Bismillahir Rahmanir
Rahim
Project name: Hazrat Shah Jalal (R) – ‘Shāh Jalāl ad-Dīn
al-Mujarrad al-Naqshbandi’ - A Literature Review
Project Start Date: 28.09.2017
Project Objective: Ascertaining an evidence based account of
Shāh Jalāl ad-Dīn al-Mujarrad al-Naqshbandi (Hazrat Shah Jalal) (R) of Sylhet’s
life and work.
Literature:
1. Shah Jalal (R), Banglapedia entry - the
National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh, http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Shah_Jalal_(R),
accessed on 28.09.2017, “(T)his page was last modified on 7 April 2015, at
12:45”.
Finds:
His full name is Shaikh Jalaluddin
.
“Shah Jalal's name is associated
with the Muslim conquest of Sylhet. Tradition goes that a Hindu king named Gaur
Govinda ruled the Sylhet area. Burhanuddin, a Muslim who lived in the territory
under his control once sacrificed a cow to celebrate the birth of his son. But
a kite snatched a piece of flesh of the slaughtered cow and it fell from its
beak on the house of a Brahmin. According to another tradition, the piece of
flesh fell on the temple of the king himself, which he took as a great offence.
At the order of the king, Burhanuddin's hands were said to have been cut off
and his son killed. Burhanuddin went to gaur and submitted a prayer to Sultan
shamsuddin firuz shah for justice from him. The sultan accordingly sent an army
under the command of his nephew Sikandar Khan Ghazi, who was however, defeated
twice by Gaur Govinda. The sultan then ordered his sipahxalar (armed forces
chief) Nasiruddin to lead the war. During the same time Shah Jalal (R) with his
360 followers reached Bengal and joined the Muslim army in the Sylhet campaign.
This time the Muslim army won, Gaur Govinda fled the country and Sylhet came
under Muslim rule”
.
“Epigraphic and literary sources
also attest the fact of the conquest of Sylhet during Shamsuddin Firuz Shah's
rule and of the involvement of Shah Jalal (R) in the process”
.
“ibn batuta visited Bengal when
Sultan fakhruddin mubarak shah was ruling at Sonargaon (1338-1349 AD). He met
Shah Jalal (R) in the latter's khanqah and stayed three days there in 1346 AD.
Ibn Batuta, however, wrongly recorded the name of the saint as Shaikh
Jalaluddin Tabrizi (R). Scholars have established that Ibn Batuta's 'Tabrizi'
is a mistake for 'Kuniyayi', the epithet for Shah Jalal (R)”
.
“The earliest and most acceptable
source of information about the first Muslim conquest of Sylhet and the advent
of Islam in the area is a Persian inscription of 918 AH/1512 AD issued in the
reign of Sultan Alauddin husain shah (1494-1519 AD). According to the
inscription, Sylhet was first conquered by Sikandar Shah Ghazi in 703 AH/1303
AD in the reign of Shamsuddin Firuz Shah. The inscription was dedicated to the
sacred memory of Shaikh Jalal Mujarrad ibn Muhammad. Though the inscription was
issued after a little more than two hundred years of the event, it seems to
have the accurate historical dates”
.
“An account of the conquest of
Sylhet by Shah Jalal (R) and his companions is found in the Gulzar-i-Abrar of
Ghausi, written in 1613 AD. It is based on the earlier work
Sharh-i-Nuzhat-ul-Arwah by Shaikh Ali Sher, a descendant of Shaikh Nurul Huda
Abul Karamat, who was a companion of Shah Jalal (R) who took part in the
conquest of Sylhet. According to this source, Shaikh Jalaluddin Mujarrad, a
khalifah of Sultan Syed Ahmed Yesvi, was born in Turkistan and had settled in
Sylhet. With the permission of the Pir, he came to India with 700 companions to
take part in jihad (holy war). He reached Bengal with 360 of his companions.
They fought against Raja Gaur Govinda of Sylhet who fled and the country around
Sylhet fell into the hands of the victors. Shah Jalal (R) divided the conquered
lands among his followers, permitted them to get married, but he himself,
however, remained a celibate. This source gives the credit for conquering
Sylhet to Shah Jalal (R) and his followers, and has no reference to any
reigning king or his generals”
.
“Nasiruddin Haidar wrote a
biography of Shah Jalal (R) in Persian in 1860. The author claims that in
writing the book titled Suhail-i-Yaman, he used two Persian manuscripts such as
Risalat written by Muhiuddim Khadim in 1711 AD and Rauzat-us-Salatin written by
an unknown author in 1721 AD. Both the manuscripts were kept preserved in the
dargah of the saint. Shah Jalal's father, Muhammad, was a sufi of Yamen. Shah
Jalal (R) lost his parents in his childhood and was brought up by his maternal
uncle Sayyid Ahamd Kabir Suhrawardy, a great saint. After completion of formal
education, Shah Jalal (R) received spiritual lessons from his uncle. It is said
that Kabir gave him a handful of earth and instructed him to go to India for
preaching Islam. Shah Jalal (R) was told to find the sacred place of India
where the earth was of the colour and smell similar to the earth given to him
and should pass the rest of his life there in prayer and meditation. On his way
to India, Shah Jalal (R) met Shakh Nizamuddin Auliya at Delhi who gave him a
pair of pigeons of a special species, which, according to folk belief is found
still today in the dargah of Shah Jalal (R) in Sylhet and some other places of
Bengal. So advised, Shah Jalal (R) moved to Bengal. It so happened that during
this time, the army of Sultan Shamsuddin Firuz Shah was fighting against King
Gaur Govinda of Sylhet. Shah Jalal (R) and his followers joined the battle. The
biography of Shah Jalal (R) gives description of how Sylhet was conquered, as
well as of some miraculous events that demonstrate the spiritual powers of the
saint, which were considered for the victory more important than the prowess of
the army”
.
“Although Suhail-i-Yaman is a
relatively recent book written by using both facts and hearsay, it was for
sometime looked upon as a standard biography of Hazrat Shah Jalal (R). The book
says that the saint came from Yemen (of the Arab peninsula), but this has been
proved wrong. An inscription discovered in Sylhet in 1873 categorically
indicates that Shah Jalal (R) was a Kuniyayi, ie, he came from Kuniya, a
township in Turkey. In the Gulzar-i-Abrar of Ghausi he is called Turkistani.
