By Sarwat Ali

The News, June 21, 2015

A particularly useful book that liberates Sufism from conventional definitions and places it within the context of time and place

Two aspects stand out very prominently in this work on Sufism in general and Sindhi Sufism in particular. Michel Boivin has rightly emphasised on the vernacular nature of Sufism in the area and he has also placed Sufism in the historical context and its changing complexion according to the demands of those changing times.

There are two traditions within Sufism — the major and the minor tradition. The major stands for Sufism as it may have developed in the Muslim heartland of Arabia and then Iran but the minor tradition relates to all other areas and regions that were influenced by the Sufic attitude, the major chunk of that being in India. A region like Sindh that has thrived even within the greater nomenclature of India is the focus of study by the author.

He concedes that the language of Sufism is part of the cultural ecumene which straddles most of the north western part of Indian subcontinent including present day Sindh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Punjab, (both Indian and Pakistani). Although the main languages used like Sindhi, Punjabi, Seraiki, Urdu, Hindi and Gujarati with all their variants are obviously interrelated, the unity of the region extends beyond the linguistic affiliation. The region’s cohesiveness is also reflected in the recurrent motifs and themes of literary forms, music and art of these cultures.

Sindh does indeed have a very distinct nuance within the larger spectrum of Sufism but it would be wrong to label it as a deviation. Usually when a relationship is drawn between the major and minor tradition or between high and low culture, the bias is always in favour of the major or high tradition. The names have this intrinsic bias but then there is a need to liberate oneself from this equation of what is right and wrong and to study it in its individual capacity. Sufism within the Indian context has an individual existence which needn’t be compared to another tradition even if it is from sources closest to where Islam originated from.

To make Islam a product of one particular region or culture is a fallacy that has been followed or touted for too long. It is not so and it is supposed to have grown independently in line with the local conditions, environment and intellectual challenges. To study one in relation to the other as judgment is thus superficial.

This also brings us to the other strand — that of placing it within the historical context — for then it becomes clear that it has changed and evolved according to the exigencies of the times. There is no prototype or a fixed model but it has roots that have struck according to the realities of the age and era.

Sufism in Sindh is therefore very peculiar because it has struck the local chord and also because it is supposed to have and is still fulfilling a certain need, which may not only be spiritual but also political, sociological, anthropological and cultural. This book is particularly useful because it liberates Sufism from the conventional definitions and places it within the context of time and place.

During the Arab rule, the first Sufis were ascetics. Some scholars state it was Abu Ali al Sindhi, the mystical master who introduced Bastami to some Hindu concepts. Bastami is known for being the first exponent of the concept of fana which could be considered as an Islamised version of the Hindu concept of nirvana. The first notable Sufi to have visited Sindh was Mansoor Hallaj but though many legends related to Hallaj occurred in Sindh, there is no place in Sindh devoted to him.

Among the earliest ascetic figures associated with Sindh is Haji Turabi, his shrine located in deltic Sindh close to Thatta and to the ancient town of Bhambhore. But it is very difficult to say who he was, a mystic, a warrior or a governor. Pir Patho metonymically is a place where Pir Patho’s tomb stands. The site is composed of two parts, the cemetery where the tomb stands and presumably the mosque of Muhammid bin Qasim. The complex figure of Pir Patho is related to the Sumra rule in Sindh and Sumras were in part converted to Ismailism and called Qaramitah spread as far as Multan. Mahmud of Ghazni razed the city in 1005. Similarly Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (1274) did not necessarily follow the sharia and these extreme orders were tamed and later absorbed by the dominant tariqats.

It is possible that the second wave of Sufis came to Sindh to challenge the Ismalia power. Around that time, the first Suharwardi Sufis arrived in the Indian subcontinent introduced by Bahauddin Zikria in the thirteenth century. Then Qadariyas and Naqshbandias in the sixteenth century institutionalised Sufism in Sindh.

The oldest literature found in Sindh prior to the evolution of Sindhi language is the Ismaili ginans of Pir Satgur Nur (1079). The first specimens of the ginans were followed by Pir Sadruddin (1409), also the first composer of kafis. Most scholars in Sindh more or less accept Qazi Qazan as the author of the oldest known Sindhi poetry and he gave lot of importance to Sama. And in this atmosphere was born Shah Latif Bhitai. All these spiritual developments were removed from the legalistic interpretation of religion.

With the coming of the British, the Sindhi language was formalised and through the objectification of the printed word canonisation took place. British represented Sufism devoted to constructing the classical culture based on Sufi Persian poetry similar to that of Greco Roman classical culture. The educated classes in Sindh started to use their new skills on their own vernacular religious culture, thus consolidating the concept of Sindhi identity.