ISLAMIC TEXTS IN THE INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES
By
TARIQ RAHMAN
Ph.D
Professor of Linguistics & South Asian Studies Address
for correspondence
National Institute of Paisan Studies H. 291 Safari Avenue
Quaid-i-Azam University Gulrez
Housing Society,
Islamabad, Chaklala – Rawalpindi
Pakistan Pakistan
Telephone : 508246
e-mail: trahman@sat.net.pk
Islamic Texts in the Indigenous Languages of Pakistan
The language of the
original and classical texts of Islam is Arabic. Thus the texts used in the religious seminaries (madrassas) of
South Asia were, and still are, in Arabic1. However, as Persian was the language of
administration and high culture in medieval India, the explanation of these
texts was often, and sometimes still is, in Persian. However, both Arabic and Persian were not understood by the
common people. Even literate people, it
would appear, were not so well versed in these classical languages as to
benefit fully from the classical religious canon.
The mystics (sufis), who wanted to appeal directly to
the people, wrote their verse in the indigenous mother tongues of the common
people2. The orthodox
apparently kept writing in the elitist classical Islamic languages for quite
some time. However, from the 18th
century onwards – indeed earlier in some instances – there seems to have been a
movement by the orthodox ulema too to
produce religious literature for the common people in their own languages. It was not an orchestrated, conscious or
centrally directed movement. Indeed, there is no evidence to suggest that in
all cases, or even in most cases, the writers who contributed to this movement
knew each other or thought that they were forwarding a joint cause. However, they have left behind religious
texts which were probably read out by literate people to their illiterate
neighbours and acquaintances.
This article describes
some these texts. It should be pointed out at this juncture that this is not on article on either
manuscript or printed texts. Hence only a very few, representative specimens
have been described. The purpose of this brief description is to illustrate
what kind of reading material was available to people in the indigenous languages of Pakistan before
the provision of mass education by the British. It is suggested that the ulema
wrote texts on religious themes in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
presumably because they wanted to strengthen the Islamic identity among the
masses. One way of doing this, it is conjectured, was to make people aware of Islamic doctrines in
their mother tongues rather than the remote and alien classical
languages-Arabic and Persian. As works
in Urdu have been described by other scholars3, and in any case Urdu
was not an indigenous language of the area now known as Pakistan during the
period under discussion (18th to early 20th centuries),
this article focuses on works in Sindhi, Pashto, Punjabi, Balochi and
Brahvi. Poetry, whether in the form of
romantic tales or other sub-genres,
either written by sufis or
capable of a mystic interpretation, have also been left out because they have
been described and anthologized by many writers4.
The printed texts in
question have been described as ‘chapbooks’ by Hanaway and Nasir in their
excellent chapter on the printing of such works5. The term comes from Europe where it is used
for books sold by peddlers (called chapmen) to common people from the sixteenth
century onwards. During the nineteenth
century they came to be called ‘chapbooks’. The term has been used for printed
books in Europe and for popular books in Pakistan too by Hanaway and Nasir6. In this article, however, a number of
manuscripts too have been studied. Indeed, the emphasis was on manuscripts
rather than printed material. Some of these manuscript texts were later printed
so that there is a thematic continuity between the manuscripts and the printed
books. As the manuscripts are hard to find, they have been described much more
often than the printed books. In languages in which manuscripts are not
available, such as Brahvi and Balochi, printed books have perforce been
described. Those who want to read the
printed books in these languages can refer to Hanaway and Nasirs’ excellent
bibliography of chapbooks7 and benefit from the vast collection of
such books in the library of the Institute of Folk Heritage (Islamabad) and
other libraries in Pakistan.
1. Sindhi
In the sixteenth century, by which time much had been written in Sindhi, Makhdum Jafar of district Dadu published a work called Nahj al-Ta’allum probably written in Arabic. It was on education and its Persian abridgement (or digest) was also prepared by the author in 1568. The latter work is available and Nabi Bakhsh Baloch has edited it and prepared a digest of it in 1969. According to this digest Makhdum Jafar emphasized the pupil rather than the teacher and the text. One can hardly call this a precursor of the modern pupil-centred teaching methodologies but, if Baloch is right, it did lead to teaching in the mother-tongue which the pupil could understand. In those days teaching was in Persian though teachers could hardly not have used Sindhi to explain the Persian alphabet and vocabulary to small children. The basic difference probably is that Sindhi became the recognised auxiliary medium of instruction. Because of this a number of textbooks, generally of a religious character, were written in Sindhi during the last days of the Mughal period and the rule of the Kalhoras and Talpurs (1680-1843).
An important book in this category was Abdur Rahman’s Qawaid ul Quran which is said to have been written in the 13th century of the Hijra (which begins from October 1786) to guide students to read the Quran correctly. Muslims have always been concerned with the correct pronunciation of the Quran because, in their view, the meanings of words change if they are pronounced incorrectly. The purpose of the book, therefore, was to preserve the standardized pronunciation of classical Arabic for religious reasons. However, the book is also a treatise, albeit unscientific, on orthoepy and phonetics. The writer is concerned with the place and manner of articulation of Arabic phonemes not found in Sindhi. This makes the book one of the first, possibly even the first, treatise on phonetics in Sindhi.
The Catalogue of the Panjabi and Sindhi Manuscripts in the India Office Library, compiled by Christopher Shackle8, records 16 items in Sindhi. Out of them the most well known ones are by Abul Hasan of Thatta (1616-1688). One of them is also mentioned as Abul Hasan Ji Sindhi by Ellis in his report on education in Sindh at the time of the British conquest in 18439. This book has been recently edited by Khadija Baloch and reprinted. The book, like many others, was meant to explain the basic beliefs, principles and rituals of Islam10. Another such book was by Makhdum Zia Uddin. Like that of his predecessor, this too is known by his name – Makhdum Ziauddin Ji Sindhi. It was written in the 18th century and it explains how prayers are to be said. Since it is meant to guide children it focuses on rituals of cleanliness, times of congregational and other prayers and other such practical matters. Incidentally, it reveals the state of astronomical beliefs of pre-modern Sindhi Muslims. References to planets, stars and their place in heavens is, indeed, still part of the idiom and world view of astrologers and palmists who ply their trade of telling the future in the cities of Pakistan and those who visit them in order to avert coming crises. The purpose of the book, however, is religious so that most of the space is taken up by lessons on rituals.
