link between hinduism and ismalism

[kmaherali]

The following article about a Muslim Sanskrit scholar shows us that it is not only the Ismailis who have adopted and assimilated aspects of other cultures and languages into their practices. This scholar's outlook is influenced by Sansrit language and it's associated Vedic culture.

Pankaj Jaiswal, Hindustan Times
Email Author
Lucknow, February 25, 2008
First Published: 00:53 IST(25/2/2008)
Last Updated: 00:55 IST(25/2/2008)

No language barrier for this Muslim scholarPandit Syed Hussain Shastri is a Sanskrit scholar who has been in love with the language all his life. Pandit and Shastri have been prefixed and suffixed respectively by people to his name because of his vast knowledge.

In Mirzaganj village, Malihabad, people know him as Shastriji. Malihabad is 20 kilometers northeast to Lucknow city. Shastriji had decided to learn Sanskrit because his father wanted it. “Once I started learning it in childhood, I just fell in love with it. The romance continues,” he says.

The 79-year-old scholar says: “I find French beautiful, but Sanskrit is the most beautiful.” In the last 56 years people came from far and wide — Varanasi, Allahabad and Europe — to learn Sanskrit from him. One of them, Henry Shock, a scholar in oriental studies from Illionis University visited him about two decades ago. On meeting him Shock said: “It is highly doubtful that Sanskrit is a living language, but it is never doubtful that it is living in your body.”

Shastriji says: “I was barely four when I took admission in Dharm Sangh Sanskrit Vidyalaya, Lucknow, and began my journey in Sanskrit. A Hindu priest initiated me into Laghu Kaumudi (beginner’s Sanskrit grammar) and then I continued with Sanskrit studies at Aminabad High School, Government Jubilee Inter College and then the Lucknow Univeristy. In 1952 I graduated in Sanskrit.” He has a post-graduate degree in the language. All of his teaching lessons begin with chants from the Vedas.

He says: “I am waiting for my death to tip toe...” in the same breath he recites: “...And not a stone to tell where I lie...Just let me live and let me die.” Now most of his time is spent in reading Bhagwad Gita in Sanskrit.

The Muslim scholar is a firm believer in Brahminism. He says, “Take away Brahminism from Sanskrit, and nothing would be left in it.”

“Shock has been the only person who interviewed me in Sanskrit. Many times during the interview I attempted to drift to English as I knew he was from the US. But he continued in Sanskrit. When I asked Shock from where he learnt Sanskrit, he said ‘Germany’.”

For some people languages know no barrier — of caste, creed, religion or nationality.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage ... 18d35aa3d1

[Firukurji]

Muhammad(s.a.w) in Hindu Scriptures
Source: Email

One Hindu research professor, in his stunning book, claims that the description of Avatar found in the holy books of Hindu religion is infact that of the Prophet Muhammad (S.A.S). A little while ago, in India a fact revealing book has been published, which has been the topic of discussions and gossip, all over the country. If the author of this book were a Muslim, he would have been arrested or he could have been murdered and all the copies of this book would have been confiscated. Even a ban would have been extended on its further publications. A riot and violence would have broken out against innocent Muslims and their blood would have been shed. Amazingly the author of this book is a fair-minded famous professor, who happens to be a Hindu. His name is Pandit Vedaprakash Upadhai and the name of his fact revealing book is Kalki Avatar. The author is a Hindu Bramin by caste of Bengali origin. He is a research scholar, a seeker of the Truth and a Well known Pandit in Allahabad University. After years of research work, he published this book and other eight pandits have endorsed and certified his points of argument as authentic.
According to Hindu belief and their holy books, the description of the guide and the leader, named Kalki Avatar, fits only to the Prophet Muhammad of Arabia (S.A.S). So the Hindus of the whole world should not wait any longer for the arrival of Kalki Avatar (the spirit) and should readily accept Prophet Muhammad (S.A.S) as Kalki Avatar. The facts are verified and supported by the eight eminent pandits. What the author and the eight other eminent pandits say is that the Hindus who are still anxiously awaiting the arrival of Kalki Avatar are simply subjecting themselves to a never ending wait. Because such a great messenger has come and departed from this world fourteen centuries ago.
The author produces following sound evidences from the Vedas and other holy books of Hindu religion in support of his claim:
1. In Purana (a holy book of Hindus) it is stated that Kalki Avatar would be the last messenger (prophet) of God in this world for the Guidance of the whole world and all human beings.
2. According to a Hindu religion prediction, the birth of Kalki Avatar, would take place in an isle which again according to Hindu religion is Arab Region.
3. In books of Hindus, the names of the fatherland the mother of Kalki Avatar are given as VISHNUBHAGAT and SUMAANI respectively. If we examine the meanings of these names we shall come to a very interesting conclusion:
Take VISHNUBHAGAT= VISHNU (meaning God) + BHAGAT(meaning slave) = ALLAH + ABD (in arabic) = Slave of God = ABDULLAH (in arabic) (name of Muhammad’s Father) SUMAANI= PEACE or Calmness = amenah (in arabic)
4. In religious books of Hindus, it is mentioned that the staple food of Kalki Avatar would be dates and olives and he would be the most honest and truthful person in the region. Without any doubt the Prophet Muhammad (S.A.S) is acclaimed to possess these qualities.
5. It is stated in Vedas (holy book of Hindu Religion) that the birth of Kalki Avatar would take place in an honorable clan. This perfectly fits the Quraysh where the Prophet Muhammad (S.A.S) belonged to.
6. God would teach Kalki Avatar through His messenger (angel) in a cave. Allah taught Prohet Muhammad (S.A.S), through is messenger Jibraeel in a cave known as Gaar-e-Hiraa.
7. God would avail Kalki Avatar with a very speedy horse to ride and travel the whole world and the seven skies. Indication of Buraaque (horse) and Me’raaj (the night whe prophet travelled the seven skies).
8. God would also avail Kalki Avatar with divine help. This was particularly proved in the Battle of Uhud.
9. Another dazzling account given about Kalki Avatar was that he would be born on the 12th of a month. Whereas the Prophet Muhammad (S.A.S) was born on the 12th of the Rabiul Awwal (Islamic Calender).
10. Kalki Avatar would be an excellent horse rider and a swordsman. The author here draws the attention of Hindus that the real days of horses and swords have gone and the present time is of guns and missiles. So it would be foolish on the part of those who still expect Kalki Avatar, who should be an excellent rider and swordsman to come. In fact, the divine book, Holy Qur’aan contains qualities and signs attributed to Kalki Avatar reflecting on the Prophet Muhammad (S.A.S).
The author has given numerous arguments in favour of his claim that Kalki Avatar is in fact Prophet Muhammad (S.A.S) and those who still await the arrival of Kalki Avatar should think again.

[star_munir]

Thanks for the article. Its interesting but according to our belief as they are in Ginans, the Kalki avtaar is Mowla Ali.
In this article different examples are quoted but actual verses with translation or complete reference is not given to verify the source.
I am not denying about references of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in different Scriptures but I have seen some times even famous scholars fabricate the meaning of original verses to prove thier point of views.

[ShamsB]

Thanks for the article. Its interesting but according to our belief as they are in Ginans, the Kalki avtaar is Mowla Ali.
In this article different examples are quoted but actual verses with translation or complete reference is not given to verify the source.
I am not denying about references of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in different Scriptures but I have seen some times even famous scholars fabricate the meaning of original verses to prove thier point of views.

I agree with munir that the kalki avatar was Hazrat Ali.

Shams

[star_munir]

Learn Sanskrit at a Delhi madrasa: Hindustan Times

New Delhi, April 25: In Jamia Nagar, the sprawling Muslim heart of Delhi, students of the little-known Islami Academy — a centre for Islamic higher education — are learning a classical language that goes back 4,000 years. Not Arabic, but Sanskrit. That’s not all. This religious school, meant to prepare the ground for mainstream students for Islamic research, has blended modern education with a religious curriculum like no other.

