By
Ghulam Rasool Dehlvi, New Age Islam
25 May 2021
A Beautiful
Peace Poetry Tradition In Palestine Binds Together The Sufi And Sikh Traditions
Of India In Jerusalem
Main
Points:
• India’s
peace-making efforts in Jerusalem could be traced back to over 800 years ago
when the prominent Indian Sufi saint of the Chishti order, Hazrat Baba Farid
Ganj Shakar from Ajodhan.
• Since
then, Sufi mystics from across the world have come to Jerusalem with their
divine music, whirling and ecstasy, and have been engaged in a spiritual battle
for peace in Palestine.
• In
the old holy city of Jerusalem, there is still a place called Al-Zawiyya
Al-Hindiyya—Indian hospice (also known as Al-Hindi Sarai or Indian lodge),
where Baba Farid lived and meditated in the early 13th century.
• Traditionally,
Indian pilgrims have gathered at Baba Farid's lodge, bringing with them
instruments and melodies from the famous Indian province of Punjab.
• Sufis
have been singing verses written by Baba Farid and poems and hymns from Guru
Granth Sahib, the central scripture in Sikhism.
------
At the
United Nations, speaking on clashes between Israel and Palestine, India’s
Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti said: India is
“deeply concerned at clashes & violence in Haram Al Sharif/Temple Mount”
and “equally concerned about evictions in Sheikh Jarrah & Silwan
neighbourhoods." He also said India calls on both sides to avoid changing
the status-quo on the ground and highlighted that the old city also houses Al
Zawiyya Al Hindiyya—the Indian Hospice.
In fact,
India’s peace-making efforts in Jerusalem could be traced back to over 800
years ago when the prominent Sufi saint of India, Hazrat Baba Farid Ganj Shakar
from Ajodhan (now known as Pak Pattan) came for pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
We don’t exactly
know how long Baba Farid stayed in the holy city of Jerusalem. However, long
after he had returned to the Punjab, where he eventually became head of the
Chishti Sufi order, Indian Muslims passing through Jerusalem on their way to
Mecca started to pray where he had prayed. Thus, over a period of time, a holy
shrine or lodge called, the Indian Hospice, was formed in the memory of Baba
Farid.
Known in
Arabic as al-Zawiyya al-Hindiyya or “Zawiyat al-Hunud”, this Indian Sufi
hospice or Khanqah in Jerusalem greatly marks the great historic contributions
that the Indian mystics have rendered as peacemakers. As the legend has it,
Baba Farid came to the old city of Jerusalem around the year 1200, and
meditated in a stone lodge for 40 days. Ever since, Indian Muslim pilgrims on
their way to or from Mecca have been attracted to the site and eventually it
became the Indian Hospice. The Zawiyah has been extensively documented.
Baba Farid
arrived in Jerusalem at a time when the holy city had just returned to Muslim
hands after almost a century of Christian rule. The Crusaders, ensconced along
the Mediterranean coast, had not gone away, and Salahuddin Ayyubi understood
that if Muslims were to keep Jerusalem, they would need to match the Crusaders
not only on the battlefield but in their spiritual veneration of the city as
well. It was the Indian Sufi Baba Farid who realised and translated it into
reality.
Since then,
Sufi mystics had been drawn to Jerusalem from across the world. Some Sufis who
came to Jerusalem were barefoot drifters. They wandered from town to town in
search of solace and tranquillity. They mostly wore rough woollen robes and
slept in the desert. They wept in the pain of people and sang for the love of
God. Thus, the Sufis in Jerusalem, with their music, whirling and ecstasy, have
been engaged in a spiritual battle for peace in Palestine.
When Sultan
Salahuddin Ayyubi re-consecrated Jerusalem and had the rock beneath the golden
dome, he welcomed Sufi saints with open arms and encouraged popular devotion to
the holy city's cultural and spiritual heritage, shrines and sanctuaries. In
this beautiful historical ambience, Indian pilgrims gathered at Baba Farid's
lodge, bringing with them instruments and melodies from the famous Indian
province of Punjab. Since then in Jerusalem, these Sufi seekers have been
singing verses written by Baba Farid and his disciple, Guru Nanak Dev. This
beautiful peace poetry in Palestine binds together the Sufi and Sikh traditions
of India in Jerusalem. Dozens of Baba Farid's poems and hymns are found in the
Guru Granth Sahib, the central scripture in Sikhism which is a compilation of
mystical verses.
The
medieval traveller Evliya Chelebi has identified Al Zawiyya Al Hindiyya—the
Indian Hospice—as one of the largest Zawiyahs in the city in 1671. Over the
next 300 or 400 years, Sufi travellers from across the world have joined the
Indians in Jerusalem in the construction of therapeutical Sufi centres,
hospitals, schools and lodges that have housed mystics from Morocco and the Crimea,
Anatolia and Uzbekistan.
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