how did the bhakti and sufi movements promotes communal harmony and lead to the intermingling of cultures ?
Answers
Explanation:
The first phase was one of death and destruction on a large scale with many sacred, beautiful symbols of culture – temples being destroyed and palaces and cities being ravaged.
This rather was a continuous process throughout the period of expansion and consolidation of the Delhi Sultanate along with the process of development and peaceful co-existence as well.
Contact between the two cultures started much earlier to the coming of Islam to India but the interaction quickened after Islam arrived. It is true that some bigoted Ulemas such as Nasiruddin Mubarak Ghaznavi of the regime of Iltutmish advocated a policy of inveterate hostility towards the Brahmins of the Hindu community as some of the very orthodox Hindus resented the Muslim entry into India
In due course of time, in spite of the seemingly irreconcilable nature of Islam and Hinduism, with Islam advocating strict monotheism, rejecting the image worship and worship of innumerable gods through Bhakti and Karma paths. Yet we notice the development of a gradual process of mutual adjustment and accommodation along with conflict and rapprochement.
No doubt, with setbacks under some rulers in some regions and faster development under some other rulers, travelers and saints played a key role as agents of transmission of ideas of one cultural adherent to another group.
By the time Delhi Sultanate was established, it is rightly suggested that the main features of early Islam underwent many changes. It is also said that outwardly the migrants of Islamic religion professed to be fervent followers and showed respect to the Islamic rites and prayers appear to have imbibed many non-Islamic ideas of the upper strata of the Persian society, retaining some elements of its original simplicity, tribal democracy and social justice.
Some Hindus who were opposed to the caste oppression and hierarchical ordering of social structure appear to have preferred conversion to Islam while some were forced into conversion while there were others lured by pecuniary gains. As Tarachand states, it is hardly possible to exaggerate the extent of Muslim influence over Indian life in all departments. But nowhere else is it shown so vividly and as picturesquely as in customs, in intimate details of domestic life, in music, in the fashion of dress, in the ceremonies of marriage, and fairs, and in the courtly institutions and etiquette. It is to be admitted that though these cultures lived for ages side by side, there was no real fusion of cultures but the impact of each on the other cannot be underestimated.
The Sufi Movement:
Sufism or Tasawwuf the composite name for various mystical tendencies and movements of Islam. Its object was to establish direct communication between God and man through personal experience of inherent mysticism. It is also based on the spirit of Quranic purity. There is an evolution in the growth and development of Sufism up to the 10th century, where we notice a formative stage of growth of organized Sufi movement. This was also the period of emergence of Sufi poetry in Persian. Fariduddin Attar, who died in AD 1220 and Jalaluddin Rumi, who died in AD 1273 were its two great exponents.
We notice the formation of Sufi orders or Salsilas. Al Hujwiri of the late 11th century was the earliest Sufi saint to settle in India. He was the author of Kasf-ul-mahjub, a famous treatise on Sufism in Persian. After the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate, many Sufi orders were established in different parts of India and Sufism became very influential by the 14th century.
Some of the most important Silsilas during the period of the Sultanate are as follows:
1. The Suhrawardi Silsila which was founded in India by Shaik Bahauddin Zakaria (AD 1182-1262).
2. The Chisti Silsila introduced in India by Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti, who died in AD 1236. Even today he is venerated by Muslims and his tomb is located at Ajmer, which became a sacred pilgrimage. Besides the above two orders, there existed the orders of the Firdausi, the Qadiri, the Shatauri, Qalandari, etc.
A critical study of the tenets of Sufism indicates that it was acquainted with Hinduism and Hindu thought and had imbibed certain elements of Indian idealism and adopted many Yogic practices and also was influenced by Upanishadic idealism and Vedanta.
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Explanation: The bhakti and sufi movements promote communal harmony and lead to the intermingling of culture because both of them teach people to live in harmony and peached for humankind and religious liberalism.