Tag Archives: Delhi Sultanate

Historian Syed Ubaid Exposes Efforts to Rewrite India’s History: ‘A Dangerous Drive to Erase 1000-years long Muslim Influence’

NEW DELHI :

New Delhi:

In a programme at the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) headquarters on the theme of “Rewriting History: Fact or Fiction,” historian and author Syed Ubaidur Rahman raised alarm over ongoing efforts to “rewrite” India’s historical narrative—efforts, he asserts, led by right-wing ideologies seeking to diminish the legacy of Muslim rule in India.

Syed Ubaid whose latest book ‘Peaceful Expansion of Islam in India’ was published earlier this year, began by asking, “What is history? And more importantly, what is its role in shaping the future? It is alarming that in this era, when Muslims have little interest in history, some forces are working tirelessly to distort the historical truth.”

He pointed out that the rise of the right wing elements had led to a systematic campaign to dilute nearly a thousand years of Muslim rule in India. “Their basic objective is clear: to erase the history of Muslim influence, whether in architecture, education, science, or culture—from India’s curriculum,” Ubaid emphasized, saying that this was part of a broader strategy to make the history of the Muslim community “invisible.”

Syed Ubaid stated, “Muslims have impacted all aspects of life in India. There was a period of almost 1000 years of Muslim rule during which architecture, education, science, language, food, and every aspect of life were influenced. Today, these very aspects are under attack by these elements. They not only want to rewrite political history but also wish to rewrite all these aspects.”

Weekly Ijtema || Rewriting History: Fact or Fiction || Syed Ubaidur Rahman / source: youtube / jamaat-i-islami hind

Raising a question about why they want to rewrite Indian history, Ubaid referenced Audrey Truschke, a respected historian of South Asian history at Rutgers University, USA who had critiqued the right-wing narrative. Truschke explained that Hindutva ideologues aim to claim Hindus as the only indigenous group in India, excluding Muslims and other minorities. “In their history, India’s past is framed as a glorious Hindu golden age followed by an era of Muslim oppression,” Truschke writes, “This narrative distorts the complex and multi-layered history of India.”

Syed Ubaid emphasized that political and religious identities are often conflated.

Syed Ubaid explains, “Audrey has written that there was no difference between the Muslim rulers and Hindu rulers in terms of religion, neither side attacked the other because of religion. Historian Khaleeq Ahmad Nizami has clearly written in his book that Muslim rulers had no religious or political intent or religious connotation behind their actions.”

Syed Ubaid remarked, “Earlier, the narrative was that Aurangzeb was hateful and tyrannical. But over time, they started painting all Muslim rulers with the same brush, whether it was Akbar, Alauddin Khilji, or any other Muslim ruler, they began targeting them all.”

Highlighting the growing tendency to remove crucial elements of history from school textbooks, Syed Ubaid said, ‘The revision of textbooks is not new. This has been a long-standing agenda of theirs.”

He lamented the sweeping changes that have been made to the school syllabus, stating, “About 30% of school syllabi have been altered. Specifically, content related to the Mughals, political science textbooks, secular ideas, Gandhiji and his assassination, the Delhi Sultanate, all of these aspects have been significantly altered or reduced.”

Highlighting significant changes to the history curriculum, especially in Class 7, where children are first introduced to historical narratives, Syed Ubaid pointed out that the achievements of Mughal kings, such as Humayun, Shah Jahan, Akbar, Jahangir, and Aurangzeb, which had previously been presented in a two-page chart in the history textbook Our Past Too, were removed. Ubaid also mentioned the removal of a chapter on Akbar’s plural politics, which had once depicted the Mughal emperor in a positive light.

Syed Ubaid said, “the Mughals, who had ruled India for almost 350 years, from 1526 to 1857, have been a primary target in these revisions.” He criticized the effort to dilute the significance of the Mughals in textbooks, asserting that while the Mughal rule weakened toward the end, regional rulers such as the Marathas, Rohillas, Tipu Sultan, and Hyder Ali continued to govern with the Mughal imperial mandates.

Refuting the claim that the Mughals were given disproportionate importance in history textbooks while regional kingdoms were underrepresented, Syed Ubaid pointed out that the Vijayanagara Empire in South India and the Kakatiya dynasty from the 15th and 16th centuries were well-documented in textbooks.

However, he observed that regional Muslim kingdoms, such as the Bahmani Empire in the Deccan and the Gujarat Sultanate, both of which played significant roles during the same period, received much less attention in the current syllabus. Despite their rich heritage, these Muslim kingdoms are scarcely mentioned.

Ubaid emphasized that these changes are not confined to schoolbooks but extend to university curricula as well.

Syed Ubaid said, “even at the Aligarh Muslim University, once renowned for its medieval history department, professors are struggling as much of the material has been cut. Senior historian from the AMU, Prof.Irfan Habib has also noted that the entire Delhi Sultanate is now covered in just one sub-unit in unit one at the graduation level.

