How Sufism was introduced in Kashmir
About Us | Contact Us | E-Paper
Title :    Text :    Source : 

How Sufism was introduced in Kashmir

The history of Sufism in Kashmir is spread over a long period of time starting from Bulbul Shah to the Sufi poets. Sufi saints are still inspiring people of Kashmir by their subtle mystical insights

Post by on Friday, August 20, 2021

First slide
Sufism, Islamic mysticism that began to develop in the 7th century, the first century of Islam. The term Sufi (Arabic, “man of wool”) was coined in the early 9th century as a name for mystics whose ascetic practices included wearing coarse woolen garments, or sufu; soon the term referred to all mystics, whether or not they followed ascetic practices. Sufism arose out of various influences, among them a mystical overtone in some of the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), the founder of Islam; a desire to escape the hardships due to the social and political upheavals of the time; and a tendency toward quietism in reaction to the worldliness and extravagance of the early caliphs.
 
By the 9th century AD the Sufis claimed to have methods of finding mystic knowledge of God, or Allah. The Sufi mystic, described as a pilgrim on a journey, follows a path of seven stages: repentance, abstinence, renunciation, poverty, patience, trust in God, and acquiescence to the will of God. Then, with the grace of God, a higher level of consciousness is attained, in which knowledge, the knower, and the known are realized as one. Some mystics believed that the supreme experience of union with God could not be expressed in words; others who tried to express it scandalized the orthodox by ecstatically proclaiming their identity with God. Eventually, formal pantheistic doctrines merged; statements that the universe and God are actually one further outraged the orthodox, which believed that God, as creator of the world, transcends it. In addition, although most early Sufis conscientiously observed the religious law, some scorned it outright, proclaiming their inner light a sufficient source of religious guidance.
 
In the late 11th and early 12th centuries, the Islamic philosopher and theologian al-Ghazzali finally reconciled the orthodox to mysticism. He de-emphasized the pantheistic aspects of Sufism, maintaining, on the one hand, that the individual should strive to attain the Divine Presence, but, on the other hand, that the good Sufi must live in peace with the rest of the community. The Islamic community accepted his interpretation of Islam, which stressed the personal, emotional relationship of the individual to God, within a century after his death. Sufism then became a vital force, winning over many more people, especially in western Asia, to orthodox Islam.
 
In the 8th century Sufi monastic communities were founded where devotees practiced mystical exercises. In the middle Ages the great Sufi orders, which had several million adherents, were established; about 100 orders still exist, many of them in Iran. One of the most influential founders of orders was the Persian poet Jalal al-Din Mohammed Rumi, who, in addition to composing poetry and other works, instituted devotional dances, particularly those of the whirling dervishes, his disciples, called the order of the Malawiya (in Arabic), or Mevlevi (in Turkish), have their headquarters at Konya, Turkey. In addition to the members of these orders, many wandering Sufi mendicants, or fakirs, have appeared over the centuries. Many have been genuinely pious, but those who were merely fraudulent beggars brought disrepute to Sufism. From the Middle Ages onward, Sufism influenced many poets, especially in Persia (later Iran), where the most brilliant poetry has been Sufi.
                                                            
The history of Sufism in Kashmir is spread over a long period of time starting from Bulbul Shah to the Sufi poets. Sufi saints are still inspiring people of Kashmir by their subtle mystical insights. The Suharwardi, Naqashbandi and Qadri Sufi Orders have also played a very great role in the process of Islamisation of Kashmir. The localized Rishi version of Sufi teachings, and a central figure in this regard was Shaykh Nooruddin, popularly known as Nund Reshi took this process to its logical conclusion. Islam came to Kashmir from Central Asia and later on was accommodated within the Kashmirian ethos, which was shaped by diverse factors over a large period of time. The local people of Kashmir received the influences from Hinduism, Buddhism, and Zoroastrianism. Even the Sufis had imbibed some elements, which were considered anti-Shariah by some authors. For example, Mirza Haider laments about the “Un-Islamic and anti-Shari’at ways of Sufis.”
 
Moreover, the secularization process started with the coming of the Sufis from other parts of Islamic world.  According to G.M.D.Sufi: “… These Syeds and their followers seem to have stimulated the tendency to mysticism for which Buddhism and Vedantism had already paved the way”.   
 
Another author says, “Popular saint singers became the apostles of a synthesis and rapprochement, aided by common points in Advaita and Sufism”. But it should not be misconstrued by this fact that the role of Islam was marginalised and overshadowed by the local influences, as the problem of Sufism is to be viewed always in its global perspective, and Kashmir was not an exception to it. Since the Suharwardi, Naqashbandi, Qadiria, Kubarawi and Rishi schools of Sufi thought flourished side by side in Kashmir, the interplay of various foreign and local elements in the flouring of Kashmir mysticism can easily be discerned. 
 
Sufism came to Kashmir after the emergence of Khanqahs and Silsilas had taken form at various places in the Islamic world. Though almost simultaneously with the foundation of Muslim rule in Kashmir (720/1320), Sufism was introduced there. Still there are evidences that Islam had made its inroads long before the establishment of Muslim rule in Kashmir. But there is no doubt that the systematic and well-organized Sufi activities began only towards the end of the fourteenth century. Hence forward Sufis like Sayyid Ali Hamadani, Mir Muhammad, Saiyid Jamaluddin Bukhâri and Saiyid Ismail Shami began to enter Kashmir in quick succession. 
 
One important ideological framework, which can be discerned running through the all activities of foreign and local Sufis and mystics in Kashmir, was based mainly on the works of Ibn ‘Arabi and the Kashmiri Sufis seem to have taken little notice of Shaykh Alaud-Din Simani’s criticism of Wahdat-al-Wajud of Ibn Arabi. A different trend, which emerged after the coming of the Sufis from Persia and Central Asia, was the crude synchronized form of it, which came to force with the development of an indigenous Sufi order known as the Rishism. 
 
 
To start with let us take a close view of some Sufi stalwarts. Much research work has been done on the Kubarawi and Rishi mystical movements of Kashmir. The monumental works of Prof. M. Ishaq Khan, titled as “Kashmir’s Transition to Islam – The Role of Muslim Rishis”.
 
 
 
 
(Author is Head, Department of Religious Studies, Central University of Kashmir. Former Director, Shah-i-Hamadan Institute of Islamic Studies, University of Kashmir Srinagar. He can be reached on hamidnaseem@gmail.com)
 
 
 
Box: A different trend, which emerged after the coming of the Sufis from Persia and Central Asia, was the crude synchronized form of it, which came to force with the development of an indigenous Sufi order known as the Rishism
 
 
 
 

 

Latest Post