There are every reasons to
believe that Shah Jalal (R) came from Turkey and not from Yemen. Another
inscription issued in honour of Shaikh-ul-Mashaikh Makhdum Shaikh Jalal
Mujarrad bin Muhammad records that Sylhet was first conquered by Sikandar Khan
Ghazi in the reign of Sultan Firuz Shah in 703 AH/1303 AD. This is also
supported by Gulzar-i-Abrar”
.
“In his travel accounts, Ibn
Batuta described that Shah Jalal (R) was a great saint of hoary age and a
dervish with exceptional spiritual powers. Ibn Batuta learnt that the saint had
met Caliph al-Mustasim Billah at Baghdad, and that he was there at the time of
the Caliph's assassination. The companions of Shah Jalal (R) later told Ibn
Batuta that the saint died at the age of one hundred and fifty and that he
observed fasting in almost all the days of a year. He also performed namaz throughout
the night. He was thin, tall and scantily bearded”
.
“Ibn Batuta also described some
events that demonstrate the spiritual powers of the saint and noted that he had
got the message of his death in the following year at Beijing. Recent studies
show that Ibn Batuta visited Bengal in 1345-46 AD, which means, Shah Jalal (R)
died in 1347”
.
“Shah Jalal (R) was a disciple of
Sayyid Ahmad Yesvi and belonged to the Naqshbandiya order of the sufis. His
preceptor and fellow friends lived in agony and suspense in the days of turmoil
following the Mongol invasion in Turkey”
.
“Ibn Batuta's statement that he
had met Shaikh Jalaluddin Tabrizi (R) has become a subject of controversy. Some
modern scholars believe that both the Jalals (Shaikh Jalaluddin Tabrizi (R) and
Shah Jalal (R) of Sylhet) are one and the same person, which they were not,
according to recent studies. However, both of them were great saints, and had
great influence on the people of Bengal. They lived and worked at different
places and different times. Shaikh Jalaluddin Tabrizi (R) lived in Pandua and
Deotala of Maldah (West Bengal), but Shah Jalal (R) lived in Sylhet (East
Bengal). Tabrizi's period was at least a century earlier than that of Shah
Jalal (R) of Sylhet. The former was a contemporary of Sultan Shamsuddin
iltutmish (died 1236 AD), Shaikh Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki of Delhi (died 1235
AD) and Shaikh Bahauddin Zakariya of Multan (died 1262). According to
Hagiologists, Jalaluddin Tabrizi (R) died in 1226, or 1244 AD and, even if the
later date is considered correct, he died one hundred three years before the
death of Shah Jalal (R) of Sylhet”
.
“Bibliography HAR Gibb, Ibn
Battuta: Travels in Asia and Africa, London 1928; 'Gulzar-i-Abrar of Ghausi',
Journal of the Asiatic Society of Pakistan, II, 1959;
ME Haq, A History of Sufism in
Bengal, Dhaka 1975; A Karim, Social History of the Muslim in Bengal, (2nd ed),
Chittagong 1985”
.
2. Literature:
Shah Jalal, Wikipedia entry, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shah_Jalal,
accessed on 28.09.2017.
Finds:
“Shāh Jalāl ad-Dīn al-Mujarrad
al-Naqshbandi (Arabic:
شاه
جلال الدين المجرد النقشبندي),
popularly known as Hazrat Shah Jalal (Arabic:
شاه
جلال, Bengali:
শাহ জালাল, Sylheti: ꠡꠣꠢ ꠎꠣꠟꠣꠟ)
(1271 CE – 15 March 1346 CE), is a celebrated Sufi Muslim figure in Bengal”
.
“According to a tablet
inscription found in Amberkhana, he arrived at Sylhet in 1303 CE”.[1]
“His biography was first recorded
in the mid 16th century by a certain Shaikh 'Ali (d. 1562), a descendant of one
of Shah Jalal's companions. Thus there is a gap of
several centuries between the life of the
saint and that of his earliest biographer
.
According to this account, Shah Jalal had been born in Turkestan, where he
became a spiritual disciple of Saiyid Ahmad Yasawi, one of the founders of the
Central Asian Sufi tradition.[2] Therefore, although his existence is not
debated, much of his life story is debated”
.
“Early life and education[edit]
Born Jalāl ad-Dīn bin Mahmoud and
became a makhdoom, teacher of Sunnah and, for performing prayers in solitary
milieu and leading a secluded life as an ascetic, al Mujarrad was post fixed to
his name. He was conferred with the title of Shaykh-ul-Mashāykh (Great
Scholar). Shah Jalal's date and place of birth is not certain. Various
traditions and historical documents differ. A number of scholars have claimed
that he was born in 1271 CE in Konya in modern-day Turkey (then in the
Sultanate of Rûm) and later moved to Yemen either as a child or adult while
many believe he was born in a village called Kaninah in Hadhramaut, Yemen. His
mother, Syeda Hasina Fatimah, and his father, Mahmoud bin Mohammed bin Ibrahim,
were descendants of Hashemite dynasty of Quraysh of Mecca.[3] His father was a
Muslim cleric, who was a contemporary of the Persian poet and Sufi mystic,
Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi. Shah Jalal was educated and raised by his maternal
uncle Syed Ahmed Kabir in Mecca. He excelled in his studies; became a hafiz and
mastered fiqh. He achieved spiritual perfection (Kamaliyyat) after 30 years of
study, practice and meditation.[4]
”
“Travel to India[edit]
According to legend, one day his
uncle, Sheikh Kabir gave Shah Jalal a handful of soil and asked him to travel
to India. He instructed him to choose to settle and propagate Islam in any
place in India where the soil exactly matches that which he gave him in smell
and colour.[5] Shah Jalal journeyed eastward and reached India in c. 1300,
where he met many great scholars and Sufi mystics.[5]
”
“Later life[edit]
During the later stages of his
life, Shah Jalal devoted himself to propagating Islam. Shah Jalal became so
renowned that the famous traveller Ibn Battuta, then in Satgaon,[6] made a
one-month journey through the mountains of Kamarupa north-east of Sylhet to
meet him.[7] On his way to Sylhet via Habung, Ibn Batuta was greeted by several
of Shah Jalal's disciples who had come to assist him on his journey many days
before he had arrived. At the meeting in 1345 CE, Ibn Batuta noted that Shah
Jalal was tall and lean, fair in complexion and lived by the mosque in a cave,
where his only item of value was a goat he kept for milk, butter, and yogurt.