The entrance test is in English. There are compulsory courses on pan-Indian culture, Indian history and comparative religions, such as Christianity and Sikhism, which a special focus on Hinduism.

“The idea was to have a very scientific and holistic curriculum in the study of religion,” says the academy’s Harvard-educated director, Abdul Haq Ansari.

While traditionally, most madrasas have spurned efforts to modernise syllabuses, the Islami Academy has undertaken a much-debated course correction. And since it is a centre for higher learning, the eligibility being a bachelor’s degree from a recognised university, it offers two main postgraduate courses in research and Islamic preaching.

The academy also functions as a “complimentary madrasa”, one that caters to those Muslim students, who missed out on religious education because they went to regular, mainstream schools.

The turning point came when the academy felt its research students needed to learn Sanskrit so that ancient Hindu texts could be studied. It got in touch with the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan under the HRD Ministry and a Sanskrit teacher was provided.

Fahimuddin, a student from Karnataka’s Shimoga, says his lessons on Islamic history have been “so enriched by those on Hinduism”.

Clerics have often resisted attempts to bring madrasas into the mainstream, with the 2003 “Scheme of Assistance for Infrastructure and Modernisation of Madrasas” making little headway.

[zubin_chagani]

jus as bro star munir said
"even i disagree " wid this statement of bro.danu

the reason is very simple

our deen is islam and our madhab is ismaili muslim

the only and only and only reason y v got this name ismaili is bcoz of the partition of ishna shari's during imam ismail

thts it !!!

our religion started from h.adam[as] he was the 1st khalifa as mentioned in quran/bible and all the other books

followed by his son shem and so on and so forth

plus if u read bible ull know that allah used to speak directly to h.musa[as] and it was h.musa[as] who told h.haroon[as] that allah wants h.haroon[as] and his family to b the ministers/priest so as to guide people

the prayer of people during the time of h.haroon[as] was accepted only if they come to h.haroon[as] wid an offering[ram/bull/goat and so on and so forth] and h.haroon[as] prayed to allah for forgiving their sin

allah also appointed h.haroon[as] and the sole owner of the holy place..it was him and his son who used to take care of holy place[cleaning it/burning incense and so on and so forth]


so inshort brother if u read the history and compare our customs and rituals, u will know that v r not the only one who r doing something which is different from our muslim bro's

actually its us who r following what all the people in all the generation has done

our religion is our religion which was/is and will b ours no matter what


v were non believers[murti pujaks] and it was our pirs and imams who showed us the path of siratal mustakim

isnt this the mercy of allah ???

[shiraz.virani]

Washington, Oct. 2: The skeleton of an early human who lived 4.4 million years ago shows that humans did not evolve from chimpanzee-like ancestors, rese-archers said on Thursday.

Instead, the missing link — the common ancestor of both humans and modern apes — was different from both, and apes have evolved just as much as humans have from that common ancestor, they said.

The researchers stressed that “Ardi” may be the oldest known hominid, but she was not the missing link. “At 4.4 million years ago we found something pretty close to it,” said Tim White of the University of California Berkeley, who helped lead the research team.

They described the partial skeleton of a female representative of Ardipithecus ramidus. The hominid species lived 4.4 million years ago in what is now Ethiopia.

The 4-foot creature is a million years older than “Lucy” — the skeleton of another species called Australopithecus afarensis that is one of the best-known pre-humans.

Genetics suggest that humans and our closest living relatives, the chimpanzees, diverged 6 million to 7 million years ago.

“Ardi” is clearly a human ancestor and her descendants did not grow up to be chimpanzees or other apes, the researchers report in the journal Science.

She had an ape-like head and opposable toes that allowed her to climb trees easily, but her hands, wrists and pelvis show she strode like a modern human and did not knuckle-walk like a chimp or a gorilla.

“People have sort of assumed that modern chimpanzees haven't evolved very much,” she said. But that is not true, as “Ardi” shows.

[baqi]

The following communication makes one wonder whether the Hindus are more closer to us than the Sunnis in terms of their thinking.

HAF COMMENDS AGHA KHAN FOR COMMITMENT TO PLURALISM

The Hindu American Foundation wrote a letter to His Highness the Aga
Khan, the spiritual leader of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslim
community, commending him for his recent $40 million investment for
the establishment of the Global Centre for Pluralism in Canada.



April 30, 2005

To His Highness the Aga Khan,

On behalf of the Hindu American Foundation (HAF), I would like to
commend you, as the spiritual leader (Imam) of the Shia Imami
Ismaili Muslim community, for the establishment of the Global Centre
for Pluralism in Canada. Furthermore, we are pleased that the
Government of Canada has also pledged support towards the
development of this institution. We hope that your magnanimity and
commitment to pluralism will inspire members of other faiths to come
forward and embrace this concept as well.

At HAF, we believe that pluralism must be a fundamental part of any
nation that values diversity, democracy and multiculturalism. HAF
will support your efforts to promote pluralism as this concept has
always been a central component of the Hindu faith as articulated in
an ancient Sanskrit hymn: "Ekam sat vipraha bahudha vadanti"
meaning "Truth is one, the wise call it by many names." We strongly
feel that acceptance of pluralism is the only way to bridge
religious divisions and to bring together people of all faiths
during these troubled times.

Representing the 2 million strong Hindu American community, HAF is
dedicated to providing a voice that educates government, media,
think tanks, academia and public fora about Hinduism and issues of
concern to Hindus locally and globally. We would like to meet you
and your key representatives in the near future to discuss ways we
can collaborate to promote pluralism together. You may learn more
about HAF and our efforts at our website at

www.hinduamericanfoundation.org.


Sincerely,

Pawan Deshpande
Member, Executive Council
Hindu American Foundation

I would be careful about quoting anything from the Hindu American Foundation - its press release on Hazar Imam (a) smells like a publicity stunt to make it appear more moderate. Deep down it is a good old right wing Hindu organisation that is anti-minorities in India. The following is an article on how the Hindu American Foundation has forced American school boards to delete from school books any references to Hinduism's appalling and backward caste school and the awful treatment low caste people receive at the hands of high caste Hindus:

http://www.equip.org/articles/have-your ... ffronized-

Also, the president of the Hindu American Foundation, Mihir Meghani, has a long history of links with the Hindu fascist movement in India. Mihir Meghani wrote his famous anti-Muslim article, "Hindutva: The Great Nationalist Ideology", which I found on the website of the anti-Muslim Hindu hate group, the BJP. Here's Mihir Meghani article:

http://www.bjp.org/content/view/2650/376/

"In the history of the world, the Hindu awakening of the late twentieth century will go down as one of the most monumental events in the history of the world. Never before has such demand for change come from so many people. Never before has Bharat, the ancient word for the motherland of Hindus - India, been confronted with such an impulse for change. This movement, Hindutva, is changing the very foundations of Bharat and Hindu society the world over.

Hindu society has an unquestionable and proud history of tolerance for other faiths and respect for diversity of spiritual experiences. This is reflected in the many different philosophies, religious sects, and religious leaders. The very foundation of this lies in the great Hindu heritage that is not based on any one book, teacher, or doctrine. In fact the pedestal of Hindu society stems from the great Vedic teachings Ekam Sat Viprah Bahudha Vadanti -- Truth is One, Sages Call it by Many Names, and Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam -- The Whole Universe is one Family. It is this philosophy which allowed the people of Hindusthan (land of the Hindus) to shelter the Jews who faced Roman persecution, the Zoroastrians who fled the Islamic sword and who are the proud Parsi community today, and the Tibetan Buddhists who today face the communist secularism: persecution of religion.

