During the first wave of COVID, a bunch of friends visited Delhi’s Nizamuddin Area in connection with the major spreader religious tourist controversy.  They were shocked to see the open slaughter and sale of cows in the various allies of the area, which was ongoing without any check.  In our discussions, the topic of Sufi Tareeqat came up and some of the group were of the opinion that Sufi Islam does not encourage cow slaughter, and instead advises that all followers stick to sacrifice of goats and sheep on Eid. The reality about history of cow slaughter in India is completely opposite to this notion.

According to Ahmed Sirhindi, the famous Naqshbandi Sufi Saint,
“Cow-sacrifice in India is the noblest of Islamic practices. The kafirs may probably agree to pay jizya but they shall never concede to cow-sacrifice.”

Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti (1141–1230), probably the second-greatest Sufi saint of India after Nizamuddin Auliya, demonstrated a deep-seated hatred toward Hindu religion and its practices. On his arrival near the Anasagar Lake at Ajmer, he saw many idol-temples and promised to raze them to the ground with the help of Allah and His Prophet. After settling down there, Khwaja’s followers used to bring every day a cow (sacred to Hindus) near a famous temple, where the king and Hindus prayed, slaughter it and cook kebab from its meat—clearly to show his contempt toward Hinduism. ‘In order to prove the majesty of Islam, he is said to have dried the two holy lakes of Anasagar and Pansela (holy to Hindus) by the heat of his spiritual power.’

There are numerous texts available which highlight just how the peaceful, all inclusive Sufi Tareeqat had designs to destroy and annihilate anything Hindu in their surroundings. The 14thcentury Muslim saint Shah Jalal, fondly known as the ‘Patron saint of Sylhet’, descended in the area from Yemen after his spiritual teacher told him that he must go to India to spread Islam.  According to a book called Islamic Jihad –A Legacy of Forced Conversion, Imperialism and Slavery, when Shah Jalal came to settle in Sylhet in East Bengal (now Bangladesh), it was ruled by a Hindu king, named Gaur Govinda. Before his arrival in Bengal, Sultan Shamsuddin Firuz Shah of Gaur had twice attacked Gaur Govinda; these campaigns were led by his nephew, Sikandar Khan Ghazi. On both occasions, the Muslim invaders were defeated. King Gaur Govinda was attacked because of his punishing one Shaykh Burhanuddin and his son for slaughtering a cow. A piece of the cow-meat was stolen and dropped on the king’s mandir, which infuriated the king. The third time, the peaceful Sufi Shah Jalal attacked the King Govinda alongwith 3000 Sufi followers included in a force of 20,000 attackers.  During this time, the Hindus were harassed severely at the hands of the Sufi Saint and his followers.  They would throw Srimad Bhagwad into fire, urinate in sacred places of worship inside Mandirs, break moortis and snatch away Conch as well as Mandir bells. Two boats full of soldiers were assigned to always be on the lookout for anyone who dared to sing Keertan.

The Noakhali riots were ignited by this Pir SahabMaulvi Gholam Sarwar.  The benign Sufi preacher had the knack of speaking, so fables of atrocities committed by Hindus during the Calcutta riots were spun, and shared generously by Muslim clerics in public Islamic gatherings. The consequences followed which involved defilement of mandirs and murtis.  According to historians, there were about 400,000 Hindus living in Noakhali; at least 95 percent of them were converted to Islam at the pain of death. ‘The converted persons were made to read kalma,slaughter cows and eat their flesh,’. Up to 5,000 people were murdered, estimated 99 percent of the non-Muslim houses looted and 70–90 percent of them burned down.

Next time you get an urge to run to Ajmer with a Chador, make sure to write your will and get it registered well in advance.

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