The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India
Chapter 79 : 26. General features of Islam.In proclaiming one unseen G.o.d as the sole supernatural

26. General features of Islam.

In proclaiming one unseen G.o.d as the sole supernatural being, Muhammad adopted the religion of the Jews of Arabia, with whose sacred books he was clearly familiar. He looked on the Jewish prophets as his predecessors, he himself being the last and greatest. The Koran says, "We believe in G.o.d, and that which hath been sent down to us, and that which was sent down unto Abraham, and Ishmael and Isaac, and Jacob, and the tribes, and that which was delivered unto Moses, and Jesus and the prophets from the Lord, and we make no distinction between any of them." Thus Muhammad accepted the bulk of the Old but not of the New Testament, which the Jews also do not receive. His deity was the Jewish Jehovah of the Old Testament, though called Allah after the name of a G.o.d wors.h.i.+pped at Mecca. The six prophets who brought new laws were Adam, the chosen of G.o.d; Noah, the preacher of G.o.d; Abraham, the friend of G.o.d; Moses, one who conversed with G.o.d; Jesus, the Spirit of G.o.d; and Muhammad, the Messenger of G.o.d. His seven heavens and his prophecy of a Messiah and Day of Judgment were Jewish beliefs, though it is supposed that he took the idea of the Sirat or narrow bridge over the midst of h.e.l.l, sharper than the edge of a sword, over which all must pa.s.s, while the wicked fall from it into h.e.l.l, from Zoroastrianism. Muhammad recognised a devil, known as Iblis, while the Jinns or Genii of pagan Arabia became bad angels. The great difference between Islam and Judaism arose from Muhammad's position in being obliged continually to fight for his own existence and the preservation of his sect This circ.u.mstance coloured the later parts of the Koran and gave Islam the character of a religious and political crusade, a kind of faith eminently fitted to the Arab nature and training. And to this character may be a.s.signed its extraordinary success, but, at the same time, probably the religion itself might have been of a somewhat purer and higher tenor if its birth and infancy had not had place in a constant state of war. Muhammad accomplished most beneficent reforms in abolis.h.i.+ng polytheism and such abuses as female infanticide, and at least regulating polygamy. In forbidding both gambling and the use of alcohol he set a very high standard to his disciples, which if adhered to would remove two of the main sources of vice. His religion retained fewer relics of the pre-existing animism and spirit-wors.h.i.+p than almost any other, though in practice uneducated Indian Muhammadans, at least, preserve them in a large measure. And owing to the fact that the Muhammadan months revolve round the year, its festivals have been dissociated from the old pagan observances of the changes of the sun and seasons and the growth of vegetation. At the same time the religious sanction given to polygamy and slavery, and the sensual nature of the heaven promised to true believers after death, must be condemned as debasing features; and the divine authority and completeness ascribed to the Koran and the utterances of the Prophet, which were beyond criticism or question, as well as the hostility towards all other forms of religion and philosophy, have necessarily had a very narrowing influence on Muhammadan thought. While the formal and lifeless precision of the religious services and prayers, as well as the belief in divine interference in the concerns of everyday life, have produced a strong spirit of fatalism and resignation to events.

27. The Koran.

The word Kuran is derived from _kuraa_, to recite or proclaim. The Muhammadans look upon the Koran as the direct word of G.o.d sent down by Him to the seventh or lowest heaven, and then revealed from time to time to the Prophet by the angel Gabriel. A few chapters are supposed to have been delivered entire, but the greater part of the book was given piecemeal during a period of twenty-three years. The Koran is written in Arabic prose, but its sentences generally conclude in a long-continued rhyme. The language is considered to be of the utmost elegance and purity, and it has become the standard of the Arabic tongue. Muhammadans pay it the greatest reverence, and their most solemn oath is taken with the Koran placed on the head. Formerly the sacred book could only be touched by a Saiyad or a Mulla, and an a.s.sembly always rose when it was brought to them. The book is kept on a high shelf in the house, so as to avoid any risk of contamination, and nothing is placed over it. Every chapter in the Koran except one begins with the invocation, '_Bismillah-nirrahman-nirrahim_,' or 'In the name of G.o.d, the Compa.s.sionate, the Merciful'; and nearly all Muhammadan prayers and religious writings also begin with this. As the Koran is the direct word of G.o.d, any statement in it has the unquestioned and complete force of law. On some points, however, separate utterances in the work itself are contradictory, and the necessity then arises of determining which is the later and more authoritative statement. [329]

