Guru Nanak A Muslim - Not!

[Pakandi baba]

I've come across this claim and i'm not sure if others are aware of it. It was found on Hindunet.com

We are not a group from Islam or Hinduism!!

The book Janam Sakhi of Bala Sahib is an authoritative source of Sikhism. Bala was Nanak's constant companion and he accompanied his Master for twenty years during his travels. It is true that in Janam Sakhi one finds much fiction mixed with facts. Bala was a Hindu and after Nanak's death, estrangemant of Sikhism from Islam had started. As such any statement contained in Janam Sakhi in favour of Islam has the weight of a hostile witness.

The following passages are quoted from the third edition of Bala Sahib's Janam Sakhi, printed by the press, Anarkali, Lahore in the early part of this century.

On page 134 of Janam Sakhi, we read, The Quran is divided into thirty sections, proclaim thou, this Quran in the four comers of this world. Declare the glory of one name only for none other is an associate with me. Nanak proclaims the word of God that came to him, thou hast been granted the rank of Sheikh, so thou shouldst abolish the worship of gods and goddesses and the old Hindu idol - temples.

The fundamental article of the Islamic faith, the Kalima, has been given the greatest stress in Janam Sakhi. A few Shaloks (verses) from this Sakhi read:

I have repeated one Kalima, there is none other.

I have repeated one Kalima, there is none other.

Those who repeat the Kalima and are not devoid of the faith, shall not be burned on fire.

Repeat the Holy Kalima of the Prophet, it shall cleanse thee of all sins.

By repeating the Kalima, the punishment of this world, as well as the next is averted.

Who ever repeats the Kalima, how shall he be punished? the merit of repeating the Kalima is that a person is cleansed of his sins.

In Bala's Janam Sakhi, we also read that during his pilgrimage to Mecca, Baba Nanak met Qazi Rukn-ud-Din, the Imam and had long conversations with him. It is reported that Nanak said, 0: Rukn-ud-Din, it is written in the Book (i.e., the Quran) that those who drink wine or 'Bhang' shall be punished on the Day of Judgement.

Baba Nanak was not a Muslim in belief only. He recognised the necessity of worship in the form enjoined by Islam and laid stress on this point in his teachings. On page 193 of Bala's Janam Sakhi, we have: Nanak said, 0: Rukn-ud-Din, hear from me the true reply: the saying of the Lord is written in the Book. That person will go to hell who does not repeat the Kalima, who does not keep the thirty fasts, and does not say the five prayers, who eats what is not lawful for him. These shall receive the punishment and the fire of the bottomless pit shall be his abode. It is also reported that Baba Nanak kept fasts for a whole year at Mecca and put his fingers in his ears and gave the call to prayer. It is also related that Nanak recited the Khutba of the Prophet and became happy.

The few quotations are sufficient to show that Nanak not only made a full confession of the absolute truth of Islam but also performed the obligations of Islamic law and enjoined others to follow them. Now the question arises how the religion preached by Nanak came to be identified as an offshoot of Hinduism. Anybody who is acquainted with the history of Sikhism would reach the conclusion that the transformation was due to political, not religious reasons.

Baba Nanak was not a mere convert to Islam. He felt he had been called to act as a spiritual guide and to take people into his discipleship after the manner of many Muslim sufis. This has lead later historians to conclude that Baba Nanak founded a new cult which took into his fold Muslims as well as Hindus and hence Sikhism was a compromise of the two religions. We have to reject this conclusion because no Muslim disciple of Nanak is known to have given up his belief in Islamic principles nor to have acted against any Islamic injunctions regarding prayers and fasting. Punjab, at the time of Nanak, was under Muslim rule and if Nanak had converted any Muslim to a faith other than Islam, he would have been sentenced to death for apostacy, (though it is un-Islamic to the core!) was strictly enforced by all Muslim rulers in the Middle ages, but Nanak's disciples were not harmed in any way let alone being stoned to death. This clearly shows that Nanak was looked upon as a Muslim sufi by his contemporaries. It is indeed difficult to explain fully the causes which led to the identification of Sikhism with Hinduism rather than with Islam. But so subtle and variant are generally the causes which shape the religious thought of a people, that a complete satisfactory explanation is often impossible in such matters.

The transformation of Christ's monotheistic teaching to Paulean Trinity offers a greater difficulty when one analyses the course of history. Originally a branch of Judaism, it soon developed into a movement entirely opposed to the parent religion. As plainly as Guru Nanak said that the injunctions of the Islamic law should be followed to attain salvation, Jesus also insisted that the Mosaic law was under no circumstances to be altered. Within a single generation, however, his teachings were altered, lock stock and barrel. Baba Nanak took Hindu disciples, but did not insist on their outright conversion to Islam. They could call themselves Hindus with their traditional life-style and still continue to be in his company.

