Sufism in Bangladesh
Bengal like many other lands does not possess sufficient records of her internal affairs before the fifteenth centuries. She is also unfortunate in not having any history of thought movements which in all probability started emerging with the advent of Islam from the thirteenth century. So, to find out the earliest age when Sufism was introduced into Bengal, we observed that Sufism in Bengal was the continuation of Sufism in Northern India, and that the eleventh century A. D. was the probable time when Sufism was first introduced into India. In that connection we may mention two names of Sufis, viz Shah Sultan Rumi came to mymensingh in 1053 A. D. and Baba Adam came to Dhaka in 1119 A. D. As far as we know, the earliest historical Sufi, who came to Bengal after the two afore-mentioned solitary figures was Shayekh Jalaluddin Tabrizi in 1225 A. D.
From the beginning of the thirteen up to the fourteenth centuries, the Sufis of Northern India predominated over the Sufis of Bengal. During this time, their (Northern Indian Sufis) deputies were sent to the Bengali people. It is generally said that establishment of Muslim rule was instrumental to bring the faith of Islam and its civilization in this country. This statement is only partially true but it was Sufis who were the real torch-bearers of Islamic faith in Bengal. Their real influence on Bengal began to be continuously felt from the very inception of the thirteenth century A, D.
There may be a question, impelled by what motives the Sufis of Northern India and other foreign country first turned their attention to Bengal? We do not exactly know. But, it can be precisely said that intention of preaching their faith- Islam among unbelievers was the main aim which impelled them to leave their hearth and home for Bengal. With this view they came to our country often quite alone and preached Islam throughout their lives under circumstances. The earliest Sufis attempts to proselytism began under very unfavorable circumstances: the country was under the rule of Hindu ruler. It is, therefore interesting to mention here a few causes that contributed to the success of the proselytizing mission of the Sufis.
Firstly, indomitable zeal, uncommon piety and widely believed miracles possessed by the Sufis of the thirteenth up to the sixteenth centuries A. D. were the first group of causes of the success of Sufi mission in Bengal. Their zeal was no great that it was not curbed or cheeked by personal losses, regal tyranny and even assassination. They all led a very pious and simple life, comfort and pleasures of life they shunned and all kinds of worldly bonds they cut off. In this way, they dedicated their lives for the cause of Islam and for the service of humanity.
Secondly, permanent establishment of Muslim rule in Bengal and the liberal and munificent patronage extended to the Sufis by the sultans were the other causes that contributed to the success of the Sufi proselytizing propaganda in Bengal.
Thirdly, at the time when Sufis came over to this country Buddhism and Hinduism were two prominent religions of Bengal. During the time Palas kingdom, Buddhism was the state religion. After the ruined of Buddhist kingdom Hindu Sen dynasty established their kingdom. The followers of Buddhist religion were suppressed and oppressed by Hindu king. They were bound to convert in Hindu faith. Among the Hindu followers were four types, viz. Brahman, Khaitrya, Baisshya and Sudra. The lower types of Hindus were oppressed by higher type.
While the social and religious condition of the people was such, the Sufis came here with carrying with them the message of Islam. Islam is ever famous for its strong monotheistic belief in God, and for its theoretical and practical teachings of universal brotherhood. Islam sufficiently possesses those qualities which can easily satisfy spiritual cravings of the masses. When by the by the continuous activities of the Sufis, those inherent quality made familiar to the masses, who were already groaning under social tyranny and sufferings from the agony of spiritual yearnings of soul, they gathered round the saintly preaches known as the Sufi and readily changed their old faith to new one. The Muslim hardly made any distinction between a convert Muslim and a born Muslim. Only the change of faith at once offered the masses a golden opportunity to rise their social status to the status of their rulers the Muslim and to satisfy their hearts by the adoption of a simple and easily understandable creed like Islam.
During the period of Indian predominance over the Muslims of Bengal, a number of Sufi order and sub-order were introduced into Bengal. Among these orders Suhrawardi order of India had the credit to be the first Sufi order that was introduced to Bengal by Shayekh jalaluddin Tabarizi in 1225 A. D. He came to Bengal just on the eve of the Turki conquest of this country. He converted a number of Hindus mostly belonging to lower castes. The last Hindu king, is to have built for him a Mosque and a Khanqah at pandua but we exactly do not know, wheather he left any reputed spiritual successor behind him. The next great saint of this order was Makhdum Jahaniya Mujarrad-i-yamani
In the wake of suhrawardi order, Chisti Sufis entered into Bengal to preach Islam. The first Sufi of this order was Shayekh Fariduddin shakarganj in 1296 A. D. His field of activities was in Eastern Bengal, when he was preaching in Eastern Bengal another saint of this order name Abdullah Kirmani was active in Western part of Bengal. The third great saint of this order was shayekh Akhi Sirajuddin Badayuni in 1357 A. D. He was sent to Bengal by his spiritual guide Nizamuddin Awliya of Delhi for an avowed intention of propagating Islam in this country. When he died he left behind him a long line of spiritual successors, who led aloft the banner of the Chisti order in Bengal for generation to come.
