FIVE BEFORE DAWN

Haji Shariatullah (d.1840), founder of the Faraizi movement, was a disciple of Tahir Somail, a Hanafi jurist and a Qadiriya sufi at Mecca. Although leading Faraizis were Qadiriya sufis, Haji replaced the relationship pir-murid (master-disciple) by ustad-sagred (teacher-student). Now according to many, the Qadiriyas are the innovators of the principle "follow only what the master says" in sufism. Are we seeing a contradiction? No. So much ignorance and fraud was being perpetuated through the decadent pir-murid system prevalent in the Bengal of early 19th century that Haji could not but remove it first. One recalls Shaikh Ibn Taymiyya. He was a Qadiriya sufi who transmitted sufi cloak and wrote commentary on sufi works but he is often considered an anti-sufi. The system only works if the pir is a true pir. Charlatans always took advantage of the system and parrots talk without understanding. They gain the upper hand when society becomes corrupt or lacks the spirit of sustained work. Anyway the title Pir came back later. Influence of the Faraizis in Bangladesh was very deep. Bengali politician, theorist and satirist Abul Mansur Ahmad, whose ideas influenced many during the 1950s and can be found in his book, "Amar Dekha Rajnitir Panchash Bachhor" (Fifty Years of Politics I saw), was from a Faraizi family. Paternal grandmother of Humayun Kabir, a well-known politician and educationist, was a daughter of Ustad Dudu Mian, the next Faraizi leader. The movement also affected non-Muslim societies. The effort to organize the Chandals - a disadvantaged tribe according to Hindu caste considerations - as Namasudra was launched by the missionaries near the Faraizi infested areas. It was declared that the Aryan characteristics are more prominent in Chandals than Bengali Brahmans.

Ustad Mohsin al-Din Ahmad Dudu Mian (d.1862) was the son of Haji Shariatullah. He spent much of his short adult life suffering legal harassments or in jail. At last he was released to die. In 1830, his father sent him to meet Titumir. Later he was sent to Mecca at the age of 12. Under his leadership Faraizi movement developed into a widespread socio-political movement.

Sufi Nur Muhammad Nizampuri (d.1858) of Noakhali was a Naqsbandiya follower of Sayyid Ahmad Brelavi, founder of the Muhammadiya tariqa. Some of the influencial Naqsbandiya khaneqahs of modern Bangla were founded by his followers and their followers. He took a group of Bengali mujahids - 50 from Barisal - to Sitaloi Sind. Along with Brelavi many of them became martyred in the battle of Balakot in 1831. Brelavi's Chistiya sufi chain passes through medieval Bengali Shaikhs Nur Qutb-ul-Alam and Hushamuddin Manikpuri to Sayyid Zayez Hamid Shah. So this connection is nothing new. Besides Titumir and Nizampuri, Brelavi had also contact with almost all prominent Maolanas in Bengal including Haji Shariatullah, Keramat Ali (from Bihar, buried in Rangpur), Abdul Bari Khan (Maolana Akram Khan's father, possibly a descendant of Kamdev Thakur) and Khairuddin (from Hindustan, Maolana Abul Kalam Azad's father). In a meeting with Brelavi about 1822, Titumir, Shariatullah and Keramat Ali stressed that the situation in Bangladesh is different from that in India. Titumir was concerned with the persecution of the peasants by the indigo-planters and he also argued that Hindus belonging to low caste should be welcome in his movement. Shariaullah's movement was also a peasant movement but Keramat Ali represented the late immigrants or richer section.

Maolana Imam al-Din Bangali of Hajipur (Noakhali) followed the Muhammadyia tariqa. I shall add an interesting story about him later. Grandfather of Hafezzi Hujur was one of his important successors. Hafezzi Hujur's performance in the 1978 presidential election showed how insignificant the followers of some of the highly vocal politicians of Bangladesh are numerically.

