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| a little history - I |
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| timbuktu |
| 05/24/04 at 06:25:31 |
| [slm] There is a society in Islamabad called "Sir Syed Memorial Society". Now this guy Syed Ahmed Khan was around at the time of the 1857 mutiny, or as we like to call it, the first Indian war of independence. Syed Ahmed Khan saved the lives of some British ladies, and was spared the personal agony that others of the Muslim elite at Delhi had to go through. Anyway, he thought the Muslims had to learn English and the modern fields of knowledge, so he founded a school, which later became a college, and finally a University. The Aligarh Muslim University in India is that one. He went too far in his interpretation of the Quran, and to this day some religious scholars consider him a kafir, but his contribution was indeed timely. The students of that University took part in the Pakistan movement, and one can find both good and bad in the graduates that system produced. Some day I will give a history of that man, with my take, which may not be what others have in mind. I visited the offices of the Sir Syed Memorial Society at Islamabad, and they have a beautiful mural painted in their building. It is also reproduced in their booklet. I have taken the liberty of scanning the images, and I will be posting those scans as attachments to my posts on this thread. This will give you a brief and partial introduction to the history of India and Pakistan, perhaps not entirely accurate. Look up the attachments as I post them, and let me know your comments. The first attachment is with this post. It is about the Emperor Jehangir giving concessions for trade to Sir John Roe. |
| 07/07/04 at 13:31:08 |
| timbuktu |
| http://www.jannah.org/board/attachments/Pakistan01c.jpg |
| Pakistan01c.jpg |
| Re: a little history |
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| timbuktu |
| 05/25/04 at 02:55:47 |
| [slm] after Jehangir came Shahjehan, famous for the building of the Taj Mahal at Agra, where his beloved queen is buried. see jannah's webpage on the TajMahal. Here is the link: http://www.jannah.org/tajmahal/tajmahal.html In the meantime, we continue with our narration. ShahJehan was deposed by Aurangzeb, whose life was spent bringing India under the Moghuls, and in fighting the various insurgencies. He is also known for establishing shari`a rule, as opposed to the secular and sometimes anti-Islamic rule of his predecessors. But, after his death, the Empire began to disintegrate. Local rulers declared independence, and the capital was laid siege to, and ransom obtained from the emperor. The Marhattas were particularly worrisome, and Shah Waliullah Muhaddith Dehalvi, looked across the border to Ahmed Shah Abdali for deliverance, because all sections of the Muslim society in India had become corrupt or incapable of meeting the challenges. Now you can also look at the file named Pakistan02c.jpg shown with the paper clip symbol above in the heading for this post. |
| 05/25/04 at 05:19:39 |
| timbuktu |
| http://www.jannah.org/board/attachments/Pakistan02c.jpg |
| Pakistan02c.jpg |
| Re: a little history |
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| timbuktu |
| 05/25/04 at 04:31:00 |
| [slm] OK, here is the attachment for the first post. Sorry, it appears twice. If I delete it from here, it will disappear from the first post as well. |
| 05/25/04 at 04:46:09 |
| timbuktu |
| http://www.jannah.org/board/attachments/Pakistan01c.jpg |
| Pakistan01c.jpg |
| Re: a little history |
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| timbuktu |
| 05/26/04 at 12:27:06 |
| [slm] a brother IMed me saying that the use of pictures was haraam. He is right in the light of Sahih Hadith. Yet, although I have removed all paintings and pictures of animate objects from my house, the family does have photo albums, and even some glass figures of animals are kept by my wife, which is what disturbs me greatly. Anyway, to come to the pont of pictures, I think it is perhaps OK if it is for educational purpose, and here I am trying to tell something which may be conveyed better in a graphic form. What do you people think? Should I continue to post these pictures, or stop. You can IM me if you don't want your opinions made public. Secondly, I thought my previous writeup was very sketchy, at best. So, I am going to expand on my previous posts. The