He observed that the companions of the Shah Jalal were foreign and known for
their strength and bravery. He also mentions that many people would visit the
Shah to seek guidance.[8]
”
“The meeting between Ibn Batuta
and Shah Jalal is described in his Arabic travelogue, Rihla (The Journey). Amir
Khusrau also gives an account of Shah Jalal's conquest of Sylhet in his book
Afdalul Hawaade. Even today in Hadramaut, Yemen, Shah Jalal's name is
established in folklore.[9]
The exact date of his death is
debated, but he is reported by Ibn Batuta to have died on 20 Dhul Qadah 746 AH
(15 March 1346 CE).[10] He left behind no descendants and was buried in Sylhet
in his dargah (tomb), which is located in a neighbourhood now known as Dargah
Mahalla:
Where he lies, a soul eternal,
The much-loved awliya of Allah, Hazrat Shah Jalal.[11]
।“
- Ahmed, Shamsuddin, Inscription of Bengal, vol. iv,
Dhaka (1960), p 25
- Eaton, Richard M. (1993). The
Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204–1760 (PDF).
Berkeley: University of California Press.
- Rahman, M. F., Hazrat Shah Jalal and 360
Awliya, Deshkaal Publications, Sylhet, 1992, p.12-13
- Islam in South Asia in practice source
of shuhel-e-yamani By Barbara Daly Metcalf, Published by –
Princeton universiti press, 2009. Page 385 [1]
- Karim, Abdul (2012). "Shah
Jalal (R)". In Islam,
Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of
Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
- Hazrat Shah Jalal O Sylhet er Itihas by Syed
Mujtaba Ali, re-published by Utsa Prakashan, Dhaka, 1988, p.60
- Rihla 9, 1344
- Islam in South Asia in practice By – Barbara
Daly Metcalf, Published – Princeton university press Uk 2009, Page 383 –
385.
- The rise of Islam and the Bengal frontier,
1204–1760, By Richard Maxwell Eaton, Published by – university of
california press, page 76
- Rahman, M. F., Hazrat Shah Jalal and 360
Awliya, p.13, Deshkaal Publications, Sylhet, 1992
- Ziaul Haque, Md., Hazrat Shah Jalal
(R.A): An Epic, p.114, Choitonno Publication, Sylhet, 2015
- Systems, Cognitive (2012-04-08). "The
seven golden chains of Shaykh Muhammad Siraj ad-Din Naqshbandi
(d.1915)". Ghaffari. Retrieved 2017-07-09.
- Islam in South Asia in practice, By Barbara Daly
Metcalf, Published by Princeton universiti press.
3. Literature:
Finds:
“His full name is Shaykh-ul
Mashaek Mokhdum Shaykh Shah Jalal Mozorrodh Bin Muhammed. His father was the
contemporary of Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi. Losing his parents early in his life
he was brought up by his maternal uncle who was also a pious saint. After
completing his education, his uncle gave him a handful of earth and told him to
travel to a land, in Hindustan, where earth of the same colour can be found.
There he should settle down and establish the religion of Islam.
In the course of his journey he
met Khwaja Gharibnawaz Moinuddin Hasan Chisty and Shaykh Nizam ud din Auliya.
After a while he reached Sylhet, Bengal where he found a Shaykh, Burhan ud din
was being persecuted by Raja Gaur Govinda, the king of the Sylhet. Shaykh Shah
Jalal and his travelling party of 300 plus auliyas joined the army which had
been sent by the Sultan of Gaur against the King. Alhumdulillah, they were able
to defeat the King despite two previous failed attempts.
After the conquest Shaykh Shah
Jalal found a match for the earth his uncle had given him and he settled in
Sylhet and remained there until his death. He and his disciples travelled as
far as Mymensingh and Dhaka to preach the message of Islam.
Ibn Battutah who met Shaykh Shah
Jalal in Sylhet says of him: 'he was numbered among the principal saints,
and was one of the most singular of men. He had done many noteworthy acts, and
wrought many celebrated miracles. He used to remain standing (in prayer) all
night. The inhabitants of these mountains received Islam from his hands, and it
was for this reason that he stayed among them.'
Ibn Battutah also narrates several miracles of the saint, and reports the date
of his death as 1347”
.
4. Literature:
Waines, David, The Odyssey of Ibn Battuta - uncommon tales of a medieval
adventurer. Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (July 15, 2010).
Finds:
“He sought permission to leave
and the next sea stage of his travels is laconically expressed thus: ‘
I left
and we were at sea for forty-three days and then reached the country of Bengal.’
”
“Bengal detained him long enough
to make a one-month trip into the mountains of Assam to meet a famous holy man,
Jalal al-Din al-Tabrizi. Upon his return down river to the port city of
Sunarkawan (Sonargaon), he found a junk bound for Sumatra (al-Jawa) and
embarked upon it for a voyage of 40 days”
.
“The final meeting with Burhan
al-Din in China involved a confused and bizarre tale of apparent coincidences,
resolved of course by the various pieces falling into place by an act of grace
(karama). Ibn Battuta had set out to meet an aged saint in the mountains
of Bengal. His arrival was foretold by the saint who instructed some companions
to meet the Moroccan traveller, which they did, two days distant from the
saint’s retreat. At their first meeting Ibn Battuta was struck by the saint’s
attire, a goat-hair garment he had worn especially to greet his guest. Reading
the covetous look on Ibn Battuta’s face, the saint gave him the cloak and his
skull cap. Indeed, he had privately informed his companions beforehand that the
Moroccan would desire the garment, that an infidel governor would then relieve
him of it and, lo! he would give it to Burhan al-Din for whom it was originally
intended. Much later, when Ibn Battuta had reached China, he was spotted
wearing the goat-hair garment by a government minister who presented him to the
local governor. He admired the garment and took it in exchange for ten robes of
honour, a fully caparisoned horse and money.