During the era of Islamic invasions, what Will Durant called the bloodiest period in the history of mankind, many Hindus gallantly resisted, knowing full well that defeat would mean a choice of economic discrimination via the jaziya tax on non- Muslims, forced conversion, or death. It is no wonder that the residents of Chittor, and countless other people over the length and breadth of Bharat, from present-day Afghanistan to present-day Bangladesh, thought it better to die gloriously rather than face cold-blooded slaughter. Hindus never forgot the repeated destruction of the Somnath Temple, the massacre of Buddhists at Nalanda, or the pogroms of the Mughals.

Thus, the seeds of todayUs Hindu Jagriti, awakening, were created the very instance that an invader threatened the fabric of Hindu society which was religious tolerance. The vibrancy of Hindu society was noticeable at all times in that despite such barbarism from the Islamic hordes of central Asia and Turkey, Hindus never played with the same rules that Muslims did. The communist and Muslim intelligentsia, led by Nehruvian ideologists who are never short of distorted history, have been unable to show that any Hindu ruler ever matched the cruelty of even a RmoderateS Muslim ruler.

It is these characteristics of Hindu society and the Muslim psyche that remain today. Hindus never lost their tolerance and willingness to change. However Muslims, led by the Islamic clergy and Islamic societyUs innate unwillingness to change, did not notice the scars that Hindus felt from the Indian past. It is admirable that Hindus never took advantage of the debt Muslims owed Hindus for their tolerance and non-vengefulness.

In modern times, Hindu Jagriti gained momentum when Muslims played the greatest abuse of Hindu tolerance: the demand for a separate state and the partition of India, a nation that had had a common history and culture for countless millenia. Thus, the Muslim minority voted for a separate state and the Hindus were forced to sub-divide their own land.

After partition in Pakistan, Muslim superiority was quickly asserted and the non-Muslim minorities were forced to flee due to the immense discrimination in the political and religious spheres. Again, Hindus did not respond to such an onslaught. Hindu majority India continued the Hindu ideals by remaining secular.

India even gave the Muslim minority gifts such as separate personal laws, special status to the only Muslim majority state -- Kashmir, and other rights that are even unheard of in the bastion of democracy and freedom, the United States of America. Islamic law was given precedence over the national law in instances that came under Muslim personal law. The Constitution was changed when the courts, in the Shah Bano case, ruled that a secular nation must have one law, not separate religious laws. Islamic religious and educational institutions were given a policy of non- interference. The list goes on.

More painful for the Hindus was forced negation of Hindu history and factors that gave pride to Hindus. Hindu customs and traditions were mocked as remnants of a non-modern society, things that would have to go if India was to modernize like the west. The self proclaimed guardians of India, the politicians of the Congress Party who called themselves secularists, forgot that it was the Hindu psyche that believed in secularism, it was the Hindu thought that had inspired the greatest intellectuals of the world such as Thoreau, Emerson, Tolstoy, Einstein, and others, and that it was Hindus, because there was no other land where Hindus were in a significant number to stand up in defence of Hindu society if and when the need arose, who were the most nationalistic people in India.

When Hindus realized that pseudo-secularism had reduced them to the role of an innocent bystander in the game of politics, they demanded a true secularism where every religious group would be treated the same and a government that would not take Hindu sentiments for granted. Hindutva awakened the Hindus to the new world order where nations represented the aspirations of people united in history, culture, philosophy, and heroes. Hindutva successfully took the Indian idol of Israel and made Hindus realize that their India could be just as great and could do the same for them also.

In a new era of global consciousness, Hindus realized that they had something to offer the world. There was something more than tolerance and universal unity. The ancient wisdom of sages through eternity also offered systems of thought, politics, music, language, dance, and education that could benefit the world.

There have been many changes in the thinking of Hindus, spearheaded over the course of a century by innumerable groups and leaders who made their own distinct contribution to Hindu society: Swami Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore, Gandhiji, Rashatriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Swami Chinmayananda, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Muni Susheel Kumarji, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bharatiya Janata Party, and others. Each in their own way increased pride in being a Hindu and simultaneously showed Hindus their greatest strengths and their worst weaknesses. This slowly shook the roots of Hindu society and prompted a rear-guard action by the ingrained interests: the old politicians, the Nehruvian intellectual community, and the
appeased Muslim leadership.

The old foundation crumbled in the 1980s and 1990s when Hindus respectfully asked for the return of their most holy religious site, Ayodhya. This demand promptly put the 40-year old apparatus to work, and press releases were chunked out that spew the libelous venom which called those who represented the Hindu aspirations RmilitantS and Rfundamentalist,S stigmas which had heretofore found their proper place in the movements to establish Islamic law. Hindus were humble enough to ask for the restoration of an ancient temple built on the birthplace of Rama, and destroyed by Babar, a foreign invader. The vested interests were presented with the most secular of propositions: the creation of a monument to a national hero, a legend whose fame and respect stretched out of the borders of India into southeast Asia, and even into Muslim Indonesia. A hero who existed before there was anyone in India who considered himself separate from Hindu society. The 400-year old structure at one of the holiest sites of India had been worshipped as a temple by Hindus even though the Muslim general Mir Baqi had partially built a non-functioning mosque on it. It was very important that no Muslims, except those who were appeased in Indian politics, had heard of anything called Babri Masjid before the pseudo-secularist apparatus started the next to last campaign against the rising Hindu society. It was also important that no Muslim had offered prayers at the site for over 40 years.

Hindus hid their true anger, that their most important religious site still bore the marks of a cruel slavery that occurred so very recently in the time span of Hindu history. It was naturally expected in 1947 that freedom from the political and economic chains of Great Britain would mean that the systems and symbols that had enslaved India and caused its deterioration and poverty would be obliterated. Forty years after independence, Hindus realized that their freedom was yet to come.

So long as freedom to Jews meant that symbols of the Holocaust in Europe were condemned, so long as freedom to African- Americans meant that the symbols of racial discrimination were wiped out, and so long as freedom from imperialism to all people meant that they would have control of their own destinies, that they would have their own heros, their own stories, and their own culture, then freedom to Hindus meant that they would have to condemn the Holocaust that Muslims reaped on them, the racial discrimination that the white man brought, and the economic imperialism that enriched Britain. Freedom for Hindus and Indians would have to mean that their heros such as Ram, Krishna, Sivaji, the Cholas, Sankaracharya, and Tulsidas would be respected, that their own stories such as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata would be offered to humanity as examples of the brilliance of Hindu and Indian thinking, and that their own culture which included the Bhagavad Gita, the Vedas, the temples, the gods and goddesses, the art, the music, and the contributions in various fields, would be respected. Freedom meant that as the shackles of imperial dominance were lifted, the newly freed people would not simply absorb foreign ideas, they would share their own as well.

In India, something went wrong. The freedom from Britain was supposed to result in a two-way thinking that meant that non- Indian ideas would be accepted and that Indian ideas would be presented to the world. So long as the part of India giving to the world was suppressed, the freedom was only illusory and the aspirations of the freedom hungry would continue to rise in temperature.

The freedom could have been achieved if a temple to Rama was built and the symbol of foreign rule was moved to another site or demolished. The battle was never really for another temple. Another temple could have been built anywhere in India.

The humble and fair demand for RamaJanmabhoomi could have resulted in a freedom for India, freedom from the intellectual slavery that so dominated India. This freedom would have meant that all Indians regardless of religion, language, caste, sex, or color would openly show respect for the person that from ancient times was considered the greatest hero to people of Hindusthan. For the first time, Hindus had demanded something, and it was justifiable that a reasonable demand from an undemanding people would be realized. Imagine if the Muslim leadership had agreed to shift the site and build a temple in Ayodhya. How much Hindu- Muslim unity there would have been in India? India could then have used that goodwill to solve the major religious, caste, and economic issues facing the country.

