________________ SHAIKH MUHAMMAD QAZIN SHUTTARI THE SUFI SAINT OF BASARH (VAISALI)* PROFESSOR SYED HASAN ASKARI . M. A., B. L., D. LITT. (honoris causa) 1. Introduction (Including Sources) i. India and the Sufi Cult of Islam Nowhere did Sufism which reinterpreted Semitic Islam to the Aryan world flourish so much and gain so many adherents as in India, for the Sufi with his doctrine of the mystical union of man's soul with God, regarding the world of phenomena as a mere reflection of the Supreme Being, requiring the aid of spiritual guides so as to be capable of reacbing God, emphasizing faith rather than work for the salvation of men, believing in the moral elevation of man and discarding all invidious social distinctions, suspending respiration or regulating breath, and given to other spiritual exercises, established himself in India, the land of the Vedanta, Yoga and Bhakti, where the whole atmosphere was surcharged with a deep yearning and quest for God, and the need was felt by a band of Hindu seers and reformers for a great spiritual regeneration and social uplift of fellowmen. i. Sufi Saints of Bihar The Muslim saints and Sufis of various Orders, each with a discipline and organization of its own, concerned themselves not only with the Just as in ancient times Vaigali was important as a citadol of Jainism and Buddhism, so also in middle ages it carved out a place for itself by becoming a chief centre of the Shuttari Order of Sufism. This article has been included here for this reason. This is an adaptation from the writer's paper entitled 'A FifteenthCentury Shuttari Sufi Saint of North Bihar' published in the Journal of the Bihar Research Society (Patoa), Vol. 37, Parts 1-2, 1951, pp. 66-82. Headings and sub-headings have been provided by ourselves with rearrangement of matter at certain points. Ed.