Mughal Empire was founded by Babar, prince of a small state in the Ferghana Valley, in the Central Asian Republics. He was hounded by his opponents, so he crossed to Kabul, Afghanistan, and from there on to Delhi. He used to drink a lot, until his fight with his enemies, when while praying to allah for victory, he promised he wouldn't drink any more, and he kept his promise. Upon his death, his son Humayoun inherited the throne, but had to seek refuge in neighboring Iran when the seat of government passed to Sher Shah Suri. This was an exceptionally gifted person. Although he ruled only for three years, he built a road spanning around 1000 miles from Dacca (Dhaka) to Kabul. There were caravansarais, wells, fresh horses, every few miles. and the post delivery system was excellent, although I suspect the post was probably not for the common man. This was kept up by the later Mughal rulers, and a portion of this road is visible (you can even walk on it for a kilometer) when one crosses the Margalla hills from Rawalpindi/ Islamabad to Taxilla. Humayoun's rule was restored by the Iranians. Part of the price he paid was by accepting shi'a influence at his court. Humayoun died after slipping from marble stairs of his palace, and his son Akbar, who was very young, took the throne. This Akbar also had to meet a lot of challenges to keep his throne, and remained illiterate. However, he won over the Hindu Rajputs, married their women, and started a new religion called "Deeen-e-Ilahi, Akbar Shahi", an invention said to be of two learned brothers abulFadl, and Faidi. Many religious leaders opposed this move, one of them being a sufi leader named Syed Ahmed Sirhindi, also known as "Mujaddad Alaf Thani" from Sirhind, India. Akbar's disenchantment with Islam is said to be due to bickering between the religious scholars at his court. Akbar's rule was succeeded by his son Jehangir, who although brilliant and capable, was fond of the pleasures of this world. His Empress "Nur Jehan" is also remembered for her inventions. The essence of rose (arq-e-gulab) is said to be her discovery. We have seen above that the same Jehangir gave trade concessions to Sir John Roe. The British were thus able to set up factories, bring in their armaments, and gradually intrude into the local politics, becoming the deciding arbiters in the local disputes, perhaps due to their superior training and armaments. Upon Jehangir's death, his son Khurram took the title of ShahJehan, and became Emperor. His rule was again one of plenty, and he is remembered for his buildings and gardens. Two contenders to succession arose during his life. He favored Dara Shikoh, who has sufi leanings, while the court favored Aurangzeb, who was more learned in the shari`a. Eventually Aurangzeb deposed ShahJehan. We cannot entirely blame him for that. If he hadn't, he would have lost out. Aurangzeb did not enjoy any moment of peace. He had to put down rebellions, one after another. He is also remembered for the production of the "Fatawai Alamgiri", based on the understanding of Hanafi Fiqh at his court. There are some deviations from that as well in this code of law, but that is to be expected, because this was just a start. When Aurangzeb died, rebellions broke out all over again, and his successors started fighting among themselves, so soon the Empire was in tatters. Provices declared independence; those that did not do so formally, acted as if they did not have to answer to central authority. The Sikhs, Marhattas, thugs, Rohillas, all invaded the central territories. At that time Shah Waliullah was the foremost religious figure in Delhi, and he tried to bring Muslims to understand the danger they were in. He was the first one in India to translate the Quran in Persian (the court language). His sons were the first to translate it in Urdu, and those translations are still used as reference works by the scholars of India (& Pakistan). Like the times when the Qazis of Andalusia asked the Murabitun of Morroco to come and help the Spanish Muslims, Shah Waliullah wrote to Ahmed Shah Abdali to do the same for the Muslims of India. Abdali came and fought a war with the Marhattas in the famous battlefield of Paniput, and defeated them decisively. The picture in the mural depicting this will be posted in the next post. This gave a new lease of life to the Mughals. Unfortunately the Empire had fallen into such decay that this respite was not enough. In Bengal, the British had started their duplicity, and Nawab Sirajuddaulah understood their aims, so he tried to stop them. Mir Jafaar from his court turned traitor, and the Nawab was killed in the battle of Plassey. The British installed Jafar as Nawab with the task of collection of target taxes. When their demands grew so much that Jafar could not meet them, they removed Jafar as well, and place Mir Qasim, his nephew, on the throne of Bengal. Mir Qasim was also not able to meet the demands, and the British took direct control of Bengal. |