But some of the vested interests in politics and in the Muslim community saw that such a change would mean that their work since 1947 would be overturned and that this new revolution would displace them. Rather than join forces and accept the rising tide, the oligarchy added fuel to the greatest movement in Indian history. One that on December 6, 1992 completely shattered the old and weak roots of Indian society and with it, the old political and intellectual structure. The destruction by the Kar Sevaks of the dilapidated symbol of foreign dominance was the last straw in a heightening of tensions by the government, and the comittant anger of more and more Hindus to rebuffs of their reasonable demands.

The ruthless last-ditch effort of the powers-that-be was the banning and suppression of the leaders of the Hindu Jagriti. The effort of the rulers reminds one of the strategy of all ill-fated rulers. Throughout history, when monumental upheavals have taken place, the threatened interests have resorted to drastic measures, which in-turn have hastened their own death.

Hindus are at last free. They control their destiny now and there is no power that can control them except their own tolerant ethos. India in turn is finally free. Having ignored its history, it has now come face to face with a repressed conscience. The destruction of the structure at Ayodhya was the release of the history that Indians had not fully come to terms with. Thousands of years of anger and shame, so diligently bottled up by these same interests, was released when the first piece of the so-called Babri Masjid was torn down.

It is a fundamental concept of Hindu Dharma that has won: righteousness. Truth won when Hindus, realizing that Truth could not be won through political or legal means, took the law into their own hands. Hindus have been divided politically and the laws have not acknowledged the quiet Hindu yearning for Hindu unity which has until recently taken a back seat to economic development and Muslim appeasement. Similarly, the freedom movement represented the supercedence of Indian unity over loyalty to the British Crown. In comparison to the freedom movement though, Hindutva involves many more people and represents the mental freedom that 1947 did not bring.

The future of Bharat is set. Hindutva is here to stay. It is up to the Muslims whether they will be included in the new nationalistic spirit of Bharat. It is up to the government and the Muslim leadership whether they wish to increase Hindu furor or work with the Hindu leadership to show that Muslims and the government will consider Hindu sentiments. The era of one-way compromise of Hindus is over, for from now on, secularism must mean that all parties must compromise.

Hindutva will not mean any Hindu theocracy or theology. However, it will mean that the guiding principles of Bharat will come from two of the great teachings of the Vedas, the ancient Hindu and Indian scriptures, which so boldly proclaimed -
TRUTH IS ONE, SAGES CALL IT BY MANY NAMES - and - THE WHOLE UNIVERSE IS ONE FAMILY."

[kmaherali]

Hindu priest lays foundation stone for Muslim building in Kutch

Published: Tuesday, May 15, 2012, 16:18 IST
By DV Maheshwari | Place: Bhuj | Agency: DNA

Another chapter was added to the history of communal harmony in secular Kutch last week when Acharya Purushottam Priyadasji Maharaj, chief of the Maninagar (Ahmedabad) Swaminaryan Gadi Sansthan, laid the foundation stone of a Muslim community hall in Kera village.

The community hall is being built in the Swaminarayan Nagar area of the village by non-resident Indian Salim Molu, a Khoja (Ismaili) Muslim philanthropist based in Mombasa, Kenya. Molu has also announced a donation of Rs50 lakh to the Aga Khani Ismaili Khoja community of the village.

Molu had met Acharya Purushottam Priyadasji last year during the latter's visit to Kenya and the United Kingdom.

The foundation-laying ceremony took place amid a large presence of people from both the Patel and Khoja communities, which are in almost equal number in Kera. The community hall is expected to be ready by this time next year. According to Prem Patel, solicitor of Molu Firms in the UK, it will also be inaugurated by Acharya Swami.

Patel said, "Molu is a representative of Prince Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of the Khoja community across the world. The inaugural function will also be graced by the Aga Khan himself. It will be a rare occasion when the head of one religious sect would inaugurate the community building of another religion."

Patel further added that Molu, who originally hails from Mundra, is now a big name in the hotel industry in Kenya where he has a chain of hotels across major cities. Kutchis, including both Hindu Patels and Muslim Khojas, account for the largest chunk of the Indian population in Kenya.

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_hi ... ch_1689078

[Admin]

AS RECEIVED

A very interesting reading on Nizari Ismailis in Rajasthan
Pir Shams Influence
Rewriting the History of a Dalit Nizari Hero

Yoginder Sikand, India


Rama Pir, also known as Ramdev Pir or Ram Shah Pir, is a widely revered folk hero in western India and parts of Pakistan.

He is particularly popular among the Dalits (low caste), especially of the Meghwal caste...(do any of you remember the Firmans of SMS in regards to embracing these "Dalits" and treating them like yourselves? Yes or No ?

The story of Rama Pir is shrouded in mystery.

Rajasthan-based social activist Bhanwar Megwanshi argues in his recently published Hindi book ‘Ramdev Pir: Ek Purnavichar’ (‘Ramdev Pir: A Revaluation’).


Megwanshi is a noted writer and edits the monthly Hindi magazine ‘Diamond India’, which deals with a range of social issues from the standpoint of the marginalized and the oppressed.


He comes from a Meghwal family from Bhilwara in southern Rajasthan, which for three generations served as priests of the local Ramdev Pir shrine.


As a child he was entrusted with the duty of performing rituals at the shrine, and this experience, he writes, set him questioning established myths about Ramdev Pir.


His book summarises his critical revaluation of the tradition of the Pir, seeking to retrieve and highlight forgotten aspects of his image as, above all, a crusader against caste oppression.


In most available hagiographical accounts, the fifteenth century Ramdev Pir is presented as an incarnation of Krishna who took birth in the house of Ajmal, a Tanwar Rajput chieftain in western India. Based on his analysis of Tanwar genealogical accounts Megwanshi writes that this claim is fallacious.


It represents a denial of the possibility of a saintly figure being born in a ‘low’ caste, and reflects a broader strategy to Brahminise the Ramdev tradition and drain it of its radical social thrust. Drawing on Dalit oral accounts,

Megwanshi claims that Ramdev was actually the son of a Meghwal cowherd Sayar Rikh and his wife Magande, who accompanied Ajmal’s queen when she shifted to her marital home.

In other words, he argues, Ramdev was a Meghwal by birth and not a Rajput. Nor was he, as is now claimed, an incarnation of Krishna.


Megwanshi also contests the manner in which the close connection between Ramdev and Ajmal is presented in popular accounts.


Examining oral and written traditions related to Ramdev, he writes that Ajmal was a Pir of the Nizari Ismaili Shia Muslim sect, .

In placing this argument, and in claiming that Ramdev was possibly an Ismaili, he explores the fascinating but little- known Nizari Ismaili Shia traditions among the Dalits of Rajasthan.


The Nizaris are a branch of the Ismaili Shias, whose present-day followers acknowledge the Aga Khan as their spiritual leader or Imam.

Following the collapse of their Fatimi Caliphate in Egypt, the Nizari Imamat shifted Alamut in Iran, where the Nizaris kept their beliefs secret, fearing Sunni persecution.

The first Nizari missionary to India, the eleventh century Nur Satgur, who is buried in Navsari in Gujarat, established the practice of spreading Nizari beliefs by using Hindu motifs and idioms, presenting the Nizari faith as a fulfillment of the millennial expectations of the Hindus of an Avatar.


This was in line with the Shia practice of taqiyya or secret concealment of beliefs, in order to stave off Sunni persecution as well as to make the Nizari message more intelligible to a largely Hindu audience.


Thus, the Nizari faith was presented as Sat Panth, Sat Dharm or Maha Marg, as well as Nizar Panth, Nizar Panth and Nij Dharm; and Imam Ali as the Nikalank Avatar, the tenth incarnation of Vishnu.


