was a cantonment area for the troops, quarters for the ministers, the secretaries, the Qāḍīs, Shaykhs, and faqīrs. In every quarter there were public baths, flour mills, ovens and workmen of all professions. Its author adds: “The houses of Delhi are built of stone and brick, the roofs are of wood and the floor is paved with white stones resembling marbles. The houses are not built more than two storeys high and often are made of only one.”189 There were huts like houses of the poor huddled together in the congested localities.

182 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 283, 116. 183 Dehlavī, Akhbār al-akhyār 87-89. 184 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 282-3, Dehlavī, Akhbār al-akhyār, 98-99. 185 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā 289-90, Dehlavī, Akhbār al-akhyār 86-7. 186 Dehlavī, Akhbār al-akhyār, 98-90. 187 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 317-18. 188 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 185, 199, passim. 189 Masalik al-Absār, 576.

251 5.6.4 Professions and Sources of Income mentioned in Siyar al-awliyā

Siyar al-awliyā records some popular professions, sources of earning daily income generally adopted by people, particularly the sufis. The Chishtī Shaykhs generally disliked earning livelihood for themselves. They consciously lived in voluntary poverty.

Most of the Chishtī Shaykhs did not opt for permanent or regular sources of income.

However, they did not forbid the mass of ordinary disciples from earning. Siyar al-awliyā recounts that Khwaja Mu‘īn al-Dīn Chishtī Ajmerī’s visit to Delhi for getting the aḥyā land (a dead piece of land brought to life through cultivation) papers was a desire of the

Shaykh’s sons and not his own.190 Not much is known about the sources of livelihood of

Shaykh Quṭb al-Dīn Bakhtiyār Kākī. However, Ḥamīd al Dīn Sivālī Nagaurī who is famously known as “Sultan al-Tarikīn”191 cultivated a small piece of land. He owned one bigha of land,192 half of which was sowed each season. He himself used to milk his

193 cow.

As discussed above that Bābā Farīd had no regular source of income other than futūḥ.194 His eldest son Naṣīr al-Dīn preferred farming, a sanctioned way of livelihood.195

However, one of his sons, Niẓam al-Dīn served in army.196 Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā

190 Amir Khurd, Siyar al awliyā, 63. Husaynī, Jawāmi al-Kalim, 252. The tradition which followed during Mughal India for teh cultivation of a dead land see Satish Chandra, Medieval India: Society, the Jagirdari Crisis and the Village (New Delhi: Macmillan, 1982), 166-83. 191 Dehlavī, Akhbār al-akhyār, 36. 192 There is no standard size of a bigha. The size of a bigha varies considerably from place to place. Sources have given measurements ranging from 1,500 to 6,771 square metres (16,150 to 72,880 sq ft), but in several smaller pockets, it can be as high as 12,400 square metres (133,000 sq ft). Its sub-unit is Biswa (or Bisa) or Katha (or Katta) in many regions. Again there is no standard size of biswa or katha. A bigha may have 5 to 200 biswa in different regions. In India, bigha ceased to be an official unit of area in 1957 when square metre or hectare (10,000 square metre) became the official legal unit of area of land. 193 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 156-57. 194 Qalandar, Khayr al-Majālis, 182. 195 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 186. 196 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 100, Sijzī, Fawā’id al-fu’ād. 377.

252 never adopted any occupation but lived on futūḥ. His khalīfah, Shaykh Naṣīr al-Dīn

Chirāgh-i Dillī also had no job. He advised his disciples that there was no harm in adopting a profession for earning money, unless it seized one’s religious obligations, especially when following a spiritual path. Furthermore, he urged that one might engage in any profession but without forgetting God amidst the work, even for a single

197 moment.

Amir Khurd records some general professions common at the time, which includes scribing or making copies of the Holy Qur’an and other works.198 Farishta observes that Fakhr al-Dīn Kotwāl employed twelve thousand people for reciting the

Qur’an and supported a number of people.199 One of the sufis, Shaykh Uthmān

Ḥarababādī used to earn his livelihood from selling cooked vegetables in Ghaznī.200

There were many who after getting education, opted for teaching, recitation and oratory to the children of high state officials.201 Few had grocery shops. Oil extraction was another important source of income to fulfil household needs. Other than it, some of the disciples of the sufis were good in traditional herbal medicine.202 People in the khānqāh could easily get benefit from them while getting health advice. Khwaja Mūsā (the maternal grandson of Bābā Farīd) was an expert in medical field.203 Many amongst the rich people were fond of horse keeping,204 if one could not afford keeping animals he could earn money by taking care of others’ horses or serve in the palace.

