SUFIS, SUFI EURUQ AND THE QUESTION OF CONVERSION TO ISLAM IN INDIA: AN ASSESSMENT by Sami Gabriel Massoud Institute of Islamic Studies McGill University, Montréal, June 1997 A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research. in partial fulfillrnent of the requirement for the degree of Master of Arts O Sami Gabriel Massoud, 1997 National Library Bibliothèque nationale I*l of,", du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 WeIlington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON KiA ON4 Otbwa ON K1A ON4 Canada Canada Your fi& Votre refSrmce Our iYe Nolre reference The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence dowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loaq distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la fome de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. ABSTRACT The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the topoi found in various writings on the Indian subcontinent, which depict Muslim mystics, the Sufis, as responsible for the conversion, forced or peaceful, of non-Muslim Indians to Islam. Our analysis of various historiographicd traditions produced in the Subcontinent between the eleventh and the twentieth centuries, will show that this image of Sufis qua missionaries is more the result of socio-political considerations (legitimization of imperid order; posthumous images of Sufis in the eyes of different folk audiences, etc.) than the reflection of histoncal reality. This thesis also examines the processes, most of them indirect, in which Sufis were involved and which on the long run led to the acculturation and to the Islamization of certain non-Muslim groups, thus opening the way for the birth and then consolidation of a Muslim identity. Ce mémoire examine les lieux communs, répandus dans les écrits sur le sous-continent indien, qui rendent les saints des confréries mystiques musulmanes, responsables de la conversion, parfois forcée, souvent pacifique, de non musulmans à l'Islam. Une analyse de l'historiographie produite dans différents milieux indiens entre le onzième et Ie vingtième siècle montrera que cette image de missionaire accolée aux soufis est bien plus le résultat de considérations socio-politiques (légitimation de l'ordre impérial Mogol à partir du 16ème siècle; images posthumes des saints soufis élaborées dans les traditions populaires, etc.) que le reflet d'une réalité historique. Ce mémoire examinera aussi les mécanismes, souvent mis en branle indirectement par les soufis, des processus d'acculturation et d'islamisation au sein de certains groupes non musulmans; des processus qui éventuellement conduiront chez certains à la naissance puis à la consolidation d'une identité islamique. To Gub& al-KhQfi Mikha'îl Mascud snd Josephine Mas'lld, mY beloved parents TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................. vi INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................. 1 CKAPTER ONE: A REVIEW OF HISTORICAL SOURCES ...................... 10 1. The Indo-Muslirn Tradition of History Writing ............................ ...1 1 A .Pre-Mughal Historiography .......... ..................................... 1 B. Mughal-Period Historiography .......................................... 17 II .The Literature of the Sufi Environment. its Authenticity and Significance.. ....... .... .........................................................................27 A .Pre-Mughal Sufi Literature ................................................. 30 B .Later Sui5 Literature.............................,. 34 a .Images of Mucînal-Dîn Chistî in Later Sufi Literature and their Significance................................... 36 i . The Genesis of a Legend ................................. 36 ii .The Interaction between Sufi and Muslirn Folk Traditions ..................................... -42 b .Mughal-Period Mystical Orders and Conversion to Islam: the Case of Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi CL............................................................... 45 III .Modern History Writing on Islam in its Indian Environment............................................................................................ 57 A .Some General Remarks ........... ... ........................................57 B. The Gazetteers ........................................................................ 61 C. The Indian Dimension of the Historiographical Debate.................................................... i ..................................*..66 IV . Concluding Remarks ........... ..... .................................................. ..71 CHAP%ER TWO: PATTERNS OF CONVERSION: THE ROLE OF THE SUFIS ......................................................................... -74 1. Preliminary Remarks about the Indo-Muslim Syncretistic Tradition ................................................................................. ., .............. -74 A .Sufi Syncretism and the Indian Milieu ........................................................................................... -77 B .The Limits of Syncretism....................................................... 82 II .The KhânqahlDargah Complex ......................................................... 84 A .Barakalz and Wulâyah............................................................ -85 B .The KliânqahlDargah Complex in its Indian Environment............................................................................... -88 a . The Functional Dimension of the KhânqâhlDargâh Complex ............................................ -89 b . Women and the Khânqâ~zLVargâhcompIex .............. 91 c. Rituals at the Hzânqûlz/Z)argâh Complex ................. 92 d .The Qawwâlîs and their Impact ................................ 92 C .Kizanqaldûargah Complexes in the Deccan and the Punjab: Two Case Studies............. .. ..................................... 94 a . The Deccan: The Shahpur Rülock Chishtî Cammuniîy .................................................................... -94 b.The Punjab: The Barakah of Bâbâ Farîd and the Jats of the Punjab ............................................97 III. The Bengal Environment ............................................................... 99 A .EcologicaI Changes and the Occupation of the East .................................................................................. IO1 B. The Sources................................,..................................... 102 C .PirEcation. Pîrs and the Establishment of Patterns of Authority in the East........................................................... 106 a. Leadership Roles in the Colonization Process ....... 106 b .The Pirification of Sources of Authority ................ 108 N. The Indianisation of a Sufi tradition and its anthropological explanation: The Case of the Madâriyyah......................................... 113 A .The Origins of the Order............................... ... .................... 14 B .The Hindu Features of the Madâriyyah............... .. .......... 15 C. The 'Castification' of a Sufi Order........................ .., .......... 117 D .The Madârîs and the Issue of Conversion in the Indian Environment........................................................ 120 CONCLUSION................................................................................................ 126 Consonants / short 8 The shaddah is coweyed by the doubling of a letter. Ail words pertainiog to the Islamic tradition, such as shaykh, 'uId', etc., have been itaiicized, with the exception of those fomd in îhe Webder's dictianary, such as Sufis. Names of people, places and orders have not been iEalicized a Worda ending with a 6 are written with ab Al1 Persian words of Arabic origin have been transliterated as Arabic words, with the exception of some names: in Abu al-Fad, for exampie, the Persian ~ is written with a z. In most casea, plurais ofhbic and Persian words have been rendered by using an s at the end For titles and quotations, 1 hwe tried !O keep the traasliteration system used by the dors: for example, Siyar al-Muta 'ak.hirîn is written as Seir Mutaqherin, the wgr fhe title appears on the book My interest in things Arabic and Islamic was fostered at a very early age by my parents, Gubrân and Joséphine Massoud: their influence on me has been pervasive and this thesis is witness to their love and encouragement. 1am forever in their debt. My Indian 'adventure' started five years ago when a fnend of mine, Yogen Pandya, introduced me for the first tirne to the Qawwalî music of Nusrat Fâteh Ali Khan. 1 liked the music so much that 1 decided to learn about the indo-Muslim cultural and historical milieu which fostered it. Many thanks to Yogen. My encounter with Indo-Muslim civilizaûon was achieved primady at the hands of Professor Sajida Alvi, my teacher and supervisor, who drarnaticaily expanded my intellectual horizons and introduced