Be-shari'a and ba-shari'a

Also called: Be-shara and ba-shara · Topic: Bhakti and Sufi Traditions · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 2 "Bhakti-Sufi Traditions"

Meaning

Ba-shari'a sufis followed the shari'a (Islamic law). Be-shari'a mystics, such as the Qalandars, Madaris, Malangs and Haidaris, deliberately broke it. They also scorned the khanqah (sufi hospice) and lived by begging, without marriage and with very harsh self-denial.

The pair matters because it shows that Sufism was never one single group. It had a law-abiding wing that was settled in buildings, and a wandering wing that rejected law, family and property.

Explanation

Background: why a split appeared

• Sufism began in the early centuries of Islam. It was a protest against the growing wealth and worldliness of the Caliphate.
• Its first stage was a reaction to the worldliness of the Umayyad period (661–749 CE) [2].

• Sufis wanted a personal experience of God and the love of God, not dry classroom argument.

• Over time Sufism became organised:

• Khanqah (Persian for hospice): a centre where the master taught, people were fed and anyone could stay.
• Silsila (a "chain" of masters and disciples going back to the Prophet Muhammad). It crystallised around the 12th century.

• Dargah (Persian for "court"): the tomb-shrine of the shaikh, which became a place of pilgrimage.

• This organisation produced two responses:

• most sufis worked within the khanqah and within Islamic law. These were the ba-shari'a.
• some mystics felt that buildings, rules and links with rulers had drifted away from the first ideal. They took a radical path. These were the be-shari'a.

The two terms explained

• Shari'a = the law that governs the Muslim community. In textbook terms it rests on the Qur'an and the hadis (the Prophet's sayings and actions), together with qiyas (reasoning by analogy) and ijma (the agreement of the community).
• In Persian, ba means "with" and be means "without".
• Ba-shari'a = "with the law". These sufis obeyed Islamic law.
• Be-shari'a = "without the law", or "outside the law". These mystics defied it on purpose.

Point	Ba-shari'a	Be-shari'a
Islamic law	followed it	deliberately defied it
Khanqah	lived and taught in it	scorned it
Way of life	settled; organised around shaikh (master), murid (disciple) and khalifa (successor)	mendicancy (begging for food), celibacy (no marriage), extreme asceticism (harsh self-denial)
Rituals	observed them	ignored them
Examples	the organised silsilas, for example the Chishti and Qadiri	Qalandars, Madaris, Malangs, Haidaris

How it worked and what it led to

• The ba-shari'a wing built lasting institutions:
• the khanqah did social work: feeding people, teaching and settling disputes.
• the silsila passed on authority through initiation: an oath of allegiance, a patched garment and a shaved head.

• the dargah kept the saint's barakat (blessing power) at the grave. Ziyarat (pilgrimage) on the urs (death anniversary) drew large crowds.

• The be-shari'a wing kept no such base:

• they wandered and begged. They did not marry or own property.

• their defiance of the law was a deliberate choice, and that choice gave them their name.

• Result: the split shows a lasting tension inside Sufism:

• on one side, settled orders that held property and had contact with rulers.
• on the other, wandering mystics who rejected law, family and buildings.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: Sufism as a whole runs from about the 8th to the 18th century. Silsilas and organised tariqas (orders) took shape around the 12th century [2]. The ba-shari'a/be-shari'a split belongs to this stage, when Sufism had become an organised movement. The study note gives no exact date for when the be-shari'a groups first appeared.
• Place: the wider Islamic world and medieval India. In India, ba-shari'a sufism is seen most clearly at dargahs such as Ajmer Sharif in Rajasthan. This is the tomb of Khwaja Muin al-Din Chishti, where hundreds of thousands of pilgrims gather each year for the urs [3].
• Key groups: Qalandars, Madaris, Malangs and Haidaris on the be-shari'a side. The organised silsilas, such as the Chishti (named after Chisht in central Afghanistan) and the Qadiri (named after Shaikh Abd'ul Qadir Jilani), on the ba-shari'a side.
• How we know: the classification comes from the textbook account in NCERT Class 12, Ch 2 "Bhakti-Sufi Traditions". It rests on sufi writings. By the 11th century Sufism already had its own literature on the Qur'an, the mystic path and correct behaviour. NCERT also names these kinds of sufi texts:
• malfuzat (recorded conversations of sufi saints),
• maktubat (collected letters),
• tazkiras (biographies of saints).

Don't confuse with

• Ulama vs ba-shari'a sufis: the ulama were scholars of Islamic law and theology. Ba-shari'a sufis also followed the law, but they put personal experience and love of God first, not scholarly argument.
• Shari'a vs tariqa: shari'a is Islamic law. Tariqa is the sufi "path", or order. A ba-shari'a sufi followed both. A be-shari'a mystic followed a path while rejecting the law.
• Be-shari'a vs non-Muslim: be-shari'a mystics were still sufis inside Islam. "Be-shari'a" describes their defiance of the law, not a change of religion.
• Be-shari'a mystics vs Nathpanthis, Siddhas and Yogis: both were radical groups that rejected ritual, and both appear in the same NCERT chapter. But the Nathpanthis, Siddhas and Yogis came from the Hindu/yogic tradition. Qalandars and Malangs were sufi.

Prelims Hooks

• Be-shari'a = sufis who defied Islamic law. Ba-shari'a = sufis who complied with it. Watch for MCQs that swap the two words.
• Be-shari'a groups: Qalandars, Madaris, Malangs, Haidaris. The Chishti and Qadiri silsilas are not on this list.
• Be-shari'a way of life: scorned the khanqah, plus mendicancy + celibacy + extreme asceticism, and they ignored rituals.
• Khanqah = Persian for hospice. Silsila = "chain", crystallised around the 12th century. Dargah = Persian for "court".
• "Sufism" is a 19th-century English coinage. The term in Islamic texts is tasawwuf.
• Sufi asceticism began as a reaction to worldliness in the Umayyad period (661–749 CE) [2].

Mains Points

• Sufism was internally divided.
• The ba-shari'a wing held property, ran buildings and had contact with rulers.
• The be-shari'a wing (Qalandars and others) rejected law, family and buildings.

• Use this to correct any answer that treats "the Sufis" as one uniform group.

• Continuity and change: success brought its own critics.

• Sufism began as a protest against the materialism of the Caliphate.

• As khanqahs and dargahs grew rich and gained royal patrons, for example Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan, who often visited Ajmer [4], the radical mystics renewed that first protest in a more extreme form.

• Parallel with bhakti. Both traditions had a settled, institution-based stream and a radical stream that rejected ritual: ba-shari'a and be-shari'a among sufis, and the Nathpanthis, Siddhas and Yogis among Hindu ascetics. This supports the argument that change in medieval Indian religion came from reform movements within each faith.

Related concepts

• Sufism
• Khanqah
• Shaikh
• Murid
• Khalifa
• Silsila
• Qadiri order
• Mian Mir
• Shattari order
• Nund Rishi

Read more

• The growth of Sufism: khanqah, silsila, dargah