Celebrated as the naked ascetic and mad poet, Sarmad, who lived in the seventeenth century, is revered as one of the world's most unorthodox Sufis. Originally from a Jewish trader's family from the Armenian region of modern-day Iran, Sarmad adopted Islamic mysticism after arriving in India during the Mughal Emperor Shahjehan's reign. He embraced spirituality entirely and gave up all his worldly possessions-even his clothes. In India, Sarmad fell deeply in love with Abhaichand, a Hindu boy, after hearing him recite poetry at a mehfil. Abhaichand became Sarmad's disciple, and together the duo preached the Sufi's spiritual beliefs-the former singing his murshid's exquisite rubayis (quatrains). Despite his unconventional views, many were drawn to Sarmad and became his followers, renowned among them, Shahjehan's son, Prince Dara Shikoh. Even today, devotees flock to Sarmad's grave in old Delhi, and his rubayis are also read, centuries after the Sufi Pir was beheaded for blasphemy under Aurangzeb's rule.
This book is a selection of seventy of Sarmad's finest rubayis that speak against conformist religious dogma and for universal love and surrender to the One Divine. Together, the rubayis constitute a true representation of the Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb-the syncretic culture of the Indian subcontinent. Each rubayi appears in three different languages-the original Farsi, an Urdu translation by Punjabi-Urdu poet Balmukund Arsh Malsiyani and an elegant English version by Syeda Hameed and Reyaz Ahmad. Crowning these is a masterful translation of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad's illuminating biographical essay on Sarmad, which analyses this great Sufi's liberal ideals and radical mystical thought.
Sarmad (1590-1661) was an Armenian tradesman who came to India during the seventeenth century. He became attracted to Tasawwuf and grew into a Sufi saint whose fame spread all over the subcontinent. He had a large number of followers but was a sore in the eyes of orthodoxy, in particular of Prince Aurangzeb, who ordered his execution. His rubayis (quatrains) in Persian are outstanding literary classics, which deal with many themes, primarily universal love and acceptance.
Syeda Saiyidain Hameed is a women's rights activist, educationist and writer. She is a former member of the Planning Commission of India as well as a member of the National Commission for Women. She has authored and edited translations as well as books on Islam, Sufism, gender and development. Her publications include Islamic Seal on India's Independence: Abul Kalam Azad-A Fresh Look (1998) and Dr Zakir Husain: Teacher Who Became President (2000). In 2006, the Al-Ameen Educational Society of Bengaluru awarded her their Al-Ameen All India Community Leadership Award. The following year, the Government of India conferred the Padma Shri on Hameed for her service to Indian society.
Reyaz Ahmad is an independent researcher, author, translator and columnist. His interests lie in history, politics, culture, language and minority studies. He has a Masters in History and a post graduate diploma in Dalit and Minority Studies. He has also studied Journalism at Jamia Millia Islamia.
Aashiq o ishq o but o buthgar o aiyyaari keest?
Kaaba o dair o masajid hamaja yari keest?
Gar dar aayi bechaman wahadat e yakrangi been
Gardar aan aashiq o maashuq o gul o khaari keest?
Aashiq o ishq o but o buthgar o ayyaari hai kaun?
Dair o Kaaba mein bhala isse khabardaar hai kaun?
Aake gulzaar mein tu wahdat yakrangi Dekh
Ghaur kar aashiq o maashuq o gul o khaar hai kaun?
Who is the lover, beloved, idol, idol maker, but you?
Who is the universal Beloved of Kaaba, the temple, the mosque? Come to the garden and see the unity in diversity of colours In all this, who is the lover, the beloved, the flower, the thorn?
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was twenty-two years old when he wrote his essay on Sarmad 'Sarmad Shaheed' on the gentle persuasion of known Urdu essayist, Khwaja Hasan Nizami. This essay, in a manner, became the foundation of his ideals, which he tried to follow in the course of his turbulent religious and political life.
At the start of the essay, Azad laments that there is paucity of literature on Sarmad. He had to consult Persian sources; the first was Mirat ul-Khayal by Sher Khan Lodi, an encyclopedic volume on Persian poetry and Sufism written in 1691/1692, about thirty years after Sarmad's death. The second was Riaz ul-Shuara, a treatise on the lives of Persian poets by Ali Quli Khan Valeh Daghistani, a man who lived during the times of Muhammad Shah Rangeela (1702-1748) of the Mughal dynasty.
Sarmad, whose real name was Mohammad Said, was born in Kashan, a trade centre in Persia, during the term of Shah Abbas the Great. Belonging to a prosperous Armenian family, he had not only learnt Arabic and Persian from renowned Islamic mystic and philosopher, Mullah Sadruddin Shirazi, but had also completed his study of the Quran, the Torah and the Bible. His family were traders by profession, and pursuing his family vocation, Sarmad reached India in 1031 A.H., during the Mughal reign, where he landed in the port of Thatta in Sind.
Deeply immersed in religion, with a penchant for literature, he sought the company of like-minded thinkers.
Once he had settled down with his merchandise, Sarmad began attending literary gatherings and mehfils. It was during one such mehfil that he witnessed a young boy named Abhaichand reciting a ghazal in tarannum. Swept by the ethereal moment, Sarmad lost his heart to the boy.
Abhaichand, who was from a goldsmith family, reciprocated this love and gradually the two began to live together. Sarmad became his mentor and tutor and began Abhaichand's spiritual education by teaching him the Bible, the Torah Zuboor, and all the intricacies and destinations of the Sufi tariqah and ma'arifat.
Abhaichand would recite his mentor's kalaam (poetry) in his beautiful lehan (melody). So powerful was the rendition that in ecstasy, Sarmad went into a trance. With time, the word of Sarmad and Abhaichand spread far and wide, and the people of Thatta began migrating to this mystical duo. Then, reaching a pinnacle of renunciation, Sarmad stripped himself naked. While his devotees were shocked, they still continued to come in droves for his darshan.
From Thatta, Sarmad moved to Lahore, where he stayed for eleven years. From Lahore, he migrated to Hyderabad and settled down in Golconda. The rulers there were from the Qutab Shahi dynasty. They too became Sarmad's devotees.
The tradesman from Kashan, Mohammad Said, began being revered as Shaikh Sarmad, the spiritual Pir. People too accepted his nakedness.
From the Deccan, Sarmad went to Agra. However, he did not stay there long and shifted again when the Darul Sultanat (capital) shifted to Delhi. There, he settled down under the patronage of Khwaja Syed Abul Qasim Sabzwari.
This was during the time of Emperor Shahjehan's reign. The Emperor's eldest son, Prince Dara Shikoh, was designated as his successor.
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