On the 2nd of December, I interviewed the Son of Hamas – Mosab Hassan Yousef. He is the son of one of the founders of Hamas Sheikh Hassan Yousef. The interview was necessitated after a Hindu boy from Kashmir started getting Sar Tan Se Juda threats after he shared an old interview snippet of Yousef, where he was talking about Islam.

After the boy from NIT Srinagar was threatened by the Islamist mob, Yousef took to his X page and posted that the Jihadis should go after him and leave the boy alone. In his interview with me, he categorically said that if anyone touched the Hindu boy, the repercussions would be dire. Beyond the NIT Srinagar case, Yousef and I also spoke at length about Islam, Islamism and the fate of the rest of the world in the face of a cult that was perpetually offended and believed that the use of violence to express that offence was their divine right – nay – duty.

During the discussion, Yousef mentioned how Sufism was one of the most peaceful, spiritual branches of Islam. A Hindu, however, knows that this statement rings hollow. I told Yousef that as a Hindu, I find it difficult to make sense of that perception since Hindus have been raped and murdered by Sufis. As an example of the Sufi onslaught against Hindus, I cited the example of Moinuddin Chisti, how cows were slaughtered and Hindu Temples desecrated and also alluded to the Ajmer Dargah rape scandal where the self-proclaimed descendants of Moinuddin Chisti and the custodians of his legacy raped hundreds of Hindu girls and blackmailed them – a sordid saga from 1992.

It is pertinent to mention here that I don’t blame Mosab Hassan Yousef for the views he holds on Sufism. Many Hindus themselves believe that Sufism is peaceful and spiritual. In fact, a chunk of the business that the Amer Dargah gets is from Hindus who visit the shrine – not Muslims. Even though it was some of the Chistis associated with the Ajmer Dargah who had issued death threats to Nupur Sharma and called for her beheading.

Khadim Gauhar Chishti of Ajmer Dargah had links to Kanhaiya Lal’s murder. Khadim of Ajmer Dargah named Gauhar Chishti had met one of the killers of the Hindu tailor. Ajmer Dargah Khadim Salman Chishti threatened to kill Nupur Sharma. The history-sheeter with over 13 cases filed against him, including murder and attempt to murder, claimed that he would hand over his house to anyone who brings Sharma’s head. Sarwar Chishti of the Anjuman Committee of the Ajmer dargah had said “The situation in the country right now, is such that people are committing blasphemy. They are doing mischief in the glory of the Prophet, in the glory of the Khwaja. We will not tolerate this at all. We will launch such a massive agitation that the whole Hindustan will shake.” Sarwar Chishti had called himself a member of the PFI. In 2020, he defended PFI saying the organisation was ”saving India’s constitution”. He had also called for a boycott of Hindus. Syed Aadil Chishti – son of Sarwar Chishti – mocked Hindu deities after the Nupur Sharma incident.

Nothing I said was historically inaccurate and I will come to that. Days after the interview, a clip where I mentioned Moinuddin Chisti was shared on social media by Islamists, claiming that I had insulted the Sufi ‘saint’ and I should be arrested. What started with the hashtag #ArrestNupurJSharma soon turned into a free-for-all – I got death threats, rape threats and the usual ‘Sar Tan se Juda’ threats.

My reaction was the chuckle at the irony of it all. After all, my statement came just as it was being claimed that Sufis are peaceful and spiritual – a model for all Muslims to follow.

Here is a sneak peak into their spiritual moorings:

While the peaceful Sufis demanded for my head and arrest, I held my peace for 3 days – not because I was scared but because I believed that their outrage would die down. It did not.

I believe sunlight is the best disinfectant. I believe the truth – historical facts – can’t be suppressed simply because some people are offended by it. As an American conservative says, ‘facts don’t care about your feelings’.

I have repeated over and over again the purpose of my professional existence – I picked up my pen because ‘they’ sold theirs. I would not do justice to my role or my readers if I don’t stand by the truth. If I cower today. And therefore, I feel it necessary to substantiate my statement with historical evidence.

With regards to Sufism, there is a broad perception that it is a peaceful, spiritual sect of Islam. However, there are certain myths attached to this notion that need honest conversation. Historically, several genocides against Hindus and crimes against their faith/places of worship have been led by Sufis or have been conducted at the behest of Sufis. It is a matter of historical record that eighteenth-century Sufi preacher Shah Waliullah’s letters to Islamic rulers and nobles show that he was very keen on rejuvenating Islamic supremacy in Delhi, which had started to loosen its grip over the sub-continent after Aurangzeb’s death. According to the book by Saiyid Athar Abbas Rizvi, Shah Waliullah wrote a letter to Ahmad Shah Abdali, the invader from Afghanistan, inviting him to India to establish Islamic supremacy by suppressing Hindus.

From the invite to Ahmad Shah Abdali to the mastermind of the Noakhali genocide belonging to a Sufi sect – Shah Syed Gholam Sarwar Husseini, the hereditary pir of Dayra Sharif, a Sufi shrine in Noakhali, Sufism has a chequered history – one which is well documented – a history of genocide, enslavement, forced conversion and establishment of the supremacy of Islam.