There are other such books scattered about in various libraries and personal collections in Sindh and abroad. Among them are versions of the Nur Nama, Meraj Nama, Munajat Nama, Hashar Nama, Qiamat Nama and so on. Some of them have been mentioned by Blumhardt11. A number of such works of this kind have also been collected together recently in Sindhi Boli Jo Agatho Manzoom Zakheero by Nabi Baksh Baloch12. These books are all religious and didactic. All the versions of the Nur Nama, not only in Sindhi but also in other languages, are about spiritual radiance and enlightenment which follow from faith. Other books refer to prevalent beliefs about the day of judgment, salvation and other such doctrines. The important point, in our context, is the fact that these works were in Sindhi and that they were taught systematically. Richard Burton (1821-1890), the famous English orientalist, translator and explorer who wrote a report on education in Sindh13, says:
He [a boy pupil] probably is nine years old before he proceeds to the next step – the systematic study of his mother tongue, the Sindhi. The course is as follows:
1st. The Nur-namo, a short and easy religious treatise upon the history of things in general, before the creation of man. The work was composed by one Abdel Rehman, and appears to be borrowed from the different Ahadis, or traditional sayings of the Prophet…..
2nd. The works of Makhdum Hashem, beginning with the Tafsir.
3rd. Tales in verse and prose, such as the adventures of Saiful, Laili-Majano, &c.. The most popular works are the Hikayat-el-Salihin, a translation from the Arabic by a Sindhi Mulla, Abd al Hakim; the subjects are the lives, adventures, and remarkable sayings of the most celebrated saints, male and female, of the golden age of Islam. The Ladano is an account of the Prophet’s death, borrowed from the Habib-el-Siyar, by Miyan Abdullah. The Miraj-Namo is an account of Mohammed’s night excursion to heaven…. The Sau-Masala, or Hundred Problems, is a short work by one Ismail, showing how Abd-el-Halim, a Fakir, married the daughter of the Sultan of Rum, after answering the hundred queries with which this accomplished lady used to perplex her numerous lovers14.
From the age of nine till the age of twelve or thirteen, roughly about four years, the student read these works in his mother tongue. It was only then that he started studying Persian. In the rest of India, as we know already, Persian began from infancy though there too the teachers had to explain the basic vocabulary and the art of spelling and writing informally through the mother tongue. Indeed, although Burton calls the study of certain book in Sindhi the study of the Sindhi language itself, it appears more probable that the objective was not the teaching of the language as such but that of religion. The idea was that the child would understand religion better in the mother tongue. Although this idea produced works of this nature in other languages spoken by the Muslims of north India, they were not taught as systematically as they were in Sindh.
2. Pashto
Books of Pashto probably became available from the sixteenth century onwards in the Pashto-speaking areas. The author has had access to a number of manuscripts of Pashto in the British Library15, the Pashto Academy (Peshawar) and the library of the Institute of Folk Heritage (Islamabad) in Pakistan. Unfortunately, the manuscripts in India16 and other parts of the world remained inaccessible to me. The following brief outline is based on the manuscripts which became available in different archives and libraries. There are 170 manuscripts in the libraries of the British Isles out of which 69 are in the British Museum and 60 in the Oriental and India Office Collection of the British Library. This is the largest collection seen by the present author – far exceeding the one held by the Pashto Academy and the National Institute of Folk Heritage libraries in Pakistan. Some of the books which were studied by individuals on their own or possibly even taught in the madrassas are as follows:
2.1 The first book of Pashto which is extant is Bayazid Ansari’s (1526-1574) Khair ul Bayan. Bayazid Ansari is also known as Pir Roshan (The radiant or illuminating guide) by his followers. According to Nizamuddin Ahmed Bakhsi, the author of Tabakat-i-Akbari, he was not born in Pashto-speaking areas. This is how he describes Pir Roshan:
In former times a Hindustani soldier had come among the Afghans, and set up an heretical sect. He induced many foolish people to become his disciples, and he gave himself the title of Pir Roshanai17.
The Pir’s book, however is written in the Nastaliq script which itself ‘began to be recognized as an independent form in the second half of the fourteenth century’18. It has been called a textbook by recent writers19. It does, indeed, have passages about the rudiments of Islam which may be understood by ordinary people. Thus, there is a strong likelihood that it was part of the curricula of madrassas. However, Bayazid Ansari’s opinions were considered objectionable, and some even outrightly heretical, by Akhund Darweeza (a. 1638-39) who countered them in his own book Makhzan ul Islam20.
2.2 The Makhzan (or treasure) is a collection of famous Arabic religious texts in Pashto translation. Moreover, the language of explication is also Pashto. The preface, however, is in Persian and the author says that he intends to explain the beliefs of Islam for the Afghans. He further claims that Bayazid Ansari had misled the public and that he was not a ‘Pir Roshan’ but a ‘Pir Tareek’. (Roshan = light and Tareek = dark). After some philosophical discussion pertaining to the reality of the phenomenal world he goes on to discuss Islamic doctrines. Akhund Darweeza was an Islamic reformist who felt his version of Sunni Islam was under threat by the Roshaniya movement. In another book, Tazkirat ul-Abrar wa al-Ashrar, ‘he delineated and critiqued the faults of Alghan Society’21.This book is said to have been taught both in the madrassas and at homes. It was also read out to those who could not read it themselves. It starts in Arabic, switches to Persian and then to Pashto (Located at PA).
2.3 Another book which is said to be part of the curricula, especially for women, is Mulla Abdur Rashid’s Rashid-ul-Bayan. This was written in 1124 A.H (1712) Rashid’s ancestors are said to have come from Multan and he lived at Langarkot. It was read by women in their homes and was a kind of sermon in verse. The following lines from it will serve as illustration of the whole. The nature of the deity, for instance, is described as follows:
Na e naqs shta pa zat ke
(neither has He any defect in His Being
nor has He any fault in His qualities) (Located 010 C).
2.4 Yet another manuscript is entitled Fawaid-ul-Shariat. It was written by Akhund Mohammad Kasim in 1125 A.H (1713) who was a follower of Akhund Darweeza and lavishes fulsome praise upon him in the first two pages. The subtitles are in red ink in Persian but the text is in Pashto naskh. The special graphemes of Pashto have been used but not consistently. The book is about Islamic fundamentals and rituals: beliefs, religious law, menstruation, ritual purity, prayers and so on. At places the writing becomes more close and curved and the book ends with verses in Arabic. This suggests that the writer was a person with knowledge of Arabic as well as Persian (F H).
2.5 Kitab Baba Jan. A compendium of religious instruction written in Pashto naskh in 1174 A.H (1760-1761)(010 C).
2.6 Jannat ul-Firdaus. A book by Hafiz Abdul Kabir on the virtues of religious exercises written in nastaliq. It was written sometime in the 18th century. A copy in the British Museum is dated AH 1224 (1809)(CUL and BM).
