Sheikh Muhammad

Sheikh Muhammad (1560-1650), also known as Shekh Mahammad (Mohammad), Sayyad Shaikh Mahammad Qadiri, Shaikh Muhammad Shrigondekar and Sheikh (Shekh) Mahammad-baba, is a Muslim saint-poet venerated by Hindus and author of the Yoga-samgrama (Yoga-sangrama).

Background

Sheikh Muhammad's Native place is WAHIRA Tal.Ashti Dist.-Beed [Maharastra] India. He was lived at Shrigonda, Maharashtra, India. He was the son of Raje Muhammad, a Qadiriyya (Kadri, Qadiri) Sufi. His guru was the Hindu Vaishnava (sect worshipping the Hindu god Vishnu) saint Chanda Bodhale, who was also the guru of Janardhan swami - the guru of the saint-poet Eknath. Chanda Bodhale, known as Said Chandasaheb Kadri in Sufi traditions, is considered an avatar of the Hindu god Dattatreya and was a disciple of Sheikh Muhammad's father.Saint Shaikh Mohamad Maharaj gives first chance to Saint Tukaram Maharaj to perform his first KIRTAN . People first time refused to listen Tukaram Maharaj but Shaikh Mohamad Maharaj requested them to listen him & then Saint Tukaram Maharaj performed his first KIRTAN.^[1][2]

Works and teachings

Sheikh Muhammad is the author of the Yoga-samgrama, the Pavana-vijaya, the Nishkalanka-prabodha and the Jnanasagara, in addition to many songs and abhangas (devotional poems).^[3]

The Yoga-samgrama composed in 1645, which contains 2319 ovis (poems), is his magnum opus.^[1] The central theme of his philosophical work is "the soul's struggle to realize and experience God". It is an "unusually frank critique" of Hindu Brahmanical ritualism and folk Hinduism.^[2] Sheikh Muhammad cites examples from the Hindu scriptures like the Puranas and other philosophical treatises to convey his ideas. The Yoga-samgrama has references to Hindu gods Rama, Krishna, Vishnu and Shiva. Each of the eighteen chapters of the treatise begins with a prayer to Ganesha, the god of beginnings which is invoked at start of a book as per Hindu tradition.^[2] However, his writings reveal his monotheistic beliefs, whict are rooted in Islam. He describes Hindu gods as formless (Nirakari), unmanifest (Avyakta), without form or qualities (Nirguna) and invisible (alaksa).^[2] Sheikh Muhammad preaches the oneness of God, Hindu or Muslim:^[4]

In fifty-six languages one God is exalted with different words... cleavages arise because of harangues in different tongues ... I salute the sacred Om by which the God creator (Narayan, a name of Vishnu) is known. Muslims salute him as ya Allah...

The Yoga-samgrama contains an account of the tale of the Hindu god Vithoba, a form of Vishnu in Maharashtra, and his devotee Pundalik, based on the Hindu scripture Skanda Purana.^[5]

While Sheikh Muhammad accepts classical Hindu deities, he vilifies folk Hindu deities. He mocks the shrines of the Hindu mother goddess placed on roads and in fields: "If the deities were all that powerful, how come the dogs urinate on them?" He also criticizes self-torture rituals like hook-swinging, performed to appease folk deities.^[2]

Remembrance

The saint-poet Ramdas, a staunch Hindu (supposedly anti-Muslim) contemporary saint praises Sheikh Muhammad as a great saint.^[2] Sheikh Muhammad is considered an avatar of the Muslim saint-poet Kabir.^[1]

References

1. Antonio Rigopoulos (1985). Dattatreya: The Immortal Guru, Yogin, and Avatara: A Study of the Transformative and Inclusive Character of a Multi-faceted Hindu Deity. SUNY Press. pp. 137, 157. ISBN 978-1-4384-1733-2.
2. Günther-Dietz Sontheimer; Hermann Kulke (2001). Hinduism reconsidered. Manohar. pp. 141, 142, 149. ISBN 978-81-7304-385-7.
3. Ramesh Chandra Majumdar. The History and Culture of the Indian People 7. G. Allen & Unwin. p. 580.
4. Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya (2005). Studying Early India: Archaeology, Texts, and Historical Issues. Orient Blackswan. p. 209. ISBN 978-81-7824-143-2.
5. R. S. McGregor (25 September 1992). Devotional Literature in South Asia: Current Research, 1985-1988. Cambridge University Press. p. 140. ISBN 978-0-521-41311-4.