islam 2

Dara Shikoh

Early Years

Dara Shikoh was born in 1615 in India.

He was the eldest son of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan (the emperor who built the Taj Mahal).

He was the heir apparent of the Mughal Empire.

He was the great grandson of Akbar the Great.

Early Years (continued)

Dara had a sister who he was very close to and shared a variety of mystical experiences with.

Dara had difficulties with his brothers. In particular, he had problems with his brother Aurangzeb who would later challenge Dara’s claim to the throne of the Mughal Empire.

Dara’s Spiritual Life

Dara Shikoh was a Sufi and was initiated into the Qadari Tariqa.

His main spiritual guide was a figure known as Mian Mir, who famously laid the corner stone of the Sikh Golden Temple in Amritsar.

However, Mian Mir died when Dara was fairly young, leaving him without a Sufi master to study under.

Dara’s Spiritual life (continued)

Dara sought out the Sufi master Mullah Shah Badakhshi who was a hermit living in a cave in Kashmir. This particular Sufi was known for his ecstatic utterances that were often controversial.

Dara and his sister became Badakhshi’s foremost students after being rejected several times for their royalty.

Badakhshi eventually gave Dara permission to teach the Sufi path to others.

Dara’s Spiritual Life (continued)

Dara had many mystical experiences associated with the Prophet and the concept of the Unity of Being. Furthermore, he wrote extensively on the topic of Sufism and its esoteric practices.

One of these esoteric practices included the suspension of the breathing and the listening to a primordial sound that reveals itself as a hum.

This hum is the same sound that the Prophet is said to have heard when receiving divine revelation.

Dara and Hinduism

Dara had many Hindu gurus who he held in high esteem, the foremost of which was an ascetic by the name of Baba Lal.

Encounters between muslims and non-muslims at the time was not uncommon. And Dara was practicing in a normative manner for his time.

He studied and translated many Hindu texts such as the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads.

Dara and Hinduism (continued)

Dara believed he found the “Hidden Book” that the Koran speaks of in the Upanishads. He called the Upanishads “the greatest secret.”

He believed there were verbal differences between the two religions but that their essential message and meaning was the same.

Believed the Hindu gods like Rama and Krishna were prophets sent by god before the last and final prophet, the Prophet Muhammad.

Dara believed, along with many of his time, that certain branches of Hinduism were monotheist.

Ultimately, he believed Hinduism was a religion revealed by God but has gone astray.

The Meeting Place of the Two Oceans

Before the end of his life, Dara wrote his most famous and influential works called The Meeting Place of the Two Oceans.

The “Two Oceans” mentioned in the title refer to Islam and Hinduism.

Aurangzeb and Dara’s Death

When Dara’s father fell ill, there was a war of succession between Dara and his younger brother Aurangzeb, who disagreed with Dara’s approach to spirituality.

Dara loses the war of succession and Aurangzeb has Dara executed.