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 It
is said that Azadari in the subcontinent (piece of land
comprising of three countries; India, Pakistan and
Bangladesh) began first in the
Deccan
states of Bijapur and Golkonda. Subsequently, the Shahs of
Awadh, the Talpur Mirs of Sindh, the Nawabs of Bengal and
Hyder Ali and Sultan Tipu’s family in the South of India
took it to new heights. In Punjab, Azadari began with the
arrival of the Syeds, and Arastujah Syed Rajab Ali Khan
promoted it further.
In Kathiawar and the Rann of Kutch, the Khojas not only
promoted Azadari in their own region but their traders took
the culture to far off places like Rangoon, Sri Lanka, Oman,
Hong Kong, Aden and else ware. Today Azadari takes place
nearly everywhere across the globe, be it Asia, Africa,
Europe, North America or Australia. John Pong, a poet
writing in English, wrote a marsiya comprising several
hundred verses. A renowned French poet also wrote a marsiya
entitled The star of innocence, dedicated to Karbala’s
Six-month-old martyr, Ali Asghar, while Stanley Sherf, an
American scholar, made Karbala the topic of his PhD thesis.
The relations and cultural exchanges between the Arabs and
the subcontinent, particularly Sindh, go back several
centuries, as only the Arabian Sea separated the two. Early
Arab advances in ship building even bridged that gulf. The
first conqueror of Sindh, Haris bin Mar’at al-Abdi, had
brought love of [i:post_uid1]Ahlul-Bayt[/i:post_uid1] to
Sindh much earlier on. In fact, he died and was buried here.
During the reign of Hadrat Ali, Shansab, a ruler of Sindh
embraced Islam and was allowed to continue as a ruler of his
kingdom located in the western part of the subcontinent in
the name of the Caliph. Thus, Shansab was the first ruler in
the subcontinent to receive a degree to rule from a caliph
of the Holy Prophet(PBUH&HF).His descendants constituted the
first loyalists of Hadrat Ali in this part of the world, and
were the only ones who continued to bear allegiance to
Hadrat Ali long after he had died and the Umayyads had taken
over the caliphate.
Furthermore, one of the Sindhi women had been married to
Imam Zainul Abedin, who mothered his martyr son, Zaid. It
was perhaps because of this affinity with Sindh that many of
Hadrat Ali’s loyalists took refuge in this region during the
Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates.
Those who made Sindh their home included Abdullah al-Ashtar
al-Hussaini (Abdullah Shah Ghazi, buried Karachi), who came
to Sindh after his father Muhammad al-Nafs was martyred. He
later traveled to Kandahar with Isa bin Abdullah bin Mas’ada.
During the reign of the first Abbasid caliph, Mansur, Qasim
bin Ibrahim Hasni also sought refuge in Sindh, and later
moved on to Khan Garh, near Multan. Several Sindhi and Hindi
scholars went to seek knowledge from the seminary of Imam
Jafar al-Sadiq, including Faraj Sindhi, Khulad Sindhi Bazaz,
Aban bin Mohammed Sindhi, Sabah bin Nasr Hindi, etc.
In short, the subcontinent has long played host to the
loyalists of the Ahlul-Bayt, among them some well-known and
illustrious scholars of Islam. In the sixth century Hijra a
preacher by the name of Mullah Ali arrived in the
subcontinent and converted many people. In the seventh
century Hijra, we also hear the name of Baba Ratan (died. AD
1225), a scholar who was widely respected for his knowledge.
Around the same time a Shia state was founded in the areas
that constitute Sindh and Punjab today, which bore
allegiance to the Egyptian Fatimid caliphs. Thus, the
teachings of the Ahlul-Bayt were spread in this region,
giving birth to a Datt community that called itself a
community of Hussaini Brahmins. Their war literature has
survived to this day. Bahadur Sudh Bhog Datt Sultan from the
line of Sudh Jhoga migrated to Arabia and became a chief
there. He was an Ahlul-Bayt loyalist, and later, seven sons
from the line of his priest avenged the murder of Imam
Hussein. Later on, they traveled through Rome, Syria, Ghazni,
Balkh, Bukhara, Kandahar and eventually settled down in
Punjab, taking Azadari with them wherever they went.
