Islam and Sikhism

"Sri Aurobindo, for one, insisted on the radically different spirit in Sikhism as compared with Islam: 'Those ways of Indian cult which most resemble a popular form of Theism, are still something more; for they do not exclude, but admit the many aspects of God. (...) The later religious forms which most felt the impress of the Islamic idea, like Nanak's worship of the timeless One, Akla, and the reforming creeds of today, born under the influence of the West, yet draw away from the limitations of western or Semitic monotheism. Irresistibly they turn from these infantile conceptions towards the fathomless truth of Vedanta.'"

"I learn from the news-letter of Shah Alam’s camp sent by Khwajah Mubarak that nearly 20,000 Hindus, who call themselves the Khalsa of Govind the follower of Nanak, had assembled and gone to the country of the Barakzai under the escort of the Yusufzai Afghans, and that the men of the escort and other Afghans of the neighbourhood of the Nilab river had fallen on them, so that the party had been killed or drowned. The Emperor orders that the prince should imprison these misbelievers, and expel them from that district."

"Aurangzib ordered the temples of the Sikhs to be destroyed and the guru’s agents (masanda) for collecting the tithes and presents of the faithful to be expelled from the cities."

"I shall make men of all four castes lions and destroy the Mughals."

"Mecca is an ancient place of pilgrimage, and there is Linga of Mahadeva here. It was presided over by the Brahmanas. One of the Brahmanas, though born among them, became a Musalman. He subverted the Atharvaveda and renamed it as Furqan. His own name was Muhammad which means the same as Mahadeva. He, however, vitiated all other names, so that Hindu names stood cancelled and Muslim names came into vogue. He swore by God, but got cows butchered. All Brahmanas were forced to fall away from the proper path, though they continued raising cries to Allah. The Kalima says that God is one, but Muhammad got his own name mixed up with that of God. He sent out an order to the wide world that all should become Musalmans. Most of those who were men of substance did not obey the order; but those who were tormented by want rallied round him. He concocted some sort of a creed, and taught it to them. They joined him for plundering the people; no one joined him with any other motive."

"The violence (of the Sikhs) passed all bounds. The injuries and indignities they inflicted on Musulmans, and the destruction of mosques and tombs, were looked upon by them as righteous meritorious acts."

"“Maharaja Ajit Singh took back the Maharani, his daughter who had been married to Farrukh Siyar, with all her Jewels… he made her throw off her Musalman dress, dismissed her Muhammadan attendants and sent her to her native country… In the reign of no former Emperor had any Raja been so presumptuous as to take his daughter after she had been married to a king and admitted to the honour of Islam.”"

"…There are three groups in Hindustan which are known for the qualities of fanaticism and zeal. So long as these three are not exterminated, no king can feel secure, nor any noble. The people (read Muslims) also will not be able to live in peace. Religious as well as worldly interests dictate that soon after winning the war with the Marhatahs, you should turn towards the forts of the Jats, and conquer them with the blessings from the hidden (occult) world. Next is the turn of the Sikhs. This group should also be defeated, while waiting for grace from Allah. …I appeal to you in the name of Allah and his Prophet that you should not cast your eye on the property of any Muslim. If you take care in this regard, there is hope that the doors of victory will be opened to you one after another. But if this caution is ignored, I fear that the wails of the oppressed may become obstacles in the way towards your goal."

"It is a mistake, if Nanak is represented as having endeavoured to unite the Hindu and Muhammadan ideas about God. Nanak remained a thorough Hindu, according to all his views; and if he had communionship with Musalmans, and many of these even became his disciples, it was owing to the fact that Sufism, which all these Muhammadans were professing, was in reality nothing but a Pantheism, derived directly from Hindu sources, and only outwardly adapted to the forms of the Islam. Hindu and Muslim Pantheists could well unite together, as they entertained essentially the same ideas about the Supreme."

"[Bachitar Natak of Dasam Granth written (c.1690) describes how Aurangzeb dealt with civilians who had come to pay respects to the Sikh Guru.] Their houses were plundered, wealth destroyed, their heads shaven, urinated upon, publicly paraded, jeered upon, beaten with shoes and finally sent to death."