28. The Traditions.

Next to the Koran in point of authority come the Traditions of the sayings and actions of the Prophet, which are known as Hadis or Sunnah. These were eagerly collected as the jurisdiction of Islam was extended, and numerous cases arose for decision in which no ruling was provided by the Koran. For some time it was held necessary that a tradition should be oral and not have been reduced to writing. When the necessity of collecting and searching for the Traditions became paramount, indefatigable research was displayed in the work. The most trustworthy collection of traditions was compiled by Abu Abdullah Muhammad, a native of Bokhara, who died in the Hijra year 256, or nearly 250 years after Muhammad. He succeeded in ama.s.sing no fewer than 600,000 traditions, of which he selected only 7275 as trustworthy. The authentic traditions of what the Prophet said and did were considered practically as binding as the Koran, and any case might be decided by a tradition bearing on it. The development of Moslem jurisdiction was thus based not on the elucidation and exposition of broad principles of law and equity, but on the record of the words and actions of one man who had lived in a substantially less civilised society than that existing in the countries to which Muhammadan law now came to be applied. Such a state of things inevitably exercised a cramping effect on the Moslem lawyers and acted as a bar to improvement. Thus, because the Koran charged the Jews and Christians with having corrupted the text of their sacred books, it was laid down that no Jew or Christian could be accepted as a credible witness in a Moslem lawsuit; and since the Prophet had forbidden the keeping of dogs except for certain necessary purposes, it was ruled by one school that there was no property in dogs, and that if a man killed a dog its owner had no right to compensation. [330]

29. The schools of law.

After the Koran and Traditions the decisions of certain lawyers during the early period of Islam were accepted as authoritative. Of them four schools are recognised by the Sunnis in different countries, those of the Imams Abu Hanifa, Shafei, Malik, and Hambal. In northern India the school of Abu Hanifa is followed. He was born at Kufa, the capital of Irak, in the Hijra year 80, when four of the Prophet's Companions were still alive. He is the great oracle of jurisprudence, and with his two pupils was the founder of the Hanifi code of law. In southern India the Shafei school is followed. [331] The s.h.i.+ahs have separate collections of traditions and schools of law, and they say that a Mujtahid or doctor of the law can still give decisions of binding authority, which the Sunnis deny. Except as regards marriage, divorce and inheritance and other personal matters, Muhammadan law is of course now superseded by the general law of India.

30. Food.

An animal only becomes lawful food for Muhammadans if it is killed by cutting the throat and repeating at the time the words, '_Bismillah Allaho Akbar_,' or 'In the name of G.o.d, G.o.d is great.' But in shooting wild animals, if the invocation is repeated at the time of discharging the arrow or firing the gun, the carcase becomes lawful food. This last rule of Sunni law is, however, not known to, or not observed by, many Muhammadans in the Central Provinces, who do not eat an animal unless its throat is cut before death. Fish and locusts may be eaten without being killed in this manner. The animal so killed by Zabh is lawful food when slain by a Moslem, Jew or Christian, but not if slaughtered by an idolater or an apostate from Islam. Cloven-footed animals, birds that pick up food with their bills, and fish with scales are lawful, but not birds or beasts of prey. It is doubtful whether the horse is lawful. Elephants, mules, a.s.ses, alligators, turtles, crabs, snakes and frogs are unlawful, and swine's flesh is especially prohibited. Muhammadans eat freely of mutton and fish when they can afford it, but some of them abstain from chickens in imitation of the Hindus. Their favourite drink is sherbet, or sugar and water with cream or the juice of some fruit. Wine is forbidden in the Koran, and the prohibition is held to include intoxicating drugs, but this latter rule is by no means observed. According to his religion a Muhammadan need have no objection to eat with a Christian if the food eaten is of a lawful kind; but he should not eat with Hindus, as they are idolaters. In practice, however, many Muhammadans have adopted the Hindu rule against eating food touched by Christians, while owing to long a.s.sociation together they will partake of it when cooked by Hindus. [332]

