One of the main differences between a mosque and a dargah is that a mosque is a place of worship for Muslims where the believers prostrate, that is, offer sajda to Allah, whereas a dargah is where shrines are built for revered Sufi saints.
Nov 30, 2024 17:07 IST First published on: Nov 30, 2024 at 04:00 IST
Even as the conflagration at Sambhal still echoes — the Supreme Court has stayed action on the survey allowed by the trial court till the high court passes appropriate orders — the decision by a local court in Ajmer to hear a petition threatens to stoke yet another religious fire. Claiming that there is a Shiva temple under the dargah of Sufi saint Moinuddin Chishti, the petition has sought a survey and the right to worship for Hindus at the Ajmer shrine. The petitioner, Vishnu Gupta of one Hindu Sena, with a long history of spurious complaints, has argued for the dargah to be declared the Sankat Mochan Mahadev Temple.
I wish Gupta had paid heed to the words of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat ji, who had clearly stated that there was no need to find a “Shivling” in every mosque and start a new dispute every day. In June 2022, he had said: “Now the issue of Gyanvapi mosque (in Varanasi) is going on. There is history, which we cannot change. That history is not made by us, nor by today’s Hindus or Muslims. It happened at the time when Islam came to India with invaders. During the invasion, temples were destroyed to weaken the fortitude of the people wanting freedom. There are thousands of such temples”.
For a while now, the Ajmer shrine has been a source of contention for some extremist groups. It has been subjected to ridiculous claims by some who clearly don’t understand the history and significance of Sufi thought. Ironically, the holy shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti is venerated as much by the Hindus as it is by the Muslims. More than 75 per cent of the shops and hotels in the dargah market are owned by Hindus. From Jawaharlal Nehru to Narendra Modi, all prime ministers have sent the sacred chadar on the occasion of the Urs, or death anniversary, of the revered saint, as a mark of respect.
After the disputes of Babri Masjid, Gyanvapi and Sambhal, this is the newest strain on the fabric of peaceful coexistence of the two communities. However, while other disputed sites were mosques, this one is a renowned Sufi shrine. One of the main differences between a mosque and a dargah is that a mosque is a place of worship for Muslims where the believers prostrate, that is, offer sajda to Allah, whereas a dargah is where shrines are built for revered Sufi saints.
This is not the first time that a Sufi shrine has been threatened. Sufi orders or silsilas are considered at odds with orthodox theology, which is the reason why they have been persecuted down the centuries. Sufism is the ascetic, mystical form of Islamic thought, the esoteric forms of which extend beyond the Shia-Sunni divide, across political borders, economic classes, languages and faiths. Threatened by their widening sphere of influence, Sufis and their shrines have been attacked by all the schools of theological Islamic thought. The Wahhabi, Deobandi, Salafi and Islamic revivalists look down on the veneration of saints and Sufi practices as “shirk” or polytheistic. Right from Afghanistan and Iran to Turkey and present-day Pakistan, Sufi orders are still subjected to discrimination and violence. In India, too, the Deobandi sect has often denounced the dargah wallahs, at times even refusing them religious legitimacy. It’s easy to believe that in India the last Sufi martyr, Sarmad Kashani, was executed by the bigoted Aurangzeb.
Ajmer, which was visited by emperor Akbar more than 17 times, was also the birthplace of his great grandson Dara Shikoh, Shah Jahan’s heir apparent. However, Dara Shikoh was executed in 1659 on his brother Aurangzeb’s orders, for the coveted Mughal throne. Barely two years later, Dara Shikoh’s close confidante, Sarmad, was beheaded on the steps of Jama Masjid by Aurangzeb’s men. Sarmad, who was executed on charges of blasphemy, is still revered as a saint and his mausoleum near Jama Masjid remains an inspiring place of Sufi pilgrimage.
Though the mystically inclined Dara Shikoh’s greatest literary legacy was Sirr-e-Akbar or the “Great secret”, which was the Persian translation of Upanishads, it was
most read
his Majma-ul-Bahrain or the “Confluence of the Two Seas”, which is the first ever treatise on unity, one that explored the commonality between Sufism and Vedanta in an enlightened breakthrough.
Besides listening seriously to Mohan Bhagwat’s advice, the likes of Vishnu Gupta can also learn from Dara Shikoh’s insight that there is no essential difference between Islam and Hinduism. It astounded him that the scholars of each faith were so mired in the constructs of their own religions that they had not realised this one important philosophical truth — perhaps the most important of all — that, in essence, the two faiths are one and the same. It was essential, therefore, that they be apprised of this grand insight.
An India that is marching on the steady path of inclusive development can do without communal upheavals and disruptions. Religious strife is antithetical to the idea of social progress and economic growth. Crude religious animosity has to be arrested before it devours the innate spirituality of our civilisational ethos. India of yesterday must not be allowed to unsettle and derail the India of tomorrow.
The writer is national spokesperson of the BJP
