CHAPTER IV
Influence of Faith: Sufism and Islam
F.A.D. Tholuck, the German theologian coined the term ‘Sufism’ for ‘Tasawwuf’ in 1821
and the term has gained universal currency in western writing.
Sufism is not just a doctrine but its concern is with experiential reality, and it determines
the practitioner’s reality, and it determines the practitioner’s mental attitude. Therefore, it
has been defined differently according to the exponent’s individual temprament.
According to Swiss scholar F.Schnon, “Sufism is the kernel of Islam, and for it there is
no reality to check save the reality”1 and its essential feature is “Sincerity of faith”2.
Sayyed Hussain Nasr defined Sufism as the devotee’s quest of absorption with the Deity.’
“The aim of all Sufism is union with the Divine which comes as a result of the love
created in man far Divine Beauty”3. The renowned Sufi saint, Abul Khair held the
services of man kind as the service of God and counseled his disciples. “Seek God in the
hearts of afflicted men…, to bring joy to a single heart is better than to build shrines for
worship”4.
The substance of Sufism is the true and the meaning of Sufism the selfless experiencing
and actualization of the truth. The practice of Sufism is the intension to go towards the
truth by means of love and devotion. This is called the ‘Tariqat’, the spiritual path or way
towards God.
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Several great religions have similar teachings and all aim at reaching the truth through
various method. Sufism or Taswwuf or Irfan has totally arisen from Holy Quran, percept
of Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihai Wasallam and from the life of his companion.
In the modern world due to advent of materialism, conflicts of cultures and disarray,
‘there is a need for a man to return to spirituality and it is the need of the hour. Sufism or
Taswwuf or Irfan teaches man to live a perfect and ideal life sans tension and free from
hatred, greed, hypocrisy and other human weakness without giving up the rigmarole of
daily life.
Sufism or Taswwuf or Irfan teaches humanism, love, brotherhood and onenss and
believes in creating a world citizenship through Tauheed (monotheism). Sufism or Irfan
is a way of life to achieve perfection in manners to cultivate and culture the mind and
heart with purity of thought and good behavior through possession of all virtues and
negation of all vices by a process of self annihilation, self-realization, self sacrifice and
surrender of will before the supreme Will of almighty Allah. Sufism is absolutely
peaceful and totally non-violent movement to awaken the soul to greater grandeur
through simple living and practicing lofty ideas through meditation, Zikr (incantation),
Sama (singing of holy hymns) and other Sufi practices, by accepting the Risalah (prophet
hood) of Holy Prophet Mohammed Sallallahu Allihai Wasallam strengthening of faith,
servitude (Yaqeen) by protecting the precepts of Holy Prophet’s Performance of daily
Namaz(prayers) act and deeds of rightousness,seeking and observing ‘Taqwa’(awe of
Allah), ‘Taubah’ (repentence), ‘Tawakkat’(full surrender and trust in Allah),
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‘Ikhlas’(sincerity),‘Sabar’(patience),‘Shukr’(gratitude,thankfulness),Zikr (remembrance),
Istiqamat (uprightness) a ‘state in which Allah’s grace comes perpetual for it implies the
perfect performance of Allah’s service.
Human being are dominated the self desires and fears. Those who are ensnared in these
habitual impulses are out of harmony with the Divine nature, and thus are ill. As a result
of this illness felling becomes disturbed and accordingly, thought and perceptions
becomes unsound. Thus, one’s faith as well as one’s knowledge of the truth shay from
what is real.
In order to follow the way of perfection, one must first rectify these in correct thought
process and transmute one’s desires and fears. This can only be accomplished by coming
into harmony with the Divine Nature. This way of harmony (The spiritual Path) consists
of spiritual poverty, devotion and the continuous selfless remembrance of God. In this
way one comes to believe the truth as it really is.
Sufi-Tradition
“Sufism itself is not a religion, nor even a cult with a distinct or defined doctrine .No
better explanation of Sufism can be given than by saying that a person who has a
knowledge of both outer and inner life is a Sufi…The Sufi message gives to the world the
religion of the day and that is to make one’s life are religion to term one’s occupation into
a religion, to turn one’s ideal of a religious ideal”5
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Sufi Saints of India
India is the land of spiritualism. Some of the major religions of the world have been
started over here. Sufism has also been spread in India since a long time and even today
we find a number of Sufi followers here some of the popular Sufi saints of India have
been discussed below-
Khwaja Moinuddin Chisty
Khwaja Moinuddin Chisty was one of the most famous Sufi in India. He is founder of the
Chisty order in India. He was born in Persia and is said to be a direct descendent of
Prophet Mohammad. He settled in Ajmer in India from where he preached the principles
of Sufism to all .He had a massive fallowing and even today, people irrespective of other
religion are adopting his principles or Sufism.