197 Qalandar, Khayr al Majālis, 206. 198 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 317. 199 Farishta History, 167. 200 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 354. 201 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 294-95. 202 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 201-02. 203 Amir Khurd, Siyar a-awliyā, 202. 204 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 264.

253 Agriculture was the main source of income for the rural folks. People were aware of old and new methods of cultivation.205 Ploughing the fields was a most important source of livelihood during medieval India, it was also adopted by some sufis and their sons.206 Uncultivated lands were brought under cultivation, and such lands were called aḥyā lands, which became the temporary property of the cultivator. There were no incentives for the increased agricultural produce at that time.207 Instead it became problem for the peasantry, when the surplus produce was taken by Sultan ‘Alā al-Dīn Khaljī as a land revenue.208 Due to lack of rains, sometimes droughts brought dangerous exhaustion in peasant economy. There were no state measures to save the peasantry from distress

209 and misery, which badly affected the society, economy and agriculture.

Some scholars of Indian history opine that the caste system was so entrenched in

Indian society that it drastically impacted the economic system. This inflexible caste system in northern India persistently restricted the labour mobility. The employers were limited in hiring people related to their respective talent or field. The rigidity in this caste system provided monopolies to particular castes in specialized activities. One specific caste was not allowed to trade with the other, i.e. carpenters, trading caste, people who served in military or a caste who only deal in leather. Consequently, the growth or trading opportunities were restricted.210 On the other hand, the sufis started adopting different professions and occupations irrespective of their social positions. Hence, setting an

205 Zahir al-Din Muhammad Babar, Memoirs of Babar, 11, 486-7. 206 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 156-57, 186. 207 Lal, Twilight of the Sultanate, 258. 208 Nafiz Shaffi, “Land Revenue and Market Reforms of ‘Ala al-Din Khalji 697-715/1296-1315” MA diss Montreal: Institute of Islamic Studies McGill University, 1977. 209 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 179-80. 210 Rajeev H Dehejia and Vivek H. Dehejia, “Religion and Economic Activity in India: An Historical Perspective” vol 52, no. 2 (April 1993), 149. 254 example for the people that caste and status should not become any hurdle for the economic activities.

5.6.5 Means of Transportation, Trade and Trade Routes

Industrial growth needed more facilities to transport trade goods from one manufacturing place to the other market centres. Siyar al-awliyā does not enlighten in detail about the conditions of roads and other means of communications. However, travelogues of the period under study opine that the conditions of roads were not very satisfactory until the reign of Sultan ‘Alā al-Dīn Khaljī.211 Siyar al-awliyā discusses bullock-carts, horses, dolā/dolī and behlī (a kind of vehicle) for transportation.212 Ibn Baṭṭūṭa records that farming produce was carried through bullock-carts, officials of the court carrying king’s treasury moved in convoy with escorts.213 Amir Khurd also recounts that the traders lived prosperous lives, “their trade was running merrily and they lived happily.” 214 In addition, the study of Siyar al-awliyā informs the presence of local trade and home industries.

Trade goods mentioned in Siyar al-awliyā include barley, sesame oil and seeds,215 and sugarcane for sugar industry, etc. Moreover, trade in cloths like silk, pashmina,216 cotton, woollen and their spinning yarns was popular. There were many who used to bring sesame seeds oil from Nagaur to Multan and cotton from Multan to Nagaur. The traders also served as postmen, creating a strong link between different regions’ cultural and social interactions. Another trade good mentioned in Siyar al-awliyā was nīl, used for

211 For more details in this regard see Rehla of Ibn-i Baṭṭūṭa. 150-151. 212 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 183 and 178. 213 Rehla of Ibn-i Baṭūṭa. 151. 214 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 145 and ‘Afīf, Tarīkh-i Firūzshāhī, 136. 215 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 283. 216 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 384.

255 washing and bluing white clothes. It was cultivated at Nagaur, and the traders also carried

217 it with them as a selling item.

