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Was Guru Nanak a Hindu or a Muslim?

- Baldev Singh

 

 

 

Introduction

 

     Often times we hear Muslims, Hindus and even Buddhists claim that Guru Nanak belonged to their respective communities. As a Sikh it makes me proud to hear these claims every time they are repeated as they testify to the universality of Guru Nanak’s message, his love of all humankind, pluralistic foundations of the Sikh religion, and it also reminds me of the sacrifices of countless Sikh men and women who lost their lives defending human liberty and religious freedom of all persecuted people irrespective of their religious beliefs. Not only did Guru Nanak but also the succeeding nine Sikh Gurus after him leave a legacy of love and brotherhood in a world that was aflame in religious turmoil. Their message is more relevant today than ever before. Fantastic examples of love and acceptance abound in Sikh history like the mosque built by Guru Hargobind for Muslims¹ during a time when Mughals ruled the Indian subcontinent and were the sworn enemy of Sikhs under the influence of intolerant Muslim clergy and some members of Hindu caste hierarchy. Guru Hargobind’s father Guru Arjan, the apostle of peace, was tortured to death on the orders of Emperor Jahangir, whose mother was a Hindu Rajput princess and maternal uncle Raja Man Singh was one of the most influential commanders of the Mughal army. We cannot forget Guru Tegh Bahadur’s sacrifice in deciding to give his life for religious freedom of Kashmiri Brahmans.^2,3 How often does one hear of Prophets/Gurus who readily sacrificed their life to safeguard religious freedom of people belonging to another religion? And, Guru Gobind Singh’s fight against the tyranny of Mughal rule and caste system earned him both Hindu and Muslim followers. The underlying reason behind these acts and many more from Sikh history is the Sikh concept of “Oneness of God”, a God that does not discriminate between people based on caste, gender and religious affiliation.  

 

Discussion

 

     People who claim Guru Nanak was a Muslim or a Hindu, and argue that his thoughts were derived from Quran or the Vedic literature, need only to turn to the Sikh scripture Aad Guru Granth Sahib (AGGS). I find no evidence in Guru Nanak’s bani (composition) that supports these speculations. Surprisingly, Guru Nanak rejected earlier religious dogmas and doctrines like the concept of God, incarnation of God, caste system, transmigration and karma, soul and salvation, heaven and hell, the multitude of gods and goddesses, and idol worship. There is no better way to understand Guru Nanak except through his own words, and in writing this article I have taken the liberty of sharing the Guru’s message as passed down to us through some hymns present in Aad Guru Granth Sahib. Before I begin my discussion let me also share information that is crucial for understanding this article.

 

     1. Guru Nanak’s unique, revolutionary and liberating philosophy of universal humanism -- love, respect, justice and equality -- is applicable for all humankind. Sikhs and non-Sikhs alike have written abundantly about him and his message in Punjabi, English and some other languages. Regrettably, most if not all, is addressed in superficial, superfluous and contradictory manner such that at times writers have ignorantly repudiated the Guru’s thoughts that are enshrined in Aad Guru Granth Sahib(AGGS), which is the only authentic source of Nanakian philosophy (Gurmat). 

     2. To understand and appreciate Nanakian philosophy we must first examine social, religious, economic, and political environment prevalent in the Indian subcontinent during the Guru’s time. Nanak was born in a small village near Lahore, a town situated between two Muslim capitals Delhi and Kabul. Most of Indian subcontinent, especially the north, had been under Muslim rule for at least five centuries. The bigotry and oppression of Muslim rulers had reduced the Hindu population to mere slaves. Hindus in general were deprived of human dignity according to both Hindu and Muslim sources.^4-10

     3. To my knowledge Guru Nanak is the only founder of a major world religion who wrote down his teachings in verse form. His immense contribution to the development of Punjabi language and literature has been eclipsed by his spiritual greatness. There is no evidence that before Guru Nanak there was any writer of prose or poetry in the Punjabi language. As a matter of fact Punjabi literature was nonexistent except for the small poetic composition (slokas) of Baba Sheikh Farid in Multani, which is a dialect of Punjabi. It may not be incorrect to call Guru Nanak the father of Punjabi poetry and literature.

