Baba Bulleh Shah and Islamic Negation and Affirmation
-Lived from 1680-1757
-Given name was Abdullah
-Born in Pandoke a village outside of Lahore in present day Punjab, Pakistan
-His father, Shah Muhammad Dervish was an imam and madrassa teacher.
-Ancestry in Uzbekistan, migrated to the Punjab.
-Thought to be related to Prophet from "Syeed" class.
-He became a scholar of Arabic and Persian.
-Moved to Lahore and met his Murshid, Pir Shah Inayat Qadiri.
-Part of Qadiri Tariqa' tracing itself back to Abdul Qadir Jilani of Baghdad.
-Criticized because Pir Shah Inayat was from Arain, agricultural class. Vegetable seller.
"Let anyone who calls me a syeed be punished with tortures of hell.
And let him revel in the pleasures of heaven who calls me an arain."
-Controversial at this time since Muslims had their own class system.
-Often discussed as heterodox since he was highly critical of religious establishment and hypocrisy.
-Was comfortable using certain images and stories from Hindu tradition, incorporated local folk tales also like Heer-Ranjha
-Made statements in support of then blossoming Sikh tradition of Punjab
-Poetry passed on through oral tradition, singers who do devotional renditions of his poetry.
Poetry and music in India, especially Punjab go hand in hand, cannot be separated.
Thesis: Studying his poetry through lens of Islamic Shahada- negation and affirmation
Enumeration of shahada
negation- criticism of the "Dunya "la ilahah"
criticizes exoterically oriented, hypocritical and overly scholarly leaders, who neglect to see all their learning as within Tawhid, or Unity principle of Islam.
Eik Alif tere Drkar- One Alif is all you need. -similar to philosophy of Ibn al Arabi, wahdat al-wujud
---------Negation, No God La ilaha...
1. Leaving behind attachment to scholarly learning.
"Gather no more knowledge O friend!
You read and read and pile up a heap;
The Qur'an and other books surround you
All around it light but within you is darkness"
2. Criticism of religious institutions, hypocrisy behind outward piety
"You give deliver talks everyday.
You eat the food of suspicion and doubt.
You preach something and act inversely.
Inwardly you are corrupt but outwardly you are pious- a liar hidden in the garb of truth."
3. Rejection of empty rituals
You watsed your entire life in the mosque as your inner self is entirely unclean.
You could not act wisely to achieve union with God. Now there is no point in shouting and crying."
4. Rejection of religious exclusivism
"Remove duality and do away with disputes
The Hindus and Muslims are not other than He."
5. Path of blaming self (goes along with following lower class murshid)
"O Bulleh Shah, let's go there
Where everyone is blind,
Where no one knows our caste,
And no one believes in us."
----------Affirmation ..."ilallah" Only Allah
1. Longing, pangs of love
"I suffer from the pain of my mad love.
Come dear Ranjha cast a glance at me
and forgive me my faults
The bridegroom visits the home of all others
What is the flaw that separates Bulleh?
2. Following guide, Pir Shah Inayat, path to Allah
"Come love, fold me in your arms
Why this estrangement? Says Bulleh:
Ever since I found Shah Inayat
The Lord has taken abode in me."
3. Losing individuality
"I have got lost in the city of love,
I am being cleaned, withdrawing myself
from my head, hands and feet.
I have gotten rid of my ego, and have attained my goal
Thus it has all ended well.
Oh Bulleh, the Lord pervades both worlds;
None now appears a stranger to me."
4. returning to Source, ecstatic for Baba Bulleh Shah
"You alone exist, I do not my Beloved!
By repeating the name of the Beloved
I have become the Beloved myself.
Whom shall I call the Beloved now?"