Citing Prof. Irfan Habib, he noted, “In the revised syllabus, Khilji, Tughlaq, and the invasion of Taimur are now condensed into a single unit. Unit 2 omits significant figures and events, such as Akbar, and instead focuses on figures like Hemu, Vikramaditya, Rana Pratap, Rani Durgavati, and Chand Bibi. Mughals like Jahangir and Shah Jahan have been removed.” Ubaid’s concerns about the erasure of Muslim contributions to India’s history went beyond textbooks.

He criticized the ongoing attempts to rename cities founded during the Muslim rule, such as Faizabad, Aurangabad, Ahmedabad, and Ahmednagar.

Warning that these efforts to distort historical narratives are part of a broader trend, where online platforms will increasingly present biased versions of history, he said, “In the future, when you search for history on platforms like Google or Amazon, you will find only materials based on misrepresentations and backing their narratives.”

Ubaid concluded his speech with a call to action: “We must not allow the erasure of history to continue. We need to encourage our children to read books rooted in historical accuracy, to understand our past, and to defend the truth. We should foster an interest in history and make an effort to include such books in our personal libraries. Just as Muslims teach foundational religious texts to their children, we must ensure historical books are part of their education.”

Beginning his speech, Syed Ubaid outlined four key phases of Muslim history in India: the early arrival of Islam through traders especially in causal India, the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate, the rise of regional sultanates, and the powerful legacy of the Mughal Empire.

source: http://www.indiatomorrow.net / India Tomorrow / Home> Education / by Anwarulhaq Baig / December 03rd, 2024

India’s new UNESCO site museum reveals Mughal emperor’s life, legacy

NEW DELHI :

  • Humayun World Heritage Site Museum in New Delhi opened for visitors on Tuesday
  • Latest addition to 16th-century tomb complex ‘brings alive 700 years of heritage’

Visitors look at artifacts at the Humayun World Heritage Site Museum — the newest addition in Humayun’s Tomb complex — in New Delhi on July 29, 2024. (AN Photo)

https://arab.news/4zpjh

New Delhi :

The second Mughal emperor Humayun was widely known as an avid reader fond of journeys, architecture, and storytelling. Almost half a millennium after his death, a new museum in the heart of New Delhi highlights his role in shaping India’s cultural heritage.


Opened for visitors on Tuesday, the Humayun World Heritage Site Museum is the newest addition in Humayun’s Tomb complex — a landmark 300-acre area in New Delhi’s Nizamuddin that features dozens of historical monuments and includes Sunder Nursery, a 16th-century heritage park.


The advent of the Mughal dynasty, which ruled the Indian subcontinent between the 16th and 19th centuries, marked the global revival of Islamic architecture, with works that until today are examples of the highest quality and refinement.


Originally from Central Asia, the Mughals carried cultural elements borrowed from Arabs, Persians and Ottomans. As they settled in India, they fused these with the various local styles found in their new domains.


Humayun was the son and successor of Babur, founder of the dynasty, and ruled the empire from 1530 to 1540 and again from 1555 until his death the following year.


The new museum, established by the Agha Khan Trust for Culture and the Archaeological Survey of India, traces Humayun and his descendants’ lives, as well as the 700-year-old history of the whole Nizamuddin locality and its influence on Indian culture.


“There are hundreds of stories to be told, which the stones don’t speak,” Ratish Nanda, conservation architect and projects director at the AKTC, told Arab News. “The idea is to bring alive 700 years of heritage.”


The museum is located in Humayun’s Tomb, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the first of the grand mausoleums that became synonymous with Mughal architectural innovations and, three generations later, culminated in the construction of India’s most iconic monument, the Taj Mahal.
About 7 million tourists from across India and abroad visit the complex every year.


“The idea is that people who now visit the World Heritage Site come with a deep understanding of the site,” Nanda said.


“We’ve been able to … combine architectural elements with incredible manuscripts, miniature paintings, calligraphy, textiles, coins, metalware, architectural elements — one is two one scale — with lots of films and digital technology, and models and so on.”


Spanning five galleries, the underground museum has over 500 artefacts sourced from the collections of the National Museum in New Delhi, ASI and AKTC.


“It captures the 700 years of history that is associated with the region of Nizamuddin and the World Heritage site of Humayun’s Tomb …This museum really captures the history,” said Ujwala Menon, AKTC conservation architect.


“The principal gallery talks about Humayun. There’s very little known about this emperor, and one of the things with this museum is to really address that … Then we have a second section of this gallery which talks about the personalities that are associated with Nizamuddin.”


Among the famed figures featured in the second gallery are Nizamuddin Auliya and Amir Khusro.
Auliya was an 13th-century Indian Sunni Muslim scholar, Sufi saint of the Chishti Order, and is one of the most famous Sufis from the Indian subcontinent. His shrine and tomb are located near Humayun’s complex.


Khusro was a 13th-century poet and scholar who remains an iconic figure in the culture of the subcontinent.


Both Auliya and Khusro lived during the period of the Delhi Sultanate, which Humayun’s father conquered, leading to its succession by the Mughal empire. The museum shows how the empire did not come to its bloom in a cultural vacuum, but drew from and incorporated the culture of its predecessors.