The following year Ibn Battuta was in the Chinese capital and sought out Burhan
al-Din in his hospice. He found him reading and wearing an identical goat-hair
cloak! Ibn Battuta’s amazement was doubled when Burhan al-Din showed him a
letter from his spiritual brother in Bengal advising him that the garment would
reach him by such and such a route, every detail of which
occurred precisely as Ibn Battuta had experienced it and was able to verify”
.
30.09.2017
5. Literature:
Ibn Batuta, 1304–1377, [Tuhfat al-nuzzar fi ghara'ib al-amsar wa-'aja'ib
al-asfar, English, Selections], The travels of Ibn Battuta in the Near East,
Asia and Africa 1325–1354. Translated and edited by Samuel Lee, DOVER
PUBLICATIONS, INC., Mineola, New York, 2004.
Finds:
“The Vizier
then
furnished me with provisions, and I sailed form Bengal, which is an extensive
and plentiful country. I never saw a country in which provisions were so cheap.
I there saw one of the religious of the west, who told me, that he had bought
provisions for himself and his family for a whole year with eight dirhems. The
first town I entered here was nSad-kāwān,1 which is large and situated on the
sea-shore.
The king of Bengal was at this
time of Fakhr Oddīn : he was an eminent man, kind to strangers and persons of
the Sūfī persuasion : but I did not present myself to him, nor did I see him,
because he was opposed to the Emperor, and was then in open rebellion against
him. From pSadkāwān I travelled for the mountains of qKāmrū, which are at the
distance of one month from this place. These are extensive mountains, and they
join the rmountains of Thibet, where there are musk gazelles. The inhabitants
of these mountains are, like the Turks, famous for their attention to smagic.
My object in visiting these mountains was, to meet one of the saints, namely,
the Sheikh tJalāl Oddīn of Tebrīz. This Sheikh was one of the greatest saints,
and one of those singular individuals who had the power of working great and
notable miracles. He had also lived to a remarkably great age. He told me, that
he had seen uEl Mostaasim the Calif in Bagdad: and his companions told me
afterwards that he died at the age of one hundred and fifty years; that he
fasted through a space of about forty years, never breaking his fast till he
had fasted throughout ten successive days. He had a cow, on the milk of which
he usually breakfasted; and his practice was to sit up all night. It was by his
means that the people of these mountains became Mohammedans; and on this
account it was, that he resided among them. One of his companions told me, that
on the day before his death he invited them all to come to him; he then said to
them: To-morrow I depart from you, Deo volente, and my vicegerent with you is
God besides whom there is no other God. When the evening of the following day
had arrived, and he had performed the last prostration of the evening prayer,
he was taken by God. On the side of the cave in which he had resided was found
a grave ready dug, and by it a winding sheet and burial spices. The people then
washed and buried him in them, and said their prayers over him. When I was on
my journey to see this Sheikh, four of his companions met me at the distance of
two days, and told me, that the Sheikh had said to the Fakeers who were with
them, A western religious traveller is coming to you : go out and meet him. It
was, said they, by the order of the Sheikh that we came to you; notwithstanding
the fact, that he had no knowledge whatever of my circumstances, except what he
had by divine revelation. I went with them accordingly to his cell without the
cave, near which there was no building whatever. The people of this country are
partly Mohammedans, and partly infidels; both of whom visit the Sheikh and
bring valuable presents. On these the Fakeers, and other persons who arrive
here, subsist. As for the Sheikh himself, he confines himself to the milk of
his cow, as already mentioned. When I presented myself to him, he arose and
embraced me. He then asked me of my country and travels, of which I informed
him. He then said to the Fakeers: Treat him honourably. They accordingly
carried me to the cell, and kept me as their guest for three days. On the day I
presented myself to the Sheikh he had on a religious xgarment, made of fine
goat’s hair. I was astonished at it, and said to myself, I wish the Sheikh
would give it me. When I went in to bid him farewell, he arose and went to the
side of the cave, took off the goat’s hair garment, as well as the fillet of
his head and his sleeves, and put them on me.
The Fakeers then told me, that it
was not his practice to put on this garment: and that he had put it on only on
the occasion of my coming, for he had said to them: This garment will be wished
for by a Mogrebine; but an infidel king shall take it from him, and shall give
it to our brother yBorhān Oddīn of Sāgirj, whose it is, and for whose use it
has been made. When I was told this by the Fakeers, I said: As I have a
blessing from the Sheikh, and as he has clothed me with his own clothes, I will
never enter with them into the presence of any king either infidel or Moslem.
After this I left the Sheikh. It
happened, however, after a considerable time, that I entered the country of
China, and went as far as the city of zKhansā. Upon a certain occasion, when my
companions had all left me on account of the press of the multitude, and I had
this garment on, and was on the road, I met the Vizier with a large body. He
happened to cast his eyes upon me, and called me to him. He then took me by the
hand, and asked me why I had come to this country; nor did he leave me until we
came to the King’s palace. I wished to go, but he would not allow me to do so,
but took me in to the King, who interrogated me about the Mohammedan
sovereigns; to all which I gave answers. He then cast his eyes upon the
garment, and began to praise it, and said to the Vizier: Take it off him. To
this I could offer no resistance, so he took it; but ordered me ten dresses of
honour, and a horse with its furniture, and money for my necessities. This
changed my mind. I then called to mind the words of the Sheikh, that an infidel
king should take it; and my wonder was increased.