     Before Nanak, Punjabi was the spoken language mainly of traders, peasants, artisans, and untouchables (all Punjabis, except the Muslim rulers and elite). He enriched the Punjabi language by adding words from Indian, Arabic, and Persian languages and transformed the crude and rustic Punjabi language to the language of philosophy and poetry by incorporating religious terminologies of other faiths and the folklore and idiom of Punjab to expound his own thoughts.

     Guru Nanak was a poet par excellence. His poetry covers a wide spectrum of Punjabi dialects set in tunes of classical Indian musical modes of ragas and rhythms. No Punjabi poet has so far matched the beauty of his compositionsand his effectiveness and efficiency of the use of words, idioms, and metaphors.  

     Further, during Guru Nanak’s time, Persian was the language of the rulers (both Muslim elite and the government) while Sanskrit was the monopoly of Brahmans, the highest caste order in the Hindu caste system. The Brahamans held the exclusive right to teach, preach, and study religion. Guru Nanak wanted to communicate his message in the languages of the populace and therefore he rejected Sanskrit and Persian languages and their scripts when writing his thoughts. He and his successor, Guru Angad, constructed a new script called Gurmukhi from the existing crude scripts. According to recent research there are words of more than twenty-five languages in Aad Guru Granth Sahib, which is written in verse form and its language is understandable to a large section of the Indian population.

     4. Guru Nanak used religious terminologies of Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, and Jainism to express his thoughts but the meaning of these terms is not necessarily the same as in the parent religion. So when a Muslim or a Hindu finds reference to his religion, he or she interprets Guru Nanak’s teaching in light of his or her religion. And this is the major cause of misinterpretation and sometimes distortion of Nanakian philosophy (Gurmat).

 

God

     To keep this article brief I will discuss the most fundamental concept in any religion that is the concept of God. I will first examine Guru Nanak’s composition to find if his views were influenced by Islam and Sufism, or by Hindu scriptures. It must be acknowledged at the outset that the concept of “One God” was known long before Guru Nanak. However, the idea of “one God” in older traditions is that of a “tribal god” i.e. a God that belongs to a particular community.  Also, in addition to millions of gods and goddesses, Hindus believe in a “God” who communicates only through the Brahmans (highest caste). Furthermore, there is a “God” for the chosen people, the Jews, and the Christian “God” is approachable through His chosen son, Jesus Christ just as the Muslim God, Allah, is accessible only through Mohammed. Muslims believe that Mohammed was Allah’s final Prophet in a long line of prophets who graced our planet. Hence, they claim that Islam is the only true prophetic religion.

 

     Guru Nanak, on the other hand, proclaimed that the “One and Only” entity, the Cause of all causes and Source of all sources, That is manifest as the Cosmos, is beyond the scope of Hindu and the Semitic texts. Thus, the Guru fundamentally differed with earlier religious traditions on the concept of God. To refute the notion of an exclusive God or an exclusive path to God, that has often lead to intimidation and coercion of others, Guru Nanak repeatedly emphasized the infinite, ineffable, and unfathomable nature of God.

 

 

 

Guru Nanak denounced those gurus and pirs (spiritual guides) who claimed to possess supernatural powers and exclusive insight of God.

 

Summing up Guru Nanak’s commentary on Vedas, Guru Angad declared unequivocally that:

 

     Notably, there exists no direct quote either from Quran or any Hindu text in the AGGS whereas compatible thoughts of many Indian sages of diverse background are incorporated therein. Further, there is no specific mention of Prophet Mohammad though the word prophet has been used generically. Additionally, there are numerous references to Hindu deities, but they are depicted as mortals, not as the Eternal God. Guru Nanak rejected concepts like reincarnation of God, hell and heaven, karma and transmigration, the caste system and the Hindu and Muslim concepts of soul and salvation. The Guru also rejected the notion of miracles and denounced people who claim supernatural powers and the ability to perform miracles.⁸