The traders of Delhi used to import cloths and other luxurious items from the

Near East.218 Afghans manufactured swords and bred horses, and they found a good befitting market in India after the establishment of Sultanate here.219 Trade with other countries gave impetus to commerce and economy, and caused important developments in the indigenous products due to their interactions with the international economy. This improved transportation and facilities in India.220 In highly esteemed trade goods of eastern sides, China’s silk is considered to be the most famous, and its porcelain was

221 loved to be utilized in the royal kitchens.

217 Amir Khurd, Siyar al-awliyā, 283. Surūr al-ṣudūr, MS (Maulana Azad Library, Aligarh Muslim University, India), 91 as cited in Aslam, Malfūẓātī adab kī tarīkhī ahmiyat, 83. 218 Maḥmūd Gāwāṇ, Riyaḍ al-inshā’, ed., Husayn C. Chand, and G. Yazdani (Hyderabad: n.p., 1948), 143. 219 Simon Digby, War Horse and Elephants in the Sultanate of Delhi (Oxford: Orient Monographs, 1971), 19. 220 Siddiqi, Delhi Sultanate, 3-5. 221 E. S. Smart, “Some fourteenth Century Chinese Porcelain from a Tughluq Palace in Delhi”, 199 230 in Raychaudhuri, Tapan and Irfan Habib eds., The Cambridge Economic History of India, c. 1200-1750, vol. 1, (New York: Cambridge University Press), 1982.

256 Conclusion

Court history or the statist chronicles in medieval India recount the stories of the Sultans and their military achievements. The statist discourses are centred around the Sultan and weave rest of the story with the people around him in court including the nobility, provincial governors, high state officials, military leaders and the ‘ulemā. These histories include themes like sultans’ military campaigns, the royal grandeur, state policies, and palace intrigues and rebellions. Nonetheless, they lack mention of common people and their life who comprise the bulk of the society upon which the Sultans ruled. Thus, they talk about the ruler while ignoring the ruled which create a historiographical silence or a vacuum on the history of the common people in them.

This vacuum can partly be filled by sufi literature, which covers wide-ranging subjects and themes along with having varied genres such as malfūẓ, dīwān, maktūbāt, isharāt, tadhkirah and some others. For medieval Indian history, sufi literature considerably helps in writing social history, since it is a record of human interactions with the sufis and among each other, reflecting the folk culture, customs, traditions, dressing trends, food culture, along with khānqāh life, sufi doctrines and practices.

In this regard, tadhkirah is one of the most befitting genres of sufi literature, which is a compilation of anecdotes and biographical accounts of the sufis. Its writing is exclusive to medieval South Asia. Outside South Asia it was limited to life accounts which were more or less biographical compendiums delineating only the life sketches of important personalities. Noteworthy to mention is that a sufi tadhkirah is very different than a hagiography which has a Christian/Catholic connotation. A hagiography represents the life of a saint as a recluse, who has not much people around him, while a sufi

257 tadhkirah deals with the life of a sufi and the common people around him. That is why, sufi tadhkirah in medieval India serves as a significant source for constructing social history besides throwing light on the life histories of the sufis. A tadhkirah is generally written by the disciples and the devotees of a sufi, so it gives not only the details of the lives of sufis but also provides us with important information about society and culture of the time. Populace is seen walking in the centre of the road of a sufi tadhkirah, unlike the political histories which treat ordinary people only at the edges of the sidewalks. While memorialising common people, it shows the fusion of Hindu and Muslim cultures, as well as the development of Indo-Muslim and more precisely, ‘Indo-sufi’ culture in South

Asia.

Coming back to social history, it focuses on experience rather than historical event or action taking place at a particular point in time. The word ‘social’ addresses nearly everything. It bloomed out on its very eclectic ideal. Social history surpasses former approaches, centred around important historical events, figures and political processes. It not only avoids opting conventional appreciation of history but also advances all human energies to the destiny of common people, since they had not been the nuclei of historical processes and have largely failed to catch due attention previously.

Siyar al-awliyā dar aḥwāl va malfūẓāt-i mashāyikh-i-Chisht by Muḥammad

Mubārak ‘Alawī Kirmanī, commonly known as Amir Khurd, is generally considered the very first tadhkirah of South Asia, written in mid-fourteenth-century North India.