After a year had elapsed, I
entered the palace of the King of China at aKhān Bālik,2 my object was to visit
the cell of the Sheikh Borhān Oddīn of Sāgirj. I did so, and found him reading,
and the very goat’s-hair garment I have been mentioning was on him. I was
surprised at this, and was turning the garment over in my hand, when he said,
Why do you turn the garment over, do you know it? I said, I do; it is the
garment which the King of Khansā took from me. He answered: This garment was
made for me by my brother Jalāl Oddīn, for my own use, who also wrote to me to
say that the garment would come to me by such a person. He then produced the
letter, which I read, and could not help wondering at the exactness of the
Sheikh. I then told him of the origin of the story. He answered, My brother
Jalāl Oddīn was superior to all this : he had a perfect control over human
nature; 3 but now he has been taken to God’s mercy. He then said, I have been
told, that he performed the morning prayer every day in Mecca; that he went on
the pilgrimage annually, because he was never to be seen on the two days of
bArafat and the feast, no one knowing whither he had gone.
When, however, I had bid farewell
to the Sheikh Jalāl Oddīn, I travelled to the city of cJabnak, which is very
large and beautiful; it is divided by the river which descends from the
mountains of Kāmrū, called the dBlue River. By this one may travel to Bengal
and the countries of eLaknoutī.
Footnote References:
1 The name of this place is
variously written; in some cases we have Sutirkāwān, in others according to our
MSS. In the we have and It was, no doubt, the name of a place then in Bengal;
but whether it is still in existence or not the geographers do not inform us.
We are told, in the author just mentioned, that Mohammed Shah made an
expedition, in A.H. 741, A.D. 1340, to this place, and took Fakhr Oddīn, the
king mentioned by our traveller, prisoner, carried him to Laknoutl, and there
put him to death”
.
6. Literature:
Dunn, Ross E., The Adventures of Ibn
Battuta, A Muslim Traveler of the 14th Century, Updated With A 2012 Preface,
University of California Press, 2012, First Paperback Printing 1989. ISBN
978-0-520-27292-7.
Finds:
“Ibn Battuta seems to have wanted
to visit the delta in the summer of 1345 mainly to seek the blessing of Shah
Jalal. He was a celebrated holy warrior who, in the year our traveler was born,
participated in the Muslim takeover of Sylhet, a town and district in the
northeastern corner of the delta.22 Under normal circumstances, Ibn Battuta would
also have had himself presented at the princely court of Fakhr al-Din, whose
capital was at Sonargaon, a city about half way along the route from the coast
to Sylhet. In this case, however, Fakhr al-Din’s dissidence was too recent and
his own identification with Muhammad Tughluq too well known to make such an
introduction advisable. Consequently, he decided to steer clear of royal
interviews and make a quick trip up to Sylhet as anonymously as possible.
He probably disembarked at the
busy eastern port of Chittagong, a city overflowing with agricultural goods
transported by river craft down through the maze of delta channels to the
coast.23 He notes in the Rihla that foreigners liked to call Bengal “a hell
crammed with good things.” The noxious, humid vapours exuded from the delta’s
marshes and riverbanks made for an oppressive climate, but food was abundant
and remarkably cheap. To prove his point, he even offers in the Rihla a list of
prices for rice, meat, fowl, sugar, oil, cotton, and slaves. Not to pass up a
bargain himself, he purchased an
“extremely beautiful” slave girl in
Chittagong. One of his comrades acquired a young boy for “a couple of gold
dinars.
”
“He tells us nothing very lucid
about the itinerary or time schedule of his trip from Chittagong to Sylhet, but
he very likely traveled by boat northward along the Meghna River valley, a
lush, watery, rice-growing country leading to the Assam Plateau and the Tibetan
Himalayas beyond.24 He seems to have had a party of companions, but they are
more phantom-like than ever. Al-Tuzari was apparently with him when he visited
Ma’bar, but he is never mentioned after that and indeed we learn
parenthetically in an earlier part of the Rihla that the man died in India.25
Shah Jalal of Sylhet, whose tomb
is still a local pilgrimage center, was renowned in medieval India for awesome
miracles, prognostications, and the feat of dying at the age of 150.26 One day,
the Rihla reports, the old shaykh, who had no previous knowledge of Ibn
Battuta, told his disciples that a traveler from the Maghrib was about to
arrive and that they should go out to meet him. This they did, intercepting the
visitor two days’ distance from the khanqah. The story gives Ibn Battuta a
convenient entrée to remind his readers of his own singular accomplishments as
a globetrotter:
When I visited him he rose to
receive me and embraced me. He enquired of me about my country and journeys, of
which I gave him an account. He said to me, “You are a traveler of Arabia.” His
disciples who were then present said, “O lord, he is also a traveler of the
non-Arab countries.
”
“Traveler of the non-Arab countries!” rejoined the shaykh, “Treat him, then,
with favor.” Therefore they took me to the hospice and entertained me for three
days.
Returning southward along the
Meghna River past “water wheels, gardens, and villages such as those along the
banks of the Nile in Egypt,” he reached Sonargaon (not far from modern Dacca),
the capital of Sultan Fakr al-Din. Without dallying long or identifying himself
at the royal residence, he bought passage on a commercial junk departing down
the river and went directly on to Sumatra”
.
Footnotes:
“
22.
N. K. Bhattasali,
Coins and Chronology of the Early Independent Sultans
of Bengal (Cambridge, England, 1922; reprint edn., New Delhi, 1976),
pp. 150–54.
23.
IB identifies the place of his debarkation as Sudkawan. Several historians have
taken sides on the issue of whether this toponym corresponds to Chittagong,
today an important city in southeastern Bangladesh, or Satgaon, a medieval
commercial center in the western delta region north of modern Calcutta. The proponents
of Chittagong are Muhammad Abdur Rahim,
Social and Cultural History of
Bengal (Karachi, 1963), pp. 12–14; Bhattasali,
Coins and
Chronology, pp. 145–49; Gibb,
Travels in Asia and Africa, p.
366n; MH, p. 235n; and Yule,
Cathay, vol. 4, p. 82n. The advocates
of Satgaon are Jadunath Sarkar (ed.),
The History of Bengal, 2
vols. (Dacca, 1948), vol. 2, p. 100;
Ibn Batutah’s Account of Bengal,
trans. Harinath De, and ed. P. N. Ghosh (Calcutta, 1978), app. I, pp. 1–4;
Ferrand,
Relations de voyages, pp. 434–35; and Henri Cordier,
editor of 3rd edn. of Yule’s
Cathay, vol. 4, p. 82n. Without laying
out the several semantic and geographical arguments advanced on both sides, I
find the case for Chittagong the more convincing, especially in the context of
IB’s subsequent movements through Bengal.
