CAN THE DEVIL SPEAK TRUE? SUFISM vs STATE SUFISM

Jey kar Deen Ilm wich hunda, taan Sar naizey kyun chadh dey hoo

Athara hazaar jo aalam aaha, aagey Hussain (AS) dey mardey hoo

Jo kuch mulahiza Sarwar (SAW) da kardey, taan tamboo kheimey kyun sadhdey hoo

Jay kar manday bait Rasooli (SAW), paani kyun bandh kardey hoo

Par sadiq deen tinhan da Bahoo (RA), jo sar qurbani kardey hoo

Had Religion been only in Knowledge, the heads would not have hung high on spears, O Hoo

Thousands of scholars who lived there would have laid their lives for Hussain (AS), O Hoo

They wouldn’t have refused water to Prophet's (SAW) Family, if they acknowledged their pledges with the Apostle of God, O Hoo

Only they are true in their faith, says Bahoo, who offer their heads for sacrifice, O Hoo

Abyat e Bahoo, Hazrat Sultan Bahoo (RA)

In the name of Kashmiriyat, Sufism is always evoked through the invocation of Love and Peace. The problem is not that it is evoked; problem is that it is true. Sufism's raison d'être is love and peace. The problem complicates itself when an oppressive, violent and fascist regime calls upon Kashmiriyat through Sufism to establish peace and love. Oppression and love; one can only respond the way Banquo responds in Macbeth when he realizes the prophecy of witches has come true. He says:

"What, can the devil speak true?"

Can it?

In Macbeth, this problem is solved through the notion of equivocation. But the solution of equivocation is only possible when you trust that the devil has a purpose and the purpose is to deceive you. When an oppressive regime exchanges Sufism, Peace and Love for its violence, we can also refer to its equivocation. But unlike the devil, this state has nothing to hide. All its violent motives are laid bare and naked. There is no room left even for Ideology. One is reminded of a Bank adv. example that Jean Baudrillard gives in his early influential book Symbolic Exchange and Death. He quotes a bank adv. that unabashedly says, "Your money interests me – give and take – let me take your money and I will make you profit from my bank." This is the level of obscene for Baudrillard. Similarly and quite differently, when a fascist state evokes Sufi saints, know that we are facing the obscene truth of oppression.

State invokes Sufism in such a way as if the sole purpose of Sufis was to strengthen the status quo and be a smiling mask of love over the bloody face of violence. It feels like Nazis invoking Nietzsche. It is beyond any doubt that State's appropriation of Sufism is nothing but that state's own reading. Sufism per se has nothing to do with it. State's Sufism has a universal claim of peace and love and they present it as something transcendental and will never try to contextualize or historicize that love and peace. Their Sufi philosophy literally is 'State Philosophy' in Deleuzian sense.

When State raises the slogan of love in reference to Sufism, what they forget is that for Sufis love is not a noun, it is a verb. Love is something that they strive for and also struggle for. It is not a thing that is established but a thing to be established and for which one has to work and struggle. Whenever in the world there was a necessity to raise truth against falsehood or to react against any form of social injustice, Sufis have crossed fists against the mightiest of empires and sacrificed their heads. This is the story from Mansur to Sarmad. Thematically Mansur's Anal Haq has travelled a lot from the gallows where it was pronounced through various poets up to Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Habib Jalib. Whatever the interpretation be, Mansur's shath is still a cry of the oppressed, a fierce blow to traditional narrow-mindedness as well as an echo that shatters the foundations of an empire apart from being a fountain of spiritual meanings.

Sufis have continuously fought against social hierarchies and establishments. Time and again the figure of Mullah is ridiculed by invoking the sacrilegious symbols of wine, zunaar etc. to ridicule the 'State Philosophy' and oppose the establishment. Baba Bulleh Shah (1680-1757) says:

Mulla tay mashaalchi dohaan ikko chit

lokaan karday chananan, aap anhairae vich

The mullah and the torch-bearer hail from the same rock

They give light to others, and themselves are in dark

Wherever the caste hierarchies prevailed, Sufis denounced it and tried to establish egalitarian society. For example, Baba Bulleh Shah raised a strong voice against caste system through his verses. His master Shah Inayat Qadri was of low caste and Baba Bulleh Shah was of Syed origin. When his relatives tried to advise him that it was not proper for a person belonging to the lineage of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) to take guidance from a person who is of Arain caste, Bulleh Shah replied:

Jehda Saanoun Syed Saday Dozakh Milay Sazaiyaan
Jo Koi Saanu Raie Aakhe, Bhisti Peenghaan Paian

Let anyone, who calls me a Syed be punished with the tortures of hell

And let him revel in the pleasures of heaven who labels me an Arain

At another place he says:

Chal Bulleya chal othe chaliye jithe sare anne
Na koi saadi zaat pachhaane, naa koi saanu manne

O Bullah, let's go where only the blind live

There no one would care for our caste

There no one would hold us in esteem

Apart from academic and poetic struggles many Sufis have been directly engaged in criticizing the empire while some even fighting against the oppressive regimes. For example, when Mujaddid Alif Sani Sheikh Ahmad Sarhindi (1564-1624) of Naqshbandi Sufi Order, was called by Emperor Jehangir he openly refused to offer the traditional Tazeemi Sajdah (Prostration of Respect) that was a trend in Emperor Jehangir's court. This enraged Jehangir so much that he imprisoned Sheikh Sarhindi.

Similarly in Chechnya and other parts Qadri Sufi Order became a strong force opposing Russian Colonization and before that Naqshbandi Sufi Order especially under Imam Shamil, the Lion of Daghestan (1797-1871) played an important role in fighting against Tsar's oppression. In Algeria, Emir Abdelkader (1808-1883) of Qadri Sufi Order strongly resisted French colonization. He started anticolonial guerilla warfare against French occupation causing much frustration in French Imperial camps for a long time and forcing them to sign a treaty which gave Abdelkader significant control over Western Algeria. In Indian Subcontinent, Khwaja Ghulam Farid (1845-1901) of Chisti-Nizami Sufi Order raised a strong voice against British Colonization and revolted against the Ruler of Bhawalpur by saying, "You rule yourself on your state and finish police station of British from your state." Later, Pir Sibtagullah Shah (1910-1943) started a massive opposition in the form of Hur Movement against British colonization keeping Sindh free until his capture and subsequent hanging in 1943.

Most importantly, the struggle of Sufi Shah Inayat Shaheed (1655-1718) of Suharwardi Sufi Order cannot be ignored. When the oppressive agrarian policies of Mughal Empire under the rule of Farukhsiyar increased, Shah Inayat raised a strong voice and formulated his own agrarian principles to counter those of Mughals. When Mughal Empire appointed local Pirs, Mullahs, Feudal Lords Syeds and tribal chiefs to forcefully collect revenues from peasants, Shah Inayat raised the slogan "Jo Khere, So Khaey" – One who tills, should eat. With this Shah Inayat started a strong peasant revolution and a successful land reform movement. He established communes whose share was equally distributed among all peasant workers irrespective of caste or religion.

The land reform was successful and gained popularity. Local Pirs, Mullahs, Syeds and Landlords convinced Mughal Empire that Shah Inayat's social movement was becoming a powerful and strong force which will undermine the sanctity and influence of Mughal Empire. Finally, Mughals attacked Shah Inayat and his communes. Shah Inayat and his fellow peasants fought resiliently. When not able to defeat them, Mughals promised Shah Inayat upon the Holy Quran towards a peaceful treaty. Respecting Quran, Shah Inayat agreed and when he was invited for the treaty, he was arrested, incarcerated and finally beheaded on 7 January, 1718. Shah Inayat is still referred as the First Socialist Sufi of Sindh.

When state or state representatives pronounce the names of Sheikh ul Alam, Lala Ded or Habba Khatoon and try to universalize their love and peace, we should remind them that Sheikh ul Alam had a fierce struggle against mullahs, elites, Syeds and state representatives to establish his own Sufi order, and the life/art of Lala Ded and Habba Khatoon before being a Sufi testament is first a strong cry against patriarchal violence. 'State Philosophy' or 'State Sufism' is always offered as something transcendental, out of the world, pure and away from the trials and tribulations of our world. On the contrary, Sufism is very much a part of our world. It has a context and grounding in this world.