| 05/27/04 at 13:00:28 |
| timbuktu |
| http://www.jannah.org/board/attachments/Pakistan03.jpg |
| Pakistan03.jpg |
| Re: a little history |
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| al-ajnabia |
| 05/26/04 at 20:39:04 |
| I've sometimes pondered how history might have been different if reinforcements had shown up in spain instead, and I wonder what kind of councelling happened behind the scenes. such as was it considered better to not have islamic competition across the strights of Gibraltar, and why. It seems those soldiers had a long way to go to help out in India. Maybe there was bad blood between andulasia and morocco or something. Maybe India had better exports. hm allahualam |
| Re: a little history |
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| Nadeem |
| 05/27/04 at 09:16:33 |
| [slm] [quote author=al-ajnabia link=board=lighthouse;num=1085415101;start=0#4 date=05/26/04 at 20:39:04]I've sometimes pondered how history might have been different if reinforcements had shown up in spain instead, and I wonder what kind of councelling happened behind the scenes. such as was it considered better to not have islamic competition across the strights of Gibraltar, and why. It seems those soldiers had a long way to go to help out in India. Maybe there was bad blood between andulasia and morocco or something. Maybe India had better exports. hm allahualam [/quote] Sis, I think if I remember correctly from my visit to Andalucia, the reason for no reinforcements from Morroco was as follows. (Note: This is a very simplified version of events from memory, and may be slightly inaccurate. Best to Google it for more info) The rulers of Andalucia whilst at first bringing great civilisation and prosperity to Europe, slowly settled into decadence and started fighting amongst themselves. They separated themselves into little "kingdoms" and were having mini-wars all the time. The Christians in the North of Spain, or maybe it was the Visigoths (not sure), seized upon this and decided to attack. I think at this point there was reinforcements from Muslim troops in Morocco, and eventually order was restored. The Moroccan Muslims told the Spanish Muslims off for fighting with each other and warned that if they persisted in this, they would receive no help from the main Muslim forces in Morocco again. They soon started fighting again and then were again attacked from the north by Christian armies. The Muslim armies from Morocco were not forthcoming this time as they had warned. The Christian armies took full advantage of this fact, and their inherent waekness due to years of in-fighting, and this time seized the land and purged Spain of all Muslims and Jews. [wlm] |
| Re: a little history |
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| timbuktu |
| 05/27/04 at 22:04:50 |
| [slm] Twice there was help from the Morrocans for the Spanish Muslims. First the Murabitun, and then the Muwahideen. The reasons for the downfall of the Moors were division into sectarian and ethnic groups (Arab and Spanish converts), internal strife and a lust for power of the elite. The external help could possibly have come from the east, but perhaps the naval forces were not ready. It is interesting that some British seafarers converted to Islam, and helped the Moors, particularly at the time of the Inquisition. Some of them were also tortured by the Spaniards in the Inquisition. As promised, the picture relating to Ahmed Shah Abdali and the Marhattas is attached. |
| 05/27/04 at 22:19:24 |
| timbuktu |
| http://www.jannah.org/board/attachments/Pakistan04.jpg |
| Pakistan04.jpg |
| Re: a little history |
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| timbuktu |
| 05/29/04 at 02:08:55 |