Hazrat-nizam-ud-Din
Another famous Sufi-saint of the Chisti order in India was Hazrat-Khwaja Nizam-ud-Din.
His real name was Muhammad and at the age of 20, he became the student of Fariduddin
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Ganj-i-Shankar. He was revered saint who was supposed to have the master of Amir
Khusro.
Bulleh Shah
Baba Bulleh Shah was a revered Sufi Saint of India whose real name was Abdullah Shah.
He preached his teaching and principle in Punjab. During the time he was at his peak
there was much unrest between Muslim and Sikhs. He preached nothing but the truth and
his words of wisdom pacified those affected by the constant tiffs between Muslims and
Sikhs.
The true Sufi is basically a God- loving manfully involved in the normal activities of life.
He buys amongst the people and eats and sleeps with them and sells in the market, and
marries and taken part in social gathering, and never forgets God for a single moment.
Peeran fits the above statement as also a Persian Sufi axiom aptly sums up the attitude-
“Dardunya bash, az dumya mabash”6 (Be in the world, but not of the world)
This Sufi tradition can be seen in S. L. Peeran’s poetry. Peeran views Sufism as a secular
attempt for eternal quest of the soul for its direct experience of the ultimate Super power.
One can easily glance his purified thought in his poems. In the poem “Humility and
Submission” from the collection The Sacred Moment like a true Sufi he express his view.
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He mentions about three things, pride, anger and ego, which are the root of all crime, and
one, can win over these morasses only if he submits with humility at the feel of lord.
Only those who submit with humility to the lord
Will free themselves from pride, anger and ego.
The Satan has promise not to trouble the humble.7
The poet has related here the story-when Almighty Allah kicked Satan out of heaven, he
promised that he will degrade His follower from their path accept humble man. In the
same poem the poet mentions the characters of a humble man as truthful, simple ,gentle,
courteous to his parent, never complains, thankful, pleasing to all, self control, patient,
and performance his duties without complaints.
He is truthful, simple in manners takes and dress.
He is gentle to the core in his speech and gait.
He is courteous to his parent, relatives, friends.
He walks with softness with eyes on the ground.
He never complains of his misfortune and woes.
He is always thankful for the Bounties received.
He is pleasing to all to whom he addressed.
He is full of self control with twinkle in his eyes.
He is patient and exerts himself to maintain it.
He is recognizes the good done to him by one and all.
He performs his duties cheerfully without complaints8.
The Sufi follows the path towards God primarily by means of Love. For the Sufi who is
enraptured with the love of God (who is the source of all existence), all of existence is
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extra ordinary beautiful. As in the poem “What is Khulus”? Peeran points out the virtue
of humbleness, proving the dictums “humbleness is godliness” . Humility is praiseworthy
and according to Holy Scripture God is merciful to the humble.
I want to know from you as to what
is “Khulus” and who is “Muklis”?
Satan in afraid of “Muklisenis”.
Those are most humble ,God –foaring
And most simple ones. It simplicity,
sincerily profound? In it humility
resides and Divinity descends. A sincere
person is a most humble person, is
without ostentation without pride,
prejudice . He does not but on airs
he is never arrogant and haughty.
He walks with softness . His speech
is honeyed tongue. He has no
roughness. He is gentle to the core.
He is forgiving and does not mind
taunts, criticism and humiliations.
He suffers pain, agony with light-
hearted humor. He is not angry
But jolly and extremely good,
good and good full of love.9
A humble person is adorned with simplicity, softness gentleness and kindness. His speech
is ‘honeyed tongue’ and he is gentle to the core and extremely refine and full of love. In
the poem “Bliss Amidst-Poverty” from the collection A Call from the Unknown the poet
shows his concern for poor and says spirituality can vitalize the wretched one because
God does not differentiate between rich and poor. The presence of divine light is the
universal remedy of ills that make man indifferent to all the hurdles and obstacles of life.
In the poem Peeran shows the satisfaction of the poor
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“Ah! We are impoverished
Poor wretched souls
With dwellings which
Despise the rich
------------------
------------------
A divine light dwells
In our hearts
To console, give solace
To be at peace and in bliss10
In the poem Peeran puts his Sufi thought and finds that man should not spend his life in
trifles of worldly desires and grieve in pain on not finding the cherished dreams, but he
must surrender himself before the Almighty.
