Chapter Three

Sikhism and Islam

A Historical Look at Religious Constructions
of Peace and Conflict

This chapter will provide a historically, politically, and culturally nuanced

look at the relations between Sikhs and Muslims over history, with emphasis
on their contribution to religious associational life in Malerkotla and its con-
sequences for peace and conflict. Islam will be examined within the context
of India and more specifically the Punjab, where its practice is quite different
Copyright © 2012. Lexington Books/Fortress Academic. All rights reserved.

from Islam in other regions. The historical period covered begins with the
early Mughal Empire and extends through Partition to the present.

OVERVIEW

Much of the religious tension between Sikhs and Muslims dates from the
conflict of Sikh Gurus and the Mughal Emperors over power in the Punjab.
From the time Guru Arjan Dev was tortured at the hands of Mughal ruler
Jahangir, the two sides engaged in intense warfare for more than 150 years,
until the crumbling of the Mughal Empire in 1757. The history of these
battles and their implications for Sikh-Muslim relations during Partition and
at the present time is crucial in explaining how the small town of Malerkotla
could achieve peace when the rest of the Punjab was engulfed in violence.
Many survey respondents spoke of religious narratives as the main reason for
peace.

59
Randhawa, Karenjot Bhangoo. Civil Society in Malerkotla, Punjab : Fostering Resilience Through Religion, Lexington
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 60 Chapter 3

TENSIONS IN HISTORY: SIKHS AND MUSLIMS

Schism within Sikhism has sometimes affected relations between Sikhs and
Muslims. One particular incidence for Malerkotla involves the Kukas, also
known as the Namdhari Sikhs and originally led by Ram Singh (1815–1885).
This movement called for a rejection of imperial dominance, including Eng-
lish education, courts and imported goods as well as stark opposition to the
killing of cows (Singh 1999). 1 Their rules for living include three hours of
morning prayer from Sikh scriptures; avoidance of meat, alcohol, tobacco,
and cowhide drinking vessels; washing of feet before entering the kitchen;
preference for white undergarments and turbans; and opposing “theft, adul-
tery, ill-speech, female infanticide and the exchange of large amounts of
money at the time of marriage.” From 1866 onwards there are many reports
of Kukas destroying sacred sites in the countryside in their campaign against
popular religious practices. The Kukas targeted khanaqahs (major shrines of
the Muslim pirs); pirkhanas (minor shrines of the Muslim pirs); jatheras
(cremation sites of village ancestors); mazars (Muslim tombs); kabars
(graves); and samadhis (tombs of Sikhs and Hindus). 2
There were several criminal episodes resulting from the Kukas opposition
to the killing of cows that resulted in arrests and death sentences for Kuka
crimes committed against butcher shops. In opposition to the criminal conse-
quences and the Kukas subsequent attacking of the government treasury in
Malerkotla, one of the most disturbing and violent episodes took place in
Malerkotla January 17, 1872. The British responded to the treasury attack by
Copyright © 2012. Lexington Books/Fortress Academic. All rights reserved.

killing sixty-nine Namdharis in front of cannons, instead of putting them on

trial. Today there is a large sword-shaped monument with holes in it repre-
senting each death; the smaller holes represent the children who were killed.
The statue serves as a symbolic reminder of the atrocities witnessed in Ma-
lerkotla and of the perennial possibility of violence.
In his intolerance of non-Muslims, the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb (r.
1658–1707) took extreme measures to rid his empire of Sikhism. 3 He or-
dered the execution of Guru Tej Bahadur and ordered his governor at Multan
to kill the wife of Guru Gobind Singh (1666–1708). 4 Such measures inspired
retaliation: “In the sarkar of Sirhind at Burya, a Sikh temple was demolished
and a mosque constructed in its stead. The Sikhs in turn pulled down the
mosque and killed the Imam.” 5 In December of 1704, Mughal forces worked
incessantly to drive Guru Gobind Singh out of Anandpur, located in the
Himalayan foothills. Guru Gobind departed as the enemy gained ground, and
arranged for his two younger sons, Zorawar and Fateh, to be taken to Delhi
with their grandmother. But the governor of Sirhind, Wazir Khan, had the

Randhawa, Karenjot Bhangoo. Civil Society in Malerkotla, Punjab : Fostering Resilience Through Religion, Lexington
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 Sikhism and Islam 61

two youngest sahibzadas (children of the Guru) executed. Banda Singh Ba-
hadur would later avenge the governor’s act Patwant Singh describes the
battle:

The two forces, commanded personally by Wazir Khan and Banda Singh,
clashed on the plain of Chappar Chiri, ten miles from Sirhind, on 22 May
1710. Not unexpectedly, the ferocity of the fighting and carnage outstripped
all previous encounters between Sikh and Mughal forces. Wazir Khan and
several of his commanders were killed and according to Khafi Khan, a chroni-
cler of the time, ‘not a man of the army of Islam escaped with more than his
life and the clothes he stood in.’ 6