However, noteworthy to mention is that llabeling Siyar al-awliyā either as a tadhkirah or a malfūẓ is problematic as it does not merely deal with the sufi biographies, nor exclusively the majālis or sufi gatherings at the khānqāhs. Thus, it cannot be considered a

258 malfūẓ but as per its contents, it is closer to a tadhkirah. Nonetheless, it can be regarded as a ‘proto-tadhkirah,’ since tadhkirah writing tradition was at its nascent stage which later saw growth in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The author of Siyar al-awliyā

Amir Khurd belonged to a respectable and eminent family of Kerman in South-east

Persia, which migrated to India and his grandparents settled near the khānqāh of the celebrated Chishtī Sufi, Bābā Farīd at Ajodhan, or the present day Pakpattan in Punjab.

Amir Khurd’s family remained amongst the close disciples of Bābā Farīd and his khalīfah, Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā, whose oral accounts proved to be an important source of author’s information for composing this famous work.

The tadhkirah under study is comprised of anecdotes related to the lives of the

Chishtī fraternity from Prophet Muḥammad (PBUH) and pious Caliphs. It traces the origins of Silsilah-i Chishtiyya from the line of the Prophet (PBUH), Imām ‘Alī and his descendants. Then the study comes to the shajrah or initiatic genealogy of the Chishtīs, starting from Ḥasan Baṣrī and coming down to Khwaja Mu’īn al-Dīn Chishtī Ajmerī, who popularized the silsilah in South Asia. The work covers the Chishtī fraternity till

Shaykh Naṣīr al-Dīn Chirāgh-i Dillī, as well as other eminent spiritual successors, disciples, devotees, and contemporary sufis belonging to other silsilahs such as

Suhrawardiyya, Firdawsiyya, and Kubrawiyya. It stresses less on karāmah or miraculous feats as the Chishtī Shaykhs did not appreciate it much. The book includes a complete section on samā‘, the much debated Chishtī practice of sufi music and ecstatic dance or raqṣ. The tadhkirah gives a comprehensive read about Muslim views of Hinduism at that time along with the Chishtī and Suhrawardī differences of opinion regarding Mu‘tazila school of thought and the works produced by the scholars associated with it. Evidences

259 on the acceptance of female spirituality, while making it clear that no segregation of sexes be found in the period under study, provides tadhkirah literature more space in the world of social history of medieval India. Furthermore, it authenticates many Chishtī malfūẓāt whose authenticity was considered dubious and historical significance denied.

The book includes numerous extracts from other medieval works which are now lost in the dust of history like Taṣrīf-i Badrī by Shaykh Badr al-Dīn Ishāq, Uṣūl al-ṭarīqa by

Ḥamīd al-Dīn Nagaurī, Laṭā’if al-tafsīr by Maulana Qāsim and many others.

Along with the numinous accounts of the lives of Chishtī sufis, Siyar al-awliyā reflects varied other features of social history of that period. It not merely eulogises the sufis but also sheds light on the development of ‘Indo-sufi’ culture in India with a particular focus on the northern region. It reflects and exhibits cultural diversity, translation of existing cultural norms into the other through different mediums like language, poetry, literature, dressing trends, food culture, and architectural layout of buildings during the said period. Prevalent diseases of the time include piles, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, paralysis and others many of which usually caused death.

People had trust in herbal medicine.

The tadhkirah under study can also be regarded as an indispensable source of studying the development of Hindavī language, which is considered the earlier form of

Urdu. Shaykh Ḥamīd al-Dīn Nagaurī and Bābā Farīd used to converse in Hindavī. It can be inferred that the Punjabi poetic verses attributed to Bābā Farīd but deemed controversial, seem authentic. The era witnessed the development of diverse genres of

Indo-Persian poetry like mathnavī, qaṭ‘a, ghazals, tarkīb-i band, rubaī’, do-baitī. Major themes in sufi poetry and literature include love of God, separation from Him, Human-

260 Divine Love, fear, tawwakul (blind belief in God) as well as sufi/spiritual concepts of faqr, fanā, zuhd, ‘ibadah, dhikr, awrād, waẓāi’f, ethical values, sufi ideals of good and bad, education of people, endowments, sacrifice and many more. The literature also sheds light on the miseries of the people and solutions to their problems in a very symbolic way. It recounts and historicises different socio-cultural norms like eating in an earthen- bowl, use of khamīr, miṣrī, ḥalwā and frequent mentions of sesame seeds oil with nān and parāthey, chewing pān, cooking khichṛī with ghī, eating ḥarīsah with nān, and the tradition of kandūrī and its distribution among people from different walks of life. In dressing the use of dhotī, tehband, postīn, chāddar, qabā’ and kullāh or turban can be recorded.

