The debate on the proposal to build a mosque at Ground Zero continues to hog the headlines but I took special notice of a certain point made by the Imam who thinks building the Mosque is necessary in order to prevent the enragement of the Radical Islamists in the Middle East. And he claims his being a Sufi automatically implies his non-association with Radical Islam. The first question to ask would be whether there is something called non-radical Islam? There probably are a few non-radical Moslems. It is quite incorrect to assume that the Sufis are all about love, peace, and religious harmony. History paints a drastically different picture. When I mentioned this to some of my American friends, they expressed total disbelief and threw around a big fuss.
Now, some examples for our friends:
Hazrat Shaikh Khwaja Syed Muhammad Muinuddin Chishti was accompanied to Ajmer and Khwaja Qutubuddin to Delhi by Muḥammad Shahabuddin Ghori, famously known as Muḥammad of Ghor. Hazrat Baba Fariduddin Masud Ganjshakar aka Baba Fareed came to Pakpattan (now in Pakistan) and Hazrat Khwaja Nizamuddin Auliya of Dargah Hazarat Nizamuddin came to Delhi accompanying a contingent of the Muslim invaders.
– Islamization of India, Purushottam
Bengal was not conquered by seventeen Turkish cavaliers (of Bakhtiyar Khalji); but by the barah-auliyas, or twelve legendary Muslim militant saints, the Pirs who cropped up after the seed of Islam had been broadcast in the plains of Bengal.
– Prof K R Qanungo
Fourteenth-century happened to be a period of expansion of Muslim authority in Bengal and adjoining territories. A significant part was played in this process by the warrior saints who were eager to take up the cause of any persecuted community. This often resulted [in clash] with the native authority, followed by, almost invariably by annexation.
– The Muslim Community of the Indo-Pakistan Subcontinent, Dr. I H Qureshi
Whenever a live Hindu fell into the hands of the victorious king he was pounded to bits under the feet of the elephants…
– Amir Khusrau, the famous Sufi Poet writes thus!
According to 14th and 15th-century legends, Ismaili propagandists evolved a belief for Hindu converts that Ali, the husband of Fatima, daughter of Prophet Muhammad, was the 10th incarnation of Vishnu, that Adam was another aspect of Siva and that Muhammad was in fact Brahma.
– A History of Sufism in India, Athar Abbas Rizvi
– Shahid Salar Masood Ghazi was a Sufi who was Mohammad Ghazni’s nephew and persuaded him to destroy the Temple at Somnath. He traveled across India along with his father and a few hundred thousand cavalries, destroying Hindus. Graves were built for those Moslems killed by the defending Hindu armies and some of those are now considered shrines and worshipped devoutly by mostly Hindus!
– Hazrat Shaikh Khwaja Syed Muhammad Muinuddin Chisti of Ajmer is probably the most well-known Sufi saint in India. The lobby of secularists frequently uses his example to paint a picture of Islam as a religion of peace.
It is told that once when he went to perform the pilgrimage to the holy tomb of the Prophet Muhammad, one day from the inside of the pure and blessed tomb a cry came: ‘’Send for Muinuddin.’’ When Muinuddin came to the door he stood there and he saw that presence speak to him. ‘’Muinuddin, you are the essence of my faith; but must go to Hindustan. There is a place called Ajmer, to which one of my sons (descendants) went for a holy war, and now he has become a martyr, and the place has passed again into the hands of infidels. By the grace of your footsteps there, once more shall Islam be made manifest, and the Kafirs be punished by God’s wrath.’’ Accordingly, Muinuddin reached Ajmer in Hindustan. There he said: ‘Praise be to God, May he be exalted, for I have gained possession of the property of my brother. Although at that time there were many temples of idols around the lake, when the Khwaja saw them, he said: ‘If God and His Prophet so will, it will not be long before I raze to the ground these idol-temples. This is followed by tales of Khwaja coming over those Hindu deities and teachers who were strongly opposed to his settling down there.
– The shrine and cult of Munuddin Chishti of Ajmer, PM Curie
As an author notes:
“It appears that shorn of miracles the story simply suggests that Khwaja came to India determined to eradicated idolatry and paganism and establish Islam in its place. He met with a lot of resistance from the local governor of Rai Pithaura (Prithviraj Chauhan) besides resistance from Rai Pithaura himself. With the help of the immense treasure at his disposal and having converted many gullible Hindus to his faith, he became strong enough to invite Rai Pithaura to convert to Islam. Having failed to persuade him, Khwaja sent a message inviting Sultan Shihabuddin Ghori to attack India. Shihabuddin made unsuccessful invasions. Rai Pithaura always allowed him to go back unmolested after his defeat. Ultimately, however, he defeated Prithvi Raj Chauhan and killed him”.
All were ignorant of Allah and his prophet. None had seen the Kaba. None had heard of the greatness of Allah. After Muinuddin arrived in India, “Because of his sword, instead of idols and temples, there are Mosques, Mimbars and Mihrabs in the land of unbelief. In the land where the sayings of the idolaters were heard, there is now the sound of Allah-O-Akbar.
– Siyar al-arifin
The Sultan forgetting all his royal duties took pleasure day and night in destroying idols. He destroyed idols of Martand, Vishnu, Ishan, Chakravarthy, and Tripureshwar. Not a forest, a village, or a city escaped where the Turushk and his minister Suha passed…
– Kalhana in his Rajataramgini on Sikandar Butshikan
There hardly ever was a Sufi who walked the Indian soil that seems to have had no ulterior motive.
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