The most significant associate which Nānak found was, undoubtedly, Shaik͟h Farīd. He was a famous Muḥammadan Pīr, and a strict Ṣūfī, who attracted much attention by his piety, and formed a school of devotees of his own. Shaik͟h Farīd must have gained considerable notoriety in his day; for his special disciples are still to be found in the Panjāb, who go by the name of Shaik͟h Farīd’s faqīrs. This strict Muḥammadan became the confidential friend and companion of Nānak; and if all other traditions had failed, this alone would have been enough to establish the eclectic character of early Sikhism. The first greeting of these famous men is significant enough. Shaik͟h Farīd exclaimed, “Allah, Allah, O Darvesh”; to which Nānak replied, “Allah is the object of my efforts, O Farīd! Come, Shaik͟h Farīd! Allah, Allah (only) is ever my object.” The words in the original being Allah, Farīd, juhdī; hamesa āˏu, Sekh Farīd, juhdī Allah Allah. (India Office MS., No. 1728, fol. 86.) The use of the Arabic term juhd implies the energy of the purpose with which he sought for Allah; and the whole phrase is forcibly Muḥammadan in tone.
An intimacy at once sprang up between these two remarkable men; and Shaik͟h Farīd accompanied Nānak in all his wanderings for the next twelve years. The intended compromise between Hindūism and Islām is shown not only in the fact of this friendship, but in the important circumstance that no less than 142 stanzas composed by Shaik͟h Farīd are admitted into the Ādi Granth itself. An examination of these verses still further proves the mingling of the two religions which Nānak effected. They are distinctly Ṣūfīistic in tone, containing such lines as, “Youth is passing, I am not afraid, if love to the Beloved does not pass”; and still more pointedly, “Full of sins I wander about; the world calls me a Darvesh”; while, between these declarations of steady adherence to Islām, comes the remarkable Hindū line, “As by fire the metal becomes purified, so the fear of Hari removes the filth of folly.” The fact that the compositions of a genuine Ṣūfī should have been admitted into the canonical book of the Sikhs, and that they should contain such a clear admixture of Hindū and Muḥammadan ideas, is conclusive evidence that Nānak, and his immediate successors, saw no incongruity in the mixture.
As soon as Nānak and his friend Shaik͟h Farīd begin to travel in company, it is related that they reached a place called Bisīˏār, where the people applied cow-dung to every spot on which they had stood, as soon as they departed. (I. O. MS., No. 1728, fol. 94.) The obvious meaning of this is, that orthodox Hindūs considered every spot polluted which Nānak and his companion had visited. This could never have been related of Nānak had he remained a Hindū by religion.
In his next journey Nānak is said to have visited Patan, and there he met with Shaik͟h Ibrahīm, who saluted him as a Muslim, and had a conversation with him on the Unity of God. Nānak expressed his views in the following openly Ṣūfīistic manner: “Thou thyself (art) the wooden tablet; thou (art) the pen; thou (art) also the writing upon (it). O Nānak, why should the One be called a second?” (India Office MS. 1728, fol. 117.) The Pīr asks an explanation of this verse in these words: “Thou sayest, ‘There is One, why a second?’ but there is one Lord (Ṣāḥib), and two traditions. Which shall I accept, and which reject? Thou sayest, ‘The only One, he alone is one’; but the Hindūs are saying that in (their) faith there is certainty; and the Musalmāns are saying that only in (their) faith is there certainty. Tell me, in which of them is the truth, and in which is there falsity?” Nānak replied, “There is only one Lord (Ṣāḥib), and only one tradition.” (fol. 119.) This anecdote serves still further to illustrate the intermediate position between the two religions ascribed to Nānak by his immediate followers.
Shortly after the foregoing episode, Nānak was captured among the prisoners taken by the Emperor Bābar, who seems to have been attracted by the Guru’s piety, and to have shown him some attentions. The chronicler informs us that “all the people, both Hindūs and Musalmāns, began to salute (Nānak).” (fol. 137.) After his release, Nānak recommenced his missionary work, and is described as meeting a Muḥammadan named Miyān Mithā, who called upon him for the Kalimah [see [KALIMAH]], or Muḥammadan confession of faith (fol. 143); which leads to a long conversation, in which Nānak lays emphasis on the Ṣūfī doctrine of the Unity of God. In this conversation Nānak is made to say, “The book of the Qurʾān should be practised.” (fol. 144.) He also acknowledged that “justice is the Qurʾān.” (fol. 148.) When the Miyān asked him what is the one great name, Nānak took him aside and whispered in his ear, “Allāh” [[GOD]]. Immediately the great name is uttered, Miyān Mithā is consumed to ashes; but a celestial voice again utters the word “Allāh!” and the Miyān regains life, and falls at the feet of Nānak. (fol. 147.)