Banda Singh Bahadur avenged the Guru’s sons by destroying Wazir Khan
with his family and followers, except for those in nearby Malerkotla. 7 The
Nawab of Malerkotla, Sher Muhammad Khan, had protested to Aurangzeb
against the execution of the boys. 8 The execution of the Guru’s sons and its
effects would resonate through Punjabi history even to the time of Partition.
During the riots of 1947, Zakir Husain almost lost his life on a train in east
Punjab but was saved from a riot by three men, one of whom was Sikh.
Historians such as Gandhi have made direct links to this noble act in the
resulting protection during Partition. Years later, in 1967, Zakir Husain be-
came the first Muslim president of India and laid the foundation stone at
Punjabi University in Patiala for the Guru Gobind Bhavan. 9
Guru Gobind Singh wrote a letter to the Emperor Aurangzeb entitled
Zafarnama (Victory Letter), requesting that the emperor not take up arms
against the innocent, and reminding him that God’s “vengeance is terrible.” 10
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The emperor died in February 1707, before the two could meet face to face,
and in a letter to his son he expressed remorse:

Son of my soul . . . now I am going alone. I grieve for your helplessness. But
what is the use? I have greatly sinned, and I know what torment awaits me. . . .
Let not Muslims be slain and reproach fall on my useless head. I commit you
and your sons to God’s care. I am sore troubled. 11

Guru Gobind Singh would meet with Aurangzeb’s successor, Bahadur Shah.
Historians have pointed to the cordial relations between Guru Gobind Singh
and Bahadur Shah, who received each other with great respect and admira-
tion on many occasions. 12
Guru Gobind Singh was stabbed in October 1708 by suspected allies of
Wazir Khan. Before his death, the Guru declared that the Granth Sahib
would be the next Guru of the Sikh community. 13 The different historical
narratives presented by Sikhs and Muslims about the last ten years of the
Guru’s life are worth mentioning. According to Rajmohan Gandhi, these
discrepancies “bear a bias imparted by a continuing wrath, and also perhaps

Randhawa, Karenjot Bhangoo. Civil Society in Malerkotla, Punjab : Fostering Resilience Through Religion, Lexington
Books/Fortress Academic, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/cam/detail.action?docID=990362.
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 62 Chapter 3

by resentment against Sikh rule over the Punjab, which lasted from 1799 to
the 1840s.” 14 In regard to the ten years after the Guru’s rule, Latif writes that
in fact Wazir Khan killed himself with an arrow and the great Banda Singh
Bahadur punished the city of Sirhind in a “barbarous manner.” His followers
killed all the inhabitants of Mahomedan by burning or butchering them. 15
Further, according to Latif’s account, Banda Singh Bahadur destroyed and
devastated every town in his path and at Samana killed ten thousand men and
women. 16 Only Malerkotla was spared, and many believe it escaped violence
because of the respect the Nawab Sher Mohammad Khan showed for Guru
Gobind Singh’s two sons. 17 There are various sources that highlight the
reasons behind Bahadur’s sparing of Malerkotla. The majority of historians
believe that Malerkotla was spared due to Sher Mohammad Khan’s honor-
able protest and the subsequent blessing and affect of the guru’s blessing of
Malerkotla. 18 Some accounts, however, such as J.S Grewal claim that Maler-
kotla was simply not convenient for Bahadur because his campaign path did
not take him through the kingdom.
In response to Aurangzeb’s execution of the Sikh Guru Teg Bahadur and
ordering the killing of the wife of Guru Gobind Singh, the Sikhs conquered
Sirhind in 1764 and “made a deliberate policy of destroying every building,
including its mosques.” 19 In their quest to conquer Delhi in 1783 they de-
stroyed the Rikabganj mosque and built a gurdwara, which stood close to
where Guru Tej Bahadur was cremated. However, Bayly notes that there
were moments of tranquility between the Sikhs and the Muslims. In the case
of the Sisikanj mosque (the site were Guru Teg Bahadur was executed) there
were signs of compromise. The Sikh leader Baghel Singh had tried to force
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members of the Muslim aristocracy to agree to the demolition of the mosque

by threatening their landholdings. Bayly states that “the use of force is per-
haps less surprising than the fact that the Sikhs were seeking a formal accep-
tance of the act by Muslim leadership and its legitimation by the powerless
emperor.” 20 The Sisiganj mosque was not destroyed, and a gurdwara was
made next to it inside the mosque compound, where the Guru was executed.
During these times of intense conflict over the control of holy places, there
were many incidents or events that marked attempts at interreligious compro-
mise. The emperor had summoned Baghel Singh for a meeting to try and
generate some success with what remained of his legitimacy, but in person
discussions would be necessary to reach agreement on the actual protocol
and conduct surrounding the meeting, so that neither side would appear to
defer to the other. The Sikh leader was to be surrounded by his troops and
exercised the right to say “Sat Sri Akal” in greeting, instead of the standard
words of submission spoken before a Mughal leader. He was also fanned by
peacock feathers, which symbolized royalty, and all Muslim butchers were
moved out of the quarters through which he passed. Bayly notes that al-
though a long history of violence appears in fragmented records, it is evident

