East Punjab And Sikh Community

East Punjab and Sikh Community By: Dr. Maqsood Hasni Translated By: Prof. Imran Khalid East Punjab is the region of a vast community of the world. This region is not inferior to any part of the world in respect of resources. The resident of this region are the followers of Hazrat Guru Nanak Dev. These peoples possess the qualities of truth, hard work and simplicity. They are men of words. Begging is against their nature. They are wrongfully taken as the followers of a separate religion, which they are not. The meanings of Sikh are “the learner” ‘Knowledge seeker’ A person going through the process of learning skill, the skill he is learning. We know that Messenger or the Prophet are never used for the Donor of the skills. The donor of the skill is mostly called as Teacher or Guru. Guru is a person who knows ‘gur’(skill), familiar with difficulty, experienced, the instructor, the teacher, leader. All these words can be used for Guru. If Guru and Sikh are translated in used language, then they would be called as Teacher and the Student. It must be remembered that teacher possess the status of spiritual father. So in respect of teaching skills, dishonesty can’t be expected from him. Two things are seen most prominent with this Guru. 1- Tauheed; which is the key of religions. 2- Tasawuf; which is source of cleanliness and methodology. This Guru doesn’t seem to be near to any religion in the world. Some social or economic common commonness with some religion are seen but this is not strange in any ways. These are the result of the inhabitance nearness. The local Christians of Pakistan celebrate many traditions like the Muslims, but in spite of this the are the Christians. Many religious sentences of the Muslims are used by them in daily life, but even then they claim to be the followers of the Christ. Because of these inhabitance similarities, Sikhs can’t be declared to the part of the Hinduism. This would be unjust and cruel. The truth is that these Sikhs are related to the Sufi chains whose founder was Hazrat Guru Nanak Dev. Mohammad Asif Khan quoted Bhai Gordas (1559-1637) ,” Guru Nanak used to keep his stick and book under his arm whenever he was sad. In this book he used to write besides his own writings, the writings of Sufis and Bhagats.”(1) If someone calls him Guru Nanak or Sufi Nanak or Sheikh Nanak, it makes no difference. He travelled to Mecca as well as he stayed at Baghdad. When we look upon the chains of the Sufis, the chief element common in them seem to be the love for Hazrat Mohammad (Peace be upon him). Just like this every word of Guru Garanth Sahib seem to be linked with the Sufis. If Sufis are the Muslims and the spiritual leaders then why the Sikh community and the respected Guru sahiban can be called as the non-muslims or infidels. Every Sufi guru keeps his own identity in respect of ideology and dressings. The same is the case with the people attached with the Guru Garanth Sahib. As the ‘Shaloks’ of Baba Farid and Shah Hussain’s ‘kafiyan’ are respected by the Muslims, similarly every word of Sri Garanth Sahib seem to be related with ‘Tauheed’ and ‘Tasawaf’, so that is respectable too. The people attached to this chain are called ‘Sikhs’, while same is the case of the other Sufi chains like the Qadriya chain, Chishtiya chain, Soharwardi chain, Naqashbandi chain, Shitarya chain etc. Khalifas/ Gadi Nasheen/ Diwans are appointed to continue the spiritual work of the Sufis, hence these Sufi chains continue and flourish, and this system is spread on centuries. The founder of the Sikh chain is Hazrat Guru Nanak Dev, and Guru Sahiban continued this chain and spiritual work of Guru Nanak. These Guru sahiban arranged Guru Garanth Sahib, as well as made some useful additions. So their respected worked also became the part of Guru Garanth Sahib. Hazrat Zain-ul-Abideen hosted his worst enemy. That is why hosting can’t be declared as the reason for someone’s true follower. This action is not new with the peace loving muslims. Agreeing or liking is a completely different issue. One Guru sahib of this chain was not only hosted by Syeds but even supported his

stand. These syeds were basically the Sufis. The support of a Guru’s stand is the open indication that Sikhs are no separate religious identity but they are a chain among the Sufi chains. The word ‘Baba ji’ is used by us usually for the Sufis. I have heard “Baba Guru Nanak from many a muslims. I myself belong to Syed family , my father Hazrat Ghulam Hazoor Shah commonly known as Baba Shukar-ullah was a Punjabi sufi poet. I heard him many a times saying Baba Guru Nanak. He respected Baba Guru Nanak most. He had learnt many verses of Sri Garanth Sahib by heart. I heard from him that Sikh community celebrate “Giyarween Sharif” with free milk distribution. On the 10th of Moharram the Sikh community used to arrange ‘sabeels’ of water and milk. Both two mentioned are the social traditions. They are related with the religion. I don’t know myself the present situation in today’s Amritsar (East Punjab), whether this tradition prevails there today or not. The following verse is said to be of Hazrat Guru Nanak; “Kalma kahan te kal poway bin kamiyon vi naa Hindu kahan tay marya musalman vi naa” Here only that muslim is indicated who weighs 3/4th out of 1 , spread ‘fasad’ and terror on Allah’s land. The Sufis served the humanity at Gulbargha and many other places too. Anyhow the basic message in the above verse is “bin kamiyon vi na”. Baba ji kept his addressed behind the curtain, kept process of learning in respect of identity of dress completely different from the other Sufis, but even then he proved his no separate religious identity by including the sayings of the Sufis at prominent places of his book. A major group of the Muslims use to visit the tombs of the Sufis regularly. Sikhs not only visit the tomb of Baba Nanak sahib but they also visit the tombs of the Muslim Sufis very lovingly and respectably. Muslims don’t think that these Sufis were God but the ordinary human beings. Muslims worship only one Allah, same is the case with Sikh chain. Please read the following verse in the initial pages of Sri Garanth Sahib. “One Universal Creator God. The Name is Truth.” The Sikh too don’t think that Baba Guru Nanak was God but they believe in one Allah, and they believe that Hazrat Guru Nanak was the favourite of Allah among the humans. The Muslims too thinks about the Sufis in the similar way. “Dayemi Complex Bangladesh never became narrowed for anyone. Its doors are open for the Sikh community too. The Proud of humanity, Hazrat Allama Sufi Shah Sheikh Dr. Mohammad Nur-ul-Alam is presently the spiritual leader of humanity. In this respect he has close relations with the Sikh chain too. So where he is the leader of the other Sufi chains, there his the Guru of the Sikh chain too. The Sikh community can be benefited by him in the present world.