Hafeezur Rahman
In today’s modern era, Amir Khusro of the thirteenth century is very relevant today and why is his role so important even in the new modern fast-paced era is a question many ask.
Amir Khusro (1252-1325 AD) was the iconic Sufi musician, poet and historian who called the Parrot of India soldier, mystic, and creator of qawwali, a Sufi devotional singing style and ghazal song form to India. that is still extensively practised in all the famous shrines of the Indian Sub-Continent. Khusro was associated with courts of various Delhi Sultanate rulers and his most outstanding works were created during the reign of Alau-Din Khilji.
While World Urdu Day is commemorated all over the world on November 9th on the birthday of the famous Urdu poet and philosopher Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal, we believe that the celebration of Amir Khusro needs to take precedence over Dr Iqbal because Khusro is considered to be the initial developer of Urdu language and first Urdu poet as well as the first Indian Persian poet from the thirteenth century, long before the respected Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal. Amir Khusro was the master of multiple languages like Turkish, Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit and Brij bhasha from which the roots of Urdu were derived and he called it Hindvi. The beauty of Khusro’s Hindvi was it was the locally spoken and understood language of common men which was made by multiple local and international languages. The beauty of Khusro’s language was that he adopted the local dialect with fewer Persianised phrases. If Khusro were alive in the 18th and 19th centuries then maybe he would call it Urdu or Hindvi. Language always goes with its dialect and culture and Khusro was a master of incorporating local culture, dialect and vocabulary from other Indian languages including Sanskrit, Prakirt, Khari Boli, Awadhi or Brij Bhasha though it has taken vocabulary from Persian, Turkish and Arabic too but Khusro more Indianised and make it easier for common which called Hindvi. Yet as renowned Bollywood lyric Javed Akhtar said in Jashn-e-Rekhta, today’s Urdu and Hindi have hardly any differences except the script which is utilised in Bollywood films also.
The relevance of Amir Khusro resounds today in the new modern era and here is why. In a world raging with sharp differences, schisms and racism, a great man like Khusro embodied unity, harmony, peace, and patriotism and developed the Urdu language which is rooted in Hindvi, Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic etc, not only Indian but also a universal language.
Khusro was an inspirational role model to Indians across the boundaries of faith and gender because of his deep patriotic feelings, wisdom and knowledge. It’s difficult to find any other name at the height of patriotism and genius who understand Indian society and syncretism like Khusro in Indian history who has enriched our syncretism.
Amir Khusro advocated harmony, upholding syncretism which only enhanced the Indian culture uniting all Indians under one umbrella. He called himself a proud Indian creatively renaming himself a “Turk-e-Hindi” Indian Turk born of a Turkish father, Amir Saif ud-Din Mahmud, and an Indian mother, Bibi Daulat Naz, After his mother passed away, Khusro grieving over her loss wrote a powerful poem whose lines go “Where ever the dust of your feet is found is like a relic of paradise for me.” The role of his mother in his life, powerful, also propelled him to draw his deep origins from India.
Amir Khusro went as far as to proclaim ten points as to why India is superior to the rest of the world:
He calls India an earthly Paradise citing that after Adam was expelled from Heaven, he sought sanctuary in India. He said, “As Hind was just like Heaven, Adam could descend here and find repose”. He said India was the land of the peacock, a heavenly bird and said, “Had Paradise (Firdaus) been in some other country (lit. garden, (bāgh) this bird would have gone there.”
Applauding India, he said that the zero started in India. The concept of zero is believed to have originated in the Hindu cultural and spiritual space around the fifth century CE. In Sanskrit, the word for zero is śūnya which refers to nothingness.
Logic (mantiq), astrology (tanjim) and scholastic theology (kalām), except fiqh (Islamic law), are found and well-understood in India. All rational sciences, the natural sciences and Mathematics stemmed from India.
Amir Khusro pointed out that scholars from all over the world come to India to gain knowledge and expertise. However, a Brahman never leaves the boundaries of India to acquire knowledge as there is no need for it. He claimed that Brahmans in their knowledge and intellect are far superior to (the knowledge of) all the books of Aristotle. Whatever the Greeks revealed in philosophical thought to the world, the Brahmans have a greater wealth (of it).