Randhawa, Karenjot Bhangoo. Civil Society in Malerkotla, Punjab : Fostering Resilience Through Religion, Lexington
Books/Fortress Academic, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/cam/detail.action?docID=990362.
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 Sikhism and Islam 63

that violence in the context of religious festivals, mosques, and temples was
ongoing before the 1860s, greatly affecting associational life between the
two communities. 21
The more thorough documentation after this period reveals that although
there were many examples of interreligious peace, religious clashes always
existed. However, these clashes were only more likely to result in violence
when “they coincided with shifts in political and economic power.” 22 Many
Indian historians have said that Maharaja Ranjit Singh claimed the loyalty of
Punjabi Muslims as well as Sikhs. Generally, Singh devoted his time and
resources to building his support amongst the Muslims of the Punjab. Pat-
want Singh writes:

Keenly aware that the overwhelming majority of his new subjects were Mus-
lims, he did nothing to upset or alienate them. He continued to grant state
support to the leaning mosques in Lahora and confirmed the jurisdiction of
Islamic law over Muslims. He appointed Muslim and Hindu officers in his
army. His home minister and his foreign minister were Muslims – the brothers
Nur-ud-Din and Aziz-ud-Din, sons of an eminent physician who treated Ranjit
Singh’s eye after the conquest of Lahore; and he relied on a third brother,
Imam-ud-Din, to carry out important tasks. 23

Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s empire stretched through the Punjab to northwestern

parts of Pakistan, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir. After a reign of
nearly forty years, the Maharaja’s rule is remembered as one of the most
secular and tolerant empires.
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ISLAM AND NONVIOLENCE IN THE PUNJAB

Islam in South Asia, often different from manifestations of the faith else-
where, has long contained a strain of nonviolent ideology. Sufism, present in
India from an early date, became a significant movement in the Punjab in
1175–1263 A.D., under the leadership of Faridud-Din Masud Ganj-e-Shakar.
More tarika (mystical) than shari’ah Islam, which emphasizes legalistic ob-
servance of the faith, Sufism has been defined by S. R. Sharda as “a natural
blend of Islam and pre-Islamic dualistic asceticism mainly of Gnosticism and
Neo-Platonism and generally of Buddhism.” 24 As such, it has given rise to
saints and poets famous for writings that are alive with themes of love, peace,
reflection, generosity and faith. Other Islamic groups that fostered interrelig-
ious peace were the ulama in northern India, the Ahl-i-Hadis, the Barelwis
and the Ahmadiyah sect, founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1839–1908). 25

Randhawa, Karenjot Bhangoo. Civil Society in Malerkotla, Punjab : Fostering Resilience Through Religion, Lexington
Books/Fortress Academic, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/cam/detail.action?docID=990362.
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 64 Chapter 3

The post-Mughal history of Indian Islam saw several developments im-

portant for peace and conflict in the Punjab and Malerkotla. On the one hand,
the decline of Muslim authority after the fall of the Mughal Empire empha-
sized Islam’s status as a separate subgroup of Punjabi society, sharpening the
identity of the growing Muslim community and mobilizing its members as
the defenders of the faith. 26 There was a growth in ulama training and the
issue of fatwas (Islamic legal pronouncements) for ordinary Muslims, sig-
nifying a change in religious leadership. Islam began to spread amongst the
masses, and it became important for Muslims to distinguish themselves from
Hindus by their choice of dress and names. 27 This identification gained in-
creased significance when the British arrived and initiated the decennial
census, which categorized people according to religious community affilia-
tions. But in the 1900s Muslim scholars started to question traditional relig-
ious education, some advocating the principle of nonviolence, which Abu
Nimer defines as “a set of attitudes, actions, or behaviors intended to per-
suade the other side to change their opinions, perceptions and actions.” 28 A
typical expression of this principle, referring to the Hadith’s injunction
against killing innocent people, is that of Chaiwat Satha-Anand: “Go in
God’s name trusting in God, and adhering to the religion of God’s messen-
ger. Do not kill a decrepit old man, or a young infant, or women: do not be
dishonest about booty, but collect your spoils, do right, act well, for God
loves those who do well.” 29
Several influential figures dominate the contemporary landscape of non-
violent Islam in India. The life and principles of Maulana Wahiduddin Khan,
who was born into a family of Pathan landlords in 1925, illuminate the
Copyright © 2012. Lexington Books/Fortress Academic. All rights reserved.

unique situation of Muslims in India and the ideas of their religious leaders
during the 1900s. His thinking was partially shaped by his education and by
his commitment in 1949 to the Jama’at-i-Islami Hind, a fundamentalist group
founded by Abdul ‘ala Maududi (1903–1979) to help strengthen the place of
Islam in India. His experience with the Jama’at and understanding of Maudu-
di’s writings caused Khan to feel that the Muslims’ political stance in India
was a natural and direct reaction to Western imperialism, but one that mis-
took the real ideological quest of Islam. According to Khan, making Islam
into a purely political ideology misrepresented the Qu’ran and Hadith. 30
Khan feels that only through sabr (patience and forbearance) can one
truly understand the message of Islam, and that the da’wah (invitation to
Islam) would enable more peaceful relations between Muslims and believers
of other faiths. He commends early Muslim missionaries who followed the
principle of kamil rawadari (tolerance) and states that the modern-day
da’wah, a critical engagement with other faiths as well as the West, should
be practiced in India. He argues that one way to do this is to use communica-
tion systems to convey the message to as many as can be reached. Khan also
advises Muslims to give up what he called their “persecution complex” and