31. Dress.

The most distinctive feature of Muhammadan dress is that the men always wear trousers or pyjamas of cotton, silk or chintz cloth, usually white. They may be either tight or loose below the knee, and are secured by a string round the waist. A Muhammadan never wears the Hindu _dhoti_ or loin-cloth. He has a white, sleeved muslin s.h.i.+rt, made much like an English soft-fronted s.h.i.+rt, but usually without a collar, the ends of which hang down outside the trousers. Over these the well-to-do have a waistcoat of velvet, brocade or broadcloth. On going out he puts on a long coat, tight over the chest, and with rather full skirts hanging below the knee, of cotton cloth or muslin, or sometimes broadcloth or velvet. In the house he wears a small cap, and on going out puts on a turban or loose headcloth. But the fas.h.i.+on of wearing the small red fez with a ta.s.sel is now increasing among educated Muhammadans, and this serves as a distinctive mark in their dress, which trousers no longer do, as the Hindus have also adopted them. The removal of the shoes either on entering a house or mosque is not prescribed by Muhammadan law, though it has become customary in imitation of the Hindus. The Prophet in fact said, 'Act the reverse of the Jews in your prayers, for they do not pray in boots or shoes.' But he himself sometimes took his shoes off to pray and sometimes not. The following are some of the sayings of the Prophet with regard to dress: 'Whoever wears a silk garment in this world shall not wear it in the next.' 'G.o.d will not have compa.s.sion on him who wears long trousers (below the ankle) from pride.' 'It is lawful for the women of my people to wear silks and gold ornaments, but it is unlawful for the men.' 'Wear white clothes, because they are the cleanest and the most agreeable, and bury your dead in white clothes.' Men are prohibited from wearing gold ornaments and also silver ones other than a signet ring. A silver ring, of value sufficient to produce a day's food in case of need, should always be worn. The rule against ornaments has been generally disregarded, and gold and silver ornaments have been regularly worn by men, but the fas.h.i.+on of wearing ornaments is now going out, both among Muhammadan and Hindu men. A rich Muhammadan woman has a long s.h.i.+rt of muslin or net in different colours, embroidered on the neck and shoulders with gold lace, and draping down to the ankles. Under it she wears silk pyjamas, and over it an _angia_ or breast-cloth of silk, brocade or cloth of gold, bordered with gold and silver lace. On the head she has a shawl or square kerchief bordered with lace. A poor woman has simply a bodice and pyjamas, with a cloth round the waist to cover their ends. Women as a rule always wear shoes, even though they do not go out, and they have a profusion of ornaments of much the same character as Hindu women. [333]

32. Social rules. Salutations.

There are certain social obligations known as Farz or imperative, but if one person in eight or ten perform them it is as if all had done so. These are, to return a salutation; to visit the sick and inquire after their welfare; to follow a bier on foot to the grave; to accept an invitation; and that when a person sneezes and says immediately, '_Alhamd ul lillah_' or 'G.o.d be praised,' one of the party must reply, '_Yar hamak Allah_' or 'G.o.d have mercy on you.' The Muhammadan form of salutation is '_Salam u alaik.u.m_' or 'The peace of G.o.d be with you,' and the reply is '_Wo alaik.u.m as salam_' or 'And on you also be peace.' [334] From this form has come the common Anglo-Indian use of the word _Salaam_.