24.
IB states that he went to see Shah Jalal in the mountains of Kamaru, that is,
Kamrup in Assam. Sylhet, however, is on the edge of the delta region just south
of the hills of Assam. IB does not mention Sylhet by name, but Shah Jalal is
known to have resided there. Yule,
Cathay, vol. 4, pp. 151–52.
Mahdi Husain
(MH, p. 237n) suggests that IB made a long looping tour up the Brahmaputra
River through central Assam, then southward to Sylhet. But there is nothing in
IB’s account of his personal experiences indicating he went any further north
than Sylhet.
25.
In connection with his befriending al-Tuzari in Cairo, IB states that the man
“continued to accompany me for many years, until we quitted the land of India,
when he died at Sandabur.” Gb, vol. 2, p. 415. However, IB says nothing of
al-Tuzari in the account of his experiences at Sandapur, and the man was
apparently still in his suite later in Ma’bar. It is conceivable that IB made a
subsequent visit to Sandapur that he never mentions in the
Rihla and
left al-Tuzari there; or else al-Tuzari went there on his own when IB left
India on his way to China.
26.
IB calls the man he visited Shaykh Jalal al-Din al-Tabrizi, but he appears to
have confused the saint of this name, a divine of the Suhrawardi order who died
about 1225, with Shah Jalal, the Muslim conqueror of Sylhet. Abdul Karim,
Social
History of the Muslims of Bengal (Dacca, 1959), pp. 91–101; Abdur
Rahim,
Social and Cultural History of Bengal, pp. 85–103; Bhattasali,
Coins
and Chronology, pp. 149–54. This mistake might raise questions about the
authenticity of IB’s journey into the interior of Bengal, except that Bengalis
themselves commonly confuse these two holy men and even use “Shah Jalal” as a
generic term for any powerful saint. Personal communication from Richard Eaton,
University of Arizona”
.
7. Literature:
Social History of the Muslims in
Bengal (Down To A. D. 1538) Abdul Karim Ma Ph.D. (Dacca). Published by The
Asiatic Society of Pakistan, Dacca. East Pakistan, 1959.
Bibliography:
2.
Persian inscription of 918 AH/1512 AD issued in
the reign of Sultan Alauddin husain shah (1494-1519 AD).
3.
Ghausi's Persian Gulzar-i-abrar: biographies of
mystics & learned men, written in 1613 AD. Muhammad Ghausi ibn Hasan ibn
Musa Shattari (d. AD 1617)
4.
Sharh-i-Nuzhat-ul-Arwah by Shaikh Ali Sher, a
descendant of Shaikh Nurul Huda Abul Karamat, who was a companion of Shah Jalal
(R).
5.
Suhail-i-Yaman, Nasiruddin Haidar, a biography
of Shah Jalal (R) in Persian, 1860.
6.
Risalat written by Muhiuddim Khadim in 1711 AD.
Manuscript was kept preserved in the dargah of the saint.
7.
Rauzat-us-Salatin written by an unknown author
in 1721 AD. Manuscript was kept preserved in the dargah of the saint.
8.
HAR Gibb, Ibn Battuta: Travels in Asia and
Africa, London 1928.
9.
Journal of the Asiatic Society of Pakistan, II,
1959;
10.
ME Haq, A History of Sufism in Bengal, Dhaka
1975;
11.
Shah Jalal, Wikipedia entry, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shah_Jalal,
accessed on 28.09.2017. Wikipedia
cautioned that “(T)his article relies largely or entirely on a single source.
Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help improve this
article by introducing citations to additional sources. (August 2009)”,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shah_Jalal, accessed on 28.09.2017.
12. Tablet
inscription found in Amberkhana, (Ahmed, Shamsuddin, Inscription of Bengal,
vol. iv, Dhaka (1960), p 25).
13.
A Karim, Social History of the Muslim in Bengal,
(2nd ed), Chittagong 1985.
14.
Ahmed, Shamsuddin, Inscription of Bengal, vol.
iv, Dhaka (1960).
15.
Eaton, Richard M. (1993). The Rise of Islam and
the Bengal Frontier, 1204–1760 (PDF). Berkeley: University of California Press.
16.
Rahman,
M. F., Hazrat Shah Jalal and 360 Awliya, Deshkaal Publications, Sylhet, 1992,
p.12-13
17.
Islam in
South Asia in practice source of shuhel-e-yamani By Barbara Daly Metcalf,
Published by – Princeton universiti press, 2009. Page 385 [1]
18.
Karim, Abdul (2012). "Shah Jalal (R)".
In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of
Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
19.
Hazrat
Shah Jalal O Sylhet er Itihas by Syed Mujtaba Ali, re-published by Utsa
Prakashan, Dhaka, 1988, p.60
20.
Rihla 9,
1344
21.
Islam in
South Asia in practice By – Barbara Daly Metcalf, Published – Princeton
university press Uk 2009, Page 383 – 385.
22.
The rise
of Islam and the Bengal frontier, 1204–1760, By Richard Maxwell Eaton,
Published by – university of california press, page 76
23.
Rahman,
M. F., Hazrat Shah Jalal and 360 Awliya, p.13, Deshkaal Publications, Sylhet,
1992
24.
Ziaul
Haque, Md., Hazrat Shah Jalal (R.A): An Epic, p.114, Choitonno Publication,
Sylhet, 2015
25.
Systems, Cognitive (2012-04-08). "The seven
golden chains of Shaykh Muhammad Siraj ad-Din Naqshbandi (d.1915)".
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Islam in South Asia in practice, By Barbara Daly
Metcalf, Published by Princeton universiti press.
28.
N. K. Bhattasali, Coins and Chronology
of the Early Independent Sultans of Bengal (Cambridge, England, 1922;
reprint edn., New Delhi, 1976), pp. 150–54.
30.
Abdul Karim, Social History of the
Muslims of Bengal (Dacca, 1959), pp. 91–101;
32.
Bhattasali, Coins and Chronology,
pp. 149–54.
33.