Randhawa, Karenjot Bhangoo. Civil Society in Malerkotla, Punjab : Fostering Resilience Through Religion, Lexington
Books/Fortress Academic, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/cam/detail.action?docID=990362.
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 Sikhism and Islam 65

“separatist mentality,” both suggesting a despair contradictory to the beliefs

and values of Islam. In making this point he quotes the Qu’ran, which states:
“No one despairs of God’s mercy except those who have no faith. . . .” 31 He
strongly supports the Qu’ran’s injunction to engage in dialogue with other
faiths and its insistence that others have a right to adhere to their own particu-
lar faith.
Khan’s belief in the capacity of religion to achieve either peace or vio-
lence parallels core Islamic teachings. Violence in the name of religion dam-
ages the cause of da’wah (inviting others to Islam) and is not sanctioned by
Islam. Khan claims that instead of imposing shari’ah (Islamic law), which is
politically slanted, it will be more effective to touch people’s minds and
hearts. In providing a context for this argument, he presents his views on
jihad (struggle), which he associates with nonviolent activism, and qital
(violent activism). 32 He discusses a verse from the Quran that advises Mus-
lims to “perform jihad most strenuously” (Q25:52), not as a weapon but in
the spirit of ideology. Although Khan agrees that aggression towards oppo-
nents might be necessary in certain states of conflict, he adds the qualifica-
tion: “[only] when they attack you” (Q9:13).
One of the biggest problems that Khan sees for Islam today is that it may
be used to support the unnecessary taking up of arms, making it easy to resort
to violent means. He refers to the example of the Prophet and the battles of
Badr, Uhud ,and Hunayn,, in which the Prophet fought for only a day and a
half in Mecca. The end result of this war was a ten-year treaty with his
opponents called Sulh al-Hudaybiyah. 33
Another example of Islamic nonviolence in India was led by the Pashtuns
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of the North-West Frontier Province. The freedom movement known as “Red

Shirts” or “Khudai Khidmatgars,” originally formed out of the society for
reformation of Pashtuns and was led by Ghaffar Khan during the time of
British colonial rule advocating for social reform. 34 Led by Ghaffar Khan,
they were perceived as uncivil and savage, instilling fear in residents of the
province. 35 But Ghaffar Khan was committed to nonviolent protest against
British rule as the most effective way to bring about social, political and
economic reforms. Drawing on the Pakhtunwali (core teachings of the Pash-
tuns), he sought to highlight basic values and ethical principles, 36 drawing on
Islam in his advocacy of patience and righteousness as tools against oppres-
sion:

I am going to give you such a weapon that the police and the army will not be
able to stand against it. . . . It is the weapon of the Prophet, but you are not
aware of it. The weapon is patience and righteousness. No power on earth can
stand against it . . . when you go back to your villages, tell your brethren that
there is an army of God, and its weapon is patience. Ask your brethren to join
the army of God. Endure all hardships. If you exercise patience, victory will be
yours. 37

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Books/Fortress Academic, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/cam/detail.action?docID=990362.
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 66 Chapter 3

There has been some criticism of the techniques which Khan used to mobi-
lize support and advance his campaign. He addressed the broader tribal
masses when attacking the political and professional classes, but later, in
1947, he tried to appeal to all inhabitants of the Frontier Province, regardless
of social and economic status. 38 In many ways Khan was similar to Mohan-
das Gandhi, in that both could appeal to crowds and showed great pride in
their commitment to their people.
The question of whether Islamic teachings endorse violence is highly
pertinent today, when jihad is often defined as violent holy war. However,
conflict resolution scholar, Abdul Aziz Said believes that “there is a clearly
articulated preference in Islam for nonviolence over violence, and for afu
(forgiveness) over retribution.” 39

PARTITION

There is extensive literature dedicated to the Partition of India, indicating the

magnitude of this event in South Asian history. 40 Its aftershocks were power-
ful, with manifold political, economic and personal ramifications of great
importance to the understanding of Muslim-Sikh relations in Malerkotla.
David Gilmartin highlights the problematic nature of Partition narrative, with
its polarity between the “story of the ‘high politics’ of Partition, or the nego-
tiations between India and Britain, and “history from below” in popular
narratives such as those of Congress and the Muslim League, 41 which in-
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clude more personal stories and detailed accounts of violence. Gilmartin

suggests that the tensions and shared moral meaning of these multiple narra-
tives should be at the forefront of the discourse on Partition. 42 He criticizes
the work of Ayesha Jalal, which focuses on Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s quest to
be the sole Muslims’ spokesman, for emphasizing the narratives of the Mus-
lim elite at the expense of local views. Gilmartin notes that although Jalal’s
work is immensely valuable in helping to delineate the high politics of Parti-
tion and in clarifying the fragmentation of identities that Partition entailed, its
value is limited by its focus on assigning responsibility. He suggests that in
order to expand the analysis of Partition it is necessary to understand how
Muslims perceived Partition and the subsequent creation of Pakistan—what
he calls the “dynamics of identity formation.” 43 Gilmartin’s framework pro-
vides a starting point for the present study, which seeks to apply a similar
analysis of Partition, at a community level, to Muslim-Sikh relations in Ma-
lerkotla.
To understand the sources of peace and conflict in the Punjab, it is neces-
sary to examine not only the facts of Partition but also the persistent narra-
tives to which it has given birth.