The Nizari stress on social equality had a particular appeal for various Dalit communities in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Sindh, and many Dalits accepted the faith, although in a highly Hinduised form.


A key Ismaili missionary, and one who plays a central role in the story of Ramdev, was the fourteenth century Pir Shams or Shamsuddin Sabzvari, whose shrine is located in Multan.


Multan was for a long time a major centre of the Nizari Ismaili movement and the Ismailis actually ruled the town for a while till their kingdom was destroyed by Mahmud Ghaznavi.


Pir Shams is said to have widely traveled in north India, and visited Rajasthan as well.


In the Ramdev tradition he is remembered as Shamas Rishi, and it is possible that he adopted a Hindu guise in line with the Indian Nizari tradition.


Megwanshi unravels the fascinating story of Pir Shams’ missionary travels in Rajasthan, relying on Dalit and other sources.


Ransi Tanvar, the father of Ajmal, he writes, was a descendant of Anangpal, the last Tanwar ruler of Delhi. He had taken to robbery. Once, in the village of Dudu, near Jaipur, he chanced upon Pir Shams, whom he is said to have looted, because of which the Pir is said to have cursed him with leprosy.


Rinsi is said to have been cured by drinking water given to him by a Meghwal woman, the wife of a certain Khivan, a Meghwal disciple of Pir Shams.


On being thus miraculously cured, Rinsi is said to have become a disciple of Pir Shams and accepted the Ismaili faith.


Later, the story goes, both Rinsi and Khivan were ordered to be killed by the Sunni Sultan of Delhi.


If true, this reflected the fierce hostility of the Sunni rulers and ulama to the Ismaili Shias, whom they considered as heretics.


Following his father, Ajmal, too, Megwanshi writes, became an Ismaili Pir, and so did Ramdev, whom Ajmal considered as his own son.


Following the established Nizari practice, they kept their faith concealed, being what is termed in Indian Nizari parlance as gupti momins (‘secret believers’).


In this regard, Megwanshi argues that the claim that Ramdev was a disciple of the Nath yogi Balinath of Pokhran is incorrect.


The fact that terms such as Nizar, Nijar, Shams, Multan, Makka, Nur Satgur, Alamut and so on are found in the verses attributed to Ramdev is ample proof,

Megwanishi writes, that Ramdev was a secret Ismaili missionary or at least highly influenced by the Ismailis.

[kmaherali]

AS RECEIVED

A very interesting reading on Nizari Ismailis in Rajasthan
Pir Shams Influence
Rewriting the History of a Dalit Nizari Hero

Yoginder Sikand, India

This is an old article which has been posted in the first page of this thread! Ramdev was like Rumi, influenced by an Ismaili Pir and then spreading the message to humanity.

[Admin]

We need more new studies in this field. If the disciples of RamDev are our lost brother the same way the Druzes are, effort should be made to make available to them our common shared history and knowledge. Maybe some new disciples of the present day Pir Shams can do that.

[kmaherali]

I believe that will happen through the IIS. Already a lot of information is shared between the IIS and the Bohoras. This may extend to other offshoots of Ismailism...

[Admin]

http://thewire.in/75233/dominique-sila-khan/

Dominique Sila Khan – a Scholar of Religion Who Made India Her Home
By Shail Mayaram on 23/10/2016

Dominique was part of a small group of scholars working on the shared and overlapping cultures of Hindus and Muslims in the subcontinent.



The morning’s emails rolled into my inbox, one with the shocking news of the passing of Dominque Sila Khan, one of the most talented scholars of religion in South Asia. I had first met Dominique in the early 1990s at a conference on Rajasthan and was hugely impressed with the dynamic energy of her paper and presentation. She was then unravelling the hidden and secret identities of Ismaili missionary-saints in Western India, including Ai Mata, Jasnath, Jambha and Ramdev, mostly followed by ‘untouchable’ and ‘low’ castes who had been converted to Ismailism in the 13th and 14th centuries by missionaries of the Ismaili dawa working in Multan.

The question for me is who converted whom. Ismailis were in constant conversation with Hindu religious practitioners such as the Nath Yogis and Kabirpanthis, and there was much mutual learning until the 19th century when the idea of singular religious identity began to thrive and create bounded identities. Over a period of time, saint-hero-gods such as Ramdev who had a major following among Dalit communities became appropriated as Hindu and Vaishnava.

Dominique’s doctoral work Conversions and Shifting Identities: Ramdev Pir and the Ismailis in Rajasthan gives us accounts from traditions of the Dalit caste of Meghvals of the persecution by the Delhi Sultans of holy persons who were disciples of Pir Shams. Hence, the martyrdom of Khivan along with Ransi Tanwar, the grandfather of Ramdev, by the Delhi Sultan. His body was then miraculously transformed into milk and he acquired the name Dudh Pir. There is a similar hagiography of Phul Pir.

Information on the Ismailis had until then depended on the orally performed traditions of the Ismailis, the ginans or devotional hymns – Dominique’s work excavated architectural and mythic evidence of an expanding Nizari dawa.

Over the years, Dominique and I came to share many interests and borrowed deeply from each other’s work. On some questions we also diverged – I was critical of the idea of crypto-Islam that she used in her later book, Crossing the Threshold. Dominique and I were part of a small group of scholars working on the shared and overlapping cultures of Hindus and Muslims in the subcontinent, which included Ann Gold, Yogi Sikand, Veronique Bouillier, Tazim Kassam, Carla Bellamy and others. A volume titled Lines in Water: Religious Boundaries in South Asia is one of the volumes that came out of some of our work.

Some of us were part of a conference on liminal identities in Goa, which also produced an edited volume titled Lived Islam. The challenge before us was how to conceptualise the identities that emerged around these diverse and culturally interconnected universes. Surely all identities are mixed – unless moulded to the contrary by ideological intervention – but the hybridity of some has been especially pronounced, such as of Mewatis, More Salam and Malkana Rajputs, Khanzadas and Kayamkhanis, among others.

All of us struggled with vocabularies to signify this space. Dominique used the concept of acculturation then popular in French anthropology, but veered around to using the idea of liminality that for me signified the in-between spaces between religions and that defied boundary-making enterprises.

Dominique herself had a novel location: she was born Jewish and was the author of a fairly successful novel. She was educated in Paris but moved to Jaipur after her marriage to a Sunni Muslim from the Shekhawat region of Rajasthan. Dominique was the writer, but Sattar Khan partnered her at home and in fieldwork. He knew intuitively what she arrived at in the way of scholarship and together they uncovered the traces of Ismailism over a millennium.

Dominique’s work on the Imamshahi Satpanth showed how the dharma parivartan campaign of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad in the 1980s forced the Patidars, members of an agricultural caste representing about 75% of the Imamshahi Satpanth to remain gupti (in hiding). In the 1980s, Kaka Karsan Das of the Pirana shrine assumed the Hindu title of acharya and claimed to be the spiritual leader of the community. He initiated a process of Hinduisation so as to make the sect acceptable to the Sangh Parivar, involving modifications in rituals and the sacred literature.

Her research into the Pranami tradition suggested how Gandhi’s early association with the Pranami tradition has been underplayed, even obliterated in several biographies, as also in his own autobiography. Gandhi admits only in passing in the latter that his mother was a Pranami and that, in his childhood, he would also go to the Porbandar shrine and read from both the Gita and Quran. He mentions that many people thought that they were Muslim. The Qulzam Sharif, the holy scripture of the sect, defines the Pranami religion as Islam or din-i Islam.