Socio-cultural history of the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century India also exhibits that the spiritual or devotional religious traditions witnessed tremendous growth. The

Chishtī Shaykhs had a soft view regarding the Hindus and Hinduism. However, the court chronicles do not provide a sympathetic understanding and view of Hinduism. On the contrary, the Hindus were seen as very much integral part of the sufi khānqāhs, as many

Hindus were devotees of the Chishtī sufis. They translated the message of Islam into local terms without actually translating the words of the Qur’an. It can be inferred that the

Chishtī sufi worldview accepted religious differences, creating more space for pluralism.

The religious ideals of a sufi explains that a Hindu can equally get salvation by his good deeds and belief in the Oneness of God.

The devotional religious traditions offered more space to female spirituality, which orthodox Indian society generally denied to them. The court chronicles do not discuss the lives of women in medieval India while only showing their role in palace

261 intrigues. The sufi tadhkirah instead gives a vivid picture of the lives of the female sufis in the patriarchal Indian society. Mādir-i Mominaṇ, Bībī Qursum, Bībī Rānī, Bībī

Zulekha, Bībī Fāṭima Sām, Bībī Sharīfah, Bībī Jiwandī, Bībī Tignī and others played a crucial role in the spiritual lives of the sufis and the common people alike. It can be inferred that Muslim spirituality was not a province of the men alone.

Intellectual milieu of the period under study as reflected in Siyar al-awliyā is very different from the statist discourse. Moreover, seeing medieval India’s society through present lens would not do any justice to the social history and historiography of the period. The tadhkirah literature of the period informs that no khānqāh-madrassah dichotomy existed as the khānqāhs equally served as learning centres like madrassahs do in present times. In fact, there were no such kind of contrast or conflict between the two.

There were probably not many madrassahs existed at that time so khānqāhs and mosques mostly served the same purpose. Similarly, education system was not formally organized in medieval India. Education was more ‘teacher-centric’ than madrassah-centric.

Moreover, classifying ‘ulemā and sufi as two sharply distinct categories would also be erroneous to the spirit of the age; many sufis were also ‘ālim or scholars and had a deeper knowledge of hadith, fiqh and other branches of knowledge of the time including tafsīr, hadith, fiqh, the subjects of study during the said period generally included adab literature, naḥw or grammar, lughat or study of words, syntax, ṭibb or medicine, mathematics, astronomy, akhlaqiyāt or ethics, philosophy, kalām or scholasticism, manṭaq or logic, calligraphy or khaṭṭaṭī/khushkhaṭī, numerology, qawai‘d-i ṣarf, mufaṣil, rules parsing translation and others. ‘Indo-sufi’ culture witnessed blossoming in the said

262 period and new genres like malfūẓ and tadhkirah were developed. In a nut shell, the period under study has many important literary achievements to celebrate and cherish.

Scholarship produced in the Chishtī circles include Taṣrīf-i Badarī on the rules of grammar by Shaykh Badr al-Dīn Ishāq, Shaykh Ḥamīd al-Dīn Nagaurī wrote Uṣūl al-

ṭarīqah, Taṣrīf-i Uthmānī and Taṣrīf-i mukhtaṣar, whereas Risalā ‘Uthmāniā, Risalā khamsain, Risalā kashshāf al-qanā’ were authored by Maulana Fakhr al-Dīn Zarrādī,

Laṭā’if al-tafsīr by Maulana Qāsim, and Nawāwi, Lawā’ih, Risāla-i ‘ishqīya and

Khayālāt al-‘ushshāq by Qāḍī Ḥamīd al-Dīn Nagaurī and many more. In addition, classical works studied in the Chishtī circles include Qūt al-qulūb by Muḥammad ibn

‘Alī, Al-risalā-’i Qushayrīyya by Abd al-Karīm al-Qushayrī, Iḥyā-i ‘ulūm al-dīn and