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 Sikhism and Islam 67

The death toll from the violence of Partition is estimated at 200,000 to 1.5
million. 44 Estimates of displaced persons are much higher: roughly nine
million Hindus and Sikhs entering post–Partition India and six million Mus-
lims migrating to Pakistan. The tragic violence of Partition was felt by many
and has often been expressed through the revival of Punjabi language and
literature.
Present day animosities in India have been attributed to the categories
established by the British, which were designed to highlight differences be-
tween one community and another, and were used essentially as a political
tool—a policy commonly referred to as “divide and quit.” 45 By treating the
Muslims as a separate group, the Raj divided them from other Indians; by
granting them separate electorates, it institutionalized that division, hindering
the emergence of a genuine nationalism. 46
However, some studies of colonialism, such as the work of David Page,
contend that communalism was perpetuated not only by imperialists but also
by nationalist politicians and historians, who stressed particular histories for
their own purposes: “Akbar rather than Aurangzeb, Ashoka and the Buddha
rather then Shivaji, the unifying and syncretistic rather than the plural and the
divisive. . . .” 47 Historian Gyanendra Pandey supports the thesis put forward
in Page’s Prelude to Partition, which states that the 1920s saw changing
attitudes towards nationalism and communalism, two trends that overlapped
in the later part of the twentieth century. The growing politicization and
group differentiation caused an escalation in the incidence of communal
violence.
The way that communities and religions are defined is important for
Copyright © 2012. Lexington Books/Fortress Academic. All rights reserved.

studies of Partition and completes the story of how conflict between groups
has shaped current realities and narratives. Although relatively few riots were
recorded in the Punjab in the early 1920s, the state had one of the worst
reputations for communal hostilities. A main cause of tension during this
period was the British policy of allowing the Muslims a legislative majority
and of appointing ministers according to their religious identities, thus con-
tinuously separating electorates and communities. The Hindu majority
chafed particularly under legislation introduced by the Minister for Educa-
tion, the Muslim Fazli Husain. 48
The days leading up to Partition were filled with massacres and growing
concerns about the Partition of Punjab. In March of 1947 the Rawalpindi
Division experienced an outbreak of violence that saw villages destroyed,
Hindus and Sikhs looted and women and children beaten and burned alive. 49
The British authorities seemed to lose control over the escalating situation,
Viceroy Mountbatten declaring that no more troops were available for the
Punjab. On March 9, 1947, the Congress Working Committee passed a reso-
lution calling for the Partition of Punjab. Anita Inder Singh wrote: “It was not
easy for the Congress to contemplate such a course but it was preferable to an

Randhawa, Karenjot Bhangoo. Civil Society in Malerkotla, Punjab : Fostering Resilience Through Religion, Lexington
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Created from cam on 2025-03-21 23:17:45.
 68 Chapter 3

attempt by either party to impose its will on the other. Large non-Muslim
minorities could not be coerced into joining Pakistan any more than Muslims
could be made to join the Union.” 50
Though the estimated six million Sikhs in the Punjab constituted less than
20 percent of the province’s population, they had much political strength.
They enjoyed privileges under the British, held significant amounts of land
and were keenly conscious of their historical status as rulers. Penderel Moon
clearly puts the dualistic minority statuses of the Muslims and Sikhs into
perspective: “. . . just as Muslims, with their memories of the Mogul empire,
were not prepared to see themselves condemned to a position of inferiority
under a permanent Hindu majority, so the Sikhs, remembering that only 100
years before they had ruled the Punjab, were not prepared to become a tiny
minority in a large Muslim state.” 51
According to Moon, who was appointed Deputy Commissioner of the
district of Punjab in 1941, several key observations shed further light on the
position of the Sikhs after Partition and the complexity of dividing the Pun-
jab. Although there were some attempts to create an Akali-Unionist accord
between the Sikhs and Muslims, none succeeded. 52 The Sikander-Baldev
Singh pact made between the Sikh and Muslim parties indicated that division
of the state was imminent. With the exception of some of its outer districts,
the people of Punjab were a very close unit, both linguistically and economi-
cally. The state’s wealth depended upon water and canal systems that ex-
tended from east to west and could not easily be divided by a boundary line.
This social and geographical unity was apparent not only to Sikhs, who saw
the threat of being engulfed by a Muslim-majority nation, but also even to
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some Muslims, who wanted the entire Punjab to remain intact as a part of
Pakistan. 53 As the Unionist Party began to disintegrate, Jinnah strengthened
his power and rallied Muslims to unite under the one umbrella party, the
Muslim League.
As India’s Independence approached, violence in Punjab escalated to a
horrific level, spreading through Multan, Rawalpindi, Amritsar and sur-
rounding rural areas. Several authors have noted the failure of the British
authorities either to deploy sufficient troops or to take preventive measures to
suppress the riots. 54 Jinnah had made no effort to alleviate mounting Sikh
fears of Partition and Muslim rule, despite his awareness of the injustices
done to the Sikhs in Amritsar and West Punjab. As Gilmartin argues, creat-
ing a narrative of Partition has been a difficult task. He asserts that there is a
disjunction between high politics and the personal experiences of partition,
he states: the “violence of partition itself has resisted effective integration
with the political narrative of partition’s causes.” 55 Partition played a signifi-
cant role in the historical reconstructions of India and Pakistan and left a
mark on the relations between religious communities, still evident fifty years
later.

