Indian government is planning to extend the proposed Khokrapar (Sindh) – Munabao (Rajasthan) rail link upto Ajmer Sharif. This is indeed good news. Not only it will result in the popularity of this rail link but more importantly, it would allow the Pakistanis an opportunity to again experience the composite culture of the sub-continent. One of the tragedies of Zia’s Islamization of Pakistan was the severance of roots of the people with their thirteen hundred years old culture. The culture of the sub-continent has always been unique and different from the Arabs in all its richness and diversity. Pakistan with its large Muslim population, has unsuccessfuly and sometimes, brutally tried to emulate them. A cover story on the recent Outlook edition talks about the plight of non-Muslims in Pakistan. More about it later, ye kahaanii phir sahii.
Coming back to the rail link, sufis such as Hazrat Moinuddin Chishti have always been the torchbearers of Hindu-Muslim unity. A visit to the shrine of any of the famous Sufis would open your eyes to the beautiful harmonious culture of the sub-continent that we inherited from our forefathers. On any given day, the number of non-Muslims is as much, if not more, than the Muslims. Go to any mosque for Maghrib (evening) prayers, and what you see when you come out. Scores of women, Muslim and non-Muslim (differentiable due to their bindis) are waiting with their ailing kids, for the namazis to blow away air on the kid’s face. This is faith. It might not measure upto the orthodox standards of the Saudi clergy, but it works for us. And it has been working for many centuries.
Mohib
Very nice post. I have never been to Ajmer myself, but the atmosphere at the dargah of Nizamuddin Auliya in Delhi or of Salim Chishti inside Akbar’s fort at Fatehpur Sikri are very similar. In particular, I remember tying threads in the marble lace-like jaalis of the Salim Chishti dargah and making a wish. Or listening to the Qawwals in the compound of the dargah in Nizamuddin in Delhi. I am also reminded of going to the dargah of Moinuddin Chishti in Khultabad (near Aurangabad, Maharashtra), in whose compound Aurangzeb spent his last days and was finally buried there in a very simple grave.
These sufi saints and others like them were instrumental in the spread of Islam in India, through their simple message of love and devotion to God. They also had a major influence on the Bhakti movement in Hinduism, which spread a similar message of love and devotion. And also weakened the rigidity of the caste system that had come to hold the Hindu society in its tentacles. Last but not the least, sufis like Nizamuddin Auliya and their disciples like Amir Khusrau contributed immensely to the development of the two largest languages of the subcontinent – Hindi and Urdu.
Thanks again for looking at the deeper significance of this move to run trains to Ajmer Sharif directly from Karachi.
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Salam
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