In another poem “Ego to Zero” from the collection New Frontiers, Peeran discards ego
and says there is no place of ego in the universal brotherhood, it only leads to nothing, as
also essence of Sufism is there in the poems of the Peeran. So, Sufism is that you should
not possess anything nor should anything possess you. The difficulties in following the
path or obstacles of getting closer to God drive primarily from one’s self or ego .In other
words, it can be said that if one is not recognizing or experiencing God’s “Closeness” or
presence, the responsibility for this condition lies with one’s oneself:
He can never understand,
The sweetness of the smile.
Remaining calm with patience,
With a glow on a radiating face.
To thrill the heart million times,
With yearning love of the universe
To charm oneself with the beauty of Nature
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To feel one & merge with the ocean.
-------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
Ah ego! You make every one a big Zero
You need to be subdued, to see the light within.11
Some of the gross efforts of the dominance of the ‘ego’ are that one may become
overwhelmed by the need to gratify desires such as anger, lust, and the many addictions
that afflicts. Other gross effect are that one may become dominated by state of
consciousness such as anxiety, boredom, regret, depression, and self pity – so that one
feels like a powerless victims or prisoner tortured within one’s own mind. Poet Peeran
not only discards ego, but also suggests that best way to subdue ego is to control over self
from acting but one’s anger or gratifying addictions and to remember God at every inch
of moment.
The Sufi follows the path towards God primarily by means of love. For the Sufi who is
enraptured with the love of God, all of existence is extra ordinarily beautiful. Peeran also
after suppressing anger and subduing ego talks about love and ‘sharing love with other’
in the poem “Sharing Love” from the collection In Silent Moment.
Love is sacrifice and sacrifice is to die
A sincere attempt to give up every lie
The inner being gets effaced for the Beloved
Immersed in thoughts, drunk in His breath.12
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Sacrifice is the foremost criteria for love, the secret of success and the secret of true,
happiness, is to manifest in one’s own behavior all that one would like to receive from
other. If one-wants smiles and kind looks, should offer smiles and kind looks to others:
Where love lets lovely springs to flow
In its bottom lies dormant sorrow
To creep up and let streams of tears
On sad though, for love to share.13
If one wants an Angel, a Heavenly Being to come and instruct and guide, should find
someone who has had less opportunity to learn, and start by sharing light with him. Your
action will be reflected immediately in the Invisible world and sprits of light will be
drawn to help you in the way.
R.K.Singh says, “ Peeran as a seeker of Truth, understands that the divine Avatars on
earth have been the true education of human kind. Without their guidance the human race
could not have raised itself above the level of the animal.”14
In the three long poem “Birth Of Moses”, “Birth Of Jesus” and “Birth Of Prophet
Mohammed” from the collection A Call From The Unknown, elevated to the paint of
spirituality through his Sufi idea that whenever people practice human virtues as taught
by Divine soul always lay the foundation of love, equality, justice, humanity, universal
brotherhood, unity of mankind, peace and harmony.
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Moses called upon them to a life of righteousness,
To shun sine and fulfill the covenants
Sacrifice their being with lofty ideals
To purify mind and heart for brightness.15
Sell your possessions
And give to poor.
Then you will have riches
In the heavenly paradise.16
Srinivasa Rangaswami opines about Peeran that , “ Peeran sees the infinity Mercy of the
Lord and the fulfillment of his promise to manifest himself , as occasions arise, to restore
order in society and redeem mankind.”14
United poor and rich, master and servant,
A new social life, a new gait
A new learning, of excellence
Opulence and mirth surrendered.17
Peeran does not set any doctrine rather he is didactive, outpouring in verse set out to
proclaim a divine purpose in life and a global sense of spiritual realization which need to
be readdressed by people of all religions for the common good of the family of Man.
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Islam
Islam is a monotheistic religion original thing with the teachings of the Islamic prophet
Muhammad (PBUH) a 7th century religious and political figure. The word Islam means
“submission”, or the total surrender of oneself to God, (Allah).
Islamic theology says that God’s all messengers since Adam preached the message of
Islam- submission to the will of God. Islam is described in the Quran as “the primordial
nature upon which God created mankind”18.
Peeran very well in poetry co-relates the reference of Quaranic verse and relates story in
his poetry , giving a touch to his Sufi idea.
