For the goblet to contain the ocean?

{SUFIYANA} THE LEGACY OF SARMAD SHAHEED

- Rushnae Kabir

Shaikh Sarmad is a lesser-known name among the several legendary Sufi saints of India. His mausoleum, nestled within the narrow bylanes of Jama Masjid, does not receive as many visitors as the dargah of Nizamuddin Auliya just a few kilometres away. Yet, his legacy reveals much not just about the history of Sufism, but the turbulence of the early modern period, India's position in the Persianate world, and even Muslim participation in the nationalist movement. Syeda Saiyidain Hameed and Reyaz Ahmad have masterfully woven all these threads together in His Miracle, Not His Sin.

A translated collection of Sarmad's Persian quatrains (rubaiyat), the book also includes an essay by Maulana Azad titled Sarmad Shaheed'. The title Shaheed (Martyr) was ascribed to Sarmad because of the circumstances of his death. As the story goes, he was brought before a jury of Islamic clerics on charges of heresy in Delhi three years after Aurangzeb ascended the throne. He was accused of rejecting the concept of the unity of God (tawhid), a pillar of Islam, among minor faults such as a refusal to clothe himself. Rather than repent and seek forgiveness, Sarmad reiterated his convictions. As a result, he was executed on the steps of the Jama Masjid. In death, he joined the ranks of other Sufis who had been similarly executed because of their unorthodox approach to religion.