Birth of Sikhism by Professor Abdul Jaleel
Sikhism is known as
the religion founded by Guru Nanak who was born in 1469 A.D. It is commonly
understood as a compromise between the teachings of Hinduism and Islam.
But a careful study
of Sikh traditions and relics of Sikhism lead to an irrefutable conclusion that
Guru Nanak discarded the Hindu doctrines and assimilated the teachings of Islam
to such an extent that Sikhism, in its pristine form, can be looked upon as a
"sect of Islam".
Baba Nanak, by
birth, was a Hindu. The elasticity of Hinduism makes it difficult to draw a line,
crossing which a man ceases to be a Hindu.
Deficiency in one’s
beliefs in the doctrines of Hinduism can be compensated by one’s way of living
and customs.
But if one mixes
with Muslims to such an extent that he eats and drinks with them and publicly
performs religious rites of Islam, one would never be tolerated by Hindu
society.
The whole history of
Sikhism shows that its founder, though born a Hindu, mixed with Muslims, joined in their prayers and
performed other Islamic obligations, all in public.
He wore none of the
marks of Hindus upon him.
On
the other hand, he dressed like a Muslim and had all the insignia of a Muslim
faqir on him. He passed his days with Muslim pirs and saints and ate and drank
with them.
It was a Muslim sufi
he constantly turned to for advice and there is not a single instance in his
life which indicated that he bowed his
head to a Hindu pandit.
There are many
places associated with his name, where he is known to have performed Chillas,
Nanak’s chilla at Sirsa, a small town in the
(Chilla is an
Islamic form of meditation). Travelling
through Muslim countries he reached
His choicest friend
during these travels was a Muslim, Sheikh Farid, in whose company he passed
twelve years of his life.
Baba Nanak,
while on pilgrimage, dressed like a pilgrim, carried with him a stick, Quran, a
prayer mat and a water jug for performing ablution.
Even his first four
successors are represented in pictures as Muslims, carrying
rosaries in their hands.
Guru
Nanak also married in a Muslim family.
This
point is very important because a Muslim family would have not taken Nanak as a
son-in-law, unless he was known to be a "Muslim".
Baba Nanak lived in
a country under Muslim rule where the marriage of a Muslim woman to a
non-Muslim would on no account be tolerated.
This clearly
indicates that Guru Nanak was accepted as a Muslim by his contemporaries.
The Chola, or the cloak of Baba Nanak, is the
holiest relic of the Guru and is preserved in Dera Baba Nanak, a small village
in Gurdaspur District of the
This is a cloak
which Baba Nanak wore in his life-time and it is considered so sacred that his
immediate followers took every care to keep it safe.
The regard and
reverence rendered to the Chola by the Sikh community is a
testimony to the authenticity of the cloak.
The words of Guru
Nanak as contained in the Guru Granth Sahib (Sikh scriptures) were not
collected until the time of Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth Guru, and therefore
cannot be relied upon as accurate particularly as Sikhism had by that time assumed an attitude of hostility towards
Islam.
But the Chola is clear from this charge, because
it was handed down by Guru Nanak himself and has come down to our times in its
original condition.
It is commonly
alleged that verses from different scriptures in different languages are
written on the Chola.
But
this is not true. The verses chosen for writing on the Chola are quotations from the Holy Quran
as revealed by photographs recently taken. The religion followed by the man can
be none other than "Islam".
But strangely, the misconception has gained
upper hand in the case of Chola as in the case with teachings of
Baba Nanak, which, in spite of being purely Islamic, came by and by
to be looked upon as a compromise between Hinduism and Islam.
The congruence of
the teachings of Baba Nanak with those of the Holy Quran is so perfect that one
cannot escape the conclusion that the Guru had accepted Islam .
He declared that
there was One God and He was the same for all and that He was formless.
There
is none else who is equal to Him. He is the sole Creator of this Universe.
Everything is created by Him. He is the ultimate determinant in terms of all
forms of His creation.
Sikhism believes in
a one and formless God and it does not believe in idol worship.
According to it,
idol worship promotes attachment of God with something other than God and God
cannot limit Himself in the form of an idol or a stone. He is beyond everything
and in everything at the same time.
Sikhism does not
believe in Avatar, i.e. God descending on earth to protect humanity.
On the other hand,
it believes that there are men who are spiritual to the highest degree, are
blessed souls and therefore are assigned the duty to liberate humanity from its
continual suffering.
The book Janam Sakhi
of Bala Sahib is an authoritative source of Sikhism.
Bala was Baba
Nanak’s constant companion and he accompanied his Master for twenty years
during his travels.
It is true that in
Janam Sakhi one finds much fiction mixed with facts. Bala was a Hindu and after Baba Nanak’s death, estrangemant of Sikhism
from Islam had started.
As
such any statement contained in Janam Sakhi in favour of Islam has the weight
of a hostile witness.