Those Sufis who refused to adhere to Orthodox Islam were persecuted – the sects we talk about today were not.

MA Khan writes that Sufi leaders had poured into India along with the Turkic invaders and most of them, Nizamuddin Aulia, Aamir Khasrau, Nasiruddin Chiragh, Moinuddin Chishti and Jalaluddin etc, were all known for holding the Ulemas, orthodox Islamic scholars in high esteem. Khan further writes that though Nizamuddin Aulia and Moinuddin Chishti were among the most unorthodox when it came to music and dance, in the matters of Islam and Islamic supremacy, they held the words of the Ulema as sacrosanct. “What the Ulema seeks to achieve through speech, the Sufis achieve by behaviour,” Nizamuddin Aulia had said.

The great Sufi saint Nasiruddin Chiragh had reportedly banned all practices that were deviant from the Sharia. Khan quotes Prof KA Nizami to describe what the Sufi leader Ghazzali had told in terms of Jihad, the Islamic religious war against Kafirs. Ghazzali had written that his followers must go on Jihad at least once a year and should bring down the fortresses of non-Muslims, they should cut down their throats drown them and burn their holy books. Jihadists may take whatever booty they desire. Toeing the orthodox line, Nizamuddin Aulia had condemned the Hindus of India to the ‘fires of hell’.

He had also written that even if non-Muslims embrace Islam, the faith will not benefit them, because they had been unbelievers. He had added, “He, (Allah) has created paradise and hell for the believers and the infidels respectively to repay the wicked they (infidels) have done.”

Now, coming to the specific comments in question about Moinuddin Chisti – one made during an interview with the Son of Hamas – Mosab Hassan Yousef. It is necessary to place on record that in the full video interview uploaded on YouTube, the mention of Moinuddin Chisti had long been redacted. Let me explain why. When I asked the question about Sufism and Hindus, I intended to talk about the campaign of certain Sufis against Hindus – which has been documented throughout history – even as recently as 1992. In the video description, I have explained that when I spoke of rape, I was referring to the Ajmer Dargah Rape scandal where hundreds of Hindu girls were raped with the active connivance and participation of the Khadims of Ajmer Dargah – the Chistis – who claim to be the descendants of Moinuddin Chisti.

Farooq Chisti was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2007, but in 2013, the Rajasthan High Court deemed he had served ‘enough’ time and therefore, released him. The Ajmer Dargah still associates itself with him and his local clout has remained intact. Nafis Chist was absconding until 2003, before being caught by the Delhi Police while trying to escape, wearing a burqa. He is currently out on bail and respected in a similar way in Ajmer. These are facts.

In the second part of the question, I spoke about cows being slaughtered and thrown into Hindu temples. I also spoke about the desecration of Hindu temples and the Jihad waged by Moinuddin Chisti – this assertion is again documented in history. Here is an excerpt from the book “Islamic Jihad” by MA Khan. Khan writes further that every day, Khwaja’s followers used to bring a cow and they used to slaughter it near a prominent temple where the local Raja and Hindus used to pray, cook kebabs from the cow’s meat to eat, just to show contempt towards the local Hindus. Chishti had come to India to fight Jihad on the side of the Sultan Muhammad Ghauri against the Hindu King Prithviraj Chauhan. Chishti had credited himself for Prithviraj’s capture, writing, “We have seized Pithaura (Prithviraj) and handed him to the army of Islam.”

In addition, this is what a previous version of the website of Ajmer Dargah itself said and I quote, “When he had settled down in Ajmer, the Khawaja Sahib had a special reminder about his marriage through a ‘Basharat’ (prophetic dream) from the Holy prophet sometime in 590 AH or 1193 AD. The Prophet said, “O Moinuddin, You are a great preceptor of our religion. You should not depart from our ‘sunnah’ (meaning marriage which is incumbent upon every Muslim under the laws of Shariat). Coincidentally that very night Malik-a-Khitab devotee of Hazrat Khawaja Sahib, had captured a Raja’s daughter in an encounter who embraced Islam and Khawaja sahib, in response to the above reminder, married her giving her the Islamic name of Bibi Ummutulla..”

Here is an archive link to the page: https://web.archive.org/web/20180319103851/http://dargahajmer.com/married-life/

This is also substantiated in A History Of Sufism in India, Sayyad Athar Abbas Rizvi, Vol 1, pg. 124.

However, since the snippet in the video was not an explainer and merely a question, I realized it may be misinterpreted and therefore, the mention of the individual was removed.

It bodes well, however, to repeat on record that I stand by the rest of my statement. Since the Islamists have been relentlessly demanding my arrest, I must place on record that if needed, I will be more than willing to defend my position in a court of law.

It is said that the most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history. For what little my contribution is worth, I refuse to be a part of that obliteration – I will not be silenced.