Nanak probably knew that those who really accepted him as their Master, would ultimately follow him in the Islamic way. There is a strong reason to believe that with Nanak's death the influx of Muslims into his movement stopped all together. It was his personal charisma that drew Muslims towards him, and won their conviction that he was a Muslim saint. Accordingly, Nanak's death was the turning point and with this, the Muslim element began to disappear. The movement remained in the hands of Hindu disciples, who, by lapse of time, relapsed into their old faith. The political circumstances accelerated this estrangement. The culmination of this can be seen from the perception of the tenth Master Guru, Gobind Singh Ji, that the power of God on the earth was symbolised by the khanda, a double edged sword. From the fifth Guru, Arjun Dev, onwards, the Islamic elements started disappearing from Sikh literature including the Granth Sahib with only some of these teachings remaining in some Janam Sakhis written earlier. But however, since both of these groups look similar, in dressing and way of life, they can be blended well w one another.

[Guest PRITAM SINGH KHALSA]

For one it sound unlikely that Guru Nanak said " alah la la la la laaba ab al blah blah blah ."

Hindu net isnt a good place to find Sikh info.

Thats like this Sikh site having Bible lessons and Jewish barmitsfas.

Dont feel your head with their propaganda.

Just think of GuruJi as the first True Real Sikh and youll be fine.

GuruJi would walk around dressed half as a Muslim and half as a Hindu Sadhu to show both they are both right if you have SatGurPrasad.

[Lionchild]

For one it sound unlikely that Guru Nanak said " alah la la la la laaba ab al blah blah blah ."

Hindu net isnt a good place to find Sikh info. if you have SatGurPrasad.

are you signed up at hindunet pritam... it is a rather strange palce to find sikhi info, oddly, that is the place that i was before entering sikhi.. i was going to be a hindu...

(don't ask why...)

[Guest PRITAM SINGH KHALSA]

no. I probaly wont either

[The Khalsa Fauj]

That pic is not right. It has issues. Made in the 1800s.

[Wicked Warrior]

That pic is not right. It has issues. Made in the 1800s.

I spotted the tilak, the earring and the hat (doesn't look like a turban). What else did I miss?

[Lionchild]

That pic is not right. It has issues. Made in the 1800s.

I spotted the tilak, the earring and the hat (doesn't look like a turban). What else did I miss?

i don't like paintings or picures of thehuman gurus... no one knows what they look like, not does it really matter...

[Pakandi baba]

For one it sound unlikely that Guru Nanak said " alah la la la la laaba ab al blah blah blah ."

Hindu net isnt a good place to find Sikh info.

Thats like this Sikh site having Bible lessons and Jewish barmitsfas.

Dont filll your head with their propaganda.

I'm not taken in by this, i know what my Guru ji is and nobody can tell me otherwise. :TH:

That pic is not right. It has issues. Made in the 1800s.

I spotted the tilak, the earring and the hat (doesn't look like a turban). What else did I miss?

Guru Nanak did not have a tilak, i don't believe we should try to illustate what they looked like as it's Brahman thought.

[Ek_Munda_5abi]

Two more issues with the picture:

- Maalas (too many maalas. Gurbani condemns mala.)

- Bhai Bala

[jashans]

hahhahh,

its funny ( no, it really is ) how those rss and other hindu groups are trying to get sikhism to merge. All I can say is, its a good strategy for taking out the weaker sikhs from our religion.

We have had martyr's that have done things, that nobody, nobody has done or ever though of doing for anything, let alone religion. Sitting on a burning plate while not bowing away from the satgurprasad.

But the only people affected by this propaganda, are the weaker link . Comparing this to old time, this would roughly translate to, cowards who are willing to betray everything, and convert under fear of death.

So people, dont worry about this propaganda, our foundation is strong, and when foundation is strong, storms come and go, while the strongest still stand.

Trust me people, guru's have made a strong enough sacrifice that things like this, come and go, but those who truly are gursikhs, they are not even touched by these things.

For example, look at nirankaris, now they have done something worse than rss, they broke away form our religion, mixed it up with their own <banned word filter activated>(literally). I am sure you people know that a person is considered holy in Nirankarism, if his excreta (feces), does not smell.

Now you see, i have given pretyt good examples, so people, brush this aside, and let us focus our god given quota of energy ( and breaths ) on something more important. And besides, if people were to follow sikhism and do seva, they seperate themselves from this Kalyug, and RSS and nirankaris stuff wont matter to them, afterall that is what we are here to do in human birth. Fall in love with the 5 vices, and who knows, you might as well b born as a chicken in ur next life, and so on until u pass through each time