He also mentions the linguistic versatility of the Indians. He says that whereas an Indian can fluently converse in any of the foreign languages, people outside India are unable to speak ‘Indian dialects’. He praises Sanskrit for its rich literature calling it the language of the Brahmans though even among them, many could not master this complex language. He said “Sanskrit has the quality of a pearl amongst pearls. It is not inferior to Arabic in its grammar but superior to Dari (Persian).”
He further justifies glorifying India as his motherland by citing a well-known tradition of the Prophet: “The love of motherland is an essential part of the true faith (hub al-watan min al-īmān)”.’He asserts that this is an essential part of his creed (dīn). Born in India destined by the Almighty “to be the place of my birth (maulūd), abode (māwa) and motherland (watan), since time immemorial, he would always be faithful to it, honouring the Prophet’s words.
In The Nuh Sipihr, a masnawi which was completed by Khusro in 1318, he said that the praise of India was reserved in this section as the presiding planet of both, the seventh sky (to which this chapter corresponds) and India was zuhl (Saturn). He claims that although ‘Rum (Greece), Khurasan (Iran) and Khotan (China)’ allege their superiority, he had knowledge of the efficacy of India’s magic and thus could prove that Hind is better than any other country.
He exalted the Indian wheatish-coloured skin and features calling it more attractive than the beauty of Egyptians, Central Asian and Europeans.
He lauded the moderate climate of India as compared with the severe climatic conditions of his Central Asian homeland praising the ideal climate of India, its flowers, and fruits.
He pointed out the uniqueness of the Spring season all year round in India which enriched the topography to flourish in abundance of greenery and beautiful fragrant flowers which do not lose their fragrance even after they wilt. Among the juicy fruits of India, Khusro mentions mangoes and bananas which are extremely soft; and the sugarcane of India. Cardamon, camphor and cloves are mentioned by him as the dry fruits of India. The betel leaf is eaten like a fruit and there is nothing elsewhere in the world like it, he said.
Amir Khusro says that in India, it is a miracle that a poor peasant can spend a freezing night in the pasture-land grazing his flock with only a single worn-out cloak wrapped around him, Brahman can take his bath in the chilly waters of a river early in the morning, while a mere branch of a tree is enough to shade the poor of the country.
He was a good friend and disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya, a famous Sufi saint of the Chishti Order in Delhi, and one of the most famous Sufis from the Indian Sub-continent, they enhanced the spirit of peace and tolerance together. His master and guide Nizamuddin Auliya often said about him, “I get tired of everyone except this Turk Khusro.” His mentor also recited Abu Saeed Abul Khair’s Persian couplets means that “ If people spread thorn in your path and in return, you will also spread thorns, then whole path would become thorny, so you spread flowers in response to thorn so people can walk over the flowers to avoid thorny path.
As Khusro was the proud Indian patriot and a symbol of harmony and syncretism, it would be pivotal for a Central University to establish a department of Khusro Studies or a Khusro Chair to extol the unique and harmonious messages of Khusro to the younger generations. Educating the masses and enriching their spiritual wisdom and true patriotic feelings through Khusro can play a major role in the formation of a better society. The most important contribution of Khusro’s life and teachings is that it helped to build a bond of solidarity and brotherhood between Hindu and Muslim communities.
Historically, Sufism became a crucial part of Islam” and “one of the most widespread and omnipresent aspects of Muslims lives in Indian Sub-Continent and Central Asia” in Islamic civilization from the early medieval period onwards, when it began to permeate nearly all major aspects of Sunni Islamic life in regions stretching from India and Iraq.
The great Sufi poet and musician Amir Khusro is undisputedly the best role model in many ways to Indian Muslims especially. Khusro Foundation elaborates his powerful messages, highlighting the great legacy of his life and sharing his teachings making them applicable to daily modern life with its rich embracing rich philosophy, which is important to a land like India with its vast ethnicities, religions and diversities. In this manner, the revival of both Khusro and Dara Shikoh are equally important in modern times.
Naming the Khusro Foundation after the genius master Amir Khusro is most relevant to promoting the true national colours of India and Indianness amongst the diverse societies of the nation.
(Dr. Hafeez Ur Rahman is an Islamic scholar and author)