After reading through a number of works discussing South Asian Islamic history, and also many of the references, I have thought a lot more deeply about the traditions of South Asian culture than my last series of posts on this subject. Every time I read the numerous moving stories, I marveled at how totally lost Muslim South Asians, especially ex-patriots and their children, have become from their traditional past. While the first Masjid in India was built in Kodungallur by Malik Bin Deenar(R), a Sahabi (during the Prophet’s (S) lifetime), it certainly seems that most of what occurred after that point has been forgotten by South Asian Muslims living abroad.
The Islam that I experienced in American South Asian dominated mosques and organizations was so utterly disconnected from the traditional understanding of Islam of India, that without being mentally prepared, I would certainly have considered what I was reading as pure fiction. The attraction of Muslim South Asians in America to various agenda-driven forms of Islam (and their lack of awareness as to their shifted reality by these agendas) has been complete and total. This has made the alien into the norm and the norm into the alien.
The sheer volume of information on the subject of the spirituality, plurality, tolerance and strength of South Asian Muslims, combined with the natural understanding as to how South Asian society flourished with Muslim and Hindu interaction for over the 1400 years, makes it clear that the fiction was that which I was sold most of my youth.
In fact, it was the desire and clearly defined curriculum of organizations such as ICNA and early administrations of the various masjids that I attended (dominated by South Asians at nearly all levels of organization) that Muslim youth study the life and works of Seyyid Qutb, Maududi, and Bilal Phillips.
This created an entire generation (including most of my friends) that had never heard the name of Khwaja Moiuddin Chishti (R) much less the name of a single one of the countless saints buried in South Asia. The importance of knowing those names (and therefore, understanding and respecting their teachings) is vitally important for immigrant South Asian Muslims in the West for a proper return to the spiritually moving faith connected to the Prophet (S), as practiced by these holy people who carried Islam to us.
The difference between what has become ‘modern Islam’ and the traditional Islam of South Asia and other traditional Muslim communities is striking.
One is focused on a singular attempt at ‘authenticity’ and ‘purification’ of Islam using new understandings of Hadith and discussing their authenticity, the other is focused on the application of the immediate tradition for the purpose of bettering the soul.
One is focused on the political, absorbing worldly power and doing so with various levels of crassness, looking for religious and legal legitimacy the entire time, while the other has always been about building bridges between hearts with subtlety and care.
The Islam of South Asians in the West has mirrored that of converts. Many converts were in love of the faith of Islam primarily due to its claim of textual authenticity of the Quran (and hence the faith), which was unchanged for centuries. This was in stark comparison to the faiths of the West which suffered from deep questions of relevancy and authenticity, faiths which they had left for just those reasons. There is no doubt that the weight of the extreme desire for textual authenticity led to the ‘off’ switch of South Asian immigrants in examining the Islamic faith as understood by their families for generations.
The lack of textual information about Islam in South Asia certainly did not help. Modern South Asians were brought up appreciating the written word much more than that spoken word, a side effect of making education the largest priority in their lives (a means to escape poverty of the homeland). The idea of following a way of life which couldn’t be immediately checked, verified, and looked up for confirmation led most to the path of various forms of Wahabism.
Of course, most of groups eschewed the name ‘Wahabi’ itself, preferring to claim the title ‘Muslim’ for themselves. Interestingly enough their use of ‘Muslim’ was to the exclusion of their ‘grave worshipping’ ancestors or family members, which they considered to be misguided and confused. Most likely, however, the situation was actually tragically reversed, with modernized South Asians being extremely confused about their faith and the ‘ignorant’ visitors of graves seeing with a spiritual clarity.
Many South Asian parents had not bought into their own intellectual superiority, and hence many had not adopted the Wahabi ideal in order to critique the problems ‘back home’. These parents were quiet on the subjects of question (saints, graves, intercession, etc), and very few had the ability to respond back to the arguments presented by Wahabi philosophies from their children. Growing up their entire lives in that society, it was difficult for parents to forsake that which they had learned was de-facto Islam, an Islam which had run their lives and so many loved-ones lives could not easily be discarded… Saints, Milad, Naats, Qawaali, and all. Largely, they kept their distance from argument and supported the now adjusting faith of their children.
Interestingly enough, this comfortable nature of the different Islam between father and son, mother and daughter, in matters of practice of faith was a direct consequence of the open nature of the parents Islamic faith. It is this same South Asian pluralism which had created large periods of relative peace between Hindus and Muslims over a span of centuries, which now allowed children to look, dress, and act radically different from their parents, with hardly more than a word spoken.