 

     Guru Nanak glorified and sang the praises of the “One and Only" by proclaiming that It is accessible (understandable) to all seekers of “Truth” irrespective of their creed, caste, gender, color, ethnicity and geographical consideration. He did not assign any specific gender or name to this Entity; rather he called It Gur (Enlightener), Satgur (True Enlightener), Nirankar (the Formless One), Kartar (Creator) or Sach (Truth). Nanak used the prevalent Islamic names for Allah and those used by Hindus for their respective deities without any distinction along with new names of his own. Besides, in the AGGS, we often find that this Entity is described by Its attributes like -- transcendent, omnipotent, merciful, loving, forgiving, bounteous, protector, emancipator, infinite, ineffable, great, Almighty, Supreme Being, master, king, true king, husband, lover, sabad (Knowledge), Naam (attributes of God) or simply as the True One (One or You or Oh meaning That or He/She). In the opening verse of AGGS, Guru Nanak describes the attributes of the One Entity. These attributes are fundamental to his philosophy. The following verse illustrates this point.

 

 

Famous adage

 

     Let us examine an adage that was popular during the time of Guru Nanak: Baba Nanak Shah fakir, Hindu ka Guru, Musalman ka pir (Baba Nanak Shah, the preacher, Guru of the Hindus and Pir of the Muslims). For a proper understanding of this adage we ought to examine the relationship between Hindus and Muslims.

 

     Al-Biruni, the celebrated mathematician and astronomer, is regarded as one of the foremost Indologist. He came to India in the wake of the invading forces of Mahmud of Ghazni in the 11th century C.E., and he spent many years studying the Indian people, their culture and literature.   He writes that Hindus totally differ from Muslims in religion, as Muslims believe in nothing in which Hindus believe, and vice versa.

 

On the whole, there is very little disputing about theological topics among themselves, at the utmost they fight with words, but they will never stake their soul or body or their property on religious controversy. On the contrary, all their fanaticism is directed against those who do not belong to them -- against all foreigners. They call them mleccha, i.e. impure, and forbid having any connection with them, be it intermarriage or any other kind of relationship, or by sitting, eating, and drinking with them, because thereby they think they would be polluted. They consider as impure anything which touches the fire and water of a foreigner, and no household exist without these two elements. Besides, they never desire that anything, which once has been polluted, should be purified and thus recovered under ordinary circumstances. They are not allowed to have social interaction with anybody who does not belong to them, even if he wished it, or was inclined to their religion. This too, renders any connection with them quite impossible and constitutes the widest gulf between Hindus and Muslims. Moreover, Hindus believe that people are unequal in every respect, whereas Muslims consider all men as equal, except in piety. This is the greatest obstacle, which prevents any approach or understanding between Hindus and Muslims.¹²

 

     Daulat Rai concurs with Al-Biruni when he writes that whatever the Hindus do, Muslims do the opposite, even simple things like putting on a shirt. Hindus put on the shirt from the right side whereas Muslims from the left. Hindus hate blue color but Muslims cherish it and consider it as sacred. Hindus regarded saffron color sacred while Muslims hate it.¹³ Hindus regarded Muslims as maleshas (polluted/defiled/unclean). They were considered so much outside the pale of Hindu society that a Hindu once converted to Islam could on no account be taken back in the parent fold even though converted forcibly.¹⁴

 

     So if Muslims were that much apart from Hindus in their religious beliefs and social customs then what was in Guru Nanak’s sermons that made both Muslims and Hindus claim Guru Nanak as their own?  It is often heard and found in writings that Nanak exhorted, “Hindus to become good Hindus and Muslims to become good Muslims.”^{15, 16} In my view this statement is incorrect since the Guru rejected fundamental concepts of earlier religious traditions as confirmed by the hymns of Bhai Balvand and Bahi Satta in the AGGS, and by scholars who have studied Guru Nanak’s hymns seriously:

 

     And, historian Grewal¹⁷ observes, “A rigorous analysis of the compositions of Guru Nanak reveals that there is hardly anything in contemporary politics, society or religion that he finds commendable”.