| [slm] Having taken hold of the rich province of Bengal, the British were now in a position to make further inroads into India. They had established bases in the South, where they were in competition with the French who had their facilities at Pondicherry. The British used the "divide, scare and back one ruler against the other" strategy to fight off the only challenger to their designs - Mysore, led by the lion of Mysore, Haider Ali. He defeated the British in several encounters, and the British made truce, only to break the truces at the first opportune moment. |
| 05/29/04 at 18:18:27 |
| timbuktu |
| http://www.jannah.org/board/attachments/Pakistan05c.jpg |
| Pakistan05c.jpg |
| Re: a little history |
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| timbuktu |
| 05/31/04 at 03:32:28 |
| [slm] The British could not defeat Haider Ali despite trying to recruit the surrounding states, but upon his death, when Tipu Sultan acceded to the throne of Mysore, they broke the truce again. Although they were defeated many times, they managed to forge an alliance with the Nizam of Hyderabad with promises of an enlargement of his territory. Mysore had to accept truce and cede territory where the British soldiers ran amock. The British kept up further pressure, and Mysore sought to enhance its defences through French advice, and sought help from the Ottomans. The British recruited Mir Sadiq at the court of Tipu Sultan, who supplied them with weaknesses of the defences at Saringapatam. The British attacked again, but were held up. The monsoons were delayed that year, and the British siege continued, when Mir Sadiq and his co-conspirators supplied faulty ammunition to the Mysore defenders, while guiding the British through the weak spots in Saringapatam. |
| 05/31/04 at 03:34:31 |
| timbuktu |
| http://www.jannah.org/board/attachments/Pakistan06c.jpg |
| Pakistan06c.jpg |
| Re: a little history |
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| timbuktu |
| 06/08/04 at 02:13:11 |
| [slm] Shah Ismail Shaheed was the grandson of Shah Waliullah, and a disciple of Syed Ahmed Barelvi. They undertook reform, dawah and Jihad. Shah Ismail's book "Taqwiatul Eemaan" closely resembles "Kitabut-Tawheed" by Imam Muhammed bin Abdul Wahhab, and has been instrumental in bringing many a people of the sub-continent to Tawheed. He wrote lesser known books on bid3a and even Tasawwuf. The two invited muslims of the sub-continent to set up a government accordong to the Sahri`a, and set up such a government in the Pakhtun areas (modern NWFP in Pakistan). This was under the Sikhs at that time, who had appointed local Pushtuns to the leadership. The local rulers were unhappy at the Shari`a, the local customs were challenged by the strict application of Tawheed, so the maulvis (priests) and the populace was also not happy. Thus the rulers had the Mujahideen officers killed one night. The Mujahideen had to withdraw, and set up another mini-state in Kashmir. Sikh rulers kept after them, and at the battle of Balakot, many Mujahideen, including the two leaders, met martyrdom at the hands of the Sikhs. |
| 07/07/04 at 13:36:35 |
| timbuktu |
| http://www.jannah.org/board/attachments/Pakistan08.jpg |
| Pakistan08.jpg |
| Re: a little history |
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| timbuktu |
| 06/12/04 at 12:50:17 |
| The Balakot martyrs did not die in vain. Although the Emirate had been defeated, it rose again higher up in the mountains. It was atacked and defeated again by the British, yet its survivors went further up in the mountains and established it yet again. When the British finally extinguised the Emirate at Asthana, the struggle did not die out, and spread all over India, giving rise to various movements, some direct descendents, and some heavily influenced by it. The direct descendents were the "Tehreek-e-Mujahideen", and the other was the deoband movement, of which the Jamiat-e-ulame-Islam (from which the Taliban are descended) was the direct result. Other movements also analysed the reasons for the Islamic state's defeat, and embarked on a course determined by that analysis. Coming back to the east India Company: after the fall of Mysore, the Comany advanced its rule through its usual means of bribery, sowing discord and division. This does not mean that only the Company is to blame. There are two sides to bribery - one who gives and the other who takes. Similarly for sowing discord. When someone is prepared to fight against his brethren, the enemy will take advantage of it. Another reason was that the Company was able to meet the soldiers pay regularly, which