This is not to say that parents did not fear the children would become ‘Christian’ in the West, indeed such fears existed and were a large part of growing up South Asian in the West. However, I would argue the fear towards Christianization was much more focused on the change in culture, and what that would mean for marriage, dress and social standings than what it meant to their soul. The pluralistic values of South Asia centered around a common culture, where often the weddings of the Muslim were not so dissimilar from that of the Hindu, in terms of dress and celebration. Exiting this culture was much more profound an issue than disagreements over details of faith.
After coming to terms with the reality of the rigid nature of a singular interpretation of Islam, the American convert experience, a struggle and challenge in its own right, seemed to need an understanding of how Islam survived with pluralistic flexibility in order to continue and progress in their faith. The first struggle for those espousing a return to the traditional understanding of Islam was to establish authenticity. This was done by focusing on the Madhabs, the schools of Islamic Law. Within these Madhabs lived the intellectual contribution of all Muslim legal scholars for centuries.
However, the reality was that the average South Asian Muslim had never heard of Madhabs in any Islamic sense. Since the overwhelming majority of their society was Hanafi, there was no need to even learn the names of other approaches in matter of form or externals. So, in fact, in American Masjids, it was those espousing “Madhabs” who ended up looking as if they were speaking of something new.
As a completely wayward path, the Wahabi agenda of puritanical groups looking to take over Islam in the West was rebuffed with this larger understanding of Islamic Law. The only escape for American converts from this type of Islam, was a broader understanding of the faith with multiple legal opinions. This has become to be known as “traditionalism”, espoused by famous converts and speakers such as Sh Hamza Yusuf, Imam Zaid Shakir, and Sh Nuh Keller.
However, this following of converts, with their own issues of reconciliation of culture cannot be followed by South Asians descendants who plan on keeping their own culture alive. It seems the South Asian child’s only two choices today are assimilation into three categories: the secular West, the Western Islamic discourse dominated by anti-traditionalists, or the Islamic discourse of Arabized traditionalists. As noted in my previous articles, it is clear that a traditional South Asian Islam has been ignored by the West. Revivalists of traditional sciences in the West have ignored the South Asian contribution for too long.
A focus on historical personalities and works of South Asian descent is a personal priority of mine. It is time the Milad, Ghazal, Naat, and Qawaali was understood and loved again, not simply analyzed through the lens of a protracted argument about good and bad “innovations”.
“That is so 90’s.” It’s time to move on.
April 9th, 2008 - 10:15 pm
SubhanAllah,
This is an extremely interesting subject. Though I’m interested to know which South Asian group you think is holding on to the Islam practiced by the saints of old who have been buried in that region.
Wouldn’t it seem to be the Barelvis, as they are the ones who focus less on the formal knowledge and more on what has been passed down to them by their elders through both verbal and spiritual transmission.
April 10th, 2008 - 3:19 am
assalamu alaykum!
Yursil,
I think you’re painting a rosy picture of “South Asian Islam” that just isn’t there. I agree that discovering aspects of this culture as intertwined with Islam would be beneficial for young Muslims to help them appreciate the emptiness of the “no culture, only Islam” argument of Wahhabis et al. But I think there equally needs to be caution not to recreate dysfunctional aspects of “South Asian Islam” in minority contexts which promote a ghetto mentality (perhaps this is more pronounced in Britain than the US). I do, however, wholeheartedly agree that the contribution to Islamic heritage (not just the disciplines of Islamic learning) from the subcontinent as a whole is overlooked by English-speaking Muslims.
Part of me also finds the need to rail against a label which cobbles together Punjabis with Malayalis, Bengalis etc. “South Asian Islam”, in this respect, is dominated by Urdu speakers, who I think tend to be more inclined to textualist arguments because of their access to the books of fiqh, aqida etc.
April 10th, 2008 - 4:43 am
I’m a Keralite (that’s about as south as you get) and Kodungallur is in Kerala. It’s a place often left out in discussions on Indian Islam. eg. There are no Barelvis and Deobandis here and most Mapillas (Malyali Muslims) don’t speak Urdu. Also, we’re over 90% Shafi’i so many of the Muslim practices outside Kerala look alien to us.