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 Sikhism and Islam 69

Talbot describes the violence of the partition of Punjab as an “organized riot

system” as opposed to standard accounts that situate the events surrounding
Partition as spontaneous acts of violence. Talbot emphasizes the need to look
at the role of state officials and the police involvement as a participant to the
violence, either through means of political motivation which led to aiding,
abetting or abandonment of masses of people through lack of timely reaction
or turning a blind eye altogether. Talbot maintains “the killing was not the
work of a few frenzied hotheads, but was carried out in many instances, by
large organizations, for example Sikh jathas and Muslim tribal parties.” 56
Talbot sees a strong need to look at parallels between the 1947 Punjab
violence and contemporary violence in India. Before delving into the rele-
vance of Talbot’s suggestion that indeed the work of higher officials needs
critical attention, particularly in the case of what was going on in and around
Malerkotla, it is critical to outline what Partition means in Punjab’s history.

PARTITION’S EFFECT ON MALERKOTLA

One essential narrative that emerges from the study of peace in Malerkotla,
and why it has garnered much attention is of course the ability of the town to
withstand perhaps one of the largest atrocities that has been recorded in
human history. Virdee also emphasizes the notion similar to Talbot in the
critical need to understand the role of state and police officials and the
Copyright © 2012. Lexington Books/Fortress Academic. All rights reserved.

particular policing and social disapproval helped limit violence in a conflict-

ridden situation.” 57
According to Virdee, cross-communal support has been developed in
Malerkotla over a number of centuries, with local minorities receiving con-
siderable accommodation, was not something new for the town’s residents.
As a princely state amongst Punjab's thirty-four that existed, Malerkotla, as
well as Bahawalpur, Loharu, Dujana and Pataudi were the only ones that
were Muslim ruled. The tradition of communal support was not new under
the princes and support for minorities was never overlooked. As Virdee
notes, the system of “managed pluralism” always prevailed whenever tension
was evident in places of worship or due to conflicting prayer times. 58
What perhaps serves to greatly highlight the absence of violence during
the bloodshed of Partition was that while Malerkotla Muslims were spared,
Muslims were killed in Patiala as were Sikhs and Hindus in Bahawalpur.
Other Muslim localities such as “Fieldganj, Abdullahpura and Kucha Khili-
jan and Karipura in Ludhiana were attacked and looted on 24 August, while
outlying villages such as Tehera, Modewal and Malian Bajan were raided by
Sikh jathas with considerable loss of life.” 59 Another factor in helping main-

Randhawa, Karenjot Bhangoo. Civil Society in Malerkotla, Punjab : Fostering Resilience Through Religion, Lexington
Books/Fortress Academic, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/cam/detail.action?docID=990362.
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 70 Chapter 3

tain peace that Virdee highlights, which can perhaps be seen to have opera-
tionally set the stage for the Guru’s blessing to be actualized in practice was
the actions of the Nawab, Ahmad Ali Khan (ruled 1908–1947). Although
there are conflicting characterizations of the Nawab in terms of his policy
and personality, there is a general consensus around the fact that he did much
to protect the maintenance of peace in Malerkotla, given the growing anxiety
of the influx of refugees and the trouble along the eastern and northern
borders. The princely states army is said to have helped deter violence along
with the Nawab’s resistance to any infiltration or violence. 60 Virdee credits
the Nawab for helping maintain order in India’s darkest hour:

For the Nawab, the state’s very existence depended on its avoiding the descent
into a spiral of violence. He thus used military power to keep the peace espe-
cially when it might have been overwhelmed by the influx of refugees. The
rulers of many of the Punjab princely states turned their armies and influence
to the destructive end of ethnic cleansing. 61

Talbot reinforces the critical role of the Nawab as well, claiming that perhaps
the Guru’s blessing alone would not have been a good enough deterrent. He
notes that it was Nawab’s determination to deter political disorder and by no
means risk the stability of law and order. 62 It is clear that both the adminis-
tration and actions of the Nawab during the Partition, perhaps built on the
blessing of the Guru, gave way to helping protect Malerkotla which became a
true test of sustaining peace.
Copyright © 2012. Lexington Books/Fortress Academic. All rights reserved.