At the turn of the century, Dominique, whose Hindi was fluent – Rajasthani and Gujarati just a little less so – decided to learn Malayalam and immersed herself in the Hindu, Christian, Muslim and Jewish cultures of Kerala. The outcome was Sacred Kerala, a book I have taken on each of my journeys to the Malabar coast.

Sadly, a recent political position in India celebrates the nativist intellectual, ignoring how scholars such as Dominique made India their home, opting for a deeper understanding and experience of Indian cultures rather than a position in a European university. Even as livelihood remained a struggle for Sattar and her, one of her last projects was to set up an institute of pluralism.

As I look at the copies of Dominique’s books in my office, I think of how in the end this is all that remains: our witnessing of the past, of footprints on the sand that are erased by time and of vanishing worlds as the quest for pure religions and totalised identities is undertaken at a frenzied pace in the subcontinent.

Shail Mayaram is a historian and political anthropologist whose most recent book is Israel as the gift of the Arabs: Letters from Tel Aviv

[kmaherali]

Ismaili Saints and Hindu Shrines

Excerpt:

There are two important factors to understand the religious Ismaili history in Sindh. Firstly, with the concealment of true identity, later their shrines became popular with dual identities i.e, ManghoPir/ Lala Jasraj, Pir Patho/Gopi Chand, Shaikh Tahir/Udero Lal/Jhulelal, Ram Baraho/Ibrahim Shah and many others. There are even Ismaili claims to the effect that Lal Shahbaz Qalandar Usman Marvandi (1177-1274), popularly known as Lal Shahbaz, was also an Ismaili saint and he too carried a dual identity as LalShahbaz/Raja Bharthari. Secondly, the internal strife among the Ismaili community regarding the spiritual succession caused much damage with many of the shrines getting separated from them and then re-affiliated with Hinduism notably Rama Pir, Pir Pithoro and many others in Sindh, Kutch, Gujarat and Rajasthan. With the re-affiliation or reversion to Hinduism many myths were invented and stories were made, making the local Ismaili pirs into Hindu deities. This mainly happened when internal dissension over the line of spiritual succession began appearing in the community. After the death of Pir Sadruddin (d.1409), the most popular Ismaili Dai of the fourteenth century who converted Hindu Lohanas to Nizari Ismailism, his son Hasan Kabiruddin, was made a new Pir by the Imam at Alamut in Persia. When Pir Hassan Kabiruddin died, the Imam appointed his brother Tajuddin (whose shrine is located in Tando Bagho, Badin) as new Pir of the Nizari Khoja community rather than one of the numerous sons of Pir Hasan Kabiruddin. This displeased the sons of Pir Hasaan Kabiruddin and they plotted against their uncle Pir Tajuddin. Subsequently Imam Shah, son of Pir Hasan Kabiruddin attempted in vain to become pir of the Khoja Nizaris in Sindh. These internal schisms aggravated the situation and after the death of Pir Tajuddin, the Khoja Nizaris and the shrines of local pirs began reverting to Hindusim. In the meantime, the Imam appointed one more Dai, Pir Dadu – sending him to Sindh to prevent reversion of Nizari Khojas to Hinduism or other forms of Islam. In the time of the Arghuns (1524-1555) and later in the Tarkhan period (1555-1592), Pir Dadu (d. 1593) had to meet local resistance from Sunnis and had to flee from Sindh to Jamnagar in Kutch.

More..
https://www.thefridaytimes.com/tft/isma ... u-shrines/

[swamidada1]

Ismaili Saints and Hindu Shrines

Excerpt:

There are two important factors to understand the religious Ismaili history in Sindh. Firstly, with the concealment of true identity, later their shrines became popular with dual identities i.e, ManghoPir/ Lala Jasraj, Pir Patho/Gopi Chand, Shaikh Tahir/Udero Lal/Jhulelal, Ram Baraho/Ibrahim Shah and many others. There are even Ismaili claims to the effect that Lal Shahbaz Qalandar Usman Marvandi (1177-1274), popularly known as Lal Shahbaz, was also an Ismaili saint and he too carried a dual identity as LalShahbaz/Raja Bharthari. Secondly, the internal strife among the Ismaili community regarding the spiritual succession caused much damage with many of the shrines getting separated from them and then re-affiliated with Hinduism notably Rama Pir, Pir Pithoro and many others in Sindh, Kutch, Gujarat and Rajasthan. With the re-affiliation or reversion to Hinduism many myths were invented and stories were made, making the local Ismaili pirs into Hindu deities. This mainly happened when internal dissension over the line of spiritual succession began appearing in the community. After the death of Pir Sadruddin (d.1409), the most popular Ismaili Dai of the fourteenth century who converted Hindu Lohanas to Nizari Ismailism, his son Hasan Kabiruddin, was made a new Pir by the Imam at Alamut in Persia. When Pir Hassan Kabiruddin died, the Imam appointed his brother Tajuddin (whose shrine is located in Tando Bagho, Badin) as new Pir of the Nizari Khoja community rather than one of the numerous sons of Pir Hasan Kabiruddin. This displeased the sons of Pir Hasaan Kabiruddin and they plotted against their uncle Pir Tajuddin. Subsequently Imam Shah, son of Pir Hasan Kabiruddin attempted in vain to become pir of the Khoja Nizaris in Sindh. These internal schisms aggravated the situation and after the death of Pir Tajuddin, the Khoja Nizaris and the shrines of local pirs began reverting to Hindusim. In the meantime, the Imam appointed one more Dai, Pir Dadu – sending him to Sindh to prevent reversion of Nizari Khojas to Hinduism or other forms of Islam. In the time of the Arghuns (1524-1555) and later in the Tarkhan period (1555-1592), Pir Dadu (d. 1593) had to meet local resistance from Sunnis and had to flee from Sindh to Jamnagar in Kutch.

More..
https://www.thefridaytimes.com/tft/isma ... u-shrines/

My Views:

With reference to an article published in Friday times by Dr. Zulfiqar kalhoro, I would like to to clarify few flaws. First thanks to Dr. Kalhoro who researched and wrote this article, though I think basically it is duty of ITREB Pak to research and find facts when their head-quarter is in Sindh and their scholars easily reach in interior Sindh. But Who cares, mostly Ismaili scholars depend on other scholar's research as they are not habitual to hard work. I know in Sindh and Punjab there is vast Ismaili literature in private libraries but, Who will explore? Dr. Kalhoro has not given proper references of research, hard to verify. Ismaili Nizari Pirs did not have dual identities, they were known by their real names.
Regarding Dr. Kalhoro's research that Shabaz Qalander was an Ismaili saint is not correct. He was an Isna'ishiri follower because he has praised Isna'ishiri Imams in his famous Munqabat " HYDERI UM QALANDARUM MASTUM ". Long ago Dr. Professor G A Allana (ex vice chancellor of Sindh University) wrote an article on Shabaz Qalandar which was published in Sindhi monthly magazine " Nai Zindagi " proving that Shahbaz was from the progeny of Imam Jafar Sadiq but was an Isna'ishiri. Also sufi Udhero Lal reverd by both Hindus and Muslims was not an Ismaili saint. Pir Pathoro was disciple of Bahauddin Zakariya Multani Who was Sunni and nemesis of Pir Shams in Multan.
It is also on record that after demise of Pir Hasan Kabiruddin his many sons drifted away from Ismailism and started their own piratan franchises and settled at many places in Sindh, Kathiawar, Gujrat, Dehli and Kashmir areas.
Dr. Kalhoro wrote,"After death of Pir Sadruddin his son Hasan Kabiruddin was made a new Pir By Imam at Alamut in Persia". It was not order from Alamut because Alamut was destroyed by armies of Helagu in 1256 and Pir hasan was born in 1341 in Uuch sharif near Multan and was given Piratan by Imam Islam Shah who was living at that time in Azarbhaijan.
Syed Tahir Shah was son of Momin Shah and grandson of Imam Shamsuddin Muhammad. Syed Tahir migrated from Gillan to state of Bejapur in Hindustan. It is said he and his family adopted Isna'ishiri Tariqah. Mangho Pir's real name was Syed Sakhi Sultan who migrated from Iraq in 13th century and settled near Karachi was not an Ismaili Pir.
It is interesting to note, that in one article it was claimed that Syed Abdullah Shah Ghazi burried near Clifton Karachi was also an Ismaili preacher. It is reported that he was from Ahl e Bait, son of Nafs Al Zakiah, but historically Nafs Al Zakiah drifted away from Imam Jafar Sadiq on political issues. Other narration is that he came to Sindh with armies of Muhammad bin Qasim. Abdullah Ghazi was born in 720 AD in Medina at that time there was no Ismailism technically, as Imam Ismail became Imam in 765 AD.