I concur almost totally with your comments here. There’s a complete disconnect between the oral traditions of the past and the more bookish/netish culture of today in Kerala. Much of the history of the Mapillas in Kerala and of Islam in general are transmitted through songs. These are frowned upon as Shirk by the anti-traditionalists and the people who *do* have them at their houses usually just pay some local Alim some cash to recite it at their house. They don’t really know or take part in the event.
This is partly because of the money that has flown into Kerala from the middle east. As people became more economically secure, the sounds of Quran recital after Maghrib have been replaced by blaring television sets. Small schools have mushroomed all over the place and local Madrassas are becoming more and more insignificant. This kind of neglect has cast a dark shadow over the “traditional” muslim community. They’re seen as people who don’t really practice what they preach. A vacuum was created for the youth and the anti-traditionalists like the Mujahid groups (Wahabis) get lots of people going over to their ideologies.
The net result has been a blow to the old ways. Very few children these days have heard of the Badr Salat while it used to be ubiquitous in my father’s time.
It’s not all lost though. Many of the local Ulema are creating a more holistic system which the youth are quite attracted to. The “debate over validity” stage is going down I think and a desire to mine the knowledge that the past handed down is growing. Mawlid books are being reprinted in modern fonts, gatherings where Nasheeds are sung are getting more popular. The general trend seems to be that the youth are realising that they’re part of a global community of Muslims. That looks like a good thing. They’re learning to appreciate aspects of Islam that their own communities are not exposed to. It looks good but Allah knows best where it’s heading.
April 10th, 2008 - 6:27 am
Assalamualaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu
Firstly with due respect to you all , my intention is not to hurt any buddy, What i find is that to what u say traditional Islam has majority of thing which has nothing to do with Prophet (S.A.W.S), Sahabas ,and Sahih hadiths and one more think is that this peoples have very less to do with sciences of Hadith which is very important in islam.
With due respect to you all I end myself with
Wa Akirud-Da’awanah, Al-hamdulillahi Rabil ‘Alameen.
Wa alaiKum as-Salaam
April 10th, 2008 - 6:43 am
BismillahirRahmanirRahim
Salamu’alaykum thabet and Paradise One,
I wouldn’t want it to be misunderstood that I believe any of the major current groups of South Asians (barelwi’s deobandi’s maududi-ites) truly hold on to the legacy of traditional South Asian Islam. Most of the above groups are defined solely by their level of enmity to the other. Traditionally South Asians were able to build relationships and work with those who might be considered idol-worshippers. It is necessary to rethink the separatism which was injected into South Asia to go from being able to live in that pluralistic society to one where even Muslims are at each others throats.
The Islam I speak of is the one that largely lost its voice (yet not died out) due to political and Wahabi influences during and after partition. Yet, traces of it remain in the attitude of even ex-pats.
Much of what I believe needs to occur is a rediscovery of the South Asian saints, stories of their lives, their attitudes towards people, and any textual works that they left us with. When debating whether certain practices are permissible or not, all of this context is ignored and it stays on hold while we struggle to find a conclusion to debates on texts.
This is a problem that is really not existent in the US, so I have difficulty understanding and speaking to it. Yet, I think the fact that this mentality (or more importantly, its consequence) is not universal can speak to whether it is an aspect of South Asian traditional culture or something else.
Malays and others who identify more with Indian Islam and an Arab Islam, are also struggling with following South Asians down this sort of rabbit hole of defining Islam without a link to the past. We have yet to see where that will lead them.
April 10th, 2008 - 6:52 am
BismillahirRahmanirRahim
Salamu’alaykum Noufal,
That is an excellent comment, and a perfect supplement to this article. It was good to hear about what is going on in Kerala.
April 10th, 2008 - 11:19 am
Salams
Really nice article MashaAllah! I really agree with you when you say that we need to know and learn about the past saints of the Indian Subcontinent. There are many beautiful gems to uncover and to learn from, if only we would look deep enough.
I am from the UK and I think there is definitely a British Islam emerging from 2nd and especially 3rd generation Asians and converts. However, I do wish it would move towards the Islam of the saints of the Indian Subcontinent and the environments they created.
I believe that western culture and philosophy is so influential today that I feel it may be too much for an Indian Subcontinent type Islam to develop even though there are amazing scholars from the region among us still.
April 10th, 2008 - 11:49 am
Much of what you write about rediscovering the saints of South Asia, naat, milad, qawwali, urs, etc, is all alive and well in what you would probably call the “barelwi” muslims. Though they don’t have as many mosques in North America you will still see them carrying on the old traditions, regardless of how many groups scream bidat and shirk.