The Naqshibandi order of Indian Saint first came to Bengal during the lifetime of Mujadded-i-alf Sani. The first Sufi of this order who introduced into Bengal was Shayekh Hamid Danishmand. The influence of the Naqshibandi on the Muslim of Bengal is of very recent origin, beginning only from the seventeenth century A. D.
The next and probable the last order was the order of the Qadiri. The earliest Sufi belonging to this order was Hazrat Shah Qamis. He made many desciples in different parts of the country and his followers are knownas as Qamisiyah Darvishes. On his death, he was succeded by sayyed Abdur Razzaq.
These are the chief orders that were successively introduced into Bengal by the Sufis of the Northern India. Sufism of Bengal being a continuation of Sufism in Northern India.
Taking the general line of Sufi thought into consideration we may classify the sufis into the following periods:
Early period: Duration of this period was from twelfth century to fourteenth century A. D. This was the period of the spread of Islam in Bengal from Northern India. Almost all the Sufis of Bengal belonging to this age were the disciples of Suhrawardi and Chisti Sufi order.
Middle period: Duration of this period was from fifteenth century to seventeenth century A. D. This was a period of steady consolidation of Muslim thought and of gradual accommodation of local influence in Bengal. The stimulating political atmosphere created by the independent sultans of Bengal, gave ample opportunities to Sufis to settle down permanently in the various parts of the country and to come in close contact with the people. Another feature of this period was involvement of Bengali Sufis in the politics of the country.
Third period: This period was from eighteenth century to nineteenth century A. D. From the latter part of the middle period signs did not want to prognosticate the early advent of this period. It was a period of decay and corrosion and of moral and spiritual degradation of the Bengali Sufis. The whole religious life of the Bengali Muslims was thoroughly affected by the environment under which it was living. The practice of Pir-murshidi was so much accentuated during this period that the whole mystic creed of the Sufis had to give way to it. Muslims began to believe that initiation to a Pir is absolutely binding on them. Such a belief gradually gave birth to a polytheistic devotion in minds of the people and they began to give votive offerings to Pir’s dead or alive.
After observing history we find four centers of Sufi activities:
Veranda center: It is located in Maldah, Dinajpur, Rangpur, Purnima, Rajmahal and its surrounding places. This is the most important center of Bengali with regard to the history of its saints. It seems that the activities of the first Muslim preachers in this tract are chronicled more satisfactorily than of those in other tracts. The Sufis of this center enhanced the prestige of the Muslim of the Bengal by their piety, education, culture and activities. Most prominent Sufis of this center are Shayekh Jalaluddin Tabarizi, Shayekh Akhi Sirajuddin Badayni, Shayekh Alauddin, Shayekh nuruddin Qutb, Shayekh Hisam uddin, Shayekh Rada Biyabani, Shayekh Khalil, Shayekh Shah, Shayekh Niamatullah, and Shah Ismail.
Radha center: It is located with Burdwan, Midnapur, Hugly, Birbhum and Bannkara. Sufi activities in this center were not continuous. Only sporadic attempts were made by individual saints to proselytize the Hindu inhabitants of the localities where they settled. Most prominent Sufis of this center were Shah Muhammad Gaznawi, Shah Abdullah, Shah Sultan Ansari, Shayekh Hamid Danishmand, Shah Mir Dhakir, Shah Saifuddin Shahid, Shah Abdullah Kirmani, Shah Zahiruddin, Haji Bahram Saqqa, Pir Badar, Shah Anwar, Shah quli Halbi, Khwaja Anwar Shah
Vanga center: It is located in Mymensingh, Pabna, Bogra, Rajsahi, Dhaka, Faridpur, and Barisal. From the chronological point of view, this seems to be the most ancient center among all the Sufi center of Bengal. Non-indian Sufi activities are traditionally traceable in this center from a time as early as the eleventh century A. D. The number of the Sufis of this center is a large one. From the fourteenth century A. D. Sufis from Northern India and many other parts of the country, began to flock to this part of Bengal. Most prominent Sufis of this center were Shah Sultan Balkhi, Shah Sultan Rumi, Baba Adam shahid, Shah Dawlah shahid, Shah Jalal, Sayyidul Arifin, Shah Makhdum, and Shah Ali Baghdadi.
Chattla center: It is situated in Chittagong, Tippera, Noakhali and Sylhet. Main point of this center was the district Chittagong, which is traditionally known as the land of twelve awliya. Amongst these twelve awliya Pir Barad is generally regarded as the first and the greatest awliya, who brought the message of Islam to this remote area of Bengal. It is almost certain that twelve Sufis did not came to Chittagong together; they came to the district either in group of two or three or one by one in intervals. Most prominent Sufis of this center were Pir Badar, Bayzid Bostami, Baba Fariduddin, Shah Badruddin, Shah Muhsin, Shah Pir, Shah Umar, Shah Badl, Chand awliya, and Shah Muakkil
Now easily we may conclude that, Sufi history in Bengal started in eleventh century A. D. It was truly a pious attempt of preaching Islam. The earliest Sufis of Bengal was so much intelligent. They observed the situation truly and preached Islam under rough circumstances. But at the age of eighteenth century, when Sufis were politically patronized, the real picture of Sufi movement was demolished. Implicit polytheism had taken place with Pir-murshidi concept.