"The Sikhs had a clear enemy to mobilize against: the Muslims. Sikh texts of the period are strongly, sometimes virulently, hostile to them: “The true Khalsa is one who carries arms and slays Muslims.” A Sikh should not befriend a Muslim, trust his word or oath, drink water from his hands, sleep in his company, be influenced by his opinions, or eat his food at a gathering. 160 Moreover, we can reasonably suspect that this hostility was tinged with emulation: the stress on communal solidarity, communal militancy, and the aspiration to rule look very much like a Hindu appropriation of Islam, an attempt—­by no means unsuccessful—­to beat the Muslims at their own game."

"In the end of September, Master Tara Singh and Udham Singh Nagoke issued a statement calling upon the Sikhs to stop the murder of Muslims. The appeal, however, was not happily worded and came in for a great deal of criticism from the Pakistan Authorities. While pointing out that the Sikhs and Hindus had been “guilty of most shameful attacks upon women and children in the communal warfare" and asking them to “stop all retaliation” the Sikh leaders said, “ We do not desire friendship of the Muslims and we may never befriend them. We may have to fight again but we shall fight a clean fight - -man killing man. This killing of women and children and those who seek asylum must cease at once. . . . There should be no attacks on refugee trains, convoys and caravans. We ask you to do so chiefly in the interests of your own communities, reputations, character and tradition than to save the Muslims.” An exhortation of this type was scarcely calculated to check the non-Muslim frenzy in East Punjab."

"Aurangzeb ordered the temples of the Sikhs to be destroyed and the guru's agents (masands) for collecting the tithes and presents of the faithful to be expelled from the cities."

"Never associate with a Muslim nor trust his word. Never drink water from a Muslim’s hands, never eat his food, and never sleep in his company. Do not be influenced by anything a Muslim may say..."

"The conclusion to which we are led is that Islamic influence evidently operated upon the thought of Guru Nanak, but that in no case can we accord this influence a fundamental significance."

"It is accordingly incorrect to interpret the religion of Guru Nanak as a synthesis of Hindu belief and Islam. It is indeed a synthesis, but one in which Islamic elements are relatively unimportant. The pattern evolved by Gurt Nanak is a reworking of the Sant synthesis, one which does not depart far from Sant sources as far as its fundamental components are concerned. The categories employed by Guru Nanak are the categories of the Sants, the terminology he uses is their terminology, and the doctrines he affirms are their doctrines. This is not to suggest, however, that Guru Nanak’s thought was a precise copy of what earlier Sants had developed. He inherited the components of his thought from the Sants, but he did not transmit his inheritance unchanged. He received a synthesis and he passed it on, but he did so in a form which was in some measure amplified, and in considerable measure clarified and integrated."

"In the Dark Age of Kali Yuga, the Atharva Veda became prominent; Allah became the Name of God."

"There are five prayers and five times of day for prayer; the five have five names. Let the first be truthfulness, the second honest living, and the third charity in the Name of God. Let the fourth be good will to all, and the fifth the praise of the Lord. Repeat the prayer of good deeds, and then, you may call yourself a Muslim. O Nanak, the false obtain falsehood, and only falsehood."

"It is difficult to be called a Muslim; if one is truly a Muslim, then he may be called one. First, let him savor the religion of the Prophet as sweet; then, let his pride of his possessions be scraped away. Becoming a true Muslim, a disciple of the faith of Mohammed, let him put aside the delusion of death and life. As he submits to God's Will, and surrenders to the Creator, he is rid of selfishness and conceit. And when, O Nanak, he is merciful to all beings, only then shall he be called a Muslim."

"You keep your fasts to please Allah, while you murder other beings for pleasure. You look after your own interests, and so not see the interests of others. What good is your word? O Qazi, the One Lord is within you, but you do not behold Him by thought or contemplation. You do not care for others, you are a religious fanatic, and your life is of no account at all. Your holy scriptures say that Allah is True, and that he is neither male nor female. But you gain nothing by reading and studying, O mad-man, if you do not gain the understanding in your heart. Allah is hidden in every heart; reflect upon this in your mind. The One Lord is within both Hindu and Muslim; Kabeer proclaims this out loud."