was not normal in the decaying days of the Empire, and the soldiers had to rely on coercion of the populace for their survival - a practice that still survives in the third world countries, where the pays of government servants are so low that extortion and bribery are the norm. I don't know if what I say now is unparliamentary, but I think when Saddam bombed the Kurds, and the Shia, and when the Sunni population of Iraq did not go against him, it was a forgone conclusion that when an external enemy arrived, the last two groups would initially, at least, hold their fire. Similarly, when the Taliban met heavy resistance from the Northern Alliance, they should have tried to come to terms with them. The company was able to make the old Emperor a hostage. It paid him a salary and schemed to bring the whole of India formally and directly under its control. It introduced a new type of ammunition, the bullets having to be removed by biting into the wrapper with one's teeth. A rumor spread that the grease in these wrappers was from pig and cow fat, and that inflamed the religious sentiments of the soldiers. Some of them refused, and the Company officers reacted by arresting them and planning trials for disobedience. The Meerut Cantonment mutinied. News of the rebellion spread like wildfire, and soon the whole of Northern India was up in arms. What arms, though? All over India, the elders met in war councils, and decided to join the war of liberation. Some, though, sided with the British. Among them was the grandfather of Mirza Ghulam Ahmed of Qadian, and people like him in the Punjab and Sind, who were (or hoped to be) huge landlords combined with the religious leadership of their with pirdom. The "rebel" soldiers, joined by the populace, marched to Delhi, and requested the old Emperor to lead them. He wnated to stay in peace, but had to let the rebels do their work in his name. I have related this story earlier: At Thana Bhawan, a war council was held with the local leaders in attendance. There was overwhelming support for joining the war, but a small voice, an ancestor of Ihteshamul Haq Thanawi, was against it. He said that the Muslims did not have enough arms (qualitative and quantitative) to resistance, and that dawah was the answer. The others reasoned back that "not even what the Muslims possessed at Badr." At this , all fell silent and Thana Bhawan went to war, and lost. These leaders were ulema and pirs of the followers of Syed Ahmed Barelvi and Shah Ismail Shaheed. After the war, the leaders went underground, and finally established a religious school at deoband, under an organisation called the Jamiatul Ulamae Islam. Two trends are still distinct in this movement: One with a greater readiness to use armed resistance, the other focusing on dawah. Back againto Delhi: The Company gathered its troops and laid siege to Delhi. The emperor's father-in-law, Nawab Elahi Baksh sold out to the British in the hope of becoming the Emperor himself, or making his grandson the Emperor. Naturally his daughter was in league with him. The traitors pointed out the weaknesses in the defence of Delhi, and bombardment began. The Emperor was persuaded by Elahi Baksh to surrender with his sons to the British. Although his commander-in-chief, General Bakht Khan, disagreed and asked the Emperor to leave Delhi with him so that the resistance could be continued elsewhere, the Emperor had no stomach for more suffering, and he surrendered with his sons on promise of reprieve ajd continuation of the previous arrangements for those who lay down their arms. This promise, like others, was not kept. Major Hudson, the conqueror of Delhi, presented the old Emperor with the heads of his three sons in a tray. See the picture with this post. The Emperor was tried by the east India Company for treason. It is laughable, because legally the Company was answerable to the Emperor, not the other way round. He was exiled to Rangoon, in Burma, where he lived in abject poverty. His poetry is very moving: ßÊäÇ åí ÈÏäÕíÈ ÙÝÑ, ÏÝä ßíáÆ Ïæ ßÒ Òãíä Èåì äå ãá Óßì, ßæÆ íÇÑ ãíä kitna hai badnaseeb Zafar, dafan ke liye do gazz zameen bhi na mil saki, kooey yaar mein how unfortunate Zafar is that for his burial he could not get even two yards in his beloved’s street. |
| 06/13/04 at 09:00:26 |
| timbuktu |
| http://www.jannah.org/board/attachments/Pakistan_09.jpg |
| Pakistan_09.jpg |
| Re: a little history |