Nānak then proceeded to convert some Jainas, and even a Rākshasas, or Hindū demon; and next went to Multān, where he converted the famous Pīr, Mak͟hdūm Bahāʾu ʾd-Dīn. In Kashmīr he met with a Hindū Pandit who recognized him as a sādhu, or virtuous person; but asked him why he had abandoned caste usages, why he wore skins, and ate meat and fish. The Pandit’s scruples having been satisfied, he flung away his idols, and became a devoted believer in Nānak’s doctrines. This anecdote again furnishes us with distinct evidence that Nānak took up an intermediate position between Islām and Hindūism, and sought to bring both under one common system.
In precise conformity with this deduction is the tradition of Nānak’s pilgrimage to Makkah. The particulars of his visit to that holy place are fully given, in all accounts of Nānak’s life; and although, as Dr. Trumpp reasonably concludes, the whole story is a fabrication, yet the mere invention of the tale is enough to prove that those who most intimately knew Nānak considered his relationship to Muḥammadanism sufficiently close to warrant the belief in such a pilgrimage. In the course of his teaching in Makkah, Nānak is made to say: “Though men, they are like women, who do not obey the Sunnat, and Divine commandment, nor the order of the book (i.e. the Qurʾān).” (I. O. MS. No. 1728, fol. 212.) He also admitted the intercession of Muḥammad, denounced the drinking of bhang, wine, &c., acknowledged the existence of hell, the punishment of the wicked, and the resurrection of mankind; in fact, the words here ascribed to Nānak contain a full confession of Islām. These tenets are, of course, due to the narrator of the tale; and are only useful as showing how far Nānak’s followers thought it possible for him to go.
A curious incident is next related to the effect that Mak͟hdūm Bahāʾu ʾd-Dīn, the Pīr of Multān, feeling his end approaching, said to his disciples, “O friends, from this time the faith of no one will remain firm; all will become faithless (be-īmān).” His disciples asked for an explanation; and in reply he delivered himself of an oracular statement: “O friends, when one Hindū shall come to Heaven (bihisht), there will be brilliancy (ujālā) in Heaven.” To this strange announcement his disciples replied: “Learned people say that Heaven is not decreed for the Hindū; what is this that you have said?” (I. O. MS. 1728, fol. 224.) The Pīr told them that he was alluding to Nānak; and sent one of his disciples to ask Nānak if he, also, had received an intimation of his approaching death.
In this anecdote we have the extraordinary admission from a Muḥammadan that Nānak would succeed in breaking up the faith of Islām. It is in consequence of a Hindū’s having conquered Heaven itself, and vindicated his right to a place in the paradise of Muḥammad, that those who were then in the faith of the Prophet would lose confidence in his teaching. Here again the words employed are useful; for the Pīr is made to say that Muslims will become be-īmān, the Arabic term specially applicable to the “faith” of Islām; and Heaven is called in the Panjābī story bhisat, that is bihisht, the Paradise of Muḥammadans [see [PARADISE]]; for had the Hindū heaven been intended, some such word as swarg, or paralok, or Brahmalok would have been used.
The final incident in the life of this enlightened teacher is in precise accord with all that has been said of his former career. Nānak came to the bank of the Rāvī to die—in conformity with Hindū custom—by the side of a natural stream of water. It is expressly said that both Hindūs and Muslims accompanied him. He then seated himself at the foot of a Sarīh tree, and his Assembly of the faithful (Sangat) stood around him. His sons asked him what their position was to be; and he told them to subordinate themselves to the Guru Angad whom he had appointed as his successor. They were to succeed to no power or dignity merely on the ground of relationship; no hereditary claim was to be recognized; on the contrary, the sons were frankly told to consider themselves non-entities. The words are: “Sons, even the dogs of the Guru are not in want; bread and clothes will be plentiful; and should you mutter ‘Guru! Guru!’ (your) life will be (properly) adjusted.” (I. O. MS. 1728, fol. 238.) The anecdote then proceeds in the following remarkable manner: “Then the Hindūs and Musalmāns who were firm in the name (of God), began to express themselves (thus): the Musalmāns said, ‘We will bury (him)’; and the Hindūs said, ‘We will burn (him).’ Then the Bābā said, ‘Place flowers on both sides; on the right side those of the Hindūs, on the left side those of the Musalmāns, (that we may perceive) whose will continue green to-morrow. If those of the Hindūs keep green, then burn (me); and if those of the Musalmāns keep green, then bury (me).’ Then the Bābā ordered the Assembly to repeat the praises (of God); and the Assembly began to repeat the praises accordingly. [After a few verses had been recited] he laid down his head. When the sheet (which had been stretched over him) was raised, there was nothing (under it); and the flowers of both (sides) remained green. The Hindūs took away theirs; and the Musalmāns took away theirs. The entire Assembly fell to their feet.” (I. O. MS. 1728, fol. 239, 240.)