Mishkāt al-anwār of al-Ghazzālī, ‘Awārif al mu‘ārif by Shaykh Shihāb al-Dīn, Mirṣād al-

‘ibād of Najm al-Dīn Rāzī, Al-kashshāf and Al-mufaṣal by al-Zamakhsharī, Tamhīd al- muhtadā by al-Sālimī, Maṣābīḥ al-Sunnah by al-Baghawī, Jami‘ al-uṣūl fi hadith al-raṣūl of Imām Ibn al-Athīr, Muwatā by Imām Mālik and many other uncountable classical works on mufaṣal, naḥw, law, Qur’anic exegesis and others. Notably, the Chishtīs were liberal and open to all kinds of knowledge and books; however, the Suhrawardī Shaykhs did not appreciate studying Mu‘tazilī authors like al-Zamakhsharī.

The study of Siyar al-awliyā informs that there existed contradictory impulses in

‘Indo-sufi’ culture. One such debate is on the notions of faqr (voluntary poverty) and ghinā’ (resourcefulness). The Chishtīs generally preferred living an austere and simple life while the Suhrawardī ideal was in contrast to it. Sometimes an exchange of ideas also took place. Siyar al-awliyā is the only sources, known until now which includes extracts from the letters exchanged between Shaykh Ḥamīd al-Dīn Nagaurī and Bahā’ al-Dīn

263 Zakariyya regarding the debate on faqr and ghinā’. This contradiction was also apparent on their stance over samā‘ or devotional sufi music.

Siyar al-awliyā includes a detailed section on the Chishtī practice of samā‘. It appears that Amir Khurd wrote an independent treatise on samā‘ but later appended it to his tadhkirah, or it later got appended to it. Anyhow, the work brings to the forefront how the Chishtī practice of samā‘ was deeply entrenched in the Chishtī spiritual life, as they considered it as a unique expression of the Divine-human love. It was considered a means of dhikr or worship, a way of meditation and a source of attaining higher consciousness and eventually enlightenment in sufi contemplative life. The Chishtīs not only defended the legality of the practice through writing treatises in its defence but they also disseminated the practice throughout India. Some of the Suhrawardī sufis like Qāḍī

Ḥamīd al-Dīn Nagaurī also occasionally practiced samā‘ while most of the Suhrawardī sufis considered it illegal. The state-allied religious scholars or ulemā’ also created problems between the Chishtī sufis and the sultans which sometimes led to public debate or maḥzar on the question of the Chishtī practice of samā‘. However, despite criticism, the Sultans of Delhi could never put a ban on it.

The Chishtīs also produced theological works on the debate on samā‘. Some of these treatises include Risalah-i’ samā‘, Risalah abaḥat-i samā‘ and Kashf al-Miftaḥ min wujūh al-samā‘ by Maulana Fakhr al-Dīn Zarrādī, Ḥamīd al-Dīn Nagaurī’s Risalah Uṣūl al-ṭarīqah, Maulana ‘Alam al-Dīn’s treatise on samā‘ titled Maqṣidah and more. Many among them are extinct now and Siyar al-awliyā is the only source which informs about the existence of these writings. The scholars of Sufism of South Asia need to appreciate the academic worth of Siyar al-awliyā as it is the only source which mentions some of

264 these works and occasionally include their extracts. These works such as Kashf al-miftaḥ min wujūh al-samā, Maqṣidah and some others would not have otherwise been known to us.

Sufi literature is considered a corrective to the impressions created by the court histories. Highhandedness of the state officials is well-reflected in sufi literature, which otherwise remains underemphasized in historiographical works. Administrators working on key posts during the period under study such as the provincial governors, tax collectors, diwāns or ministers of various departments and kotwals or police officers were not working efficiently. Though Siyar al-awliyā does not explicitly write on the political chaos and problems created by the policies of the Sultans, it explains how the distressed visited the Chishtī khānqāhs and complained against them. Important to note is that there was no direct enmity between the sufis and the Sultans at large, the Suhrawardīs always had cordial relationship with the state as the former accepted land grants and titles, and also served on important government positions. On the contrary, the Chishtīs saw state institutions as a means of coercion, and thus tried to keep minimum contact with the state. Despite that, Shaykh Quṭb al-Dīn Bakhtiyār Kāki enjoyed good relationship with

Sultan Iletmish and Sultan Balban revered Bābā Farīd, but conflicting situations also arose sometimes due to varied reasons. The autonomous space maintained by the Chishtīs and their growing popularity among the people threatened some rulers like Sultan ‘Alā al-

Dīn Khaljī, who perceived a threat in the fame of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā.