[kmaherali]

Enigma of the dual-identity saints

There are many saints who carry dual identities in Sindh. It is the most complex subject for the students of history, comparative religion and anthropology in Sindh due to the lack of available literature on the nature of dual-identity saints and shrines in Sindh. Whatever is available is highly contradictory and lacks scholarly explanations. These contradictory accounts, mostly written in tazkiras in Persian by 17th-, 18th- and 19th-century historians of Sindh confuse the reader most. One gets even confused when one reads the translations of these tazkiras in Sindhi where some of the facts are clearly misleading.

One such case is that of Pir Patho, venerated by both Muslims and Hindus under two different names: Pir Patho and Gopichand. His identity is the most contested in Sindh. This contestation is due to his dual identity as a Muslim saint with different names – Sultan Pir Patho, Sultan Shah Alam, Sultan Pir Shah Hussain, Firuz Shah, etc. He was initiated into the Suhrawardi tariqa by Sheikh Bahauddin Zakariya and became known as Gopichand. The original Gopichand had renounced the throne of Ujjain and became an ascetic – and he lived a century before Pir Patho but it seems that the latter apparently used that name to convert Hindus to Ismailism. Gopichand was a nephew of Raja Bharthari. Lal Shahbaz Qalandar is also known as Raja Bharthari to his Hindus devotees. The Ismailis also claim that he was an Ismaili saint.

More...
https://www.thefridaytimes.com/tft/enig ... ty-saints/

[swamidada1]

Enigma of the dual-identity saints

There are many saints who carry dual identities in Sindh. It is the most complex subject for the students of history, comparative religion and anthropology in Sindh due to the lack of available literature on the nature of dual-identity saints and shrines in Sindh. Whatever is available is highly contradictory and lacks scholarly explanations. These contradictory accounts, mostly written in tazkiras in Persian by 17th-, 18th- and 19th-century historians of Sindh confuse the reader most. One gets even confused when one reads the translations of these tazkiras in Sindhi where some of the facts are clearly misleading.

One such case is that of Pir Patho, venerated by both Muslims and Hindus under two different names: Pir Patho and Gopichand. His identity is the most contested in Sindh. This contestation is due to his dual identity as a Muslim saint with different names – Sultan Pir Patho, Sultan Shah Alam, Sultan Pir Shah Hussain, Firuz Shah, etc. He was initiated into the Suhrawardi tariqa by Sheikh Bahauddin Zakariya and became known as Gopichand. The original Gopichand had renounced the throne of Ujjain and became an ascetic – and he lived a century before Pir Patho but it seems that the latter apparently used that name to convert Hindus to Ismailism. Gopichand was a nephew of Raja Bharthari. Lal Shahbaz Qalandar is also known as Raja Bharthari to his Hindus devotees. The Ismailis also claim that he was an Ismaili saint.

More...
https://www.thefridaytimes.com/tft/enig ... ty-saints/

One such case is that of Pir Patho, venerated by both Muslims and Hindus under two different names: Pir Patho and Gopichand. His identity is the most contested in Sindh. This contestation is due to his dual identity as a Muslim saint with different names – Sultan Pir Patho, Sultan Shah Alam, Sultan Pir Shah Hussain, Firuz Shah, etc. He was initiated into the Suhrawardi tariqa by Sheikh Bahauddin Zakariya and became known as Gopichand. The original Gopichand had renounced the throne of Ujjain and became an ascetic – and he lived a century before Pir Patho but it seems that the latter apparently used that name to convert Hindus to Ismailism. Gopichand was a nephew of Raja Bharthari. Lal Shahbaz Qalandar is also known as Raja Bharthari to his Hindus devotees. The Ismailis also claim that he was an Ismaili saint.

With reference to above paragraph I mentioned in my post dated Dec 1, 2018 that Pir Patho was not an Ismaili. Reason is that he was disciple of Bahauddin Zakaria Multani who was Sunni Saint and had animosity with Pir Shams who was an Ismaili.

My other argument is, if Pir Patho was an Ismaili, then as Ismailis visit and celebrate URS of Pir Tajuddin (Shah Turel) or Shah Kapoor or Amir Pir, they should have visited and celebrated URS of Pir Patho also.

Mostly Ismailis in Thatta district living near tomb of Pir Patho, like Ismails of Mirpur Sakro, War Khwaja, Tar Khwaja, Jati, Sujawal, Shah Bunder should have been visiting the tomb, they do not even mention his name.

[swamidada1]

DAWN.COM

Shazia Hasan, November 13, 2016

On top of a small hillock in District Thatta stands the Mohammad Bin Qasim Fort Tower. Until news about it first broke four or five years ago, very few people outside of Thatta had heard about it. Last month, however, it was finally opened to the public after being restored to its original glory by the Endowment Fund Trust according to an agreement signed with Sindh’s ministry of culture.

Pir Patho, which looks like a watchtower or lighthouse, is attributed to Mohammad Bin Qasim because it is apparently located where the young general first set up camp after arriving in Sindh in the 17th century.

Locals of the area, who believe Pir Patho could have been a mosque’s minaret, have their own interesting story to tell about its origins — that it dates to back to hundreds of years before Mohammad Bin Qasim’s arrival to the province.

The Pir Patho shrine and a valley are clearly visible from one of the tower’s windows. It is also said that the River Indus once flowed nearby and the Pir Patho village was located close to the tower — the majority of the villagers were Muslim.

Historians have speculated for years about the recently restored tower in Thatta but the legends about it are fascinating in themselves
According to local lore, during the 12th century, on the hillock where the tower stands today, lived Sadiq Saami Faqir, a much-feared sorcerer. Gul Mohammad Khushk, owner and editor of the weekly local, Nangar Thatto, says that growing up in this area he had heard many stories about ‘Saami the wizard.’

“He fits the description of ‘terrorist’ by today’s standards. People of this area were terrified of him. Though his first name was ‘Sadiq’, he was not considered Muslim by them. In their eyes he was a non-believer, an atheist. And in his eyes, they were his prey,” says the journalist.

“Every Friday, Saami would organise a carnival on the hillock where he invited the village folk. And during the carnival he would kill one of them before sucking out all of his or her blood. He was a man-eater, a cannibal,” Khushk explains.

Around the same time, men such as Sheikh Bahauddin Zakariya and Lal Shahbaz Qalandar roamed these areas. One such man, Pir Patho, settled on the hill opposite to Saami’s residence.

“The Muslims of the area said he was Sultan Shah Alam, who they believed was a king who had renounced his right to the throne in favour of holy teachings,” continues Khushk. “The Hindus of the time also believed that he was royalty, though they said his real name was Gopi Chand. Both Hindus and Muslims referred to him as Pir Patho.”

People approached Pir Patho for help and begged him to do something about Saami. But Pir Patho did not possess any magical powers the way Saami did, and didn’t feel strong enough to confront him. Instead he approached Sheikh Bahauddin Zakariya, who told him about another saint, deep in meditation in far away Junagarh, who could help in the matter.