2.7 Nafi ul-Muslimin. A sufi treatise in the masnavi form. It contains injunctions relating to asceticism, religious observances and moral control. The author, Sheikh Gada, considered himself a successor of Abdul Rahman Baba. He was alive in A.H. 1173 (1759-60) but the manuscript in the British Museum is dated A.H. 1294 (1877)(BM).
2.8 Rabqat ul Islam by Maulana Moiz ud Din enjoins upon all readers to begin everything with bismillah (in the name of Allah) as follows:
Har sa kar che momin kare
Bismillah boea pare bande
(Everything the Muslim does / In the Name of Allah he says first) (PA).
Ajab
daur voo Ramzan
Ae momina lar zaman
Ghuara fazal da subhan
(strange and wonderful were the days of Ramzan which we passed together
O good Muslims everywhere always desire the grace and blessings [of God])
This book is said to have been especially significant as a textbook in the Pashto-speaking areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan22.
The purpose of these books seems to have been a practical one: to make people behave in a recognisably Islamic way or, at least, to make them aware of such a code of behaviour. They were written in Pashto rather than the elitist Persian in order to spread the message of Islam among the common people. For instance the Rashid ul Bayan says:
Pa
Pakhto mi deen bayan kar
Sta
da para mee asan kar
[I have explained the Faith in Pashto.
Thus I have made it easy for you]
The romantic tales and other writings enjoyed by the common people are not part of this article but their existence proves that people enjoyed writings in their mother tongues.
Besides these chapbooks written from the formal and stricter theological point of view, there are a large a number of booklets called Nur Nama, Jang Nama and Lahad Nama which maybe said to represent popular versions of folk Islam . The Jang Namas for instance, are about represent the well known stories of Imam Hussain’s martyrdom at Karbala; the Lahad Namas are about common beliefs about the questioning in the grave and so on. These books were read out loudly both to men and women. There is evidence that even quite recently literate women, called Bibis, read out such books to gatherings of women and children. This being so they must have had great influence on the common peoples’ understanding of Islam.
As in Sindhi and Pashto, books of a religious nature are also found in Punjabi. For the purposes of this article books in Siraiki and Hindko have been included among ‘Punjabi’ books. The author has seen the manuscripts of these books in the library of the Institute of Folk Heritage, The Oriental and India Office Collection at the British library and the Punjab University (Lahore) libraries. A number of other such books in manuscript form are given in various catalogues in the British Library23. Among the 34 manuscripts catalogued by Christopher Shackle24, Muhammad Yar has authored eleven. He lived in Kotkala in Shahpur (Sargodha district). He calls his language ‘Jhangi’ at places. It is, as to be expected, a mixture of the languages which are called Siraiki and Punjabi nowadays.
The earliest works of Muhammad Yar seems to have been written in 1196 A.H (1782) while the latest is dated around 1244 A.H (1828-29). The books were copied by his grandson Faiz Mohammad in 1271 A.H (1854-55). The Pand Nama;, Afrinash Nama; Tuhfat al-Fiqh and Bina al-Mominin are treatises on Islamic rituals and fundamental beliefs while the Nafi al-Salat is on the benefits of prayers. Among the hagiographical works are those on saints (Siharfi Hazrat Pir and Nafi al-Kaunain) and the Prophet of Islam (Tuhfat al-Saluk, Tarvij Nama, Siharfi Hazrat Rusul-i-Maqbul). These, as well as other works, are all religious.
Another major writer was Maulvi Abdullah Abidi (d. 1664) who was born in village Malka Hans of the Sahiwal district but lived and died in Lahore. His language too has Multani (now called Siraiki) forms and it is his work Baran Anwa which is referred to in Heer Panjha written the Waris Shah. The importance of Abdullah for students is thus described by Shackle:
The comprehensive character of Abdi’s [sic] writings has, however ensured them a uniquely important and influential position as manuals of instruction; and they have been frequently published, usually in collections of twelve treatises entitled Baran Anva25.
Let us now describe Baran Anwa and other works of a religious kind which were read both by students and other Punjabi Muslims. The following manuscripts, seen by the author, are being mentioned very briefly by way of illustrating this genre of Punjabi writing.
3.1 Baran Anwa. By Abdullah Abidi Lahori. This is a handwritten manuscript in nastaliq (i.e the script in which Persian and Urdu are written now) in Punjabi verse. It begins, as usual, with hamd and naat and goes on to describe Islamic rituals: ablutions, prayers, fasting, giving alms and so on. It also discusses the rituals and regulations concerning purity with special reference to women. Thus there are long sections on pregnancy, menstruation, divorce etc. The second part is full of historical anecdotes with reference to authorities like Masoodi. It is a voluminous book and is definitely the one mentioned in Heer Ranjah by Waris Shah (FH).
3.2 Fiqqa Asghar. By Faqir Habib Darzi bin Tayyab from Gujrat. This is a handwritten manuscript in naskh (the script of Arabic). It is written in black ink and there are about twelve lines per page. The author explains Islamic rituals and other matters pertaining to faith in Punjabi verse. The sub-titles are in Persian (FH).
3.3 Muqaddimat ul Anwar by Abdul Faqir. This is also a handwritten manuscript in naskh. Islamic injunctions pertaining to marriage, inheritance, sartorial propriety etc. are explained in Punjabi verse while the sub-titles are in Persian. The point of view is very stringent and puritanical. Women, for instance, are forbidden even to use the dandasa – a bark of a tree which cleans the teeth and makes the lips red (FH).
3.4 Zibah Nama Handwritten manuscript in naskh probably written during King Muhammad Shah’s reign (1719-48) as a couplet in it suggests. It was probably copied in 1860-61 as it contains the date 1277 A.H. It explains Islamic injunctions pertaining to the sacrifice of animals, hunting and lays down rules as to which meats are cosher and which are not (FH).
3.5 Anwa-i-Faqir This too is a handwritten manuscript in naskh probably by Faqir Habib. The sub-headings are in Persian and it has been copied by someone called Karm Uddin from Jhelum. The date on it is Ziqad 1277 A.H (May-June 1861). This too is on faith and the tone is puritanical and reformist (FH).
3.6 Intikhab ul Kutab: Punjabi Nazm. The name of the author is probably Kamal ud Din but this particular manuscript was copied by Nur Ahmed of Kolia in 1261 A.H (21 January 1806-10 January 1807). It too is handwritten in Punjabi naskh and the sub-headings are in Persian. It presents Islamic teachings in verse on bathing, funeral prayers, burial, congregational prayers, marriage, sacrifice of animals and as to which meat is cosher (FH).
