Islamic Traditions in South Asia
Muslims practice a series of life-cycle rituals that differ from those of
Hindus, Jains, or Buddhists.
The newborn baby has the call to prayer whispered
into the left ear, the profession of faith whispered into the right ear, honey
or date paste placed in the mouth, and a name selected. On the sixth day after
birth, the first bath occurs. On the seventh day or a multiple of the seventh,
the head is shaved, and alms are distributed, ideally in silver weighing as much
as the hair; a sacrifice of animals imitates the sheep sacrificed instead of
Ishmael (Ismail) in biblical times. Religious instruction starts at age four
years, four months, and four days, beginning with the standard phrase: "In the
name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful."
Male circumcision takes place
between the ages of seven and twelve. Marriage requires a payment by the husband
to the wife and the solemnization of a marital contract in a social gathering.
Marriage ceremonies include the donning of a nose ring by the bride, or in South
India a wedding necklace, and the procession of the bridegroom. In a traditional
wedding, males and females attend ceremonies in different rooms, in keeping with
the segregation of sexes in most social settings. After death the family members
wash and enshroud the body, after which it is buried as prayers from the Quran
are recited. On the third day, friends and relatives come to console the
bereaved, read the Quran, and pray for the soul of the deceased. The family
observe a mourning period of up to forty days.
The annual festivals of Islam are based on a lunar calendar of 354 days,
which makes the Islamic holy year independent of the Gregorian calendar. Muslim
festivals make a complete circuit of the solar year every thirty-three
years.
The beginning of the Islamic calendar is the month of Muharram, the tenth day
of which is Ashura, the anniversary of the death of Husayn, the son of Ali.
Ashura, a major holiday, is of supreme importance for the Shia. Devotees engage
in ritualized mourning that may include processions of colorful replicas of
Husayn's tomb at Karbala and standards with palms on top, which are carried by
barefoot mourners and buried at an imitation Karbala.
In many areas of India,
these parades provide a dramatic spectacle that draws large numbers of
non-Muslim onlookers. Demonstrations of grief may include bouts of
self-flagellation that can draw blood and may take place in public streets,
although many families retain personal mourning houses.
Sunni Muslims may also
commemorate Husayn's death but in a less demonstrative manner, concentrating
instead on the redemptive aspect of his martyrdom.
The last day of Ramazan is Id al Fitr (Feast of Breaking the Fast), another
national holiday, which ends the month of fasting with almsgiving, services in
mosques, and visits to friends and neighbors.
Bakr Id, or Id al Zuha (Feast of
Sacrifice), begins on the tenth day of the Islamic month of Dhul Hijjah and is a
major holiday. Prescribed in the Quran, Id al Zuha commemorates Ibrahim's
willingness to sacrifice Ishmael (rather than Ishaq--Isaac--as in the
Judeo-Christian tradition) according to God's command, but it is also the high
point of the pilgrim's ritual cycle while on the hajj in Mecca. All of these
festivals involve large feasts, gifts given to family and neighbors, and the
distribution of food for charitable purposes.
A significant aspect of Islam in India is the importance of shrines attached
to the memory of great Sufi saints. Sufism is a mystical path (tariqat
) as distinct from the path of the sharia. A Sufi attains a direct vision of
oneness with God, often on the edges of orthodox behavior, and can thus become a
pir (living saint) who may take on disciples (murids ) and set
up a spiritual lineage that can last for generations.
Orders of Sufis became
important in India during the thirteenth century following the ministry of
Muinuddin Chishti (1142-1236), who settled in Ajmer, Rajasthan, and attracted
large numbers of converts to Islam because of his holiness. His Chishtiyya order
went on to become the most influential Sufi lineage in India, although other
orders from Central Asia and Southwest Asia also reached to India and played a
large role in the spread of Islam. Many Sufis were well known for weaving music,
dance, intoxicants, and local folktales into their songs and lectures. In this
way, they created a large literature in regional languages that embedded Islamic
culture deeply into older South Asian traditions.
In the case of many great teachers, the memory of their holiness has been so
intense that they are still viewed as active intercessors with God, and their
tombs have become the site of rites and prayers by disciples and lay people
alike.
Tales of miraculous deeds associated with the tombs of great saints have
attracted large numbers of pilgrims attempting to gain cures for physical
maladies or solutions to personal problems. The tomb of the pir thus
becomes a dargah (gateway) to God and the focus for a wide range of
rituals, such as daily washing and decoration by professional attendants,
touching or kissing the tomb or contact with the water that has washed it,
hanging petitions on the walls of the shrine surrounding the tomb, lighting
incense, and giving money.
The descendants of the original pir are sometimes seen as inheritors
of his spiritual energy, and, as pirs in their own right, they might
dispense amulets sanctified by contact with them or with the tomb. The annual
celebration of the pir 's death is a major event at important shrines,
attracting hundreds of thousands of devotees for celebrations that may last for
days. Free communal kitchens and distribution of sweets are also big attractions
of these festivals, at which Muslim fakirs, or wandering ascetics, sometimes
appear and where public demonstrations of self-mortification, such as miraculous
piercing of the body and spiritual possession of devotees, sometimes occur.
Every region of India can boast of at least one major Sufi shrine that attracts
expressive devotion, which remains important, especially for Muslim women.
The leadership of the Muslim community has pursued various directions in the
evolution of Indian Islam during the twentieth century. The most conservative
wing has typically rested on the education system provided by the hundreds of
religious training institutes (madrasa ) throughout the country, which
have tended to stress the study of the Quran and Islamic texts in Arabic and
Persian, and have focused little on modern managerial and technical skills (see
Education and Society, ch. 2).
Several national movements have emerged from this
sector of the Muslim community. The Jamaati Islami (Islamic Party), founded in
1941, advocates the establishment of an overtly Islamic government through
peaceful, democratic, and nonmissionary activities. It had about 3,000 active
members and 40,000 sympathizers in the mid-1980s. The Tablighi Jamaat (Outreach
Society) became active after the 1940s as a movement, primarily among the ulama,
stressing personal renewal, prayer, a missionary and cooperative spirit, and
attention to orthodoxy. It has been highly critical of the kind of activities
that occur in and around Sufi shrines and remains a minor if respected force in
the training of the ulama. Other ulama have upheld the legitimacy of mass
religion, including exaltation of pirs and the memory of the Prophet.
A powerful secularizing drive led to the founding of Aligarh Muslim University
(founded in 1875 as the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College)--with its modern
curriculum--and other major Muslim universities. This educational drive has
remained the most dominant force in guiding the Muslim community.
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