THE whole life of Guru Nanak is a proof that he never preferred “Sword” over “Sermon”; he never advocated compulsion in place of love. He mixed with all, dined with all talked with all, and became of all. Prophet Mohammad was against all aggression. He had to use sword only during the last decade of his long life, under the stress of strife, in the name of righteousness and under the force of prevailing Circumstances as well as to make his men (new converts) as fearless believers in the name of true Lord and when religion and polity were submerged into each other. Nanak’s followers too, later on, were compelled to take up sword in the name of righteousness and under the force of prevailing circumstances as well as to make his men (mew converts) as fearless believers in the name of true Lord and when religion and polity were submerged into each other. Nanak’s followers too, later on, were compelled to take up sword in the name of righteousness and to foster fearlessness under the force of circumstances. Mohammad justified al kitalafisabillillah i.e. fighting in the way of God. Circumstances made a saint like Goru Gobind Bia oh tootodechare’ the & same “cunkar az hama hilate darguzasht halal ast burdan ba shamshir dast”.
Some took up sword under the cloak of religion, but in fact to meet their mercenary, lusty or political ends. The Qur’an goes even to the extent of advising that, “a kind word and protection are better than alms followed by injury” (2:26468). What an irony of History: Many of the so-called majahids who perpetuated engines of tyranny on the nonconformists were deaddrunkards, sensualists, and lascivious persons who rolled in debauchery, indulged in moraldegradation and forbidden luxuries in spite of strict Qur’anic injunctions, just as some of the Sikh masandsed impure lives just the antithesis of Nanak’s creed, and still posed to be the guardians Of Sikhism.
Both the creeds, i.e. Islam and Sikhism advocated “‘self surrender”. Both advocated against lustlust for power, for riches, for sex, etc. Nanak’s hymns are too numerous to be repeated here. The Prophet Mohammad had made it clear Aljihad ul akbaro, jihad al haw a i.e. the greatest jihad is that which is against a man’s own lust. Both were against hoarding of riches. Nanak said, without sinfulmeans it is not possible to accumulate wealth; yet it does not keep company after death”. Again, he said, “ghal khae kich hathon de. Nanak rah pachhane se” (Distribute something of yours own. This is the only way of deliverance). For Mohammad, it was antihuman to hoard up riches. The Quran enjoins against consuming unjustly what is part of another man’s wealth (2:184). The Prophet said “Develop a certain amount of austerity for plenty is not permanent”. He was relentlessly harsh upon the usurpers and emphatically declared; They shall swallow fire into their bellies and shall mourn in the flames of (doazkh) who swallow the substance of an orphan wrongfully.
The whole career of Guru Nanak shows that he had no compulsion for any religion. The core of his religion was truth and toleration. In the holy Quran too it occurs as aforesaid. “Let there be no compulsion in religion (la ikraha fidldina). Prophet Mohammad also said, every child is born with sound nature but his parents make of him a Jew, a Christian or a Magian.
There is yet another striking similarity between Islam and Sikhism. There are no sacraments
which demand a consecrated priest. Any Muslim or Sikh could perform and preside at any of their respective religions acts.
The followers of Mohammad and Nanak are equally sceptical about another fact too i.e. none should enter into a mosque (house of Allha or God) or a gurdwara (The Gate of the Gurus House) bareheaded. Everyone has to customarily cover the head properly and to wash ones feet before entering the portals of the two.
Nanak had identified himself to much with the spirit of Islam that and was not ony tolerated by the Muslims for calling Allah and Ishwar as the same but was even acclaimed by them as a wali or “shah” (i.e. an exalted darvesh), and was, interestingly, claimed for burial as a Muslim Pir when dead.
Nanak’s reference so the state of prevailing injustice and butchery of the Mughal kings (in Majh ki Var Babarvani), had nothing to say against Islam as such but was a protest only against the misrule and maladministration, anarchy and chaos prevailing in the whole atmosphere. It was just incidentally that the rulers and administrators responsible for maintenance of law and order, in northern India, happened to be Muslims at that time and sometimes yoked their religion to polity, intentionally or misguidedly, politically or otherwise, to cover their misdeeds and acts of injustice. At Baghdad, the ancient seat of Caliphate before its sack, Nanak declared, “I have renounced all sects”. Thus ethically Sikhism came very close to Islam though in matters of details and conventions Nanak’s expositions might have differed from the then accepted path of the Muslims. The whole philosophy of Guru Nanak, as per Japji revolves round the fundamental truth of the monotheistic concept of God just as in Islam, both, Mohammad and Nanak had pronounced a simple code of social ethics which started from Unity of Godhead (La Illah in Islam and IkAnkar in Sikhism). Without any stress on proselytization or conversion, Nanak aimed to build a broad brotherhood for the worship of God and sevice of Mankind, shorr off undue rigours and rigidities. The Guru said, ek pita ekas ke ham barak i.e. “there is one Father and we are all His children” Brotherhood of man was the necessary outcome of the Unity of Godhead. He put into practice the principle of akhuwat (brotherhood), advocated by Islam, by starting community kitchens (pangat) and mixed assemblies (sangat) as well as by customarily addressing his followers, friends and other fellows with the honorific of Bhai (i.e. brother). In Sikhism, the Guru or the disciple, the king or the servant the priest or the layman were all bhais (equal in sangat) and must serve one another. The sangat was the very image of the Lord. It was sachkhand itself, the very abode of piety. Again, in Sikhism, it is stressed, “He who remains selfless in service attains God”. “One gets in the next world only what he earns here and shares with others”. According to the Quran “God truly love those who do good to others” (6:152). The Sikh Guru emphasized, vich duniya sev kamaiye tan dorgeh baisan paiya (i.e. service done in this world shall win favor in heaven). Prophet Mohammad too asserted “whosoever strives, strives for his aura”. Guru Nanak emphasised “universalism” as his creed as is clear from the last words of the Ardas (Sikh Prayer): tere bhane sarbat da bhala” i.e. “Thy good will to all” The Sikhs are enjoined to believe” awwal Allah nur upaya kudrat de sab bande: ikh nur te sab jag upjia kaun bhale kaun mande’ i.e. God first created light, All beings proceeded from His Omnipresence; from same One Light the whole creation has proceeded, hence, there is none high and none low”. The holy Prophet Mohammad had also said, “wama kKanannaso illa ummatin wahidatin” i.e. “All human beings, whatsoever, are indeed not other than one community”.
How painful it is to observe the pages of history littered with bloodspots in the name of “true” religion or for Islam.
Article extracted from this publication >>