3.7 Mitthi Roti: Punjabi by Qadir Baksh. This is a printed copy in Punjabi nastliq dated 1883. It too describes Islamic injunctions about all aspects of life including coitus. There are many references to Islamic works which suggest that it might have been intended for the use of learned people (PU).
3.8 Nijat al-Mominin. A religious treatise written in 1086 A.H (1675) by Maulana Abd al-Karim (1657-1707) of Jhang district (FH).
3.9 Kissa Kumad. Written by Ashraf in nastaliq. This is an allegorical poem on the sugarcane which describes itself as being cut and ground (010 C).
3.10 Kissa Umar Khattab. An account in verse of the war of Caliph Umar with the infidel king Tal written by Hafiz Muizuddin of Takht Hazara in 1176 A.H (1762-63) (010 C).
3.11 Raushan Dil. Written by Fard Faqir of Gujrat, Christopher Shackle calls it ‘one of the best-known of all the many basic treatises on Islam to have been composed in Punjabi verse’ (Shackle 1977: 46) (010 C).
3.12 Raddulmubtad’ in. This is an anonymous treatise in Punjabi verse against disbelief, polytheism and heresy written in 1788 A.H (1814) (FH).
(13) Anwa Barak Allah. by Hafiz Barak Allah (d. 1871). It is a printed book in Punjabi verse on the Sunni law of the Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence. It was probably written in 1254 A.H (1838) and printed several times later (010 C).
Apart from the above manuscripts and printed books there are many others such chapbooks mentioned by different people scattered in South Asia and other parts of the world. A number of printed books, some of them based on the above mentioned manuscripts, are also in circulation. Shahbaz Malik, a research scholar on Punjabi, has mentioned them in his bibliography called Punjabi Kitabiat26. Punjabi manuscripts are also mentioned in other bibliographies in Pakistan27.
These books appear to fall into two major categories: those which are meant to make Muslims conscious of or knowledgeable about the rudiments of their faith and those which are about romantic love. Those in the first category have probably been written by maulvis because they present a very strict and highly puritanical view of the sharia’h. Some, such as one version of the Pakki Roti, prohibits music calling it a great sin just as it prohibits sodomy with boys and women. Those in the second category are tales in which romantic love and sometimes making love and drinking are shown without disapproval.
The earliest book of Brahvi which
exists today is Khidmat-e-Deen. It is a book on advice and instructions of a
religious nature of a hundred pages probably written in 1693. After this there are magical spells and
cures in Brahvi28 till we come to a major work known as Malik Dad
Kalati’s Tuhfat ul Ajaib. The book is said to have been completed in
July 1760 but the manuscript is missing.
The printed edition dates from 1882.
It appears that, while Balochi and Brahvi might have been used as
informal media of instruction and explanation for pupils, they were not the
formal languages of scholarship or religious propagation till the British
arrival. The British unwittingly
promoted the acquisition of these languages in Balochistan in two ways. First, they made formal arrangements to
examine their officers in them. And
second, they allowed the missionaries to preach and translate the Bible in
them. This made the ulema apprehensive
of losing the Baloch to Christianity and they too started writing in Balochi
and Brahvi. The ulema who were most
active in this enterprise are known as the ulema of the Darkhan school or the Maktaba-e-Darkhani.
The pioneer of the movement was Maulvi Mohammad Fazil (1823-1896) whose village, Darkhan, which is about six miles from Dhadhar, gave its name to it. According to Nadir Qambrani, Fazil was inspired by Abul Khair, who was the religious mentor (Pir), of a number of people upto Afghanistan. Qambrani’s grandfather himself was his disciple and the following story comes from Qambrani who heard about the events described here as part of family lore. According to the story Pir Abul Khair had come from Delhi, where he was normally resident, to pay a visit to his disciples in Afghanistan in the 1870s. For some reason he also came to stay at Quetta. From there he went to Dhadhar, most probably in a tonga (one-horse carriage), to persuade Mohammad Fazil to write Islamic books for the common people in Brahvi and Balochi. Fazil agreed and the Maktaba-e-Darkhani started getting books written and printed, generally at the Steam Press in Lahore, for publication from Darkhan29.
It is not known whether these books were used as additional reading material in the madrassas – where the core curriculum was based on the Dars-i-Nizami – but what is certain is that they were read out among the common people. According to Abdullah Jan Jamaldini, one of the foremost pioneers of Balochi and Brahvi languages in contemporary times, he used to hear the Durrul Majeedi in Brahvi read out in a sing song voice when he was a child. A certain blind man was famous for his recitation in the bazaar. Women, some of whom were literate in the Quran, also read it out to others30. In short, literacy in Balochi and Brahvi was facilitated by the presence of books in these languages. As the people learned the written languages themselves, this was a classical case of voluntary language-learning.
Exactly how many books were published by the Maktaba-e-Darkhani is not easy to determine. Guesses and a few incomplete lists are all we have to go by. According to Abdur Rahman Brahvi, while about 1000 books were published in Brahvi only about 60 were published in Balochi31. Shahwani lists 210 books in Brahvi and 91 in Balochi32. The Catalogue of Books in Minor Languages (Vol. 2) at the British Library records 8 books in Brahvi but none in Balochi. There are scattered lists in different places in Pakistan but none is complete or reliable. While nobody has the definitive list, everyone agrees that more books are available now in Brahvi than in Balochi. A large number of books are lost because books were buried when they became torn and worn out33. This was presumably to save them from desecration. However, even if they were buried one assumes that both Brahvi and Balochi books were buried. Thus, the lesser number of Balochi books cannot be explained unless one assumes that less were published to begin with. Out of the books available now, the present author saw the following:
4.1 Brahvi Books
4.1.1 Tuhfat ul Ajaib. This is a printed copy of 1888. As mentioned earlier, it was written in 1760 by Malik Dad Kalati. It is in Brahvi verse. It explains the requirements of prayers, ablutions for prayers and other rituals of Islam (RS).
4.1.2 Shumail Shareef. This book, in Brahvi verse, was printed in 1355 A.H (1936-37). The author is Maulana Abdullah Darkhani and this copy was printed in Quetta. The book is an example of hagiography as it describes the physical appearance, behaviour and qualities of the Prophet of Islam. The titles are in Arabic (RS).