The following passages are quoted
from the third edition of Bala Sahib’s Janam Sakhi, printed by the press,
Anarkali,
On page 134 of Janam Sakhi, we read,
The Quran is divided into thirty sections, proclaim thou, this Quran in the
four comers of this world. Declare the glory of one name only for none other is
an associate with me. Nanak proclaims the word of God that came to him, thou
hast been granted the rank of Sheikh, so thou shouldst abolish the worship of gods
and goddesses and the old Hindu idol – temples.
The fundamental article of the
Islamic faith, the Kalima, has been given the greatest stress in Janam
Sakhi. A few Shaloks (verses) from this Sakhi read:
I have repeated one
Kalima, there is none other.I have repeated one Kalima, there is none other.
Those who repeat the
Kalima and are not devoid of the faith, shall not be burned on fire.
Repeat the Holy
Kalima of the Prophet, it shall cleanse thee of all sins.
By repeating the
Kalima, the punishment of this world, as well as the next is averted.
Who ever repeats the
Kalima, how shall he be punished? the merit of repeating the Kalima is that a
person is cleansed of his sins.
In Bala’s Janam
Sakhi, we also read that during his pilgrimage to
It is reported that
Baba Nanak said, 0: Rukn-ud-Din, it is written in the Book (i.e., the Quran)
that those who drink wine or ‘Bhang’ shall be punished on the Day of Judgement.
Baba Nanak was not a
Muslim in belief only. He recognised the necessity of worship in the form
enjoined by Islam and laid stress on this point in his teachings.
On
page 193 of Bala’s Janam Sakhi, we have: Nanak said, 0: Rukn-ud-Din, hear from
me the true reply: the saying of the Lord is written in the Book.
That
person will go to hell who does not repeat the Kalima, who does not keep the
thirty fasts, and does not say the prayers, who eats what is not lawful
for him.
These
shall receive the punishment and the fire of the bottomless pit shall be his
abode. It is also reported that Baba Nanak kept fasts for a whole year at
It
is also related that Baba Nanak recited the Khutba of the Prophet and became
happy.
The few quotations
are sufficient to show that Baba Nanak not only made a full confession of the
absolute truth of Islam but also performed the obligations of Islamic law and
enjoined others to follow them.
Now the question
arises how the religion preached by Baba Nanak came to be
identified as an offshoot of Hinduism.
Anybody who is
acquainted with the history of Sikhism would reach the conclusion that the
transformation was due to political, not
religious reasons.
Baba Nanak was not a
mere "conver"t to Islam. He felt he had been called to act as a
spiritual guide and to take people into his discipleship after the manner of
many Muslim sufis.
This has lead later
historians to conclude that Baba Nanak founded a new group which took into his
fold Muslims as well as Hindus and hence Sikhism was a compromise of the two
religions.
We have to reject
this conclusion because no Muslim disciple of Baba Nanak is known to have given
up his belief in Islamic principles nor to have acted against any Islamic
injunctions regarding prayers and fasting.
Punjab, at the time
of Baba Nanak, was under Muslim rule and if Baba Nanak had converted any Muslim
to a faith other than Islam, he would have been sentenced to death for apostacy,
(though it is un-Islamic to the core!) was strictly enforced by all Muslim
rulers in the Middle ages, but Baba Nanak’s disciples were not harmed
in any way let alone being stoned to death.
This clearly shows
that Baba Nanak was looked upon as a Muslim sufi by his contemporaries.
It is indeed
difficult to explain fully the causes which led to the identification of
Sikhism with Hinduism rather than with Islam.
But so subtle and
variant are generally the causes which shape the religious thought of a people,
that a complete satisfactory explanation is often impossible in such matters.
The transformation
of Christ’s monotheistic teaching to Paulean Trinity offers a greater
difficulty when one analyses the course of history.
Originally a branch of
Judaism, it soon developed into a movement entirely opposed to the parent
religion.
As plainly as
Guru Nanak said that the injunctions of the Islamic law should be followed to
attain salvation, Jesus also insisted that the Mosaic law was under no circumstances
to be altered.
Within a single
generation, however, his teachings were altered, lock stock and barrel.
Baba Nanak took
Hindu disciples, but did not insist on their outright conversion to
Islam.
They could call
themselves Hindus with their traditional life-style and still continue to be in
his company.
Baba Nanak probably
knew that those who really accepted him as their Master, would ultimately
follow him in the Islamic way.
There is a strong
reason to believe that with Baba Nanak’s death the influx of Muslims into his
movement stopped all together.
It was his personal
charisma that drew Muslims towards him, and won their conviction that he was a
Muslim saint.
Accordingly, Baba
Nanak’s death was the turning point and with this, the Muslim element began to
disappear.
The movement
remained in the hands of Hindu disciples, who, by lapse of time, relapsed into
their old faith.
The political
circumstances accelerated this estrangement.
The culmination of
this can be seen from the perception of the tenth Master Guru, Gobind Singh Ji,
that the power of God on the earth was symbolised by the khanda, a double edged
sword.
From the fifth
Guru, Arjun Dev, onwards, the Islamic elements started disappearing from Sikh
literature including the Granth Sahib with only some of these teachings
remaining in some Janam Sakhis written earlier.
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