Amir Khusrau, Afdalul Hawaade
34.
Muhammad Mojlum Khan, The Muslim Heritage of
Bengal: The Lives, Thoughts and Achievements of Great Muslim Scholars, Writers
and Reformers of Bangladesh and West Bengal, Kube Publishing Ltd, 2013, Google
Book version:
https://goo.gl/hYYuAM
35.
Tarikhe Jalali
তারিখে জালালি,
মৌলবি নাসির উদ্দিন হায়দার,
মোস্তাক আহমাদ দীন (Translator)
Publisher, Utsho Prokashon, July 2008.
Rokomari.com
36. সৈয়দ মোস্তফা কামাল, হযরত শাহ জালাল (রহ);
কারামতঃ ৩৬০ আউলিয়া
(৩১ তম সংস্করণ) ২০০৬ খ্রিঃ। প্রকাশক- শেখ ফারুক আহমদ, পলাশ সেবা ট্রাস্ট সিলেট, প্রকাশকাল- ফেব্রুয়ারি ২০১১.
37.
দেওয়ান নুরুল আনওয়ার জালালাবাদের কথা, বাংলা একাডেমি
38.
মতিয়ার রহমান চৌধুরী, 'সিলেট বিভাগের ইতিবৃত্ত'
39.
মোহাম্মদ মুমিনুল হক,
'
সিলেট বিভাগের ইতিবৃত্ত’,
গতিধারা
40.
হজরত শাহ্ জালাল ও সিলেটের ইতিহাস,
সৈয়দ মুর্তাজা আলী;
প্রথম প্রকাশ ১৯৬৫;
উৎস প্রকাশন;
উৎস সংস্করণ: জুলাই ২০০৩। Rokomari.com
41.
শ্রীহট্টের ইতিবৃত্ত (পূর্বাংশ), অচ্যুতচরণ চৌধুরী তত্ত্বনিধি. উৎস প্রকাশন
“১,৬৬৩ পৃষ্ঠার এই ইতিহাস গ্রন্থটি দুইটি আলাদা আলাদা খণ্ডে প্রকাশিত হয়। এর মধ্যে
শ্রীহট্টের ইতিবৃত্ত (পূর্বাংশ) (৭৭৯ পৃষ্ঠা) প্রকাশিত হয় ১৩১৭ বঙ্গাব্দে (১৯১০ খ্রিস্টাব্দ)
এবং শ্রীহট্টের ইতিবৃত্ত (উত্তরাংশ) (৮৮৪) প্রকাশিত হয় ১৩২৪ বঙ্গাব্দে (১৯১৭ খ্রিস্টাব্দ)।
গ্রন্থটি প্রকাশের জন্য কামরূপ শাসনাবলীর গ্রন্থকার পণ্ডিত পদ্মনাথ ভট্টাচার্য তৎকালীন
মূল্যমানের সাড়ে চার হাজার টাকা অনুদান দিয়েছিলেন। প্রকাশিত গ্রন্থটি সম্পর্কে চট্টগ্রামের
ঐতিহাসিক আবদুল হক চৌধুরীর অভিমত: সংগৃহীত উপাদানের সাহায্যে তাঁর আগে এতবড় ইতিহাস
গ্রন্থ এদেশে (বাংলাদেশে) কেউ লিখেননি। এই বৃহৎ বইটিতে তিনি সিলেটের ঐতিহাসিক ও প্রাকৃতিক
বিবরণ ছাড়াও প্রতিটি গ্রামের প্রাচীন হিন্দু-মুসলমান পরিবারগুলোর ইতিহাস, কবি, রাজনীতিবিদ, ফকির-দরবেশ, সাধু, আওলিয়াদের সংক্ষিপ্ত জীবনী লিখে
গেছেন। এছাড়া দিয়েছেন বহু ঐতিহাসিক সনদ, প্রাচীন মুদ্রা ও ফরমানের আলোকচিত্র, বংশলতিকার অনুলিপি ও প্রাচীন
মুদ্রার ছবি।
মূল গ্রন্থ দুটির প্রকাশক ছিলেন
কলকাতার শ্রী উপেন্দ্র নাথ পাল চৌধুরী, আর মূল্য ছিল যথাক্রমে তৎকালীন মূল্যে মাত্র চার টাকা ও পাঁচ টাকা।[১] বইটি দীর্ঘদিন
আর পুণর্মুদ্রিত না হলেও পরবর্তিতে বাংলাদেশের উৎস প্রকাশন তা পুণর্মুদ্রণের উদ্যোগ
নেয়, যদিও তাতে কোনো সংশোধন না এনে
মূলের অণুবর্তী রাখার চেষ্টা লক্ষ করা যায়।[তথ্যসূত্র প্রয়োজন] এছাড়াও কলকাতা থেকেও
বইটির দুটি খণ্ড পুণর্মুদ্রিত হয়েছে।[৩]“
43.
সিলেটের ইতিহাস প্রসঙ্গ, আবদুল হক চৌধুরী; কথামালা প্রকাশনা, চট্টগ্রাম থেকে মুদ্রিত: জুলাই ১৯৯৩.
44.
হজরত শাহ্ জালাল ও সিলেটের ইতিহাস, সৈয়দ মুর্তাজা আলী; উৎস প্রকাশন, ঢাকা থেকে পুণর্মুদ্রিত: জুলাই ২০০৩
45.
Muslim Banglar Samajik Itihas (মোছলেম বঙ্গের সামাজিক ইতিহাস) -আকরম খাঁ ১৯৫৬, ঐতিহ্য
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The
Rajmala is the royal chronicle of Tripura kings that ruled for about five
thousand years since the mythological prehistoric times. So called
historically, the period of the royal dynasty is three thousand years old. The
Tripuri people in general believe that they & the royal dynasties of
Tripura were descendant of Chandra Vamsha. Historically it can be proved that
the Chandra dynasty was basically of Kirata origin, which is ethnologically
known as Indo-Mongoloid people. They were among the first to come in India, in
the prehistoric time around 8000 BC, through the Khyber Pass, north west of
Indian Subcontinent. This human ethnic group then settled first in the Indus
Valley region, founded the Indus civilisation along with some other human
groups and latter spread all over India. This fact can be substantiated by a
Mongoloid race skull discovered in the Mohenjo-daro excavation, and a
terracotta figurine of Mongoloid look.
