Suhrawardiyya Order and Religious Theology of Shaikh Bahauddin Zakariya

 

Dr. Sapna Tiwari

Barkatullah University, Bhopal, India

 

ABSTRACT:

Shaikh Bahauddin Zakariya was a Muslim poet who founded the Suhrawardiyya order of Baghdad in medieval south asia. He became famous in the 13^th centuary and was the most celebrated poet and spiritual leader of its time. He played a substantial role in conforming the sociocultural history of North West India. The Suhrawardiyya order is a Sufi order and was established by Sufi Diya al-din Abu 'n-Najib as-Suhrawardi. It is stringently followed by Sunni community of Muslim religion. This order’s founder was disciple of Ahmed Ghazali. Ahmed Ghazali was the brother of the noted thinker Imam Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali. His prominent existing work is called Kitab Adab Al-Muridin. It was Sheikh Umar who instructed Bahauddin Zakariya to make Multan city the center of his activity. Multan is now the part of Pakistan.

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

Political and religious condition of Punjab was on decline in the early 13^th century and was very unstable politically. This was the time when Ghaznavid rule was on decline and motivated emergence and expansion of Sujuq empire was threatening the all-in-all existence of Ghaznavis. With the limited power of Sajuqs, Ghurids started to empower themselves and their political motives. Ghurdis steadily built their own political power.

 

In the words of Dr. Subramony as mentioned in IJOHMN,” during the late twelfth and early thirteenth century, the political condition in Punjab was characterized by the decline of the Ghaznavid rule, establishment of the decline of the Ghaznavid rule, establishment of the Delhi sultanate, internal conflict in the new ruling class and recurrent Mongol invasions.

 

The emergence and expansion of the Saljuq empire threatened the existence of the Ghaznavids whose sway was reduced to parts of the southern and eastern Afghanistan and Punjab. As the Saljuqs began to lose ground to the Ghuzz Turks, the Ghurid princes (who had been the vassals of the Saljuqs) availed themselves of the opportunity to build their own political power. In this rise of the Ghurids, a notable role was playedby Izzuddin Husain, BahauddinSaj and Alauddin Jahansoz. A tripartite division of the Ghurid empire placed Ghazni in the hands of Sultan Muizuddin (r. 1173-1206) who went on to lay the foundation of the Delhi sultanate. The series of is military expeditions, which were spread over three decades, brought about a fundamental change in the history of Punjab up to Delhi and expended the frontiers of the new kingdom to Ajmer, Gwalior and Benares, paving the way for quick success in Bihar and Bengal. The sudden and unexpected death of Sultan Muizzuddin in 1206 marked the beginning of a power struggle in Punjab among his Turkish slave officers –Wutbuddin Aibak in Delhi and Lahore, Nasiruddin Qubacha in Multn and Uch and Tajuddin Yalduz in Ghazni. The place of Aibak was taken after his death (1210) by Shamsuddin IItutmish. But the power struggle continued as before. After a series of military operations, IItutmish defeated his rivals (Yalduzand Qubacha) and, by 1220, established a firm control over Punjab and placed his son Nasiruddin Mahmud in charge of Lahore.” (p.24)

 

Shaikh Bahauddin Zakariya adhered to and maintained his views that one must remember god with love and sincerity. By the true and authentic dedication only, good actions can be wishfully fulfilled. For humans, the ultimate destination must God blesses wealth, success and prosperity if the person is dedicatedly working for the good of humanity. Shaikh used to write letter to his disciples instructing them and reminding them of their commitments towards god. His thought was to guide the disciples in the best possible way to blessing their services for suffering people.

 

It was said that once Shaikh and his mentor, Abu Nazir Abdul Kahir visited Mecca for their pilgrim. It is believed that Abu Nazir got involved in such deep spiritual consciousness that he even did not notice the arrival of prophet, Hazrat Khizar. Hazrat Khizar left the place unnoticed. When Abu Nazir regained consciousness, his disciples in anxiety asked him about his behavior of ignorance towards the prophet, he said that it was the precious moment and he did not want to waste it for anybody and the same would not have come again to achieve that height of spiritual consciousness. This story tells that one must defend its precious time despite whatever it takes.