By the end of the Umayyad caliphate, several Muslim amirs
were in control of many bordering territories of the
subcontinent. The Abbasids then turned several provinces in
the region into their protectorates. By the fifth century
Hijra the Muslim rulers of these protectorates in Sindh,
Rajputana and the current NWFP had amassed armies big and
powerful enough to capture Delhi.
In This context, the following observations by Maulana Azad
writing in Al Balagh, Kolkata, (Nov 26,1915) are very
interesting.
“The tradition of Azadari[/i:post_uid1] in the subcontinent
goes back hundreds of years. The Karbala tragedy that
happened over 14 hundred years ago is definitely a grave
tragedy in human history. It gives an eternal lesson in
human sacrifice and dignity and teaches one to wage war
against the Yazids of all times. That is why this saga,
despite being repeated time and again, has not become old.
Restrictions imposed by rulers, exigencies of circumstances,
and fatwas of blasphemy and innovation have failed to reduce
the tragic importance and the truth of Karbala to
insignificance. This is because suppression and oppression
still live on, long after its perpetrators killed Imam
Hussein.
“In the subcontinent azadari is not only confined to Muslims
alone, Hindus have also participated in it. It has been
observed in the palaces of the emperors, havelis of the
nobility, seminaries of the learned scholars and the
pavilion of the Sufis and dervishes.
“The mourning for Imam Hussein began the day he and his
companions were ambushed and martyred at Karbala. Farzdeq, a
renowned mediaeval Arab poet, composed poetry challenging
the Arab sensibility regarding the Karbala tragedy but his
poetry was banned by the Umayyads and the Abbasids. However,
in the tenth century AD, under different rulers, stories of
the martyrdom of Imam Hussein and elegies composed about
Karbala began to be recited openly.
“Ashura became a public day of mourning, and businesses and
bazaars came to be shut down to observe its solemnity. The
Fatimids took [i:post_uid1]azadari[/i:post_uid1] to public
life in northern Africa, Egypt and Syria. When the Ayubis
defeated the Fatimids in Egypt and Yemen, azadari was banned
once again. Instead, the Ayubis began to celebrate Ashura
with gaiety, wearing cheerful clothes and making merry. But
despite their ban on mourning rituals, Egypt continued to
mark Ashura with solemnity and rituals of mourning. Rumi has
referred to this in his Mathnavi.
“Sufis and mystics have played an important role in the
spread of azadari. Haji Bektash Wali was the founder of the
Bektashia Sufi order in Anatolia and a contemporary of
Rumi’s. He spread azadari[/i:post_uid1] through his
followers, as was the bidding of his teacher, Haji Baba
Bektash, who fasted on the first nine days of Muharram. On
the tenth day he used to prepare a special meal called
“Asura Meri” in Turkish. Made from 12 ingredients the meal
was cooked in a big cauldron. The Baba used to stir it first
and then hand over the cooking to his disciples, one after
another. A disciple used to recite the events of Karbala and
elegies all the while the meal was prepared. In Anatolia
azadari lasted 12 days. [i:post_uid1]“Asura Meri is still a
traditional ashura meal in Turkey today.
“The dervishes also known as qalandars and hyderis took the
Muharram traditions and rituals with them wherever they
went. They brought them to the subcontinent from Turkey.
Initially, at Sehwan in Sindh, qalandari centers were
established which spread azadari in the region. Thus,
azadari began in the subcontinent in the thirteen century AD
in earnest. The first centers of the azadari were the
mosques and the military camps.
“Noor Turk, an Ismaili preacher, preached about Karbala in
Delhi by the time of Mohammed Tughlaq, when Muharram came to
be celebrated widely and on a popular scale. This gave way
to the raising of the alams(standard) and the tradition on
the rallies. In Lataef-e-Ashrafi, it is narrated that Syed
Sahib and his associates used to carry a water bag made from
hide in their area during the mourning days of Muharram.
They did not wear good clothes or attend any functions in
Muharram. Thus, they continued to observe Ashura with
solemnity for 30 years, sitting under an alam (standard) at
the mosque of Jaunpur. The renowned Sufi of the chishtia
order Khwaja Bandanawaz Gesudaraz (d.1422) was also known
for his solemn observation of azadari. |
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