“There was this idea of pluralism that existed during the Mughal period,” Menon said.
“And this (museum) really captures all of that.”

source: http://www.arabnews.com / Arab News / Home> World / by Sanjay Kumar / July 31st, 2024

Delhiwale: How many Sultanate kings can you name? Here’s the full list of 32

NEW DELHI :

For 320 years, Delhi was the city of sultans. Here is the list of the 32 rulers and where they rest now.

Sheesh Gumbad in Lodhi Gardens.(Mayank Austen Soofi / HT Photo)
Sheesh Gumbad in Lodhi Gardens.(Mayank Austen Soofi / HT Photo)

The other day, while driving past an obscure monument, a friend demanded to know its name. We had no idea so we bluffed, “Ah, that’s a Lodhi-era tomb!”

The truth is we can’t even list all the Lodhi kings.

In any case, the Lodhi dynasty was part of the more elaborate Delhi Sultanate (not to be confused with ‘Delhi Sultanate’, a so-named member of The Sky Vengers music band). The Delhi Sultanate we are talking about spanned five dynasties, 32 rulers and 320 years. It lasted from 1206 to 1526. Today we give you the names of all the rulers of the Sultanate — one of whom was India’s first woman ruler, while the last was vanquished by Babur, the founder of the Mughal dynasty.

Sultan02MPOs03dec2017

We also used this list to hunt the graves of these Sultanate royals — right here in our city. Of course, it’s not possible to access every king’s tombstone. Quite a few of them were killed in small and big wars, at times far from Delhi. Frustratingly, history books leave no solid evidence of their burial spots.

Some others of these important men turned out to be so insignificant in the long run that their graves have been forgotten, making it impossible to trace them today. Here’s a list of all the rulers, and the graves of those we were able to locate.

SLAVE DYNASTY

Qutbuddin Aibak (1206–1210), buried in Lahore, Pakistan

Aram Shah (1210–1211), killed near Delhi, grave not known

Shams ud din Iltutmish (1211–1236), buried in Qutub Minar Complex, Mehrauli

Illtutmish’s tomb in Qutub Minar complex. (Mayank Austen Soofi)
Illtutmish’s tomb in Qutub Minar complex. (Mayank Austen Soofi)

Rukn uddin Firuz (1236), believed to be buried in Sultan Ghari, near Mehrauli

Raziyat ud din Sultana (1236–1240), buried in Bulbuli Khana, Old Delhi

Raziya Sultan’s tomb in Bulbuli Khana, Old Delhi. (Mayank Austen Soofi)
Raziya Sultan’s tomb in Bulbuli Khana, Old Delhi. (Mayank Austen Soofi)

Muiz uddin Bahram (1240–1242), grave not known

Ala uddin Masud (1242–1246), grave not known

Nasir uddin Mahmud (1246–1266), grave not known

Ghiyas uddin Balban (1266–1286), Buried in Mehrauli Archaeological Complex, near Jamali Kamali mosque

A tomb outside Jamali Kamali complex in Mehrauli. (Mayank Austen Soofi)
A tomb outside Jamali Kamali complex in Mehrauli. (Mayank Austen Soofi)

Muiz uddin Qaiqabad (1286–1290), grave not known

Kayumars (1290), grave not known

KHILJI DYNASTY

Jalal ud din Firuz Khilji (1290–1296), buried in Delhi but “disappeared “according to HC Fanshaw’e book Delhi, Past and Present

Alauddin Khilji (1296–1316), buried in Qutub Minar Complex, Mehrauli

Qutb uddin Mubarak Shah (1316–1320), grave not known

TUGHLAQ DYNASTY

Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq (1321–1325), buried in Tughlakabad

Muhammad bin Tughluq (1325–1351), buried in Tughlakabad

Mahmud Ibn Muhammad (1351), buried in Tughlakabad

Firuz Shah Tughlaq (1351–1388), buried in Hauz Khas Village

Ghiyas-ud-Din Tughluq II (1388–1389), grave not known

Abu Bakr Shah (1389–1390), grave not known

Nasir uddin Muhammad Shah III (1390–1393), grave not known

Ala-ud-Din Sikandar Shah I (1393), grave not known

Mahmud Nasir uddin (1393–1394), grave not known

Nusrat Shah (1394–1399), grave not known

Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah (1399–1413), not known, Timur invade Delhi in his reign

SAYYID DYNASTY

Khizr Khan (1414–1421), grave not known

Mubarak Shah (1421–1434), buried in Kotla Mubarakpur village

Muhammad Shah (1434–1445), buried in Lodhi Garden

The plaque at Mohammed Shah’s tomb in Lodhi Garden. (Mayank Austen Soofi)
The plaque at Mohammed Shah’s tomb in Lodhi Garden. (Mayank Austen Soofi)

Alam Shah (1445–1451), grave not known, perhaps in Badayun where he died

LODHI DYNASTY

Bahlol Lodhi (1451–1489), Chirag Dilli

Sikander Lodhi (1489–1517), Lodhi Gardens

Ibrahim Lodhi (1517–1526), buried in Panipat, Haryana

source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home> Cities> Delhi / by Mayank Austen Soofi, Hindustan Times /  December 02nd, 2017