 

It is also said that Shaikh Bahauddin Zakariya had no belief in philosophical trait of mysticism rather he believed in the practical aspect and spiritual purity. This belief was also authenticated by the book Arabic Al-Aurad. The authorship is attributed to the teaching of Shaikh Bahauddin Zakariya. Dr. R. Subramony writes in his research that Maulana Ali Bin Ahmed Ghurim made a commentary of this work. This work expounds a few rudimentary religious doctrines. A number of people devoted their energy to literary production and these were the people who believed in the mystical circle of Shaikh. There was another intellect named as Sadruddin Ahmad bin Najmuddin Saiyyid Husaini who was also the author of Kanz-ul-Rumuz, Zad-Ul-Musafirin, Tarb-i-Majalis andNuzhat-ul-Arwah; he also was deeply associated with mystical circle of Shaikh Bahauddin Zakariya.

 

It was also believed that Husaini put the last touches on his collection of poetry Kanz-Ul-Rumuz while staying at the convent of Shaikh Bahauddin Zakariya. One can clearly find the praises in these verses about Shaikh Bahauddin and his son, Shaikh Sadruddin Arif. Qalandars and Jawaliqs were famous for their unorthodox conduct. Their thoughts and teachings differed from the conventional Sufi saints, however; their devotion and love was based on spiritual conduct. Shaikh Bahauddin was quite apprehensive about letting the qalandars in in his sanctorum. He was restrained in recognizing the spiritual attainment of Qalandars and Jawaliqs. As per Dr. Subramony, once he went attend the congregation of Jawaliqs, he noticed a sudden light emanating from one of the Jawaliqs. Shaikh went ahead and met that special person and asked him what he was doing with these people. Even this encounter even could relieve his apprehensions. Surprisingly, this antipathy was not one side. Both sides were equally hesitant towards each other.

 

Shaikh Bahauddin Zakariya religiously followed the outward form of devotion. He was against any eccentricity in the religious practice in what he believed to the right. Dr. Subramony writes in his well-researched article about this. Shaikh Bahauddin Zakariya was extremely punctilious regarding the outward form of devotion. He did not tolerate even a minor deviation from what he regarded as the correct religious practice. He appears to have offended a number of people by his somewhat self-righteous attitude, which was considerably similar to that of the orthodox theologians. Let us consider the following examples that were quoted by Shaikh Nuzamuddin Auliua during the course of his mystical discourses. According to one of these incidents, Shaikh Bahauddin Zakariya believed that a disciple must complete his ablutions or prayers before getting up to pay respects to his spiritual mentor. Once the Shaikh reached the bank of a river, where he found that a group of his disciples was engaged in performing the ablutions. As soon as they saw the Shaikh, they left their continued to perform the task till he had completed it and only then rose to pay his respects to his mentor. On observing the difference between the respective conducts of his disciples, the Shaikh declared that only one of them was a mystic (darvesh). (P.15).

 

These observations leave all doubts at bay with conviction that Shaikh always favored the conventional form of worship and ritual. There was one more incident related to this. A person named Sulaiman was famous for his devotional exercises in and around the areas of Multan, Pakistan. Shaikh Bahauddin Zakariya went to see him after listening so much about his devotion. He requested Sulaiman to offer a prayer of two rakaat. Shaikh observed that the standing position of Sulaiman was not as per the rules and spaces between the two legs different. So, he requested Sulaiman to maintain the instructions. Despite trying several attempts, Sulaiman failed to observe the prescribed space. Upon finding this, Shaikh requested him to leave Multan and settle in Uch. To his surprise, Sulaiman respected his orders and left for Uch.

 

The DN Trust writes in its blog that after the death of Shaikh Ruknuddin (RA) the Suhrawardiyya silsiladeclined in Multan but became popular in other provinces like Kutch, Gujarat, Punjab, Kashmir and even Delhi. Suharwardiya order of Sufism became popular in Bengal (Contemporary Relevance of Sufism, 1993, published by Indian Council for Cultural relations). It was popularized and revitalized by Hazrat Jalaluddin Surkh-PoshBukhari (RA) known as Makhdum Jahaniyan, the world traveler. He was puritan and strongly objected the Hindu influences to Muslim social and religious practices.