4.1.3 Shahad-o-Shifa. This book, in Brahvi verse, was written by Maulvi Abdul Majeed of Mastung. It was printed by Abdul Baqi at Quetta but all other details are missing. It mentions Shah Abul Khair of Delhi who, being the initiator of the Maktaba-e-Darkhani, is praised highly. Most of the book is a hagiography describing the Prophet’s marriage and life with his first wife, Khadija. Brahvi ghazal, in praise of the Prophet, is also included (RS).
4.1.4 Munfa’at ul Awam. This book probably by Mohammad Omar, is a nasihat nama – a book of advice and admonition. It specially targets those who do not say their prayers. It was either printed, or reprinted, in 1957 at Mastung (AQB).
4.1.5 Tuhfat ul Gharaib (Brahvi verse). By Mulla Nubbo Jan, a prolific author and a leading figure of the Maktaba-i-Darkhani, this edition was published at Darkhan in 1888. It too is about the essentials of Islam including prayers etc. Another edition comprises both Tuhfat ul Gharaib and Tuhfat ul Ajaib. This is called Naseh ul Baloch and Mulla Nubbo Jan has compiled and published it (AQB and 010 C).
4.1.6 Umdat ul Bayan. This book, also by Mulla Nubbo Jan, is in Brahvi verse. The subtitles, however, are in Persian. The book describes the fundamentals and rituals of Islam. It is also in the tradition of the nasihat namas. The author especially warns people against neglecting prayers and deviating from the rituals of Islam. The date is missing in this typescript (RS).
4.1.7 Durrul Majeedi. This book, in Brahvi verse, is written by Mulla Abdul Majeed Chotoi (Choto is a place near Mastung). The book has the well known tale of Yusuf-Zulaikha along with discussions of heavens and hell. Wrongdoers are threatened with dire consequences. According to Abdullah Jan Jamaldini one of his relatives would threaten him with punishment for not saying the daily prayers by reciting couplets from it34. The date of printing is torn out but is probably 1909 (RS).
4.1.8 Muajzat-e-Mustafa. This book, in Brahvi verse, is by Mohammad Omar. It was published by Abdul Ghafoor Darkhani and the edition available to the author was dated 1958. It contains stories of the conquests of Khalid Bin Walid and the martyrdom of famous figures in Islamic history. It also has a narrative about the mairaj (AQB).
4.1.9 Tuhfat ul Khaleel. This book, in Brahvi verse, is written by Abdul Majeed Chotoi. It is published by Abdul Ghafoor Darkhani and printed at the Civil and Military Press at Quetta. It narrates the Quranic tales about Nimrod, Abraham, Ishmael and advises Muslims to fallow the faith based upon past exemplars of piety and rectitude (AQB).
4.1.10 Sakrat Nama. Written in Brahvi verse by Abdul Majeed Chotoi, this book belongs to the sub-genre of admonitory writing about death. It also contains the ghazals of Mohammad Omar Dinpuri. This particular copy is torn so the printing and publication details could not be ascertained (AQB).
4.1.11 Raghib ul Muslimeen. Written in Brahvi verse by Mohammad Omar Dinpuri, it falls into the sub-genre of hagiographical writing about the Prophet of Islam. Events from the life of the Prophet, the conversion of his admirer Abu Zar and other inspiring stories are given. The first and last pages are missing and no details of printing and publication are available. Omar Dinpuri is also famous as the first translator of the Quran in Brahvi. He is said to have written 48 books35 (AQB).
4.1.12 Qasas ul Anbia. This book was written in Brahvi verse by Mian Abdul Aziz. The date of printing is 1945 and the publisher is the Maktaba-e-Darkhani. It falls into the sub-genre of hagiographical writing about the several prophets mentioned in the Quran. The mairaj is also described. In the end there is a Shahadat Nama - the story of the martyrdom of the imams at Karbala36 (AQB).
4.1.13 Nur ul Islam. This is a manuscript in Brahvi verse written in black ink. The date is 1350 A.H which corresponds with 1937-38. It is a hagiography of the prophets and divine messengers mentioned in the Quran. It ends in a Shahadat Nama (AQB).
4.2.2 Hidayat ul Muslimeen. Another book in Balochi verse by the same author. It is a naseehat nama but it condemns the Baloch for being shameless. There are passages admonishing the Baloch about their lack of manliness – probably references to the compromise with British rule which most of the chiefs found expedient (RS).
4.2.3 Radd-e-Shia. Yet another book by the same author also in Balochi verse. No date is given but the last page has 1355 A.H (1936-7). It is a hagiography of the Prophet of Islam. From page 110 to 146 (the end), the doctrines of the Shia sect are condemned in virulent terms. Indeed, the Shia are even called unbelievers (SD).
4.2.4 Usul-e-Salat. Yet another book by Huzoor Baksh Jatoi; it too is in Balochi verse. This particular copy was printed on 6 February 1944 at the Civil and Military Press in Quetta and published by the Maktaba-e-Darkhani. However, Dr. Abdur Rahman Brahvi says that the book was actually written in 1318 A.H (1900-1901 A.D) and its manuscript is lost37. The major theme of the book are the rituals and principles of Islam. Prayers, ablutions, ritual cleansing of the body and such other matters are dwelt upon (SD).
4.2.5 Khilasa Kaedani, This is a translation of an Arabic work in Balochi. The date of printing is 1357 A.H (11 Rabi ul Awwal corresponding to May 1938). The Arabic version is given in bold letters and the Balochi, done by Fazil Mohammad, is given below it. The subject are beliefs and practices in Islam (ZS).
There are other books too which a researcher can discover in peoples’ private collections. Among the eight books at the British library only one, Nabbo Jan’s Tuhfa Gharaib wa Tuhfa Ajaib, has been mentioned above. Most of the others fall in the broad category of religious books though one contains ghazals and another one is on medicine. An excellent description of books in Brahvi is available in both Dr. Abdur Rahman Brahvi’s published book and unpublished doctoral thesis. In the latter he also describes some Balochi books38. However, even if one does not get the chance of seeing all the books, one can form an idea about their themes and objectives. As we have seen, the themes are religious and the major objective is to give the Baloch an awareness of their Islamic beliefs. These beliefs are strictly Sunni and the ulema felt that their enforcement alone could save the Baloch from falling prey to heterodox ideas. For the Baloch ulema these came from internal as well as external sources. The internal ones were the ideas of the Zikris who live in Southern Balochistan and whose ideas are considered heretical by the Sunni ulema39. Since the Zikris believe that the obligatory prayers said by Muslims have been abolished, there is much emphasis on prayers in Balochi and Brahvi books. The internal threat was taken care of by this emphasis. The external threat, as have mentioned before, was from the Christian missionaries who wanted to win converts among the Baloch. The Darkhani movement, therefore, is aimed both at countering the missionaries as well as the Zikris. This movement is the ulemas’ reaction to heterodoxy as well as modernity which appeared to them as a continuation of the crusades when Islam and Christianity battled each other for supremacy.