"Having lifted Islam to the head, You have engulfed Hindustan in dread.... Such cruelties have they inflicted, and yet Your mercy remains unmoved.... Should the strong attack the strong the heart does not burn. But when the strong crush the helpless, surely the One who was to protect them has to be called to account.... O' Lord, these dogs have destroyed this diamond-like Hindustan, (so great is their terror that) no one asks after those who have been killed, and yet You do not pay heed..."

"Hindus have been forbidden to pray at the time of the Muslim's namaz, Hindu society has been left without a bath, without a tilak. Even those who have never uttered "Ram", even they can get no respite by shouting "Khuda, Khuda"... The few who have survived Babar's jails wail... The desolation which has come over the land.... The entire races which have been exterminated, which have been humiliated..."

"Is it possible that our Marxists have never read or even heard of what Guru Nanak himself had to say about Muslim invasions and Muslim rule? Having subjugated Khuraasaan, Babar terrified Hindustaan So that blame does not come on Him, the Creator has sent the Mughal as the messenger of death So great was the slaughter, such the agony of the people, even then You felt no compassion, Lord? If some powerful man strikes another, one feels no grief But when a powerful tiger slaughters a flock of helpless sheep, its master must answer This jewel of a country has been laid waste and defiled by dogs, so much so that no one pays heed even to the dead… Guru Nanak proceeds to describe how the oppressors shaved off the maidens, their ‘heads with braided hair, with vermillion marks in the parting’; how ‘their throats were choked with dust’; how they were cast out of their palatial homes, unable now to sit even in the neighbourhood of their homes; how those who had come to the homes of their husbands in palanquins, decorated with ivory, who lived in the lap of luxury, had been tied with ropes around their necks; how their pearl strings had been shattered; how the very beauty that was their jewel had now become their enemy – ordered to dishonour them, the soldiers had carried them off. ‘Since Babar’s rule has been proclaimed,’ Guru Nanak wrote, ‘even the princes have no food to eat.’ Their sacred squares shattered, where will the Hindu women bathe, how will they worship? the Guru lamented. Dishonoured, how may they now apply the tilak on their foreheads? Some return home to inquire about the safety of their loved ones. Others are cursed to sit and cry out in pain. The invaders were, of course, to blame for what had befallen the people, the Guru said, but not only them: the rulers had lost themselves in luxury; the people had forgotten the Creator: Raam na kabhoo chetio hun kahan na milai khudaae – They never remembered their Ram, and now they cannot even chant Khudaae…"

"Having attacked Khuraasaan, Babar terrified Hindustan. The Creator Himself does not take the blame, but has sent the Mugal as the messenger of death. There was so much slaughter that the people screamed. Didn't You feel compassion, Lord? || 1 || O Creator Lord, You are the Master of all. If some powerful man strikes out against another man, then no one feels any grief in their mind. || 1 || Pause || But if a powerful tiger attacks a flock of sheep and kills them, then its master must answer for it. This priceless country has been laid waste and defiled by dogs, and no one pays any attention to the dead. You Yourself unite, and You Yourself separate; I gaze upon Your Glorious Greatness. || 2 || One may give himself a great name, and revel in the pleasures of the mind, but in the Eyes of the Lord and Master, he is just a worm, for all the corn that he eats. Only one who dies to his ego while yet alive, obtains the blessings, O Nanak, by chanting the Lord's Name."

