Hinduism and Islam
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Hinduism and Islam, from the of arrival of the Arabs as far back as the eighth century AD, has had a checkered history. In Islam, Hinduism found a very different concept of God, truth, castigation, discipline and civic society than it had encountered earlier.
During the Muslim conquests, Islam gained many converts on the Indian sub-continent primarily from Hinduism or Buddhism; the two dominant local religions. The prime drivers for conversion were force and enslavement. Inter-marriage and immigration from other Islamic landshas have helped in instilling this idea in the people of greater India. Many of the new Muslim rulers looked down upon the idea Hinduism as having Iconodulistic religious practices and were to various degrees iconoclastic. Prominent examples of these are Mahmud of Ghazni and the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb on either end of the timeline for Islamic rulers. In addition, Muslims in India also developed a caste system that divided the Arab-descended "Ashraf" Muslims and the "Ajlaf" converts, with the "Arzal" untouchables at the lowest rung[1][2][3][4][5] The term "Arzal" stands for "degraded" and the Arzal castes are further subdivided into Bhanar, Halalkhor, Hijra, Kasbi, Lalbegi, Maugta, Mehtar etc.[4][5][6]
In contrast there were also many Muslim kings who wished to live in harmony with the Hindus. Akbar and Ibrahim Adil Shah II of Bijapur Adil Shah dynasty are notable examples. Akbar's court was home to intellectuals and saints both Hindu and Muslim, among them the great musician Tansen, and he even went so far as to try and create a new religion (the din ilahi) to create a rapprochement of both creeds.
The arrival of Sufi movement conversing with other mystic traditions of Vedanta and Yoga led to the rise of the syncretic Bhakti movement. Kabir was a Sufi saint who embraced the Hindu God Rama as his chosen bhakti ideal. He wrote poetry and preached to the people, advocating a blend of philosophy and spiritual practices challenging the religious clergy of both Islam and Hinduism and claiming to be neither Hindu, nor Muslim. Sufism as a whole is primarily concerned with direct personal experience, and as such may be compared to various esoteric forms of mysticism such as Bhakti form of Hinduism, Hesychasm, Zen Buddhism, Kabbalah, Gnosticism and Christian mysticism.
The synergy between certain Sufis and Bhaktas in many regions of India led to Muslim and Hindu laity worshiping together at a mazar (Sufi shrine). However, Muslim and Sikh conflict erupted in India fueled by a history of regional politics, nationalism, continued conflict and the partition movements during independence from the British Raj in 1947.
However the main proponents of this new synergy included Saints like Rumi, Shirdi Sai Baba and Kabir today it can be said it exits in the form of the Qawwali
Qawwali is a form of devotional Sufi music common in Afganistan, India, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Turkey. It is known for its secular strains. Some of its modern-day masters have included Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and the Sabri Brothers. Amir Khusro, a disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya, of the Chishti Order, is credited with inventing Qawwali in the 14th century.
Mughal art forms, especially miniatures and even certain niches of Urdu poetry, were quick to absorb classic Hindu motifs, like the love story of Krishna and Radha.[7] Hindustani classical music is a complex and sonorous blend of Vedic notions of sound, raga and tala and absorbed a many instruments of either Middle Eastern origin or Indian-Muslim invention such as the ghazal
[edit] References
- ^ Aggarwal, Patrap (1978). Caste and Social Stratification Among Muslims in India. Manohar.
- ^ Muslim Caste in Uttar Pradesh (A Study of Culture Contact), Ghaus Ansari, Lucknow, 1960, Page 66
- ^ Singh Sikand, Yoginder. Caste in Indian Muslim Society. Hamdard University. Retrieved on 2006-10-18.
- ^ a b Ambedkar, Bhimrao. Pakistan or the Partition of India. Thackers Publishers.
- ^ a b Web resource for Pakistan or the Partition of India
- ^ Dereserve these myths by Tanweer Fazal,Indian express
- ^ http://www.bharatiyadrama.com/urdu.htm
[edit] See also
- Islam in India
- Islamic conquest of South Asia
- Communalism (South Asia)
- Islam and other religions
- Hinduism and other religions
- Mahāmada
- Ayodhya debate
- Pakistani nationalism
- Hindu nationalism
- Terrorism in India