April 10th, 2008 - 3:03 pm
This was really excellent mashallah se. You put these things into words that are so difficult to put into words. Often when one says this to people, it comes out as if one is “anti-arab” or such and such, whereas railing against the idea that we should reintroduce south asian Islam (in all its glorious plurality) into the discourse, is anti-arab, is in itself a response understating its importance.
Thabet - i did not get from Yursil’s article that there is commonality amongst south asian islam. There is a huge disjoint amongst the lot, but all of it nevertheless is left out of the discourse (some more than others).
April 11th, 2008 - 6:54 am
BismillahirRahmanirRahim
Salamu’alaykum,
Thank you very much sophister!
April 11th, 2008 - 7:34 am
Salaams Yursil
As always, an interesting and thought-provoking post. Ma sha Allah!
We will never move forward until we honour what came before us, in a spirit of humility (with the expectation that we have much to learn).
Abdur Rahman
April 11th, 2008 - 8:47 am
Salaam!
I’m a Finnish convert to Islam and I’ve found Indo-Pakistani Islamic culture very appealing after my Wahhabi days. Funnily, even back then I liked Qawwali and sometimes found myself singing “Kirpan karo maharaj Mu’inuddin” The emotional spirituality is what is most striking; the complete opposite of Finnish culture. By the way, I’m learning Urdu now, mostly through poetry and naat.
We all must know where we come from. I know people who have identity crisis. They are miserable and refuse to recognize it themselves. It hurts me because they’ve been blessed with Islamic education and culture and they’re not acting accordingly while my country has no Islamic culture that we sorely need. Spiritual wounds are healed through the company of the Awliya. How about someone who despises the Awliya? I’m afraid they are beyond our help.
April 11th, 2008 - 11:00 am
I think the loss extends to South East Asian Islam too. Every single time it has been said that Islam spread here through muslim traders and sufi saints but the only recent consciousness of Islam we have is mostly the nationalist/political/supremacist type with culture damaged too.
However, I think part of the reason why is that the nation-building project of muslim majority South East Asia coincides and borrowed with the crazy happenings of the muslim world in the Middle East during the 1960s onwards.
April 15th, 2008 - 10:42 pm
As’salamu ‘alaykum Sidi Yursil,
Khwaja Moin’Uddin Chisti Ajmeri (RA) is indeed the Crown Gem of India.
Perhaps you should go on a tour of the Sub-Continent, so you can visit the many Shrines (Darbars) in that region. Due to a lack of education and proper authority some shrines can be like a shopping mall, but most are run according to the Sharia, such as the shrines of Sultan Bahu (RA), Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindh (Mujjadid Alif Thani) (RA), Imam Ahmad Raza Khan (RA) in Berielly, etc.
I don’t know about the US, but here in the UK, most people a aware of the pious personalities of the past, even though they may not alaways agree with them.
April 18th, 2008 - 8:37 pm
Yursil,
asak
Superb article! Can we post this on http://www.indianmuslims.in as a guest post? Kindly reply to my email id.
April 21st, 2008 - 5:51 pm
excellent topic. thanks.
April 23rd, 2008 - 5:17 pm
Salaam.
Well Yursil, i normally enjoy reading your articles, but I have to say this one is both historically inaccurate, and tampered with revisionist history.
First of all Malik bin Dinaar (Ra) is mentioned as a tabieen, and not a sahabi, according to Kashf ul Muhjoob, and Tadkhirat ul awliyah and other accounts.
Secondly the younger generation somehow got brainwashed from turniing away from the so-called pluralistic Islam, is also inaccurate. The older generation practiced a diluted version of Islam. where Indian culture took precedent. Things such as celebrating the Birth of a son, by handing out sweets and mourning the Birth of a Daughter. Forced Marriages as opposed to arranged marriages. Practcing Islam once you reach the age of 40, prior to that just celebrating Ghyarwi shareef every month, and ignoring all the fardh acts of worship i could go on and on…So
I find it very strange you chose to ignore all these facts.
April 23rd, 2008 - 8:14 pm
BismillahirRahmanirRahim
Salamu’alaykum Ashiq,
As far as Malik bin Dinaar, I mentioned him as a Sahabi because it is well known that the mosque that was built in Kerala was built in 612 AD, well before the Prophet (S) passed.
As far as the diluted version of Islam, I don’t hold that to be true, at least not on a broad scale. Certainly isolated problems existed, but it was nothing the Awliyaullah weren’t keeping a close eye on.
-Yursil