East Punjab and Sikh Community

By: Dr. Maqsood Hasni

Translated By: Prof. Imran Khalid
East Punjab is the region of a vast community of the world. This region is not
inferior to any part of the world in respect of resources. The resident of this
region are the followers of Hazrat Guru Nanak Dev. These peoples possess the
qualities of truth, hard work and simplicity. They are men of words. Begging is
against their nature. They are wrongfully taken as the followers of a separate
religion, which they are not.
The meanings of Sikh are “the learner”
‘Knowledge seeker’
A person going through the process of learning skill, the skill he is learning. We
know that Messenger or the Prophet are never used for the Donor of the skills. The
donor of the skill is mostly called as Teacher or Guru.
Guru is a person who knows ‘gur’(skill), familiar with difficulty, experienced,
the instructor, the teacher, leader. All these words can be used for Guru. If Guru
and Sikh are translated in used language, then they would be called as Teacher and
the Student. It must be remembered that teacher possess the status of spiritual
father. So in respect of teaching skills, dishonesty can’t be expected from him.
Two things are seen most prominent with this Guru.
1- Tauheed; which is the key of religions.
2- Tasawuf; which is source of cleanliness and methodology.
This Guru doesn’t seem to be near to any religion in the world. Some social or
economic common commonness with some religion are seen but this is not strange in
any ways. These are the result of the inhabitance nearness.
The local Christians of Pakistan celebrate many traditions like the Muslims, but
in spite of this the are the Christians. Many religious sentences of the Muslims
are used by them in daily life, but even then they claim to be the followers of
the Christ. Because of these inhabitance similarities, Sikhs can’t be declared to
the part of the Hinduism. This would be unjust and cruel. The truth is that these
Sikhs are related to the Sufi chains whose founder was Hazrat Guru Nanak Dev.
Mohammad Asif Khan quoted Bhai Gordas (1559-1637) ,” Guru Nanak used to keep his
stick and book under his arm whenever he was sad. In this book he used to write
besides his own writings, the writings of Sufis and Bhagats.”(1)
If someone calls him Guru Nanak or Sufi Nanak or Sheikh Nanak, it makes no
difference. He travelled to Mecca as well as he stayed at Baghdad.
When we look upon the chains of the Sufis, the chief element common in them seem
to be the love for Hazrat Mohammad (Peace be upon him). Just like this every word
of Guru Garanth Sahib seem to be linked with the Sufis. If Sufis are the Muslims
and the spiritual leaders then why the Sikh community and the respected Guru
sahiban can be called as the non-muslims or infidels.
Every Sufi guru keeps his own identity in respect of ideology and dressings. The
same is the case with the people attached with the Guru Garanth Sahib. As the
‘Shaloks’ of Baba Farid and Shah Hussain’s ‘kafiyan’ are respected by the Muslims,
similarly every word of Sri Garanth Sahib seem to be related with ‘Tauheed’ and
‘Tasawaf’, so that is respectable too. The people attached to this chain are
called ‘Sikhs’, while same is the case of the other Sufi chains like the Qadriya
chain, Chishtiya chain, Soharwardi chain, Naqashbandi chain, Shitarya chain etc.
Khalifas/ Gadi Nasheen/ Diwans are appointed to continue the spiritual work of the
Sufis, hence these Sufi chains continue and flourish, and this system is spread on
centuries. The founder of the Sikh chain is Hazrat Guru Nanak Dev, and Guru
Sahiban continued this chain and spiritual work of Guru Nanak. These Guru sahiban
arranged Guru Garanth Sahib, as well as made some useful additions. So their
respected worked also became the part of Guru Garanth Sahib.
Hazrat Zain-ul-Abideen hosted his worst enemy. That is why hosting can’t be
declared as the reason for someone’s true follower. This action is not new with
the peace loving muslims. Agreeing or liking is a completely different issue. One
Guru sahib of this chain was not only hosted by Syeds but even supported his
stand. These syeds were basically the Sufis. The support of a Guru’s stand is the
open indication that Sikhs are no separate religious identity but they are a chain
among the Sufi chains. The word ‘Baba ji’ is used by us usually for the Sufis. I
have heard “Baba Guru Nanak from many a muslims. I myself belong to Syed family ,
my father Hazrat Ghulam Hazoor Shah commonly known as Baba Shukar-ullah was a
Punjabi sufi poet. I heard him many a times saying Baba Guru Nanak. He respected
Baba Guru Nanak most. He had learnt many verses of Sri Garanth Sahib by heart.
I heard from him that Sikh community celebrate “Giyarween Sharif” with free milk
distribution. On the 10th of Moharram the Sikh community used to arrange ‘sabeels’
of water and milk. Both two mentioned are the social traditions. They are related
with the religion. I don’t know myself the present situation in today’s Amritsar
(East Punjab), whether this tradition prevails there today or not. The following
verse is said to be of Hazrat Guru Nanak;
“Kalma kahan te kal poway bin kamiyon vi naa
Hindu kahan tay marya musalman vi naa”
Here only that muslim is indicated who weighs 3/4th out of 1 , spread ‘fasad’ and
terror on Allah’s land. The Sufis served the humanity at Gulbargha and many other
places too. Anyhow the basic message in the above verse is “bin kamiyon vi na”.
Baba ji kept his addressed behind the curtain, kept process of learning in respect
of identity of dress completely different from the other Sufis, but even then he
proved his no separate religious identity by including the sayings of the Sufis at
prominent places of his book.
A major group of the Muslims use to visit the tombs of the Sufis regularly. Sikhs
not only visit the tomb of Baba Nanak sahib but they also visit the tombs of the
Muslim Sufis very lovingly and respectably. Muslims don’t think that these Sufis
were God but the ordinary human beings. Muslims worship only one Allah, same is
the case with Sikh chain. Please read the following verse in the initial pages of
Sri Garanth Sahib.
“One Universal Creator God. The Name is Truth.”
The Sikh too don’t think that Baba Guru Nanak was God but they believe in one
Allah, and they believe that Hazrat Guru Nanak was the favourite of Allah among
the humans. The Muslims too thinks about the Sufis in the similar way.
“Dayemi Complex Bangladesh never became narrowed for anyone. Its doors are open
for the Sikh community too.
The Proud of humanity, Hazrat Allama Sufi Shah Sheikh Dr. Mohammad Nur-ul-Alam is
presently the spiritual leader of humanity. In this respect he has close relations
with the Sikh chain too. So where he is the leader of the other Sufi chains, there
his the Guru of the Sikh chain too. The Sikh community can be benefited by him in
the present world.