Sikhism is the finest blend of Islam and Hinduism, emerging with Guru Nanak and finding its best expression in Ranjit Singh, says Nirupama Dutt
While the Punjab was being ruled by Mughal Emperor Babur, the souls of the people were under the spell of Guru Nanak, whose constant companion was a Muslim musician called Mardana. Guru Nanak (469-1539 A.D), the first Guru of the Sikhs, witnessed the rise of the Mughal regime under the leadership of Babur. The tenth and last of the Sikh Gurus, Guru Gobind Singh (1675-1708), struggled against the rigid Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb and opposed him for discrimination against Hindu and Sikh subjects. The history of the Sikhs thus runs parallel to the rise of the Mughals after the defeat of the Lodhis.
“The Sikhs were the most outstanding example of Hindu renaissance produced by Islam – an edifice built as it were with Hindu bricks and Muslim mortar,” says Khuswant Singh, the celebrated writer, who penned "The History of the Sikhs". He adds, “From A.D 780 onwards, almost year after year came the waves of Islamic conquest, vying with each other in the massacre of Hindus and destruction of their temples, and forcible conversions. The reaction was the emergence of an Indian consciousness which embraced all non-Muslims. It expressed itself in militarism and philosophically in the Hindu schools of thought, which borrowed the best of Islamic beliefs to combat it.”
However, it is pertinent to note that while opposing the injustice of the Muslim rulers, Sikhism was secular in nature and Nanak could not do without Mardana. There are many more examples that point to the secular nature of Sikhism. So much so, that the foundation stone for the Golden Temple at Amritsar was laid by Mian Mir, a Sufi saint of Lahore and a close friend of Guru Arjun Dev, the fifth Guru of the Sikhs. "Guru Granth Sahib", the holy book of Sikhs, includes verses by five Sufi saints: Bhagat Beni, Bhagat Bhikhan, Baba Farid, Bhagat Sadhana and Bhagat Kabir. In Punjab, till date exists a mosque called Guru di Masjid, which was made by Guru Hargobind, the sixth Guru of the Sikhs, for his Muslim disciples. The great Mughal Emperor Akbar, who had a broad secular and liberal outlook, established cordial relationships with the Sikh Gurus, but the goodwill did not last long, and Guru Arjun Dev was executed during Emperor Jehangir’s reign. Another painful chapter in the history of relationship of the Muslims and Sikhs was the execution of Guru Gobind Singh's two younger sons, who were bricked alive by the Nawab of Sindh after the Guru lost his last battle in 1705. The one protest to this ghastly act came from the Nawab of Malerkotla. He wrote a strong letter to Aurangzeb against this, hearing which, Guru said: "His roots will always remain green." During the partition bloodbath in 1947, when Sikhs butchered Muslims mercilessly, not a Mulsim in Malerkotla was touched. The town still comprises of 70 per cent Muslims and all religions live there in peace. Going back into history, the retribution and consolidation of the Sikhs began with Banda Bahadur, a disciple of Guru Gobind Singh in Nanded, carrying out raids against Muslim nawabs in Punjab. The kingdom of the Sikhs (1799 to 1839) came into being with Ranjit Singh taking the title of Maharaja on April 12, 1801, the day of Baisakhi. The coin minted on the occasion had an inscription in Persian: 'My largesse, my victories, my unalloyed fame / I owe to Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh." Well-known Sikh historian JS Grewal says: “The political struggle of the Sikhs can be appreciated not merely in the terms of growing weakness of the Mughal empire but also as an extrapolation of the pontificate of Guru Gobind Singh”.
While the Punjab was being ruled by Mughal Emperor Babur, the souls of the people were under the spell of Guru Nanak, whose constant companion was a Muslim musician called Mardana. Guru Nanak (469-1539 A.D), the first Guru of the Sikhs, witnessed the rise of the Mughal regime under the leadership of Babur. The tenth and last of the Sikh Gurus, Guru Gobind Singh (1675-1708), struggled against the rigid Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb and opposed him for discrimination against Hindu and Sikh subjects. The history of the Sikhs thus runs parallel to the rise of the Mughals after the defeat of the Lodhis.
“The Sikhs were the most outstanding example of Hindu renaissance produced by Islam – an edifice built as it were with Hindu bricks and Muslim mortar,” says Khuswant Singh, the celebrated writer, who penned "The History of the Sikhs". He adds, “From A.D 780 onwards, almost year after year came the waves of Islamic conquest, vying with each other in the massacre of Hindus and destruction of their temples, and forcible conversions. The reaction was the emergence of an Indian consciousness which embraced all non-Muslims. It expressed itself in militarism and philosophically in the Hindu schools of thought, which borrowed the best of Islamic beliefs to combat it.”