Writer: Jaklan Habib
is not sufism bidat??
© The author and anpere
ISSN 1653-6355.
Published 2007-02-21
1
Ritual and Charisma in
Naqshbandi Sufi Mysticism
by
Ken Lizzio, Ph.D.
Over the past twenty-five years or so, the post-everything (post-modernism, structuralism,
colonialism, positivism), the attempt to portray “how the natives think”
(or thought), or even what they are doing when they do what they do, has come in
for a good deal of moral, political, and philosophical attack. The mere claim “to
know better,” which it would seem any anthropologist would have at least implicitly
to make, seems at least faintly illegitimate. To say something about the forms of
life of Hawaiians (or anybody else) that Hawaiians do not themselves say opens one
to the charge that one is writing out other people’s consciousness for them, scripting
their souls.
-Clifford Geertz
As in all intellectual debates, both sides tend to be correct in what they affirm and
wrong in what they deny.
-John Stuart Mill
Abstract
This article is an ethnographic study of an Islamic mystical (Sufi) order based in the
tribal area of Pakistan. Fieldwork was conducted in 1996-1997 as a participantobserver
of the order and at other sites in and around Pakistan. By using broader
methods and theory more appropriate to the analysis of mysticism, the article aims
to challenge previous ethnographic studies of the Sufi orders that attributed their
existence largely to social, political, and economic factors. By more clearly defining
both the nature of saintly charisma and the mystical ritual process, it argues that
the raison d’être of the orders is the cultivation of deeper states of consciousness. It
concludes by calling for a new theoretical framework, a “transcendental anthropology”
more appropriate to elucidating mystical states and practices.
In the Fall of 1991, while working in Pakistan, I met Pir Saifur Rahman and his disciples at their
hospice in the wooly Khyber Tribal Agency of Pakistan.1 Saifur Rahman is an Islamic mystic of the
Mujaddidi branch of the Naqshbandi order of Sufism. Although I had done academic work on
Sufism, I had never actually met a Sufi or visited a Sufi hospice, but I thought I had a pretty good
idea of what I would find. I was about to see most of my preconceptions dissolve before my eyes.
1 The term pir, which literally means “old man” in Persian, is an honorific given to Sufi masters. Many other
terms are employed to denote spiritual mastery, the most common being shaikh (chief) and murshid (master).
© The author and anpere
ISSN 1653-6355.
Published 2007-02-21
2
When I arrived that afternoon at the hospice, I was told that the Pir was resting and would not
be out until sunset prayer. In the intervening time, I conversed with several of his disciples under a
verandah used for receiving guests. Among the Pir’s visitors that day were a businessman from
Karachi, two local merchants, two Afghan mujahiddin fighters in the war against the Soviet-backed
government in Kabul, and some college students. In short, my interlocutors were a cross section of
modern Pakistani-Afghan society. In the course of an otherwise intelligent conversation about
Sufism, a few would suddenly ejaculate, “Ya‘llah!” (Oh, God!). Another’s torso would suddenly jerk
and twist as if a shiver had run up his spine. Another peculiar thing I noticed was a pronounced
beating of their hearts beneath their shirts. Their pupils were dilated as if in trance, yet they were
fully alert and articulate. Apart from these strange and bewildering phenomena, my interlocutors
were, as far as I could discern, entirely normal, rational, and sane.
Around five o’clock, the Pir entered the courtyard clad in a shimmering turquoise cloak and an
immaculate white turban. I expected the disciples to gather for prayer quietly and without fanfare,
like monks. Instead, some of the men with whom I had conversed moments before suddenly began
weeping, screaming, and shaking uncontrollably. One disciple shook the Pir’s hand and recoiled
screaming as if he had touched something hot. Another man fell to the ground at the sight of the
shaikh, his body writhing violently in the dust. Unmoved by these histrionics, the Pir strolled
imperiously about the courtyard, greeting everyone, including myself, warmly and with perfect
equanimity.
I was instructed to sit under the verandah until the prayer session ended. When it was
finished, I was taken into the hospice library where I was introduced to another Sufi, Pir Habibur
Rahman. Habib’s sobriquet was pir-i piran, signifying he was a master of other Sufi masters. He had
flashing green eyes and a mischievous smile. I explained to him that I had a Master’s degree in
Sufism, considered myself something of an expert on the subject, and had always wanted to visit a
Sufi hospice. He seemed genuinely impressed by my assertions. We then embarked on wide-ranging
discussion of Sufi literature. At one point, I was quoting a verse from the Turkish mystic poet
Jalaladin Rumi’s (d.1273) Divan-i Shams-i Tabriz when one of the disciples, a university student,
leaned over my shoulder to interject something. Habib looked over my right shoulder at him, and
the young man was cut short in mid-sentence. He began to shake uncontrollably as if he were
having a grand mal seizure. He fell backward on the floor where his paroxysms continued
undiminished. Shocked, I turned around and looked askance at Habib. But his smiling countenance
had turned sour. He scoffed in Persian, “Sufism! What do you know about Sufism?