by Mehru Jaffer
2 Carl W. Ernst, The Shambhala Guide to Sufism, p. 72.
3Anna Suvorova, Muslim Saints of South Asia, p. 71.
4 Annemarie Schimmel, Islam in the Subcontinent, p. 130.
5 Jahanara, The Confidant of Spirits, in Carl W. Ernst and Bruce B. Lawrence, Sufi Martyrs of Love, p. 89.
Royalty, Clergy and the Sufis
1 Muneera Haeri, The Chishtis, p. 30.
2 Abraham Eraly, Last Spring, p.185.
3 Ainslie T. Embree (ed.), Sources of Indian Tradition, Vol. 1, p. 466.
4 Ainslie T. Embree (ed.), Sources of Indian Tradition, Vol. 1, p. 449.
Scholars on Sufism
1 Muhammad Asad, The Message of the Quran, p. 4.
2 Tariq Ramadan, Western Muslims and the Future of Islam, p. 243.
3 Reza Aslan, No God but God, p. 204.
4 Ibid.
5 Edward Said, Orientalism, p. 4.
6 Carl W. Ernst, The Shambhala Guide to Sufism, p. 79.
7 V.G. Kiernan (tr.), Poems from Iqbal, p. 148.
Conclusion
Recent times have seen an escalation in the tension between Muslim communities and their non-Muslim neighbours, resulting in violence in many parts of the world and India. This violent politicization of society worries ordinary people as they see militant religious organizations, both Hindu and Muslim, mushroom in their midst.
There are further reports that the orthodox do not want women to continue to visit Muinuddin’s shrine. This is the time then to also recall the Mughal princess Jahanara’s love for the Sufi saint. Jahanara performed the pilgrimage to Ajmer because, she said, the beloved had placed a noose around her neck and pulled her towards him whenever he wished.
Muinuddin chose not to battle over God but to practice and spread God’s love. He never tired of repeating that hidden behind the paraphernalia of rituals of all the diverse religions of the world is unity, and that all of humanity is united in its love and curiosity for the creator.
The foundations of love laid by Muinuddin are crumbling. It is time to cement this love, to reach out, and wait for the magic of the merciful unfold before us like it had for Muinuddin.
Bibliography
History
Armesto, Felipe Fernandez, Millennium, Bantam Press, 1995.
Basham, A.L., The Wonder That Was India, Rupa, 1967.
Embree, Ainslie T. (ed.), Sources of Indian Tradition, Vol. 1, Columbia University Press, 1988.
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al-Ghazali (trans. D.B. Macdonald), Revival of Religious Sciences, Part 3, Book 8, Vol. 2.
Hardy, Peter, Historians of Medieval India: Studies in Indo-Muslim Historical Writing, London, 1960.
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Said, Edward W., Orientalism, Penguin Books India, 1991.
Spear, Percival, The Oxford History of India, Oxford University Press, 1958.
Suvorova, Anna, Muslim Saints of South Asia: The 11th to 15th Centuries, Routledge, 1999.
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Yohannan, John D. (trans. Reynold A. Nicholson), A Treasury of Asian Literature, The Meditations of Maari, Penguin Group (USA), 1984.
Zeldin, Theodore, An Intimate History of Humanity, Minerva Press, 1994.
Islam
Asad, Muhammad, The Message of the Quran, The Book Foundation, 2003.
Aslan, Reza, No God but God, Arrow Books, 2006.
Iqbal, Muhammad (trans. R.A. Nicholson), The Secrets of the Self (Asrar-u Khudi), Farhan Publisher, 1977.
Ramadan, Tariq, Western Muslims and the Future of Islam, Oxford University Press, 2004.
Schimmel, Annemarie, Islam in the Indian Subcontinent, Sang-e-Meel Publications, 2003.
Thubron, Colin, The Lost Heart of Asia, HarperCollins, 1994.
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Sufism
Arabi, Ibn, The Mecca Openings or Revelations, in Michael Chodkiewicz, William Chittick and James Morris (eds), The Mecca Revelations, Pir Publications, 2002.
Attar, Farid al-din, Muslim Saints and Mystics, Penguin Books Ltd, 1966.
Begg, W.D., The Holy Biography of Hazrat Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti, Millat Book Centre, 1999.
Ernst, Carl W. and Lawrence, Bruce B. (eds), Sufi Martyrs of Love: The Sufi Order in South Asia and Beyond, Palgrave Macmillan, 2002.
Ernst, Carl W., The Shambhala Guide to Sufism, Shambhala, 1997.
Findlay, J.N., The Ascent to the Absolute: Metaphysical Papers and Lectures, George Allen and Unwin, 1970.
Haeri, Muneera, The Chishtis: A Living Light, Oxford University Press, 2000.
Lawrence, Bruce B., Notes from a Distant Flute: Sufi Literature in Pre-Mughal Literature, Imperial Iranian Academy of Philosophy, 1978.
Marx, Karl, Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, Cambridge University Press, 1977.
Ornstein, Robert, The Right Mind, Harvest Books, 1998.
Parrinder, Geoffrey, Mysticism in the World’s Religions, Oneworld Oxford, 1976.
Russell, Bertrand, Mysticism and Logic, Routledge, 1994.
Trimingham, Spencer, The Sufi Orders of Islam, Oxford University Press, 1998.
Wilson, Peter Lamborn, The Drunken Universe: An Anthology of Persian Sufi Poetry, Omega Publications, 1999.
Supplementary Reading
Kakar, Sudhir, The Analyst and the Mystic, Penguin Books India, 1991.
Mann, Thomas, The Transposed Heads, Vintage, 1959.
Naravane, V.S., Best Stories from the Indian Classics, Roli Books, 1994.
Gandhi, Rajmohan, Understanding the Muslim Mind, Penguin Books India, 2000.
Kiernan, V.G. (tr.), Poems from Iqbal, Oxford University Press, 2004.
Ramanujan, A.K. (trans.), Speaking of Siva, Penguin Classics, 1973.
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