‘The Birth of Prophet Muhammed,’ is a long, biographical poem from the collection ‘A
Call From The Unknown’, begins with “darkest hour” of pre-Islamic Arabia, which has
also been mentioned in Quran. Against this back ground of ignorance and savagely
Peeran highlights the teaching of Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh)-
To not wage war or create strife
To compound and compromise
To be charitable and compassionate
To be always just and truthful19
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As a devout Muslim, Peeran’s emphasis is on the inner life. He wants to change the world
through the teaching of Islam and spread brotherhood in the world. As in the poem, he
sketch as the reason for the birth of Muhammad(PBUH)
A star was born, a light shone.
A manifestation of the ultimate Truth.
Purity in shinning dress dawning,
To cleanse and illumine the universe.20
To take humanity to Zenith of peace.
To open the floodgates of knowledge.
To unite man to man in a single bond.
To liberate the destitute, infirm, oppressed.21
In the poem , Peeran dexterously presented the whole span of prophet’s life, mentioning
about Qureshi, situation of Mecca, Gabriel the angle, his wife Khatya, how
‘Quran’emerged and five pillars of Islam-Pray five times a day , observe fast, give
charity, Islam and Haj.
In the poem “The Day Of Judgment”, the poet candidly reveals that when a human being
reaches the other world, he comes before an assembly of highly evolved spirits who
remain with him while he watches the projection of the film of his life on earth. The film
is not shown for their benefits. They already know the degree of evolution he has
reached, his sins and urines as well as his good deeds; it is the man himself, poor
creature, who needs to see the film, for he is so ignorant that he does not know himself.
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In the begin was His name.
The holy of the Holiest name.
To remain for eternally as one.
The sale ruler, creator, The Destructor.
To withdraw with a command.
When the mothers would throw away their sucking.
When one will not care for the other.
When the sun would come down.
When the stars would be their own around.
When the mountains would meet and scatter.
When a shrill cry will end humanity.
When all would be called for judgment.
When the great book would be opened.
When all the action recorded are read.
When the sales are weighted and justice done.
When everyone would get their due share.
When the virtuous would be cross the bridge.
When the bridge would be thinner then a hair.
And sharper then the shinning sward.
When God fearing would pass like lightning.
When the evil doers would fall in the abyss.
When they would be given hot boiling water to drink.
When the hell fire will engulf the corrupt.
When surely the day of reckoning would down.22
Same description of hell is also revealed in Quran about the Day of Judgment or
Qiyaamat. (Verse 40 section-2).
Peeran in order to awake the wrong doer presents the description of hell and alerts them
that if they will not obey or submit to the will of God, must be ready for worst.The poem
is very direct and the poet depends little on conventional tropes and embellishment.
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The poem “Black Stone” from the same collection also reveals the Islamic faith. The
Stone which is kept in Kaba, the House of god (Allah) at Mecca, Arabia by the Holy
Prophet Abraham. The pilgrims from all over the world presses their lips on that Black
Stone, on which Prophet Muhammad planted his lips with kisses.
Let me kiss the Blackstone
The stone that has stood from time
Immemorial, from antiquity23
In another poem “Zenith of Inner Peace” from the collection. In Sacred Moments, the
poet shows that the path of wisdom is never easy; it is always fall of obstacle. The word
venomous creative, snakes shows the height of difficulty in the way of wisdom in the
poem.
While trying to retrace old
Ancient path of wisdom.
You find on the way, deadly
Venomous creatures, snakes.
To obstruct your path.
To distract your mind.
To destroy your tranquility.
To disable your efforts.24
The truth which is revealed through the poem is always same from ancient times, so
through the poem , Peeran also narrates the story of prophet Abraham, his difficulty and
how he conqures over it, which has been mentioned in Quaran also.
The story is –When Allah asked prophet Abraham to scarifice his dearest possession, he
become ready to scarify his son, Ismail as his son is his greatest possession. While taking
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his son to sacrifice on the path of Allah, he meets Satan who tries to distract him from his
path, not only this, Satan also went to his wife to create confusion and again went to him
to create problem and difficulty on his way, but yet unable to distract him from his goal.
Almighty Allah is so glad to see his firm determination that the place where Satan tried to
distract Abraham, became a holy place and pilgrims at the time of ‘Haj’ use to throw
Stone to show the victory of truth over evil. The poem also narrates the same thing that if
one is focused on his goals with single minded devotion, he will certainly achieve his
ultimate goal:
You need to concentrate on your
Goals with single minded devotion.
