Sarmad

Sarmad

Sarmad ( _ar. سرمد "everlasting") was a Persian mystic, poet and saint in India of Jewish [ [http://www.jstor.org/pss/3270192 The Identity of a Mystic: The Case of Sa'id Sarmad, a Jewish-Yogi-Sufi Courtier of the Mughals, Nathan Katz, Numen, Vol. 47, No. 2 (2000), pp. 142-160] ] and Armenian origin [ [http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/opinion/2007/August/opinion_August54.xml&section=opinion&col= Khaleej Times Online - The Armenian Diaspora: History as horror and survival ] ] during the 17th century. He arrived in India from a Jewish, Persian-speaking Armenian merchant family, [ [http://www.apnaorg.com/columns/majid/col2.html Sarmad the Armenian and Dara Shikoh ] ] only to renounce his religion and adopt Islam, which he allegedly later renounced in favor of Hinduism, which he is also supposed to have renounced. Sarmad was known for espousing and ridiculing the major religions of his day, but also wrote beautiful religious poetry in the form of quatrains. He wandered the streets and the courts of the emperor completely naked and fell in love with a 14 year old Hindu boy.

Sarmad was close to Dara Shikoh, the heir presumptive to Shah Jahan, the fifth Mughal emperor. However, the actual successor to Shah Jehan, Aurangzeb, beheaded Sarmad in 1661 for poetry deemed heretical.

During his life, Sarmad produced a translation of the Torah in Persian. [Fishel, Walter. “Jews and Judaism at the Court of the Mugal Emperors in Medieval India,” Islamic Culture, 25:105-31.]

Sarmad's ambiguous religious affiliation is disputed today by Jews, Muslims and Hindus. His grave is located near the Jama Masjid in Delhi, India.

Colonial India Reference

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, one of the leading political personalities involved actively in India's struggle for freedom, had equated himself with Sarmad in an essay which he had written at the age of 23. He had identified himself with Sarmad for his freedom of thought and expression. [http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20071007/spectrum/book1.htm]

References

Further reading

*Gupta, M.G. Sarmad the Saint: Life and Works, Revised Edition. MG Publishers, 2000. ISBN 81-85532-32-X.
*Ezekial, Isaac A. Sarmad: (Jewish Saint of India). 2nd ed. Radha Soami Satsang Beas, 1974. ASIN B0006EXYM6.

External resources

* Annemarie Schimmel, And Muhammad Is His Messenger: The Veneration Of the Prophet In Islamic Piety, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill And London.
* [http://www.crda-france.org/fr/6histoire/par_pays/inde_sarmad1.htm Sarmad, The Mystic Poet]
* [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=257&letter=S&search=sarmad Sarmad, Mohammed Sa'id]
* [http://www.chowrangi.com/jurisdiction.html Sarmad and Aurangzeb]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Sarmad Sindhi — (Sindhi: سرمد سنڌي Urdu: سرمد سندھی) was a popular Sindhi singer from Sindh, Pakistan. Sarmad Sindhi s real name was Rahman Mughal. He died in a car accident on December 27th, 1996.Sarmad Sindhi was famous among his generation and sang all kinds… …   Wikipedia

  • SARMAD, MUHAMMAD SAʿID — (d. 1661), Persian poet. Born into a rabbinical family in Kashan in the early 17th century, Sarmad became a convert to islam , though he is always referred to in Persian and European sources as Sarmad the Jew, the Hebrew pantheist, or the Jewish… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Sarmad Abdul Ghafoor — (Urdu: سرمد عبد الغفور) was the lead guitarist of the Pakistani band, Rung but now he plays for Atif Aslam.Dedicated and disciplined, Sarmad had played and recorded extensively as an underground rock musician. He and his brother Sajid, a… …   Wikipedia

  • Sarmad Sultan Khoosat — (Urdu: سرمد سلطان کھوسٹ) is a script writer, director and actor, responsible for some successful and unique Pakistani television projects. He is the son of the famous television/film actor Irfan Khoosat and was the brains behind the situational… …   Wikipedia

  • Sarmad Rasheed — Football player infobox playername = Sarmad Rasheed fullname = Sarmad Salih Rasheed dateofbirth = birth date and age|1982|1|1 cityofbirth = Baghdad countryofbirth = Iraq height = currentclub = Al Zawraa clubnumber = 30 position = Goalkeeper… …   Wikipedia

  • Khuda Ke Liye — Infobox Film name = Khuda Kay Liye image size = 170px caption = Khuda Kay Liye poster director = Shoaib Mansoor producer = Shoman Productions writer = Shoaib Mansoor starring = Shaan Naseeruddin Shah Fawad Khan Iman Ali Hameed Sheikh music =… …   Wikipedia

  • List of converts to Hinduism — The following is a list of converts to Hinduism from other religions or a non religious background.From Abrahamic religionsChristianity* Job Charnock British trade agent who has been controversially described as the founder of Calcutta [… …   Wikipedia

  • List of former Muslims — This is a list of notable people who have been Muslims sometime during their lives but left Islam for another religion or a non religious ideology. =Converted to a different Abrahamic religion= Converted to Christianity* Magdi Allam Italy s most… …   Wikipedia

  • Khuda Ke Liye — Filmdaten Originaltitel Khuda Ke Liya Produktionsland Pakistan …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Dabestan-e Mazaheb — Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great (r. 1556 1605) holds a religious assembly in the Ibadat Khana (House of Worship) in Fatehpur Sikri; the two men dressed in black are the Jesuit missionaries Rodolfo Acquaviva and Francisco Henriques. Illustration to …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”