Black day for Hind

Shabir Shah, who may have started his career with ideals of Kashmiriyat, let himself be used by Pakistan and is now of not much consequenc...

Shabir Shah, who may have started his career with ideals of Kashmiriyat, let himself be used by Pakistan and is now of not much consequence in the Valley, despite the quot;black dayquot; bandh last Friday. What do proponents of Kashmiriyat feel about it all? We know that they bayed the KPs out of their homeland to screams of Allahu akbar. But when presumably imported monsters burnt Chrar-e-Sharief, did Kashmiris feel proud of their Kashmiriyat? I ask, as one who was given no choice by her nationalist parents but to internalise Somnath, Nalanda and Hampi. Sort of quot;Pick up the Hindu8217;s burdenquot; and smile, smile, smile. And it made sense. Because there8217;s no end to the name-calling and dislike, otherwise.

For those Hindus who can8217;t bear to see the ruins of medieval temples without a wrenching pain in the gut and a flood of bile in the mouth, one can only invoke the history of ideas as opposed to the testimony of stones. That Sanatana Dharma lives in our heads and hearts, an eternal faith which no one was able to smother in 800 years, followed by 300 years. And what evangelists or proselytisers of every persuasion don8217;t realise is that they are welcome to their beliefs, but we really are not interested. We try to update and upgrade our social practices as the spirit of the time changes, but we are quite content with the faith of our ancestors and many of us have very good reasons for abiding by it.

The Sufis in India seem to have understood this. In particular, Hazrat Nizamuddin, Delhi8217;s own 13th century saint. He was, naturally, a master of the Sufi method of imparting instruction through anecdotes. Even the ulema, his natural enemies, were in awe of him. Once, his disciple Amir Hasan8217;s salary was not paid, causing Hasan to worry about his official future. Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya told him this story by way of perspective, of a rich Brahmin who had been cheated of his wealth and was now extremely poor. His friend happened to meet him in the street and asked how he was. To the friend8217;s amazement, the Brahmin declared that he was very happy, because he still had his sacred thread. This story taught Amir Hasan the smallness of worldly things. You were still you8217;, even if your wealth vanished, hence the importance of developing that you8217; as something strong, capable of withstanding misfortune.

Shaikh Nizamuddin8217;s langar or free community kitchen was open to both Hindus and Muslims. That was because, to him, Islam was quot;not an empty round of prayers and rituals, but a highly ethical codequot; A History of Sufism In India, Vol. I, Sayid Athar Abbas Rizvi, Munshilal Mahohardas Publishers Pvt Ltd. The Shaikh accepted that some Hindus had been impressed by Islam, but had refused to convert. On another occasion, while strolling with Amir Khusro on the roof of his hostelry, he apparently noticed a group of Hindus at worship. He was so impressed with their devotion that he told the Amir, quot;Every community has its own path and faith, and its own way of worshipquot;.

With all the noise about a swadeshi church, has anyone 8212; even Muslims 8212; ever appreciated that a swadeshi Islam has already existed in Hind for centuries? But the hardcore ulema have always opposed the Sufis and now, in Kashmir, which was so totally Sufi-oriented, they seem to have disgraced and destroyed their own gul vatan8217;. Hate the Indian Union, by all means, you are no different from Pakistan then. But remember, you are you8217; because of your unique flavour as Kashmiris. That try as you might to be a pseudo-Arab, your land was once a nest of Sanskrit singing birds like Kalhan and Bilhan. That you are, as your own Sufis showed, far more interesting than a bunch of Bedouins, for you have more history and culture. And it is Hind which is inextricably woven into your Kashmiriyat.