This saying should not be interpreted with pagan outlook. Nalan Fakir, who wrote it, again sang explaining the teaching of his mentor Siraj,

"Ram Narayan Gour Hari, Ishwar jadi ganna kari,
Tara tabe garva dhari, A sangsare hai kene?
Jare tare Ishwar bala, Buddhi nai tar ardhatola,
Ishwarer hai jamo jala, Vabo ki se tai mone?
...
Siraj Sai kai Nalan re bhai, Thako sadai thhik jene"

These songs were discovered in Tagore's possession. Disciples of Nalan complained that Tagore did not return the hand-written collection of songs he borrowed. They have been published now by SriSanatkumar Mitra ("Lalan Fakir Kabi o Kabya", BYear 1386), but Arabic and Persian words are awaiting proper recovery. Spellings of many Bengali words are different in these songs. The Fakir wrote his name as Nalan not Lalan.
[BACK TO Ismail Gazi] [BACK TO Shah Jalal] [BACK TO Amritkunda]

Early Sufis of Bangla: Since the Turks believed that the Prophet() had contact with some Yavkui Turks of Tugarastan - center for the silk trade at that time - and Dede Korkut visited him, it could be that the Prophet had also contact with some pre-Islamic sufis of the Karatoya valley. Karatoya was the most important river in Bangladesh then. Similarly by sea also, the Arabs and Persians visited Bangladesh from pre-Islamic times. Sulaiman visited Bangladesh in 9th century. In 851 Ibn Khurdadhbih, a Magian convert to Islam and a follower of the Barmakis (Pramukha) of Afghanistan, praised the cotton produced in the Pal Kingdom. Earliest-known notice of Muslims residing Bengal is believed to be due to Ibn Masudi (d.956). With the progress of Islam in Afghanistan, overland trade involving import of horses and export of silk and cotton, could bring Muslims. A Muslim migration towards Bangladesh from India could happen after the defeat of Ahmad Yanaltigin at the hand of Hindu Ghaznavid general Tilak. Yanaltigin was the son of a slave-girl of Sultan Mahmud. He conquered Banaras in 1034. Fearing that he might declare independence his half-brother sent Tilak after him. According to legends the earliest sufi in Bangladesh is Shah Sultan Rumi who got a land grant from a Koch king. His date is given c. 1043. He is buried in the village of Madanpur, Netrakona. Baba Adam Shahid, buried at the village of Abdullahpur in Bikrampur, died fighting Ballal Sen (r.1158-1178), father of Lakkhan Sen. Bikrampur was one of the capitals of Ballal Sen. Anandabhatta - a descendant of Gopalbhatta, a poet in Ballal's court - wrote a biography of Ballal Sen, based on a work of his ancestor. Here he stated that Yogi Dharma Giri, who was the Principal (Mahant) of Mahastangar monastary, sought the help of Baba Adam against the persecution carried out by the Brahmans in Ballal's court. Legends say Shah Makhdum Ruposh - the Shaikh of Rajshahi, Sayyid Abdul Quddus - was a disciple of Hazrat Abd al-Qadir Jilani (d.1166). He came with Miran Shah Sayyid Ahmad Tannuri, buried in Sampur Noakhali, by sea. Others say Qadiriya tariqa was introduced in Bengal by Shah Safi al-Din Shahi at Chhoto Pandua/Tribeni in Hooghly c. 1290. By 1126 Turks in Maner were giving Turukha danda - a fine for being a Turk - to a Hindu king. Imam Tez Fath Faqih, grandfather of Yahiya Maneri, came to Maner about this time. Yahiya Maneri himself studied at Mahisun which Abdul Karim identified as Mahi Santos of Dinajpur. His teacher was Taqi al-Din Arabi who founded a school at Mahisun which had tombs of some early Suhrawardiya sufis. Minhaj wrote Bakhtiyar Khilgi established khaneqahs for the sufis. According to Abdul Karim the earliest inscription discovered so far on the establishment of a khaneqah for the sufis was dated 1221. It was found in a village in Birbhoom.

Only mistakes are mine

It was really painful. Available information is partial and confusing. On the onset of colonialism the western side of Bangladesh suffered quite a few setbacks in which the people who followed these saints suffered most. This include the death of 10 million people in 1770, one-sixth of the population of Rangpur in 1787, and the destruction of the Naqsbandiya center in Southwest Bengal, loss of land grants and wealthy communities that patronised the khaneqahs and authentic sufi traditions. Various missionary experiments such as the organization of Hinduism absorving the Shuris, Buddhists and Dharmites, forging new definitions, sanskritizing tendency in linguistics, toponomy and reconstructions of vernacular manuscripts, forgeries and interpolations complicated the situation. In 1947, not only the demand for an independent country in Bengal was denied, the inclusion of many historically important towns and villages with tombs of saints and centers of medieval Bengali sufisim into what later became Bangladesh was also denied. Request for detaching Purnea from Bihar and attaching it to East Bengal was also denied. In 1770 the district lost half its population. After the end of colonialism, very often donor-seeking slogan-chanting politics - chronically dependent on prizes and admonitions from unsympathetic sources - failed to patronize the recovery of whatever still recoverable.