 

     During Guru Nanak’s time a true Hindu followed the dictates of the caste system faithfully and a true Muslim believed in inflicting dreadful punishment on non-believers (kafirs). So why would Guru Nanak urge Hindus and Muslims to follow tradition that he rejected?

     On the other hand Guru Nanak’s composition reveals that he urged both Hindus and Muslims to focus on universal humanism and to promote values such as love, respect, equality, and justice for all the people irrespective of their religious beliefs. The Guru emphasized truthful living, humility, love, compassion and equal treatment of all people.

 

     There are more hymns of Guru Nanak and his successors urging Hindus and Muslims to rise above conventional beliefs that divide mankind, and to recognize the oneness of humanity under the “One and only” loving, forgiving, and merciful Creator who cherishes all of humanity without any distinction.

 

Conclusion

 

     The nine successors of Guru Nanak preached and taught his philosophy thus enriching and strengthening it by introducing innovative practices over a period of two centuries.  As stated earlier, Sikh traditions and the message of the Gurus has an underlying meaning different from that of Hinduism and Islam inspite of seemingly Hindu and Muslim terminology found in Guru Nanak’s bani. Finally, a brief note on Islamic Sufism is relevant here.  Sufism presents a challenge to us insofar as its many patterns, which are at times against Islam and at times appear as a reformatory phase within the house of Islam. There is no meaningful impact of Sufism on Guru Nanak evident from the Guru’s bani as enshrined in Aad Guru Granth Sahib. For any questioning reader interested in understanding Sufi beliefs, I recommend a remarkable book “Islamic Mysticism: A Secular Perspective” by Ibn al-Rawandi.

 

 

 

References

 

1. Max A. Macauliffe. The Sikh Religion, Vols. III & IV. Low Price Publications, Delhi, 1993, p. 119.

 

2. Ibid., pp. 368-392.

 

3. Jagjit Singh. The Sikh Revolution: A Perspective View. Bahri Publications, New Delhi, 1998, 4th reprint, p. 269.

 

4. Qeyamuddin Ahmad (Ed.). India by Al-Biruni. National Book Trust, India, third reprint, 1995, p. 10

 

5. Hari R. Gupta in Guru Nanak: His Life, Time & Teachings, Ed. Gurmukh Nihal Singh. Guru Nanak Foundation: National Publishing House, 1969, pp. 27-28.

 

6. Daulat Rai. Sahib-i-Kamal Guru Gobind Singh (Hindi). Amritsar: Gurmat Sahit Charitable Trust, 7th reprint, 1993, pp. 25-64.

 

7. Gokul C. Narang. Transformation of Sikhism. New Delhi: New Book Society of India, 5th edition, 1960, p. 19.

 

8. Ibid., p. 98.

 

9. Ibid., p. 27.

 

10. Jagjit Singh. The Sikh Revolution: A Perspective View. New Delhi: Bahri Publications, 4th reprint, 1998, pp. 148-150.

 

11. Baldev Singh. “Responding to Reverend Zekveld: ‘A Comparison Between the Two Credos: Christian and Sikh’.” SikhSpectrum.com, May 2007. 

 

12. Qeyamuddin Ahmad (Ed.). India by Al-Biruni. National Book Trust, India, third reprint, 1995, pp. 9, 45-46.

 

13. Daulat Rai. “Sahib-i-Kamal” Guru Gobind Singh (Hindi). Amritsar: Gurmat Sahit Charitable Trust, 7th reprint, 1993, p. 49.

 

14. Jagjit Singh. The Sikh Revolution: A Perspective View. New Delhi: Bahri Publications, 4th reprint, 1998, pp. 50-51.

 

15. Sarjeet Singh Sidhu. “Being Politically Correct.” SikhSpectrum.com, November 2005.

 

16. Baldev Singh. SikhSpectrum.com, November 2007, (see Feedback and Comments).

 

17. J. S. Grewal. The Sikhs of the Punjab. New Delhi: Cambridge University Press, 1994, p. 28.

 

 

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