Wednesday 19 October 2011

Ruling the Hearts of Sindhis


Before Islam came to Sind, the Buddhist monastries were spread all over Sind and the [Sindhi] fondness for self-resignation and self-annihilation are partly traceable to that epoch as well. It is no doubt that with the Arab conquest of Sind the human relations and attitudes towards cosmos received a new impetus for change... Yet it is not strange that the average Sindhi today seems more drawn towards the mystic-saints than to the scholars of [religious] jurisprudence. The mystic had no rigid rules. Their message was Love... mysticism is always a rebellion against the rigidities of jurisprudence and the way Kabir, Mira and Tulsidas have ruled over the hearts of Sindhis speaks volumes of their capacity to be won over through love...
"Hence love, tolerance, catholicity and non-violence--as is customary in regions where mysticism or Bhakti movement was popular, are the cornerstones of Sindhi culture with a difference that Sindhi's love for their land is a paramount feature and even the mystic-saints of Sind have referred to the sand dunes, shrubs and berries of Sind as something heavenly-sent. Some of the lines of Shah Latif will eminently serve as the leitmotif of patriotic mysticism.

--M.A. Siddiqui
 "Some Aspects of Sindhi Culture" in Sind Through the Centuries: An Introduction to Sind”

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