"Those heads adorned with braided hair, with their parts painted with vermillion - those heads were shaved with scissors, and their throats were choked with dust. They lived in palatial mansions, but now, they cannot even sit near the palaces. || 1 || Hail to You, O Father Lord, Hail to You! O Primal Lord. Your limits are not known; You create, and create, and behold the scenes. || 1 || Pause || When they were married, their husbands looked so handsome beside them. They came in palanquins, decorated with ivory; water was sprinkled over their heads, and glittering fans were waved above them. || 2 || They were given hundreds of thousands of coins when they sat, and hundreds of thousands of coins when they stood. They ate coconuts and dates, and rested comfortably upon their beds. But ropes were put around their necks, and their strings of pearls were broken. || 3 || Their wealth and youthful beauty, which gave them so much pleasure, have now become their enemies. The order was given to the soldiers, who dishonored them, and carried them away. If it is pleasing to God's Will, He bestows greatness; if is pleases His Will, He bestows punishment. || 4 || If someone focuses on the Lord beforehand, then why should he be punished? The kings had lost their higher consciousness, reveling in pleasure and sensuality. Since Babar's rule has been proclaimed, even the princes have no food to eat. || 5 || The Muslims have lost their five times of daily prayer, and the Hindus have lost their worship as well. Without their sacred squares, how shall the Hindu women bathe and apply the frontal marks to their foreheads? They never remembered their Lord as Raam, and now they cannot even chant Khudaa-i || 6 || Some have returned to their homes, and meeting their relatives, they ask about their safety. For some, it is pre-ordained that they shall sit and cry out in pain. Whatever pleases Him, comes to pass. O Nanak, what is the fate of mankind? || 7 || 11 || AASAA, FIRST MEHL: Where are the games, the stables, the horses? Where are the drums and the bugles? Where are the sword-belts and chariots? Where are those scarlet uniforms? Where are the rings and the beautiful faces? They are no longer to be seen here. || 1 || This world is Yours; You are the Lord of the Universe. In an instant, You establish and disestablish. You distribute wealth as it pleases You. || 1 || Pause || Where are the houses, the gates, the hotels and palaces? Where are those beautiful way-stations? Where are those beautiful women, reclining on their beds, whose beauty would not allow one to sleep?Where are those betel leaves, their sellers, and the haremees? They have vanished like shadows. || 2 || For the sake of this wealth, so many were ruined; because of this wealth, so many have been disgraced. It was not gathered without sin, and it does not go along with the dead. Those, whom the Creator Lord would destroy - first He strips them of virtue. || 3 || Millions of religious leaders failed to halt the invader, when they heard of the Emperor's invasion. He burned the rest-houses and the ancient temples; he cut the princes limb from limb, and cast them into the dust. None of the Mugals went blind, and no one performed any miracle. || 4 || The battle raged between the Mugals and the Pat'haans, and the swords clashed on the battlefield. They took aim and fired their guns, and they attacked with their elephants. Those men whose letters were torn in the Lord's Court, were destined to die, O Siblings of Destiny. || 5 || The Hindu women, the Muslim women, the Bhattis and the Rajputs - some had their robes torn away, from head to foot, while others came to dwell in the cremation ground. Their husbands did not return home - how did they pass their night? || 6 || The Creator Himself acts, and causes others to act. Unto whom should we complain? Pleasure and pain come by Your Will; unto whom should we go and cry? The Commander issues His Command, and is pleased. O Nanak, we receive what is written in our destiny."

"As the Word of the Forgiving Lord comes to me, so do I express it, O Lalo. Bringing the marriage party of sin, Babar has invaded from Kaabul, demanding our land as his wedding gift, O Lalo. Modesty and righteousness both have vanished, and falsehood struts around like a leader, O Lalo. The Qazis and the Brahmins have lost their roles, and Satan now conducts the marriage rites, O Lalo. The Muslim women read the Koran, and in their misery, they call upon God, O Lalo. The Hindu women of high social status, and others of lowly status as well, are put into the same category, O Lalo. The wedding songs of murder are sung, O Nanak, and blood is sprinkled instead of saffron, O Lalo. || 1 || Nanak sings the Glorious Praises of the Lord and Master in the city of corpses, and voices this account. The One who created, and attached the mortals to pleasures, sits alone, and watches this. The Lord and Master is True, and True is His justice. He issues His Commands according to His judgement. The body-fabric will be torn apart into shreds, and then India will remember these words. Coming in seventy-eight (1521 A.D.), they will depart in ninety-seven (1540 A.D.), and then another disciple of man will rise up. Nanak speaks the Word of Truth; he proclaims the Truth at this, the right time."

"Deer, falcons and government officials are known to be trained and clever. When the trap is set, they trap their own kind; hereafter they will find no place of rest. He alone is learned and wise, and he alone is a scholar, who practices the Name. First, the tree puts down its roots, and then it spreads out its shade above. The kings are tigers, and their officials are dogs; they go out and awaken the sleeping people to harass them. The public servants inflict wounds with their nails. The dogs lick up the blood that is spilled. But there, in the Court of the Lord, all beings will be judged. Those who have violated the people's trust will be disgraced; their noses will be cut off."