Re: Heritage: Some aspects of Sindhi culture

[Gul Agha <agha@CS.UIUC.EDU>]

Saaiin Loher-a,

You are right, all these terms are used differently by different
people and often become very emotion laden.  Thus saaiin Sachal
observed:

Some say 'suufu' [apple]
Some say 'sebu' [apple]
What evil lurks --
In the difference of a name!

All creeds, religions, etc. take on a life of their own everywhere.
Tibetan Buddhism incorporates many elements of the pre-Buddhist
Tibetan dieties and rituals, as Sri Lankan Buddhism incorporates older
Sri Lankan ways.  At the same time, it is also true that empires that
exported a religion tried to use it as a tool for cultural hegemony --
attempting to supplant local names, customs, mores and sometimes even
the language.  In this respect, Sindhis are famous for being
relatively resistant to change, as they continue to maintain many
ancient traditions (e.g. veneration of saints).

The term 'Islam' means many different things to different people.
Some people believe it means the original or universal religion.  In
my personal opinion, what the 'orthodox' call Islam is a mixture of
medievel Arab culture and religious principles.  But there were dozens
of other schools of thought that once flourished in the Arab empire.
For example, there was a school of rationalists who believed
revelation was not that important, since faith could be derived from
reason alone and reason was universally accessible.  The point of
revelation, according to them, was merely guide people back to reason.

A large number of Arab, Persian and Turkish intellectuals and
philosophers, affected by their contact with Sindh, Greece, and other
parts of the world, developed many different philosophical
interpretations of religion, as well as advancing scientific
knowledge.  For example, Al-Khwarzimi is credited with inventing
algebra, Ibn Rushd with coming up with properties of light, Ibn Sina
advanced physiology, etc.  However, the orthodox would not recognize
these folks as Muslim because of their various theories and
interpretations in theological matters.  Persecution of such
intellectuals led to a decline in science in the Islamic empire.
History records that followers of many of these, and other,
heterodoxies were among those fled to a more tolerant part of the
empire, namely Sindh (as we see today with hundreds of thousands of
Ahmadi and Christian refugees from Punjab).

The term 'sufi' has also, indeed, been used in different ways.  But
the Sindhi sufi thought shares its worldview with the pantheism of
Mansur Hallaj (martyred for heresy), the universalism of philosopher
Ibn Arabi, the 'love as salvation' theme in Maulana Jallaludin Rumi's
poetry, and so on, all of whom we would consider sufis.  Of course, I
have previously reported that, according to sufi tradition, at least
some of these mystics were directly or indirectly influenced by Sindhi
mysticism.  Hallaj is said to have travelled to Sindh.  Similarly,
Rumi refers to Sindh as an abode of mystics.

However, it is also true that, from time to time some people who get
labelled 'sufis' in other cultures who turn out to be narrow-minded
and do not share the sufism of Sindh.

Looking further back in time, according to many scholars, the
mysticism of Pythagoras, who laid the foundation of Greek philosophy,
was influenced by the Greek contact with Sindh.  For example,
Pythagoras believed in the transmigration of the soul and espoused a
vegetarian diet.

On the other hand, Sufis hold that the Truth is within you and repeat
a refrain Pythagoras' pupil Socrates is famous for: 'Know Thyself'
('parna sunjaarni').  Thus, all this historical analysis is, from a
sufi perspective, simply beside the point.  Anyone, anywhere can
discover the Truth by understanding themselves ('Allah is closer to
you than your veins' as the Quran puts it) and such people are sufi,
whether people call them Buddhist, Hindu, Zen, athiest, Parsi,
animist, infidel, or whatever.  As saaiin Bedil Fakir of Rohri puts
it: what they need have they for a muezin's call to prayer, they who
have heard the primordial sound of the Lord that existed long before
Islam.

sadaaiin ggaddu,

Gul Agha