Awareness of the complex relations between Sikhs and Muslims in the Pun-
jab and their development over time helps to highlight key components of
coexistence in Malerkotla today. The collaborative patterns that have
emerged in contemporary society were not always present, and past violence
has not been forgotten. Guru Nanak Dev, though greatly influenced by the
thoughts of Sufi saints, carved out a unique tradition that would later be
contested by Muslims. Clashes between Muslims and Sikhs escalated during
the reign of Akbar and Jahangir, and most scholars identify the subsequent
treatment of the fifth Guru, Arjan Dev, as a critical turning point for the
relations between the two faiths. During the time of Guru Gobind Singh and
Emperor Aurangzeb, the Mughal Empire increasingly feared the threat of
Sikhism, and warfare and bloodshed plagued the region. Malerkotla was
protected from the ongoing clashes because of one particular event: the
protest of the Nawab of Malerkotla (Sher Muhammad Khan) against the
execution of the Guru’s children. This incident and its consequences, to be
explored in greater detail in the next chapter, still shape relations between the

Randhawa, Karenjot Bhangoo. Civil Society in Malerkotla, Punjab : Fostering Resilience Through Religion, Lexington
Books/Fortress Academic, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/cam/detail.action?docID=990362.
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 Sikhism and Islam 71

two communities. And other leaders, Sheik Farid and Kabir among them,
have transcended boundaries and reached believers in other traditions, con-
tributing to the strength of networks and to interreligious dialogue.

NOTES

1. Patwant Singh The Sikhs (London: John Murray Publishers, 1999).

2. Oberoi, The Construction of Religious Boundaries: Culture, Identity, and Diversity in
the Sikh Tradition.
3. Singh, Sikhs.
4. C.A Bayly, “The Pre-History of ‘Communalism?’ Religious Conflict in India,
1700–1860,” Modern Asian Studies 19, no. 2 (1985).
5. Khushwant Singh, A History of the Sikhs (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press,
1963), 69.
6. Singh, Sikhs.
7. Rajmohan Gandhi, Revenge and Reconciliation: Understanding South Asian History
(New Delhi:Penguin Books India, 1999), 103.
8. Gandhi, Revenge and Reconciliation, 103.
9. Gandhi, Revenge and Reconciliation, 103.
10. Gandhi, Revenge and Reconciliation, 103.
11. Gandhi, Revenge and Reconciliation, 104.
12. Gandhi, Revenge and Reconciliation, 105.
13. Gandhi, Revenge and Reconciliation, 106. The Sikh Scripture and eternal Guru is re-
garded by the Sikhs as a part of faith and is respected as a unique compilation. The sacred
verses are called the Gurbani (literally the Guru’s word) and in 2004 the Sikhs celebrated the
Quad-Centennial of the compilation of the Granth Sahib. The Granth Sahib contains 1430
pages from thirty-six different composers.
14. Gandhi, Revenge and Reconciliation, 117.
15. Banda Singh Bahadur was born to a Rajput family in Poonch, Kashmir and upon meet-
Copyright © 2012. Lexington Books/Fortress Academic. All rights reserved.

ing Guru Gobind Singh Ji committed to fighting for the Guru.

16. Syad Muhammad Latif, History of the Punjab (New Delhi: Kalyani, 1889; reprint,
1989).
17. Although J.S. Grewal notes that Malerkotla was just not convenient for Bahadur, others
would support the notion that he purposely spared Malerkotla because of the respect for the
Nawab, see Bhatia March 12–14, 1996, 74; Singh 133.
18. Iftikhar Ali Khan, History of the Ruling Family of Sheikh Sadruddin Sadar-I-jahan of
Malerkotla 1449 A.D to 1948 A.D., ed. R. K. Ghai. (Patiala: Punjabi University Press, 2000);
Varinder Singh Bhatia (March 12–14, 1996), “Banda Singh’s Attitude Towards the Muslims.”
Paper presented at Punjabi History Conference, Punjab Historical Department, Punjabi Univer-
sity Patiala; Anna Bigelow, Sharing the Sacred: Practicing Pluralism in Muslim North India.
(Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2010).
19. C. A. Bayly, The Pre-History of ‘Communalism? Religious Conflict in India,
1700–1860.” Modern Asian Studies 19 (2) (1985): 177–203.
20. Bayly, “Pre-History of ‘Communalism?’,” 188.
21. Bayly, “Pre-History of ‘Communalism?’,” 194
22. Bayly, “Pre-History of ‘Communalism?’,” 203
23. Singh, Sikhs.
24. S.R Sharda, Sufi Thought: Its Development in Panjab and Its Impact on Panjabi Litera-
ture from Baba Farid to Ad 1850 (New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd,
1927), 7.
25. Sharda, “Sufi Thought,” 794.
26. Sharda, “Sufi Thought,” 794.
27. Sharda, “Sufi Thought,” 23.

Randhawa, Karenjot Bhangoo. Civil Society in Malerkotla, Punjab : Fostering Resilience Through Religion, Lexington
Books/Fortress Academic, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/cam/detail.action?docID=990362.
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 72 Chapter 3