While there is no proof that these books, or any other books in Balochi and Brahvi, were part of the formal curricula of the madrassas, it is very likely that they were used informally. The existing translations of the Quran in both the languages might have been read by interested students or their teachers. Some books of the Dars-i-Nizami were also translated into the languages of the Baloch. For instance the Risala of Qutab Uddin Mohammad Ibn-i-Ghias Uddin (abreviated to Qazi Qutab) was translated as Namaz Faraiz in Balochi by Huzoor Baksh Jatoi40. Similarly the famous Meezan us Sarf, one of the best known books of Arabic grammar in the Dars-i-Nizami, was translated by Qazi Abdus Samad Sarbazi into Balochi41. Similar books – such as the Shuroot as Salat and Kanz ul Musli – also exist in Brahvi translations. The latter book, translated by Maulana Abdullah Darkhani, is a well known Arabic work on ritual cleanliness and the basics of Islam and is well known to madrassa students42. Books of this kind, already read by madrassa students in Arabic, must have been the models for later works of this kind for the general public. In any case the presence of madrassa texts in translation suggests that the ulema used the mother tongues as informal media of instruction and provided these translations for their students and colleagues.
As the texts we have
been discussing in this article were probably read out aloud they must have
influenced a large number of illiterate and semi-literate people. We have noticed that they fall into several
categories. One category, which may be
called the sharia’h guide books, are about the basic rules of the sharia’h – rules pertaining to
cleanliness, prayers, fasting, burial, division of property, marriage and other
issues of existence. The other category
is about the veneration of holy personages such as prophets, pious Muslims of
the first generation, saints and so on.
This category has elements of popular Islam based on the primitive
magical world view. Thus the great
personages of Islam are all credited with magical powers. Apocryphal tales emphasizing the intrusion
of the supernatural into the world of cause and effect are freely intertwined
in each narrative. The tales are
generally in verse and sense is often subordinated to sound. In short, the world is presented as a
completely super-rational phenomenon where rules, if any exist at all, are
subordinate to charisma, miracle and magical intervention.
In a world of this kind
salvation as well as the solution of daily problems appears to be less
dependent upon following the injunctions of the sharia’h and more upon gaining the favour of the spiritually
powerful. Hence the common people
sought the intercession of living saints and holy men. They went to the tombs of famous religious
people for the same purpose and they observed sacred days in prescribed ways43. They also recited some of the popular
religious tales in the Nur Namas, Jang
Namas and Wafat Namas in order to
be blessed. The anecdotes in these
books were part of daily conversation.
As they seemed to suggest that the world operated in inscrutable ways
they might have saved the important purpose of reconciling the common people to
the arbitrariness, sordidness and misery of their existence. After all, ordinary people lived in villages
dominated by capricious feudal lords who exercised power in arbitrary ways. At the highest level the king and his nobles
too exercised power in the same way. One could not expect governance of an
orderly, rational and predictable manner.
One could also not expect a weather-dependent agricultural economy to be
either predictable or orderly. When it rained at the right time the crops prospered;
when it did not the villagers starved. Life was hard and, above all, it was
arbitrary and unpredictable. The ways
of the world were inscrutable. Only a miracle could save one; otherwise doom
threatened everyone every day.
The popular religious
tales reinforced this world view and provided ‘religious’ support for it. They must have comforted the people
providing them with theories about the inevitability of fate, the impossibility
of understanding the ultimate reasons for events and the apparent arbitrariness
of existence. They also insured the
people against mishaps since they were considered sources of blessings (baraka). Moreover, they provided entertainment which was always in short
supply. Other sources of entertainment,
which have been left out in this article, were the love stories in verse Laila Mujnun, Heer Ranjha, Sassi Punnun,
Mirza Sahiban etc) which the sufis
interpreted in mystical ways but which villagers enjoyed as amorous and mildly
erotic fiction. There were, of course, purely ‘secular’ versions of such tales,
songs, aphorisms, anecdotes, riddles and other items of entertainment which
helped to while away many a long evening in the villages. However, these too are outside the scope of
this article.
While the popular
religious tales cater to the deference for the magical among the common people,
the sharia’h guidebooks cater for
their need to know the basics of their religion. As mentioned earlier, the latter seem to have been written by the
ulema, and often by more enterprising village maulvies, to provide the rules which would otherwise be available
only in Arabic and Persian sources. In
the preface of some such books the writers have clearly indicated that they
were writing in the vernacular so as to guide ordinary people who could not
follow the sharia’h because they had
limited access to it.
We have seen that the
writing of the sharia’h guidebooks
takes on great impetus during the late eighteenth and the nineteenth
centuries. This seems to be more than a
coincidence. This was precisely the
period when the Mughal empire was breaking up and the British were becoming
powerful. The ulema must have felt that this lost power could be regained by
organizing the Muslim community on the basis of faith. But the ordinary Muslim
villager was so culturally influenced by his neighbours, who were Hindus or
Sikhs, that he had to be made conscious of his Islamic faith. The obvious way
to bring about this religious consciousness, the ulema probably felt, was to
teach the fundamental injunctions of the sharia’h
to ordinary Muslims.
The sharia’h guidebooks became an
influential source of reform during British rule. The greatest of them, Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanawi’s Bahishti Zewar (Jewels of Paradise),
took the sharia’h (or rather a
puritanical, Indian Hanafite version of it) to the secluded women of north
India and Pakistan. As the printing press became available, Muslim reformers
took advantage of it to print thousands of chapbooks to disseminate their understanding
of Islam. Indeed, as Francis Robinson
argues in his seminal article on the impact of print upon South Asian Muslims,
the idea of the Muslim ummah was
created by the print. In his own words:
Indeed, there was a symbiotic relationship between the growth of
pan-Islamic consciousness and the growth of the press; it bears comparison with
the relationship which Benedict Anderson has noted between the march of print
capitalism and the emergence of national consciousness in early modern Europe44.
It is not that the idea of the ummah
was not there at all. It was certainly
present at a highly abstract theoretical level with which a very small minority
was concerned; moreover, it was a
religious idea – the concept of faith being the common denominator of a
community. In practice, however,
Muslims lived in small, face-to-face communities with little contact with the
outside world. The development of the pan-Islamic feeling gave the idea of one
community a new strength and fleshed it out.