“That was when Pir Patho set off for Junagarh after making a brief stop at the River Indus from where he caught four palla fish to serve as a gift for the saint,” says Khushk.

After travelling for 40 days, he finally met Hazrat Sakhi Jamil Shah Datar of Girnari. “What is strange, or which may be seen as a kind of small miracle, is that the Palla fish Pir Patho had caught from the River Indus remained alive and fresh as if they were caught just a moment ago,” says Khushk.

Legend has it that after being convinced to travel back with him to Thatta, Jamil Shah Datar confronted Saami and turned him into a stone that was thrown away. “His stone figure, many say, was discovered many years ago in the Tharparkar desert. To purge the hillock of evil, the people built a mosque there called the ‘Mosque of Two Mehrab’,” says Khushk.

“The tower that stands near the mosque could be its minaret. Since Jamil Shah Datar, despite having brought an end to Saami, did not want any fuss or fame about his spiritual powers, the people named the area after Pir Patho,” points out the editor as he finishes the story.

Ismail Memon, another resident of Pir Patho, has his own explanation about the tower. “Apart from a few islands, this entire area was covered by water. The port of Debal was nearby and this tower was built much later — in the 17th century — and was a lighthouse.”

Historian and writer Badar Abro says that since there is no piece of writing or literature mentioning the tower, one has to speculate about why it was built based on historical records. Many scholars believe Pir Patho could have been part of what was once Debal port.

“When the British arrived here and were looking for Debal port, some believed it to be at Bhambore, some said it could have been at Pir Patho, while others went searching for it in Brahminabad which is a little further away from this place,” he explains.

“Pir Patho has been quoted in some history books as Debal but unfortunately there has been no excavation here, so people have started associating it with Mohammad Bin Qasim’s landing here,” says Abro. “Just like there was an ancient city at Bhambore, there must have also been one at Pir Patho. The place is reminiscent of it, especially in the depression towards the East side of the tower, where there is now a graveyard.”

Abro says that he, like the late Dr Ahmad Hasan Dani, believes there are two separate mosques on the hillock instead of one and these have been built in different times. “The tower is located at the edge of the courtyard of one of the mosques. It could have been its minaret but it has windows on every side and on the top too. Usually it is not like this on minarets,” he explains.

“Then the depression on the east side was most probably the Indus belt and this place was a river port. So it could very well have been a lighthouse. Perhaps it served a dual purpose during the 13th century — at the end of the Sumra period,” Abro adds.

For now it seems Pir Patho shall continue to be shrouded in mystery. But aside from its beauty, the folklore and stories surrounding this tower is part of its charm.

The writer is a member of staff.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, November 13th, 2016

[kmaherali]

The source of the above article with photos at:

Conservation: The mystery of Pir Patho

https://www.dawn.com/news/1295482

[kmaherali]

Of Gorakhnath and Girnari

Zulfiqar Ali Kalhoro on the ascetic with many names, Jamil Shah Girnari

Like many other saints in Thatta, the religious identity of Jamil Shah Datar Girnari is also contested. He also carries dual identities as Gorakhnath for Hindus and Jamil Shah Datar Girnari for Muslims, who was brought from Girnar by Gopichand (Pir Patho) to retake a cave from Sami Dayanath. Like Pir Patho’s tales, the legends of Jamil Shah Datar Girnari are also very intriguing. Prior to coming to PirAr/Pir Patho in Thatta, Jamil Shah lived in Girnar, a group of five hills, now located in Jungagadh district in Gujarat, India where he wandered and practiced tapas (austerities) in the hills of Girnar, hence was called Girnari. There are five hills at Girnar each carrying the names of Guru Dattatreya, Gorakhnath, Amba Mata, Kalika Mata and Jamal Shah/Jamil Shah Pir also called Datar (bountiful). There is an ornately carved tomb over his chilagah at Girnar which is now the most holy place for the Muslims in Junagadh district.

Photos and more:

https://www.thefridaytimes.com/tft/of-g ... d-girnari/

[swamidada1]

With reference to Gorakhnath and Girnari post dated Dec 13, 2018 and the Friday Time's article I want to divert attention to the following paragraph which appeared in Friday Time's article.
"Today, the shrine of Jamil Shah Girnari is frequented by both Hindus and Muslims. The Khoja Ismaili community outnumbers other communities at the annual festival of Jamil Shah Girnari. They also venerate the chilagah of Jamil Shah Girnari near 103 Mori in Gorabari tehsil in Thatta district. The Khoja community also holds the annual festival at the chilagah of Jamil Shah Datar Girnari. The Khojki script on a wooden beam placed on stone carved pillars of Jamil Shah Girnari’s otaro (sitting place) at PirPatho tells many tales that Pir Ar, now Pir Patho, was the centre of Ismaili saints rather than Suhrawardi mystics".

It is to say that Khoja Ismaili community outnumbers other communities at the annual festival of Jamil Shah Girnari is highly exaggerated. In Gorabari town and in its vicinity live very few Ismailis staying there for business and farming. If some Ismailis are visiting the festival does not mean they venerate Jamil Shah. If that is so then Ismailis from Hyderabad and Karachi should have attending the festival as they do at Amir Pir. Never heard any Ismailis visiting Pir Patho or Jamil Shah from Hyderabad, Tando Muhammad Khan or Mirpur Sakro or Karachi.
There is no mention of Pir Patho or Jamil Shah in Ismaili Histories written in past 100/150 years.
Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah restricted his followers from attending Dargahas, if attendance at Darghas was necessary then Imam should have allowed Khojas to attend Darghas of Pir Shams, Pir Sadardin and Pir Hasan Kabiruddin in Punjab Pakistan.
Ismailis do not believe in chillagahas or do 40 days chillas, they do zikr in BK.
In Girnar TWO PEAKS ARE NAMED AS DATTA AND GORAKHNATH TEMPLES established long ago before birth of Jamil Shah Datta.

[njessani]

Ismailis believe that Imam Ali = Hazar Imam = Tenth Incarnation of Vishnu. Furthermore, Ismailis believe that Imam Ali = Hazar Imam = Allah.

As per Hinduism, "Brahman" is greater than Vishnu, Brahma, and Shiva.

Does that imply that "Brahman" is greater than Imam Ali=Hazar Imam=Allah=Vishnu?

[kmaherali]

The Imam is Brahman who is the Niranjan (Unknowable) Niraakaar (without forms). Being the Brahman he is also Vishnu, Bhrama, and Shiva . The Brahman retained the role of Vishnu for himself and designated the roles of Bhrama and Shiva to other entities.

At present the Imam is the Gurnar or ShahPir. He is the Mazhar of Divine Essence - Nirinjan Niraakaar. Hence at all times the Imam is both the Shah (the object and final destination of worship) and the Pir (the Guide and the creator). At present the Imam functions in both roles, but in the past the Imams designated the role of Piratan to other members of Ahl al-Bayt.

[njessani]

Is this your own view? I don't recall "Brahman" being mentioned in any Ismaili literature. Can you please suggest the sources that mention "Brahman" is Imam. Thanks.

[kmaherali]

Is this your own view? I don't recall "Brahman" being mentioned in any Ismaili literature. Can you please suggest the sources that mention "Brahman" is Imam. Thanks.

Brahman according to Hinduism means the Supreme God. In Ismailism the same concept is expressed as Khat Niranjan - the Highest Unseen and is manifest in the Imam. Hence the equivalence.

[njessani]

I was more interested in seeing the word "Brahman" mentioned in Ismaili Literature.

Vishnu, Ram, Brahma, Krishna etc. are categorically mentioned in the Ginans. I was wondering if such a categorical reference exists for "Brahman."