However, it is pertinent to note that while opposing the injustice of the Muslim rulers, Sikhism was secular in nature and Nanak could not do without Mardana. There are many more examples that point to the secular nature of Sikhism. So much so, that the foundation stone for the Golden Temple at Amritsar was laid by Mian Mir, a Sufi saint of Lahore and a close friend of Guru Arjun Dev, the fifth Guru of the Sikhs. "Guru Granth Sahib", the holy book of Sikhs, includes verses by five Sufi saints: Bhagat Beni, Bhagat Bhikhan, Baba Farid, Bhagat Sadhana and Bhagat Kabir. In Punjab, till date exists a mosque called Guru di Masjid, which was made by Guru Hargobind, the sixth Guru of the Sikhs, for his Muslim disciples. The great Mughal Emperor Akbar, who had a broad secular and liberal outlook, established cordial relationships with the Sikh Gurus, but the goodwill did not last long, and Guru Arjun Dev was executed during Emperor Jehangir’s reign. Another painful chapter in the history of relationship of the Muslims and Sikhs was the execution of Guru Gobind Singh's two younger sons, who were bricked alive by the Nawab of Sindh after the Guru lost his last battle in 1705. The one protest to this ghastly act came from the Nawab of Malerkotla. He wrote a strong letter to Aurangzeb against this, hearing which, Guru said: "His roots will always remain green." During the partition bloodbath in 1947, when Sikhs butchered Muslims mercilessly, not a Mulsim in Malerkotla was touched. The town still comprises of 70 per cent Muslims and all religions live there in peace. Going back into history, the retribution and consolidation of the Sikhs began with Banda Bahadur, a disciple of Guru Gobind Singh in Nanded, carrying out raids against Muslim nawabs in Punjab. The kingdom of the Sikhs (1799 to 1839) came into being with Ranjit Singh taking the title of Maharaja on April 12, 1801, the day of Baisakhi. The coin minted on the occasion had an inscription in Persian: 'My largesse, my victories, my unalloyed fame / I owe to Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh." Well-known Sikh historian JS Grewal says: “The political struggle of the Sikhs can be appreciated not merely in the terms of growing weakness of the Mughal empire but also as an extrapolation of the pontificate of Guru Gobind Singh”.
The empire of Maharaja Ranjit Singh extended from Tibet to the deserts of Sindh and from the Khyber Pass to the Sutlej. It was after many centuries that the reigns of power went into the hands of a non-Muslim. In contrast to the Muslim rulers, Ranjit Singh showed a spirit of secularism and openness and thus carried his Muslim and Hindu subjects along with him, showing benevolence at every step. When he first captured Lahore, he went to pay obeisance at Lahore’s Badshahi Mosque and also built a small mosque in the same complex. Such was his confidence that for the first time in Sikh history, he let non-Sikhs take part in military activity. Sikhs constituted 15 percent of his empire, Hindus 25 percent and the remaining 60 percent were Muslims!
Chandigarh-based historian GS Dhillon says: “The secularism of Ranjit Singh emerged with the basic tenets of Sikhism, which were against the forcible conversion or discrimination of any kind on the basis of religion. He thus participated in the rituals of all three religions and remained a devout Sikh.” Once he told his foreign minister Fakir Azizuddin, “God intended my looking upon all religions with one eye, that is why I was deprived of the other eye.”
He was the first Punjabi ruler of Punjab and the Muslims were equally loyal to him. Governor General Lord Auckland asked Azizuddin, which of the Maharaja's eyes was missing. He replied: “The Maharaja is like the sun, and the sun has only one eye. The splendor and luminosity of his single eye is so much that I have never dared to look at his other eye.” As the story goes, a poor Muslim had written out the Quran and was going to Delhi to sell it in the court. Ranjit Singh asked him how much he wanted and was paid twice the amount.
Ranjit Singh’s rule was a chapter of glory in the history of Punjab that will remain unsurpassed, and it was for the Sufi poet Shah Mohammad of Wadala Veeram village in Amritsar district to say that the Maharaja converted the land of the five rivers from 'an abode of sorrow to a garden of paradise.'
The poet lived on much after the Maharaja to see the empire annexed by the British and recorded the bravery of the Sikhs in the Anglo-Sikh wars and cursed the British for being unjust to Punjab.
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