Shah Inayat, a socialist Sufi of Sindh

Shah Inayat, a socialist Sufi of Sindh



By Agha Saleem


SUFIS have always tried to prepare people for an eternal and spiritual life. They have concentrated on perfection and betterment of their worldly life by denouncing personal property, labelling wealth as blood of the poor sucked by kings, lords and capitalists. It is said that once King Abu-Zafar brought two bags full of golden coins as a gift to Hazrat Abdul Qadir Jeelani with a request to pray for him. Hazrat Abdul Qadir Jeelani took the bags in both his hands and, (symbolically) squeezed them. Blood trickled down from the bags. He said to the king, “These golden coins are poor people’s blood, you should have been ashamed to bring this blood to me.” Malik Shah a renowned Sufi said to Prince Sanjar, son of King Saljok, “It is a pity that people’s necks are breaking with miseries and your horses necks are adorned with gold”.

Sufis being apostles of peace have always protested against unjust social systems by secluding themselves and not participating in them. And there from they preached for social justice and transferring society into an egalitarian society. It was in the 17th century that a sufi from Sindh, Shah Inayat, virtually single-handedly attempted to transfer feudal society into an agrarian egalitarian society where collective well-being of all was to become a reality. He thus declared, “Land belongs to God and its yield to the tiller.”

Hazrat Shah Inayat was a Sufi of the Saharwardy order. It is thought that his elders migrated from Baghdad and settled in Uch. His family were the followers of Saharwardia Makhdooms of Uch and his father came to Sindh as their representative.

Shah Inayat was born in 1655-56. He received his education in Tasawuff by another renowned sufi of Multan, Shams Shah. He sent Shah Inayat to Hyderabad Deccan to acquire further knowledge from Mubarak Shah Abdul Malik. From there he came to Meeran Pur also known as Jhok Sharif. Within a short time of his stay in Jhok Sharif, he became popular as an ascetic sufi among the masses. His popularity peaked when he distributed his family’s land and the land granted by the rulers to Dargah, amongst the landless peasants without any compensation or share in the yield. This move greatly disturbed the neighbouring landlords, Sayyads. They immediately considered him a social threat and with the connivance of the Mughal governor of Thatta, Mir Lutuf Ali they attacked Jhok Sharif killing many of Shah Inayat’s followers.

Shah Inayat brought this to the knowledge of the Mughal King Forukh Sare at Delhi. The King ordered that all the lands of the Sayyads be handed over to Shah Inayat as compensation. The King also granted more land for the expenses and maintenance of his dargah. This land was also distributed among the peasants. Shah Inayat was now a challenge to the settled static social order in which there was no place for ambitions. The result was that the system retaliated with full force and pounced upon him. All custodians of the status quo united.

The Mughal governor and the neighbouring landlords sent a fabricated message to the King that Shah Inayat was organizing a revolt against him in the guise of spiritual movement. The King ordered his governor to deal with the insurgency of Shah Inayat, swiftly and immediately. Hence the governor of Thatta, the Kalhora ruler, Pirs, Sayyads and other landlords brought their forces and besieged the fort of Jhok. The devotees of Shah Inayat refused to surrender. It might have been easy for the government forces to smash through the mud walls of the fort but it was very difficult to topple the wall of determination of the devotees. They started guerrilla war against the government forces and inflicted heavy losses on them.

The siege continued for six months. Seeing the losses of government forces and the resilience with which the devotees were resisting, the governor decided to capture Shah Inayat by deceit. He sent a Holy Quran to Shah Inayat and invited him for dialogue according to the tenets of Quran. Shah Inayat knew that it was a trap of treachery and deceit but to honour the Holy Quran he decided to surrender. He instructed all his devotees not to take up arms what ever may happen because the matter was with Allah. The Governor, after receiving Shah Inayat, he ordered his immediate arrest and ordered the executioner to behead him. When he was being beheaded he gave blessings to the executioner by reciting a verse:

“You liberate me from the evil of existence

May God reward you for that in this and the next world.”

Shah Inayat was like a lone star which for a while, illuminated the path to progress, and then faded away. Darkness triumphed and spread over centuries.