 

Shaikh used to walk daily to the mosque of Qazi Qutburddin Kashhan for his prayers. Qazi Qutuburddin was highly regarded for his pious knowledge and erudition. One day Qazi asked Shaikh Shahabuddin the reason for his walking daily to the mosque and making prayers standing behind a person. In his reply, Shaikh said that offering prayer standing behind a pious soul is like offering prayer directly standing behind the god. Shaikh Bahauddin was as much particular about the dressing and making hair as he was about the religious rituals and rules. When someone had come up with improper dressing and hair styling, he, without any hesitation, scolded that person and used to instruct him on the proper dressing as per the religious sentiments.

 

In a few incidents, Shaikh was also involved in politics. It is a well known fact that King Shamsuddin Iltutmish and Nasiruddin Qubacha had some conflicts between them as they had the territories of Multan and Uch. In this issue, Shaikh and a qazi of the city sent a supporting letter to Shamsuddin. As the fate of it, the letter fell in the hands of Qubacha and he got killed the qazi and summoned Shaikh to court. Shaikh without any fear accepted that he wrote this letter in support of Shasuddin as Qubacha is useless and powerless.

 

CONCLUSIVE ASSESSMENT:

Shaikh Bahuddin was the follower and disciple of Suhrawardiyya Order. The followers of the orders were conventional worshipers and followed conservative rituals. Many incidents ascertain this fact that factions of Suhrawardiyya were conservatively forming the order. These factions were of Sunni community. The order took up the Islamic world and especially covered the part of Iraq. Shaikh Bahauddin Zakariya was directed by his mentor for the expansion of the order in Multan, the then Indian province and now in Pakistan. Therefore, the credit of making this order famous in this part of world goes to Bukhari and is successor, Shaikh Bahauddin Zakariya.

 

Shaikh Bahauddin was very particular and stringent about following the religious customs and rituals. When one explores his life and incidents, one can easily mark this habit. Once a scholar arrived to see Shaikh Bahahuddin and Shaikh remarked seeing on his dressing that what two snakes are doing with him seeing him wearing loose turban and styling hair style. Hearing this, the scholar left the place in grief after listening the hurtful remarks. This nature sometimes brought him a bad name in the eyes of his followers who followed him for a messenger of god. This rude and bias behavior of Suhrawardiyya follower and Shaikh was hard to digest when it comes to following the order. Moreover, there were also groups who could see eye to eye with the followers of Suhrawardiyya order and Shaikh Bahauddin himself.

 

Shaikh Bahauddin Zakariya and his disciples were also criticized many a times for their decisions and steps taken. They were criticized for their political stand taken in favor of Sultan. They were also criticized for their wealth accumulation and support for the elite character and people. Looking at some incidents it was also said that Suhrawardiyya khanqah was closed for common people and supported only the elite class. In the same incident, Qazi was also against the Suhrawardiyya order and Shaikh Bahauddin institution because of his bias support towards Sultan Iltumish. Qazi expressed that this support would be decisive and would go against shaping the future of the Suhrawardiyya order.

 

REFERENCES:

1.      "Bahauddin Zakariya". En.Wikipedia.Org, https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahauddin_Zakariya. Date accessed: 12 Nov. 2019.

2.      Subramony, D. R. “The Mystic Path of Shaikh Bahauddin Zakariya”. IJOHMN (International Journal Online of Humanities), Vol. 5, no. 4, Aug. 2019, p. 23. Available at: <https:// www.ijohmn.com/index.php/ijohmn/article/view/115/>. Date accessed: 06 Dec. 2019. doi:10.24113/ijohmn.v5i4.115.

3.      Silsila, Soharwardi. "Soharwardi Silsila". Dntrust.Blogspot.Com, https://dntrust.blogspot.com/p/soharwardi-silsila.html. Date accessed: 16 Dec. 2019.

4.      "Suhrawardiyya". En.Wikipedia.Org, https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Suhrawardiyya. Date accessed: 22 Dec. 2019.

 

Received on 06.03.2020         Modified on 04.04.2020

Accepted on 30.04.2020      ©AandV Publications All right reserved