Nonetheless, Sultan Quṭb al-Dīn Mubārak Khaljī had a personal grudge against Shaykh

Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā. Sultan Muḥammad ibn Tughluq had a state policy to appoint the sufis on symbolic state positions, even if it was forcefully. Shaykh Naṣīr al-Dīn Chirāgh-i

265 Dillī was forced by the Sultan, and Maulana Fakhr al-Dīn Zarrādī, Maulana Quṭb al-Dīn

Munawwar Hānsī were also forced to leave their places and follow the orders of the

Sultan.

Socio-economic profile of medieval India can also be seen on the rich canvas of tadhkirah writings. Through the development of ‘Indo-sufi’ khānqāh culture and particularly the institution of futūḥ or unasked for charity and offerings in Chishtī circles, the distribution and circulation of wealth become very easy, as the poor and the needy used to get financial help from these khānqāhs. Some of the people also received stipends on regular basis. In this way, these khānqāhs became sites of economic activities and social mobility. Langar or public kitchen fed the hungry. The traders who travelled from one place to another carried the messages and letters of the sufi shaykhs. Trade goods mentioned in Siyar al-awliyā are nīl, sesame seeds, cotton and others. Siyar al-awliyā does not leave the reader uninformed about common occupations of people such as cotton weaving, spinning yarn, scribing, oil extraction, medicine, teaching and many more. The work also sheds light on urbanization patterns whereby villages were transformed into towns and towns into cities. It provides very useful information about the presence of socio-economic evils like hoarding, black marketing and inflation in prices which were prevalent in medieval India.

Notwithstanding the strengths of the text under study, there are some limitations to it a well, as the book may not sometimes meet the expectations of the readers. Since it is more than a sufi biographical dictionary so the reader expects it to tell more about the local people and their customs but it fails to do so. Probably, its reason was the elitist orientation of the writer, Amir Khurd, which affected his worldview and approach

266 towards local Indian Muslims (ajlāf or the sons of the soil), who were not immigrants. He himself belonged to a migrant Muslim family which represented the ashrāf (literally ‘of noble origin’) culture. The work implicitly expresses the tensions between the ajlāf- ashrāf dichotomy. Evidence suggests it as well, since Amir Khurd does not give much space to Amir Khusrau, the ‘ṭūṭī-i’ Hind’ or the ‘parrot of India,’ who composed poetry not only in Persian but also in Hindawi language. Interestingly, his mother was an Indian lady, though his father was a Turk, and he was proud of his parentage. Amir Khusrau is considered the father of qawwālī, which was nurtured by the Chishtī Silsilah. He was one of the most closely associated disciples of Shaykh Niẓam al-Dīn Awliyā. He represented the Indian or vernacular culture in his poetry while Amir Khurd does not appreciate it much in his work. He is silent on vernacular poetry produced at that time. He also did not talk about the Bhaktī Movement in India, its impact and relationship with the Chishtīs, as well as the development of vernacular languages and literature. He does not give any reference to the religious and spiritual/mystical traditions of the Hindus or their intellectual caliber. Amir Khurd is also silent on the question of the appointment of non-

Muslims or Hindus on high state positions, which is reflected in later tadhkirahs like

Jamālī’s Siyar al-‘ārifīn. Last but not the least, he is almost silent on the role and contribution of the Chishtiyyah-Ṣabriyya branch, which initiated from Shaykh ‘Alī

Aḥmad Ṣabir of Kalyar.

To sum up, the present study can be considered a distinct work, as it focuses on social history including real life or lived experiences of historical actors which does not include kings, nobles and generals but the common people who comprised the bulk of the society including the sufis and their disciples and devotees. It is hoped that the present

267 study will open new avenues for future researches. There is a dire need to harness the vigour, emanating from all the potentials social history offers with its dynamism. Sufi literature is an indispensable source for social history, as varied genres of sufi literature unfolds themes and subjects crucial to understanding the dynamics of medieval Indian society, and also help explore and identify a possible pattern to the past behaviour and phenomena.