Moreover, the idea now became political and historical in addition to
being religious. Modern means of
communication brought news about the fate of Muslims elsewhere in the world and
to this at least some part of the Muslim elite could react. The advent of print made this extended
consciousness of community and identity possible.
In present day Pakistan
the sharia’h guidebook exists but
mostly in Urdu. A large number of
organizations, such as the Tablighi Jama’at45 and Al-Huda, print
such guidebooks and, of course, classics like the Bahishti Zewar as still found in middle class religious homes46.
Such guidebooks also
exist in Sindhi and there may be a few in Punjabi. However, there are several
books of this kind in Pashto. Some
appear to have been produced quite recently in Afghanistan under the influence
of the Taliban. Such books are rare in Punjabi, Siraiki, Balochi and Brahvi.
Some which do exist in the form of printed chapbooks are reprints of the books
described earlier. For instance, the
University of the Punjab has made Pakki
Roti compulsory reading for students studying Punjabi for the M.A
degree. In general, Urdu guidebooks
proliferate in the cities of Pakistan.
There are, however, a
considerable number of popular religious book (Nur Namas, Wafat Namas etc) in circulation in Urdu, Punjabi,
Siraiki, Pashto, Sindhi and even in some of the minor languages of Pakistan
(i.e those spoken by less that 1 per cent of the population). Out of these languages, Punjabi, Siraiki,
Balochi, Brahvi and the minor languages of the country are taught only as
optional languages. Pashto is a medium
of instruction but only in some schools and that too in the primary classes.
Otherwise it is also an optional subject. This means that, despite official
neglect or discouragement, people do use their literacy skills in order to read
chapbooks in their indigenous mother tongues. This may be because the world
view of the chapbooks is pre-modern and magical which is more in harmony with
the peoples’ own world view than the modern world view which is associated with
the alienating world of cities, offices, factories, the bureaucracy, the
military and other modern institutions.
After all, these institutions were all created during the colonial era and
they function in alien languages and alienate the people who are no more than
wage slaves in the machinery imposed upon them from above. In short, the
popular religious books create an illusion of cultural continuity for the
common people. They allow them to link
up, at least for brief periods, with a world which is dying but which they find
comfortable, familiar and sustaining.
The eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries were a period of weakness and decline of Muslim political
power in India. One of the responses to
this, perhaps, was the writing of religious books in the indigenous languages
of the common people. Those written for
instructing the people in the basics of the sharia’h
(the guidebooks) were probably authored by the ulema who wanted to raise the
religious consciousness of the common people.
The popular religious books, containing stories about Islamic
personages, were meant to reconcile the people to the arbitrariness and
harshness of their life. While the
latter genre continues to be written in the indigenous languages of Pakistan,
the sharia’h guidebooks are now
mostly in Urdu and Sindhi. An understanding of this phenomenon is useful for
shedding light on the role of the indigenous languages in creating the Islamic
identity of the people of Pakistan.
These abbreviations refer to the following collections where the sources given in this article are located.
AQB Personal collection of Abdul Qaiyyum Baider, Collector of Brahvi books and T.V Producer, Quetta, Pakistan.
BM British Museam.
CUL Cambridge University Library.
FH Library of the Institute of Folk Heritage, Islamabad, Pakistan.
OIOC Oriental and India Office Collections, British Library, London.
PA Pashto Academy, University of Peshawar, Pakistan.
RS Personal Collection of Dr. Abdul Razzak Sabir, Balochistan University, Quetta.
SD Personal Collection of Professor Saba Dashtiari, Dept. of Islamic Studies, Balochistan University, Quetta.
ZS Personal Collection of Zeenat Sana, Chairperson of the Dept. of Balochi, Balochistan University, Quetta.
Notes and References
1.
For a brief list
of linguistic texts used in the Pakistani madrassas see Tariq Rahman, ‘The
Teaching of Arabic to the Muslims of South Asia’, Islamic Studies Vol. 39: No. 3 (Autumn 2000), 399-443. For details see Muhammad Hanif Gangohi, Zafar al-Muhassilin bi Ahwal al-Musannifin
[Urdu] (Karachi: Mir Muhammad Kutub Khanah, 1969).
2.
Abdul Haq, Urdu Ki Nash-o-Numa Men Sufiya-e-Karam Ka
Kam [Urdu: The Contribution of the Sufis to the Development of Urdu]
(Karachi, 1953). Also see Annemarie Schimmel, Mystical Dimensions of Islam (Chapel Hill: The University of North
Carolina Press, 1975), p. 385.
3.
Hafiz Mahmood
Sheerani, Muqalat-e-Hafiz Mahmud Sheerani(ed) Mazhar Mahmud Sheerani (Lahore: Majlis-e-Taraqqi-e-Adab, 1966),
Vol. 2, pp. 207-247.
4.
Rama Lajwanti Krishna, Panjabi Sufi Poets. A. D. 1460-1900
(Karachi: Indus publications, 1977); Annemarie Schimmel, Sindhi Literature (Wiesbaden: otto Harrasowitz, 1974), Vol. VIII;
R. S. Bhatnagar, Mysticism in Urdu poetry
(New Delhi: Dept. of Islamic Studies, Jamia Hamdard, 1995); Tariq Rahman (ed), Mystic Poets of Pakistan (Islamabad:
Academy of Letters, 1995).
5.
William L. Hanaway and Mumtaz Nasir,
‘Chapbook Publishing in Pakistan’. In Studies in Pakistani Popular Culture
(eds) W. Hanaway & Wilma Heston, Studies
in Pakistani Popular Culture (Islamabad: Lok Virsa Publishing House, 1996), 343-615.
6.
Ibid, 360-361.
7.
Ibid, 455-615.
8.
Christopher
Shackle (Comp), Catalogue of the Punjabi
and Sindhi Manuscripts in the India Office Library (London: The British
Library, 1977).
9.
B. H. Ellis,
‘Report on Education in Sind’. In Nabi Baksh Baloch (ed), Education in Sind Before the British Conquest and the Educational
Policies of the British Government : Based on Two Contemporary Reports
(Hyderabad: University of Sindh, 1971), 1-44.
10.
Khadija Baloch
(ed), Abul Hasan Ji Sindhi
(Hyderabad: Sindhi National Authority, 1993).
11.
J. F. Blumhardt, Catalogues of Hindi, Punjabi, Sindhi and
Pashto Books in the Library of the British Museum (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner,
Quaritch, Longmans, Green & Co, 1893).
12.
Nabi Baksh Baloch
(ed), Sindhi Boli Jo Agatho Manzoom
Zakheero (Hyderabad: Sindhi Language Authority, 1993).
