A review of the movement for implementation of Deen in Sub-Continent, factual situation of Hadrat Sultan Bahoo’s period and his contributions

I am grateful to the great grand-sons of Hadrat Sultan Bahoo for affording me an opportunity to present this short research paper titled: ‘A review of the movement for implementation of ‘Deen’ in Sub-Continent, factual situation of Hadrat Sultan Bahoo’s period and his contributions’. The topic has two distinct parts: (1) ‘Reviewing the implementation of ‘Deen’ in Sub-Continent’ (2) ‘Revisiting Sultan Bahoo’s period and his contributions’. Although, in a short paper like this, it is not possible to cover all aspects of the given topic, however, I have tried to explain briefly, the Muslim conquests of India and the role played by Hadrat Sultan Bahoo for the emancipation of Islam in the Sub-Continent during his period.

Hadrat Sultan Bahoo’s period

To review the movement for implementation of ‘Deen’ in the Sub-Continent, it will be in the fitness of things to briefly go through the corridor of history. As a matter of fact, during the course of history, many invaders conquered India, but they could not hold on any part of the sub-continent for long and Hinduism absorbed and assimilated all foreign invaders and cultures after short durations. Even the invaders like Greeks, Kushans, Bactrians, Sakas, and Huns could not hold their political and cultural control over India and with the passage of time all these foreign cultures were absorbed into Hinduism. The situation, however, changed qualitatively when Islam came to India with a highly developed philosophy and theology. Despite Hinduism’s constant political and cultural onslaughts, Islam could not be absorbed in Hinduism. Islam first came to sub-continent, with the advent of Muhammad Bin Qasim during the eighth century from the Arab world, and later on through the gateways of Kabul and Kandhar in North-West. Hence Islamic principles of equality, moral ethics, distribution of Zakat among poor and offering prayers, based on Quranic teachings and the Tradition of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), attracted the local Hindus towards Islam. This fact may not be ignored that with Islamic conquests, Ulema, Masahikh and Sufia Ikram (Muslim Saints) also came to India and established Mosques, Madrassas, Khanqas, and religious Darbars to preach Islam, resultantly a large number of Hindus and Sikhs accepted Islam during Muslim Rule in Sub-Continent spread over 1000 years. In spite of being one-fourth of the population, until Muslims followed the teachings of Quran and the Tradition of the Prophet, they remained the masters of their destiny, but when they digressed from the Islamic rituals and teachings, their commanding position also declined gradually.

Nur-ul-huda

After Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), the unity of Ummah remained intact, as Sahaba e Ikram and the Family of the Prophet based their lives on fear of Allah and love of the Prophet, therefore, Shariah and Tariqah remained unified as a single entity in Islam. The word ‘Tasawaf’ signifying spiritual love for Allah and His Messenger was used much later for describing Tariqah. However, Hinduism failed to control the conversion of Hindus to Islam despite adopting harsh social measures including a complete social boycott of Hindus who converted to Islam. In further accelerating the social movement against Muslim growth in the sub-continent Hinduism encouraged ‘Bhakti Movement’ for creating a schism in the House of Islam. Hinduism was successful during the period of Emperor Akbar, who was forced to review the religious policy under the influence of Rajputs. Akbar removed Jazya (Islamic Tax) and started inducting Hindus in the royal court through compulsory military service, which considerably lowered the influence of Muslims in the royal court. Taking advantage of the changed policy of the royal court, Hinduism encouraged Bhakti Movement to launch a spiritual attack against the decaying Muslim position in the royal court and check the numerical growth of Muslims in Sub-Continent. Hindu and Sikh Bhakats preached identity of religion and brotherhood of man by propagating the so-called similarities in Islam and Hinduism i.e., Ram and Rahim, Kishwar and Karim, Kaaba and Kailash, Quran and Puran in their lectures and devotional songs. In view of Akbar’s secular-religious policy, the Muslim Saints saw the transformation of Hindu revivalism under the umbrella of Emperor Akbar, with anxiety. Mujaddid Alif Sani, a Muslim Saint of his time, however, raised voice against the secular policy of the Mughal king. He was arrested during Emperor Jehangir’s era but was set free due to likely reaction of Muslim Ulema and Sufia Ikram. Bhakti Movement though succeeded in creating some sort of schism in Muslim Ummah but failed to absorb Islam in Hinduism. However, Bhakats gradually succeeded in promoting internal conflicts among Muslims by dividing the House of Islam into two cults i.e., ‘Wahadtul Shahood’ and ‘Wahdatul Wajood’. The situation continued as such during the era of Jehangir and Shah Jehan until Emperor Aurangzaib reversed the process once again converting sub-continent into Darul Islam. But, in spite of being a staunch Muslim, Aurangzaib never crossed the limits of Islam and his attitude remained tolerant of other religions. Aurangzaib knew it well that since the days of Akbar, the tie of Islam had slackened so he wanted to bring back the waning glory of Islam in the Sub-Continent. He reversed Akbar’s secular policy by re-imposing Jazya (Islamic Tax) on non-Muslims and abolished compulsory military service for Hindus in lieu of Jizya. Aurangzaib was criticized by Hindu writers and historian for being harsh on Hinduism but a British political scientist Alexander Hamilton, who visited India during the later part of Aurangzaib’s reign, greatly appreciated the tolerant policy of the Emperor. In one of his write-ups, Hamilton wrote, “Everyone is free to serve and worship God in his own way”.