When you over come all your hurdles,
You reach the zenith of inner peace.25
Another poem ‘Moharram Tazias” from the collection In Rare Moments-bears a religious
tone in its description of the religious procession with people drumming and dancing and
calling ‘Ya Hussain’ ‘Ya Hussain’,youngsteres beating their chest, boys with green
turbans carrying silver “panjhas” and fakir walking on burning coal.
Fakirs exhibiting bravado by walking on burning coal
Good Samaritans sprinkling rose water on all.26
In the poem, the poet also mentions about the tailor Raju and his Mannat for the health of
his son and groom for his daughter.
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A mannat for the health of his son,
And for a groom for his cheeky daughter27
By mentioning all these, Peeran shows the importance of the day in Islamic calendar.
The poet has used many Urdu words like ‘Maulvi’, ‘tazia’, ‘panjhas’, ‘fakirs’,
‘mannat’and ‘fateha’ to impart it with the feeling of the occasion.
In the poem “Lord Ever Merciful Beneficents” from the collection A Ray Of Light
describes the story how Satan is banished from heaven (which has a reference, in Quran
also)-When Allah asked Satan to submit before Adam, Satan disobey Him saying that
man are made from clay and he is a part of light, so he is more powerful and will never
submit before man, as a result Allah punished him and discarded him from heaven and
from that day Satan become the sole enemy of man.
To ever remain as an arch enemy of man
To temp, lure, lead him to commit sin,
To indulge in sinful, mirth joy and pleasure
To make man to hate man for destruction28
To sum up Peeran’s Sufism and Islamic believes, I would like to say that the core of
Sufism is to leave the ordinary life, in order to close down the distance to God And by
reducing the distance between man and god, man also gets closer to truth and
knowledge .The soul is seen upon as an element that can stretch out from the kernel body
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and pass through the divine spheres . C. L Khatri quotes about Peeran’s Sufi view that –
“For the poet the goal of life is to be one in solitude and to free forever of shackles of
every kind and he partaken into the glory of a teacher saints and prophet”29
Peeran’s religious belief as a religious and pious man expresses his praise to the great
creator, who has meticulously designed the exterior and interior of man with harmony .
Peeran looks upon God for his mercies and miracle. Many of his poems witness the firm
faith of the poet on God and reveal the fact that though there is little variation in the form
of worship, all prostrate at the feet of God to be blessed by Him.
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Reference
1. Hasan, Masoodul. Sufism & English Literature, Chaucer to the present Age:
Echoes & Image. New Delhi. Adam Publisher & Distributors. 2007. p. 3.
2. ibid.
3. ibid.
4. ibid., p.4
5. ibid,. p.19
6. ibid., p.18
7. Peeran, S.L. In Sacred Moments. ‘Humility and Submission’. Bangalore: Bizz
Buzz, 2008. p. 7
8. ibid.
9. Peeran, S. L. In Rare Moments. ‘What is “Khulus”?’. Bangalore:Bizz Buzz. 2007.
p.47.
10. Peeran, S. L. A Call from Unknown. ‘Bliss Amidst Poverty’. Bangalore: Bizz
Buzz. 2003. p.65.
11. Peeran, S. L. New Frontiers. ‘Ego to Zer’. Bhubaneswar: The Home of Letter.
2005. p.24.
12. ibid., In Silent Moments.’Sharind Love’.p.41.
13. ibid.,
14. Singh, R.K, Voices of the Present: Critical Essays on Some of the Indian Poets.
Jaipur Book Enclave, 2oo6. p.247.
15. Peeran, S. L. A Call from Unknown. ‘ Birth of Moses’. Bangalore:Bizz Buzz.
2003. p.12.
16. ibid., ‘Birth of Jesus’. P.23.
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17. Rangaswami,Srinivasa. Book Review of A Call from Unknown. Poet. July.2004.
p.54.
18. Peeran, S. L.;op. cit.; ‘Birth of Prophet Mohammed’. P. 32.
19. Quran, 30:30. cited in Wikepedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam
20. op.cit.; p. 24.
21. ibid., p. 25.
22. ibid., p. 35.
23. ibid., p. 41.
24. ibid., In Sacred Moments. ‘Zenith of Inner Peace. p. 32.
25. ibid.
26. ibid., In Rare Moments. ‘Moharram Tazia’. Bangalore; Bizz Buzz, 2007. p. 12
27. ibid., p.13
28. ibid., A Ray of Light. ‘Lord Ever Merciful Beneficent’. Bangalore: Bizz Buzz.
2002. p. 51.
29. Rajpal, Km. Kalpna. The Poetry of S.L. Peeran: A Hope for Better World. Poet.
2008.
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