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295 Glossary

Many of the terms given in the glossary have complex and multiple meanings. The meanings stressed in the glossary correspond to the senses in which they have been used in the study.

‘alim pl. ‘ulemā a religious scholar ‘ālim a religious scholar a title given to the ‘ulemā who were opposed to Sufism ahl-i qāl an externalist scholar, unaware of the mysteries of Sufism ashrāf high born Ātmā human soul Barakah spiritual or sanctifying power/authority/blessings bay’at an oath of allegiance for initiation bayt al-māl public exchequer of treasury bigha a unit of land for measurement chabūtrah raised platform chāddar a piece of cloth to cover the body, usually wore as a head cover by females churā Indian dagger with sharp-edged blade Dargahs sufi tomb or a shrine dervish lit., beggar who goes from door to door mostly a sufi who leaves all of his worldly possessions and usually moves around without staying at one place ḏhair heap dhikr remembrance of God dīwān a collection of poetry, also, a title of the hereditary custodians of some of the sufi shrines Faqr voluntary poverty fatiḥa prayer of the deceased fatwā a legal verdict, an edict, given by a muftī Fiqh jurisprudence

296 futūḥ unsolicited offerings/ unasked for charity ganj shakar treasure of sugar ghaṛī watch ghazal a love song Ghī oil ḥairat bewilderment ḥalwā a sweet dish ḥarīsah a meat dish ḥarkat motion hujra a small room or cell ḥujrah chamberlain haveli a very large house ihyā’ (land) to bring unclaimed and dead land into cultivation Imām religious leader Jagir (pl. Jagīrs) land grant Jalalī a sufi with no public interaction while always in an angry mood Jama ‘atkhan a sufi dwelling having a spacious hall where the sufi Jami‘ mosque central mosque of a city Jannnāh paradise jītal a coin used in the medieval India Kandūrī a religious-meal distributed among large number of people. khalīfah (pl. khulafah) a spiritual successor Khānqāh hospice Khat and charpa’ī bedstead in English khichṛī an Indian dish khirqah-i-khilafat a cloak of succession, a worn and patched cloth granted to a disciple by his preceptor symbolizing spiritual succession khojā kid kotwāl an officer in police department langoṯā a piece of cloth similar to tehband/dhotī Madrassah a college of learning maḥzar appearance before the king

297 majlis assembly, gathering maktab learning place malfūẓ (pl. malfūẓāt) the conversation\ table talk, or the informal discourses of the Sufi Shaykh recorded by their disciples malīch impure Mālik a title used by Prince as well as members of the ruling elite, a title that refers to a rank in the military organization of the Delhi Sultanate Mashai’kh plural of Shaykh, sufi teacher or instructor\ guide meḥfil gatherings Miṣrī sugar momin a pious Muslim mu’arfat gnosis muhaddith traditionalist, expert of hadith nān bread with yeast pahāṛ mountain Parmātmā The Divine Soul pīlū a wild fruit postīn Kind of cloth Punūṇ ka Chānd the new moon qāḍī a Muslim judge qasā’id piece of poetry in which the poet praises someone quṭb the spiritual ruler of the entire word raqṣ devotional or ecstatic dance resham a kind of cloth ṣadr-i jahāṇ in-charge of re;igious and judicial affairs of the country samā‘ devotional sufi music, a sufi concert shajrah initiatic genealogy shari‘ā Islamic law, legal dimension of Islam Shaykh al-Islam ‘the chief of Islam’, juris-consultant for the government Shaykh and his disciples

298 Silsilah (pl. salāsil) a connection, a link or a chain; a spiritual lineage siraey guest-house Sukr ecstatic intoxication or drunkenness tafsīr exegesis tanka a coin used in medieval India ṭarīqah path, way method tawakkul trust in or reliance on God tāwi’dh an amulet tawwakul blind belief in God tehband/dhotī a piece of cloth to cover lower part of body while wrapping it around the back thāl a big tray ulemā religious scholar waḥdat al-wujūd The Unity of Being walayā spiritual dominion willayat/ spiritual territory or domain under the spiritual jurisdiction of a Sufi Shaykh yogī Hindu ascetic or spiritualist zahir external, outward or exoteric zawiyah a smaller sufi dwelling where one sufi Shaykh lives with his disciple and pupils

299