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| timbuktu |
| 06/16/04 at 11:56:05 |
| [slm] On capturing Delhi, the British razed whole neighborhoods and established execution fields in the razed grounds, where they summarily tried, sentenced and executed those accused of “rebellion”. Most of the sentences were of death by hanging or by tying to a cannon and firing it. My ancestor was poet Laureate and the Royal tutor at the Mughal court. He died before this event, but I have come across two books, where it was mentioned that one of his sons was executed by this method of “cannonization”. May Allah (swt) accept his martyrdom, and grant him Firdawse a3alaa. Imagine frightened young lads, dispatched to find out the news particularly about the missing ones, hiding in the shadows, listening to what was said to be going on, watching the executions by hanging, and the cannons being fired, and rushing back to their homes or hiding places of the families of the victims. Imagine the sorrow, and the terror, and the families seeking safety by leaving their homes in the dark of night – women who had never ventured out of their homes even in daylight, now having to run in the dark for miles, through fields and territory infested with snakes and scorpions, and with enemy soldiers and bandits. Delhi’s intelligentsia was thus liquidated. Few remained. Mir Taqi Mir says: ßíÇ ÈæÏ æ ÈÇÔ ÈæÌåæ åæ ÈæÑÈ ßì ÓÇßäæ åã ßæ ÛÑíÈ ÌÇä ßì ¡ åäÓ åäÓ ÈßÇÑ ßì Ïáì Ìæ Çß ÔåÑ ÊåÇ ÚÇáã ãíä ÇäÊÎÇÈ ÑåÊì Êåì ÌåÇä ãäÊÎÈ åì ÑæÒßÇÑ ßì ÌÓ ßæ Ýáß äì áæÊ ßì æíÑÇä ßÑ ÏíÇ åã Ñåäì æÇáì åíä ÇÓì ÇÌÑì ÏíÇÑ ßì Kiya boodo bash poocho ho purab kai sakino Hum ko ghareeb jaan kai, huns huns pukar kai Dilli jo ek shaher tha alam mein intikhaab Rehtay thay jahan muntakhib hi ruzgaar kai Jis ko falak nei loot kai veeraan kar diya Hum rehnay walai hein usee ujray dayaar kai You ask us where do we live, O people of the east making fun of us, and calling us names in jest Delhi which was one city of its kind Where only the best in their profession once lived Which now lies in ruins through an act of fate We are residents of that (city) If you can get “Ghalib kai khutoot” i.e. The letters of Ghalib” or read books by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Khwaja Hasan Nizami, Deputy Nazeer Ahmed, etc. you may get a feel of what the people of Delhi went through. And if you can get books on the Indian resistance throughout British Rule, it will be very educational. Next when I go to Karachi, I will see if I can get the names of those books and authors. |
| 06/16/04 at 12:00:22 |
| timbuktu |
| http://www.jannah.org/board/attachments/Pakistan10.jpg |
| Pakistan10.jpg |
| Re: a little history |
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| timbuktu |
| 06/20/04 at 19:23:01 |
| [slm] The British now started targetting Muslims all over India. They abolished Persian as the court language, replacing it with English. The Muslims were the power that had been replaced, so they felt resentment, and stayed away from what the British wanted. The Hindus had taken advantage and learnt English, and got ahead fast. at this time, Syed Ahmed Khan began to analyse the causes of the Muslim fall, and the abyss they were in. So he called Muslims to end their isolation, and to learn English and the modern subjects. |
| Re: a little history |
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| timbuktu |
| 06/27/04 at 09:14:41 |
| [slm] There had been an attempt by some to make Muslims learn English (in Bengal and Bihar) 50 years before Syed Ahmed Khan's effort, but wiith little success. Syed Ahmed Khan was joined by some able writers and poets: Deputy Nazir Ahmed, Altaf Hussain Hali. If anyone can read Urdu, try to get hold of copy of "Musaddas-e-Hali" which is a flowing account of the state of Muslims and the causes thereof. It became so famous that even on occassions of weddings, and even the courtesans would sing it. Syed Ahmed Khan's successors carried forward his mission. One of his concepts was that Muslims and Hindus were separate, and the Muslim League was founded in Dhaka by one of his successors. I forgot to post a picture with the previous post. I attach it here, and this will be followed by three more, inshallah, with no comments, as these deal with Sir Syed's colleagues and succesors. |
| 06/27/04 at 09:17:39 |
| timbuktu |
| http://www.jannah.org/board/attachments/Pakistan11.jpg |
| Pakistan11.jpg |
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