When invitations are to be sent for any important function, such as a wedding, some woman who does not observe _parda_ is employed to carry them. She is dressed in good clothes and provided with a tray containing betel-leaf _biras_ or packets, cardamoms wrapped in red paper, sandalwood and sugar. She approaches any lady invited with great respect, and says: "So-and-so sends her best compliments to you and embraces you, and says that 'as to-morrow there is a little gaiety about to take place in my house, and I wish all my female friends by their presence to grace and ornament with their feet the home of this poor individual, and thereby make it a garden of roses, you must also positively come, and by remaining a couple of hours honour my humble dwelling with your company.'" If the invitation is accepted the woman carrying it applies a little sandalwood to the neck, breast and back of the guest, puts sugar and cardamoms into her mouth, and gives her a betel-leaf. If it is declined, only sandalwood is applied and a betel-leaf given. [335]

Next day _dhoolies_ or litters are sent for the guests, or if the hostess is poor she sends women to escort them to the house before daybreak. The guests are expected to bring presents. If any ceremony connected with a child is to be performed they give it clothes or sweets, and similar articles of higher value to the bride and bridegroom in the case of a wedding.

33. Customs.

Certain customs known as Fitrah are supposed to have existed among the Arabs before the time of the Prophet, and to have been confirmed by him. These are: To keep the moustache clipped short so that food or drink cannot touch them when entering the mouth; not to cut or shave the beard; to clean the teeth with a _mismak_ or wooden toothbrush; this should really be done at all prayers, but presumably once or twice a day are held sufficient; to clean the nostrils and mouth with water at the time of the usual ablutions; to cut the nails and clean the finger-joints; and to pull out the hair from under the armpits and the pubic hair. It is noticeable that though elaborate directions are given for was.h.i.+ng the face, hands and feet before each prayer, there is no order to bathe the whole body daily, and this may probably not have been customary in Arabia owing to the scarcity of water. [336]

And while many Muhammadans have adopted the Hindu custom of daily bathing, yet others in quite a respectable position have not, and only bathe once a week before going to the mosque. Gambling as well as the drinking of wine is prohibited in the Koran according to the text: "O believers! Surely wine and games of chance and statues and the divining-arrows are an abomination of Satan's work." Statues as well as pictures were prohibited, because at this time they were probably made only as idols to be wors.h.i.+pped, the prohibition being exactly a.n.a.logous to that contained in the Second Commandment. The Koran enjoins a belief in the existence of magic, but forbids its practice. Magic is considered to be of two kinds, that accomplished with the help of the Koran and the names of prophets and saints, which is divine or good, and evil magic practised with the aid of genii and evil spirits which is strongly condemned. Divining-rods apparently belong to the latter cla.s.s. Perfection in divine magic consists in the knowledge of the Ismi Aazam or Great Name, a knowledge first possessed by the prophet Sulaiman or Solomon, and since Solomon transmitted only to those who are highly favoured by Providence. This appears to be the true name of G.o.d, which is too awful and potent to be known or used by the commonalty; hence Allah, really an epithet, is used instead. It was in virtue of engraving the great name on his ring that Solomon possessed dominion over men and genii, and over the winds and birds and beasts. The uttering of Solomon's own name casts out demons, cures the sick, and raises the dead. The names of certain prophets and holy men have also a special virtue, and written charms of mysterious numerical combinations and diagrams have power for good. [337] Both kinds of magic are largely practised by Muhammadans. Muhammad disapproved of whistling, apparently because whistling and clapping the hands were part of the heathen ritual at Mecca. Hence it is considered wrong for good Muhammadans to whistle. [338]

34. Position of women.

The inferior status of women in Islam is inherited from Arabian society before the time of Muhammad. Among the pagan Arabs a woman was a mere chattel, and descended by inheritance. Hence the union of men with their step-mothers and mothers-in-law was common. Muhammad forbade these incestuous marriages, and also the prevalent practice of female infanticide. He legalised polygamy, but limited it to four wives, and taught that women as well as men could enter paradise. It would have been quite impossible to abolish polygamy in Arabia at the time when he lived, nor could he strike at the practice of secluding women even if he had wished to do so. This last custom has shown an unfortunate persistence, and is in full force among Indian Muhammadans, from whom the higher castes of Hindus in northern India have perhaps imitated it. Nor can it be said to show much sign of weakening at present. It is not universal over the Islamic world, as in Afghanistan women are not usually secluded. As a matter of fact both polygamy and divorce are very rare among Indian Muhammadans. Mr. Hughes quotes an interesting pa.s.sage against polygamy from a Persian book on marriage customs: "That man is to be praised who confines himself to one wife, for if he takes two it is wrong and he will certainly repent of his folly. Thus say the seven wise women:

Be that man's life immersed in gloom Who weds more wives than one, With one his cheeks retain their bloom, His voice a cheerful tone; These speak his honest heart at rest, And he and she are always blest; But when with two he seeks his joy, Together they his soul annoy; With two no sunbeam of delight Can make his day of misery bright."

Adultery was punished by stoning to death in accordance with the Jewish custom.

35. Interest on money.

Usury or the taking of interest on loans was prohibited by the Prophet. This precept was adopted from the Mosaic law and emphasised, and while it has to all appearance been discarded by the Jews, it is still largely adhered to by Moslems. In both cases the prohibition was addressed to a people in the pastoral stage of culture when loans were probably very rare and no profit could as a rule be made by taking a loan, as it would not lead to any increase. Loans would only be made for subsistence, and as the borrower was probably always poor, he would frequently be unable to pay the princ.i.p.al much less the interest, and would ultimately become the slave of the creditor in lieu of his debt. Usury would thus result in the enslavement of a large section of the free community, and would be looked upon as an abuse and instrument of tyranny. As soon as the agricultural stage is reached usury stands on a different footing. Loans of seed for sowing the land and of cattle or money for ploughing it then become frequent and necessary, and the borrower can afford to pay interest from the profit of the harvest. It is clearly right and proper also that the lender should receive a return for the risk involved in the loan and the capacity of gain thus conferred on the borrower, and usury becomes a properly legitimate and necessary inst.i.tution, though the rate, being probably based on the return yielded by the earth to the seed, has a tendency to be very excessive in primitive societies. The prohibition of interest among Muhammadans is thus now a hopeless anachronism, which has closed to those who observe it some of the most important professions. A tendency is happily visible towards the abrogation of the rule, and Mr. Marten notes that the Berar Muhammadan Council has set an example by putting out its own money at interest. [339]

36. Muhammadan education.

The Indian Muhammadans have generally been considered to be at a disadvantage in modern India as compared with the Hindus, owing to their unwillingness to accept regular English education for their sons, and their adherence to the simply religious teaching of their own Maulvis. However this may have been in the past, it is doubtful whether it is at all true of the present generation. While there is no doubt that Muhammadans consider it of the first importance that their sons should learn Urdu and be able to read the Koran, there are no signs of Muhammadan boys being kept away from the Government schools, at least in the Central Provinces. The rationalising spirit of Sir Saiyad Ahmad, the founder of the Aligarh College, and the general educational conference for Indian Muhammadans has, through the excellent training given by the College, borne continually increasing fruit. A new cla.s.s of educated and liberal-minded Muhammadan gentlemen has grown up whose influence on the aims and prejudices of the whole Muhammadan community is gradually becoming manifest. The statistics of occupation given at the commencement of this article show that the Muhammadans have a much larger share of all cla.s.ses of administrative posts under Government than they would obtain if these were awarded on a basis of population. Presumably when it is a.s.serted that Muhammadans are less successful than Hindus under the British Government, what is meant is that they have partly lost their former position of the sole governing cla.s.s over large areas of the country. The community are now fully awake to the advantages of education, and their Anjumans or a.s.sociations have started high schools which educate students up to the entrance of the university on the same lines as the Government schools. Where these special schools do not exist, Muhammadan boys freely enter the ordinary schools, and their standard of intelligence and application is in no way inferior to that of Hindu boys.