“The
list of all the kings and their stories were passed down orally through the
Chantai, the Royal priest of Tripura from generation to generation, like the
Veda used to be memorized by Brahmins and passed down generation by generation.
The Chantai was the head and royal priest and still worshiping the fourteen
gods, which are the Kula Devata of Tripuri people and the dynasty. The earlier
Rajmala was composed in Sanskrit as "RAJRATNAKARAM". As per the
records of Rajmala, it was originally written in Tripuri language, by Chantai
Durlabhendra, which was later on translated in Sanskrit and Bengali. It was
considered as one of the earliest Bengali literature. The Rajmala has four
volume, written at different time and by different author. Many scholars had
studied the book and most of independent and neutral researchers and experts
have described as authentic, true and historically valuable”. http://www.tripura.org.in/rajmala.htm
“(Bengali:
রাজমালা) is a chronicle of the Kings
of Tripura, written in Bengali verse in the 15th century under Dharma Manikya. Reportedly,
the Bengali version was composed by the pandits Sukreshwar and Baneshwar of the
royal court based on the recitations by the royal priest Dhurlabhendra Chantai
of an oral tradition in the Tripuri language”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajmala.
81.
শ্রীহট্টের ইতিবৃত্ত পূর্বাংশ, দ্বিতীয় ভাগ, দ্বিতীয় খণ্ড, দ্বিতীয় অধ্যায়, দরবেশ শাহজালাল অচ্যুতচরণ চৌধুরী তত্ত্বনিধি, প্রকাশক: মোস্তফা সেলিম; উৎস প্রকাশন, ২০০৪।
Characters to Explore:
- The
king of Bengal Fakhr Oddīn, or Fakhr al-Din;
- El
Mostaasim the Calif in Bagdad;
- Borhān
Oddīn of Sāgirj;
- Hindu
king named Gaur Govinda ruled the Sylhet area;
- Sultan
shamsuddin firuz shah;
- Sultan
shamsuddin firuz shah’s nephew Sikandar
Khan Ghazi, or Sikandar Shah Ghazi
- Sultan
shamsuddin firuz shah’s sipahxalar (armed forces chief) Nasiruddin;
- ibn
batuta visited Bengal when Sultan
fakhruddin mubarak shah was ruling at Sonargaon (1338-1349 AD).
- Shaikh
Jalaluddin Tabrizi (R);
- Persian
inscription of 918 AH/1512 AD issued in the reign of Sultan Alauddin husain shah (1494-1519 AD).
- Shaikh
Jalal Mujarrad ibn Muhammad (Formal name of Hazrat Shah Jalal (R));
- Shaikh-ul-Mashaikh
Makhdum Shaikh Jalal Mujarrad bin Muhammad (another Formal name of Hazrat
Shah Jalal (R))
- Shaikh
Nurul Huda Abul Karamat;
- Sultan Syed Ahmed Yesvi, Pir of
Shaikh Jalal Mujarrad;
- Hazrat Shah
Jalal (R)'s father, Muhammad, a
sufi of Yamen;
- Hazrat
Shah Jalal (R)'s maternal uncle Sayyid
Ahamd Kabir Suhrawardy, a great saint; or maternal uncle Syed Ahmed Kabir in Mecca;
- Hazrat
Shah Jalal (R) met Shakh Nizamuddin
Auliya at Delhi;
- Shaikh 'Ali (d. 1562), a
descendant of one of Shah Jalal's companions;
- he
became a spiritual disciple of Saiyid
Ahmad Yasawi, one of the founders of the Central Asian Sufi tradition;
- Hazrat
Shah Jalal (R)'s mother, Syeda Hasina Fatimah,
- Hazrat
Shah Jalal (R)'s father, Mahmoud bin Mohammed bin Ibrahim;
- Amir Khusrau also gives an account
of Shah Jalal's conquest of Sylhet in his book Afdalul Hawaade;
-
To Do/ Explore:
1.
Look in to Mirza Nathan’s Bahristan I Gayebi;
2.
Rajmala, History of Tripura Royal family;
3.
History of Assam;
4.
Explore each character found in the available
history.
5.
Social and Cultural History of Bengal, Volume 1,
Issue 34 of Pakistan Historical Society publication, Social and Cultural
History of Bengal, Muhammad Abdur Rahim, Author Muhammad
Abdur Rahim, Publisher: Pakistan Historical Society, 1963. [for Ibn Batutah’s
Account of Bengal]
6.
Khan, Abdul Majed. “The Historicity of Ibn
Batuta Re. Sham-Suddin Firuz Shah, the So-Called Balbani King of Bengal.”
Indian Historical Quarterly 18 (1942): 65–70. [for Ibn Batutah’s Account of
Bengal]
7.
De, Harinath (trans.), and Ghosh, P. N. (ed.).
Ibn Batutah’s Account of Bengal. Calcutta, 1978. [for Ibn Batutah’s Account of
Bengal]
8.
Bhattasali, N. K. Coins and Chronology of the
Early Independent Sultans of Bengal. With Translation of “Ibn-Batuta’s Travels
in Bengal” from French by S. N. Bose. Cambridge, England, 1922; reprint edn.,
New Delhi, 1976. [for Ibn Batutah’s Account of Bengal]. Full text available at:
https://archive.org/details/coinschronologyo00bhatuoft
9.
Karim, Abdul. Social History of the Muslims in
Bengal. Dacca, 1959. [for Ibn Batutah’s Account of Bengal]
10.
Sarkar, Jadunath (ed.). The History of Bengal. 2
vols. Vol. 2: Muslim Period 1200–1757. Dacca, 1948. [for Ibn Batutah’s Account
of Bengal]
11.
In 1994, the Hakluyt Society published the
fourth and final volume of the English translation of the Rihla, bringing to conclusion
a project that began in 1929.
12.
“He was a celebrated holy warrior who, in the
year our traveler was born, participated in the Muslim takeover of Sylhet”.
What year?