28. Mohammed Abu-Nimer, “Conflict Resolution, Culture and Religion: Toward a Training
Model of Interreligious Peacebuilding,” Peace Research, no. 38 (2001): 19.
29. Chaiwat Satha-Anand, Sarah Gilliatt, and Glenn D. Paige, Islam and Nonviolence.
(Honolulu: Center for Global Nonviolence Planning Project, Matsunaga Institute for Peace,
University of Hawai’i, 1993).
30. Yoginder Sikand, “Peace, Dialogue and Da’wah: An Analysis of Maulana Wahidduddin
Khan’s Works,” in Interfaih Dialogue: Different Pespectives, ed. Daram Singh (Patiala: Publi-
cation Bureau Punjabi University, 2002), 112–27.
31. Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, The Tragedy of Muslims (cited); available from http://
www.alrisala.org/articles/india/tragedy.htm.
32. Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, “Non-Violence and Islam” (paper presented at the Sympo-
sium: Islam and Peace in the 21st Century, Washington, DC, February 6-7, 1998), 1.
33. Khan, “Non-Violence and Islam,” 13
34. Robert C. Johansen, “Radical Islam and Nonviolence: A Case Study of Religious Em-
powerment and Constraint among Pashtuns,” Journal of Peace Research 34, no. 1 (1997).
35. Ghaffar Khan is also known as Badshah Khan or Frontier Gandhi to those in the Indian
subcontinent.
36. Dietrich Reetz, “In Search of the Collective Self: How Ethnic Group Concepts Were
Cast through Conflict in Colonial India,” Modern Asian Studies 31, no. 2 ( May 1997): 296.
37. Dinanath G. Tendulkar, Abdul Ghaffar Khan: Faith Is a Battle (Bombay: Popular Praka-
shan, 1967), 129. Quoted in Johansen, “Radical Islam and Nonviolence: A Case Study of
Religious Empowerment and Constraint among Pashtuns,” 6.
38. Reetz, “In Search of the Collective Self: How Ethnic Group Concepts Were Cast
through Conflict in Colonial India.”In this article Reetz elaborates on the idea that Ghaffar
Khan advantageously used Pathan or Pakhtun interchangeably which was often confusing,
Pathan was used more to describe ethnic and linguistic lines of all tribes both on Afghanistan
and India and Pathan refers predominantly to the eastern tribesman living in independent
territories and India.
39. Abdul Aziz Said, Nathan C. Funk, Ayse S. Kadayifci, eds., Peace and Conflict Resolu-
tion in Islam (Lanham: University Press of America, 2001), 8.
40. For select sources on the Partition of India and Pakistan see (Khan 2007; Talbot, Coven-
try University, Centre for South Asian Studies, and Balliol College (University of Oxford)
Copyright © 2012. Lexington Books/Fortress Academic. All rights reserved.

2007; Gilmartin 1998, 1068-1095; Singh 1987; Butalia 2000; Menon and Bhasin 2000)
41. David Gilmartin, “Partition, Pakistan, and South Asian History: In Search of a Narra-
tive,” The Journal of Asian Studies 57, no. 4 (1998): 1068–69.
42. Gilmartin, “Partition, Pakistan, and South Asian History,” 1070.
43. Gilmartin, “Partition, Pakistan, and South Asian History,” 1072.
44. Ian Talbot, ed., The Deadly Embrace: Religion, Politics and Violence in India and
Pakistan 1947-2002, (Karachi, Pakistan: Oxford University Press, 2007).
45. Penderel Moon, Divide and Quit: An Eyewitness Account of the Partition of India (New
Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1998).
46. David Page, Prelude to Partition: The Indian Muslims and Imperial System of Control
1920–1932 (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1982), xxiii.
47. Page, “Prelude to Partition,” xxxvii
48. Page, “Prelude to Partition,” 89-91
49. Anita Inder Singh, The Origins of the Partition of India 1936-1947 (New Delhi: Oxford
University Press, 1987).
50. Singh, “The Origins of the Partition of India,” 226
51. Moon, Divide and Quit, 30.
52. The Sikh Akali party were originally a regiment under the ruler Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
53. Moon, Divide and Quit, 35.
54. Moon Divide and Quit, 79.
55. Gilmartin, “Partition, Pakistan, and South Asian History: In Search of a Narrative,”
1070.
56. Talbot, Deadly Embrace, 11.

Randhawa, Karenjot Bhangoo. Civil Society in Malerkotla, Punjab : Fostering Resilience Through Religion, Lexington
Books/Fortress Academic, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/cam/detail.action?docID=990362.
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 Sikhism and Islam 73

57. Pippa Virdee, “Partition and the Absence of Communal Violence.” In The Deadly Em-
brace: Religion, Politics and Violence in India and Pakistan 1947–2002 , 16.
58. Virdee, “Communal Violence,” 20.
59. National Documental Centre (Pakistan), and Rukhsana Zafar, Disturbances in the Pun-
jab, 1947 : A Compilation of Official Documents. Islamabad: Government of Pakistan, Cabinet
Division, National Documentation Centre (1995), 406-407.
60. Virdee, “Communal Violence,” 29.
61. Virdee, “Communal Violence,” 30
62. Talbot, “Indo-pak massacres.” In Encyclopedia of Human Rights, ed. David P. Forsythe.
Vol. I, 45. (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 51.
Copyright © 2012. Lexington Books/Fortress Academic. All rights reserved.

Randhawa, Karenjot Bhangoo. Civil Society in Malerkotla, Punjab : Fostering Resilience Through Religion, Lexington
Books/Fortress Academic, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/cam/detail.action?docID=990362.
Created from cam on 2025-03-21 23:17:45.
Copyright © 2012. Lexington Books/Fortress Academic. All rights reserved.

Randhawa, Karenjot Bhangoo. Civil Society in Malerkotla, Punjab : Fostering Resilience Through Religion, Lexington
Books/Fortress Academic, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/cam/detail.action?docID=990362.
Created from cam on 2025-03-21 23:17:45.