Nanakpanthi

1. Account of the sect.

_Nanakpanthi [340] Sect, Nanakshahi, Udasi, Suthra Shahi_.--The Nanakpanthi sect was founded by the well-known Baba Nanak, a Khatri of the Lah.o.r.e District, who lived between 1469 and 1538-39. He is the real founder of Sikhism, but this development of his followers into a military and political organisation was the work of his successors, Har Govind and Govind Singh. Nanak himself was a religious reformer of the same type as Kabir and others, who tried to abolish the wors.h.i.+p of idols and all the body of Hindu superst.i.tion, and subst.i.tute a belief in a single unseen deity without form or special name. As with most of the other Vaishnava reformers, Nanak's creed was largely an outcome of his observation of Islam. "There is nothing in his doctrine," Sir E.D. Maclagan says, "to distinguish it in any marked way from that of the other saints who taught the higher forms of Hinduism in northern India. The unity of G.o.d, the absence of any real distinction between Hindus and Musalmans, the uselessness of ceremonial, the vanity of earthly wishes, even the equality of castes, are topics common to Nanak and the Bhagats; and the Adi-Granth or sacred book compiled by Nanak is full of quotations from elder or contemporary teachers, who taught essentially the same doctrine as Nanak himself." It was partly, he explains, because Nanak was the first reformer in the Punjab, and thus had the field practically to himself, and partly in consequence of the subsequent development of Sikhism, that his movement has been so successful and his adherents now outnumber those of any other reformer of the same period. Nanak's doctrines were also of a very liberal character. The burden of his teaching was that there is no Hindu and no Muhammadan. He believed in transmigration, but held that the successive stages were but purifications, and that at last the soul, cleansed from sin, went to dwell with its maker. He prescribed no caste rules or ceremonial observances, and indeed condemned them as unnecessary and even harmful; but he made no violent attack on them, he insisted on no alteration in existing civil and social inst.i.tutions, and was content to leave the doctrine of the equality of all men in the sight of G.o.d to work in the minds of his followers. He respected the Hindu veneration of the cow and the Muhammadan abhorrence of the hog, but recommended as a higher rule than either total abstinence from flesh. Nothing could have been gentler or less aggressive than his doctrine, nothing more unlike the teaching of his great successor Govind. [341] Two other causes contributed to swell the numbers of the Nanakpanthis. The first of these was that during the late Mughal Empire the Hindus of the frontier tracts of the Punjab were debarred by the fanaticism of their Muhammadan neighbours from the wors.h.i.+p of idols; and they therefore found it convenient to profess the faith of Nanak which permitted them to declare themselves as wors.h.i.+ppers of one G.o.d, while not forcing them definitely to break with caste and Hinduism. The second was that Guru Govind Singh required the absolute abandonment of caste as a condition of the initiation of a Sikh; and hence many who would not consent to this remained Nanakpanthis without adopting Sikhism. The Nanakpanthis of the present day are roughly cla.s.sified as Sikhs who have not adopted the term Singh, which is attached to the names of all true Sikhs; they also do not forbid smoking or insist on the adoption of the five _Kakkas_ or K's which are in theory the distinguis.h.i.+ng marks of the Sikh; the _Kes_ or uncut hair and unshaven beard; the _Kachh_ or short drawers ending above the knee; the _Kara_ or iron bangle; the _Khanda_ or steel knife; and the _Kanga_ or comb. The Nanakpanthi retains the Hindu custom of shaving the whole head except the _choti_ or scalp-lock, and hence is often known as a Munda or shaven Sikh. [342] The sect do not prohibit the consumption of meat and liquor, but some of them eat only the flesh of animals killed by the Sikh method of Jatka, or cutting off the head by a blow on the back of the neck. Their only form of initiation is the ordinary Hindu practice of drinking the foot-nectar or sugar and water in which the toe of the _guru_ has been dipped, and this is not very common. It is known as the _Charan ka pahul_ or foot-baptism, as opposed to the _Khande ka pahul_ or sword-baptism of the Govindi Sikhs. [343] Baba Nanak himself, Sir E. Maclagan states, is a very favourite object of veneration among Sikhs of all kinds, and the picture of the _guru_ with his long white beard and benevolent countenance is constantly met with in the sacred places of the Punjab.