13.
For his biography
see Frank Mc. Lynn, Burton: Snow Upon the
Desert (London: John Murray, 1990).
14.
Richard Burton,
‘Muslim Education in Sind’. In N.B.
Baloch, Education in Sind . . . op.cit, 45-60.
15.
See Catalogues :
Blumhardt, op. cit and J.F. Blumhardt
and D. N. Mackenzie, Catalogue of Pashto
Manuscripts in the Libraries of the British Isles (London: The Trustees of
the British Museum & Commonwealth Relations Office, 1965).
16.
Zalmy Hewadmal, Pa Hind Ke da Pakhto Jabe O Adbiato da Ijad
O Paravuna [Pashto: The History of Pashto Literature in India] (Lahore:
Published by Ahmad Musa Afghan, 1994), 19-20.
17.
Nizamuddin Ahmad
Bakhshi, Tabakat-i-Akbari Trans. from
Persian by H.M. Elliot (ed) John Dowson. 1st ed. 1871. Edition used
(Lahore: Singh Sagar Academy, 1975).
18.
W. L. Hanaway and
Brian Spooner, Reading Nasta’liq :
Persian and Urdu Hands From 1500 to the Present (Costa Mesa, California:
Mazda Publishers, 1995), 3.
19.
Syed Taqvim ul
Haq, ‘Pashto Men Taleemi aur Tadreesi Kam’. In N. Nawaz Tair (Comp & ed), Suba Sarhad Par Paehli Lisani aur Saqafti
Conference Ke Muqalat Ka Majmua (Peshawar: Pashto Academy, 1986), 143. Also see Da
Primary Ustazano Rahnuma Guide : Pakhto [Pashto: Primary School Teachers’
Guide] (Peshawar: Primary Text Book Translation Project, [Henceforth
abbreviated as Guide]. 1990), 8.
20.
For details of
Bayazid Ansari’s opinions see J.
Leyden, ‘On the Roshaniah Sect and Its Founder Bayazid Ansari’, Asiatic
Researches, XI (1810). It is reprinted with other details in Tariq Ahmed, Religio-Political Ferment in the North West
Frontier During the Moghal Period (The Raushaniya Movement) New Delhi:
Idarah-i-Adabiyat-e-Dilli, 1982).
21.
Robert Nichols, Settling the Frontier: Land, Law, and
Society in the Peshawar Valley, 1500-1900 (Karachi: Oxford University
Press, 2001), p. 32. For details of Darweeza’s works see J. F. Blumhardt,cLatalogue of the Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali,
Assamese, Oriya, Pushtu, and Sindhi Manuscripts in the Library of the British
Museum (London: The British Museum, 1905), Section on ‘Pushtu’.
22.
Guide, op. cit. 11.
23.
Blumhardt (1893),
op.cit; Qazi Mahmud ul Haq, Handlist of Urdu and Punjabi Manuscripts
(London: The British Library, 1993); S. Quraishi (Comp), Catalogue of the Urdu, Punjabi, Pashto and Kashmiri Manuscripts and
Documents in the India Office Library and Records (London: The British
Library, 1990); Shackle, op.cit.
24.
Shackle, ibid.
25.
Ibid, 39.
26.
Shahbaz Malik
(Comp), Punjabi Kitabiat (Islamabad:
Academy of Letters, 1991).
27.
See Tafsili Fehrist Makhtutat Mutafarraqah
(Lahore: Punjab Public Library, 1964); Mufassil
Fehrist Makhtutat. Vol-2 (Lahore: The Lahore Museum, 1971); A Descriptive Catalogue of Persian, Urdu and
Panjabi Mss. in the Library of Prof. Dr. Maulvi Muhammad Shafi (Lahore,
1972); Khoj: Special Issue on Manuscripts
(1982) [Urdu Biannual from Lahore].
28.
Abdur Rahman
Brahvi, Brahvi Zaban aur Adab Ki
Mukhtasar Tareekh (Lahore: Markazi Urdu Board, 1994).
29.
Interview of Dr.
Nadir Qambrani, Director of Pakistan Studies Centre, University of Balochistan
by the present author, 01 July 1999, Quetta.
30.
Interview of
Professor Abdullah Jan Jamaldini, retired Professor of Balochi and Brahvi,
University of Balochistan, by the present author, 07 July 1999, Quetta.
31.
A. R. Brahvi, op. cit, 95 and Interview of Dr. Abdur
Rahman Brahvi, Registrar of Balochistan High Court, by the present author, 08
July 1999, Quetta.
32.
Abdul Qadir
Shahwani, ‘Maktaba Darkhani’ [Brahvi] Tawar
(June), 60-76 (For this see p. 63).
33.
Brahvi,
‘Balochistan Men Deeni Adab’, Unpublished Ph.D Thesis, Sindh University,
Jamshoro, 1987, p. xxix. Henceforth abbreviated as Brahvi, 1987.
34.
Jamaldini,
‘Interview’, op. cit.
35.
Brahvi, 1987, op. cit, 116-117.
36.
For an excellent
account of the battle of Karbala see S. H. R. Jafri, The Origins and Early Development of Shi’a Islam 1979 (Karachi: Oxford University Press,
2001), Chapter7.
37.
Brahvi. 1987, op. cit, 286.
38.
Ibid, 285-286.
39.
Inayatullah
Baloch, ‘Islam, the State, and Identity : The Zikris of Balochistan’. In Paul
Titus (ed), Marginality and Modernity :
Ethnicity and Change in Post-Colonial Balochistan (Karachi: Oxford
University Press, 1996), Chapter 9.
40.
Brahvi,
1987, op. cit, 286.
41.
Ibid, 1036.
42.
Ibid, 292.
43.
For the influence
of the sufis on Indian Muslim culture
see M. Mujeeb, Indian Muslims ist ed.
1967. Edition used (New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1985), 149-150.
44.
Francis Robinson,
‘Islam and the Impact of Print in South Asia’. In Nigel Crook (ed), The Transmission of Knowledge in South Asia
(Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1996), 62-97 (cited from p. 74).
45.
Barbara D.
Metcalf, ‘Meandering Madrassas : Knowledge and Short-term Itinerancy in the
Tablighi Jama’at’. In Crook, ibid, 49-61 (see pp. 53-54). Also see B. Metcalf, ‘Living Hadith in the
Tablighi Jama’at’, Journal of Asian
Studies (August 1993).
46.
A partial English
translation also exists. See Barbara D.
Metcalf (trans. and ed.), Perfecting
Women : Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanawi’s Bihishti Zewar (Berkeley: The
University of California Press, 1991).