Shah Sultan Rumi

Shah Sultan Rumi was an 11th century Sufi saint. He is one of the celebrated Sufi figures in Bengal. In scholarly tradition, he is believed to be the first Sufi who visited and settled in Bengal.[1] He was active in the Netrokona district of the present day Bangladesh.[2][3]

Arrival in Bengal

Earlier documents reveal that the Sufi arrived in Bengal in 1053 CE (445 Hijri) with his spiritual teacher Syed Shah Surkhul Antia 250 years before Shah Jalal's arrival in Sylhet in 1303 CE.[4] Thus he arrived in Bengal even before the Turkish conquest.[5]

Life and activities

It is traditionally believed that when the Sufi arrived at Netrokona, there was no Muslim in that area. Upon arrival of the saint and his followers, the message of Islam reached the local residents, who, convinced by his piety, accepted Islam.[6] It is also believed that people were attracted to the miracles that he could perform. Tradition says that anybody who drew near to him ended up accepting Islam by his miraculous power.[7] When this fact was noticed by the local king, he summoned the saint and asked him to explain his activities. Saying that God granted him the spiritual power, it is said, the saint had to face an ordeal. Poison was offered to him and, as is believed, he was safe and sound even after drinking the poison. All present at the scene accepted Islam and the king granted him village of Madanpur free of rent where his shrine was built.[8][9]

Death

It is assumed that Shah Sultan Rumi died in 1075 CE (475 Hijri).[10]

East India company's attempt to takeover the estate

The government run by the East India company tried to takeover the estate of the shrine in 1829 which was contested by its guardians. Upon production of an old document dated 1082 which was transcribed in Persian, the government abandoned the plan and granted the estate to the document holders.[8]

References
  1. "Sufi influence in Bengal". The Daily Star. 2013-08-01. Retrieved 2019-11-28.
  2. Sarwar Alam, Perceptions of Self, Power, & Gender Among Muslim Women: Narratives from a Rural Community in Bangladesh (Springer, Feb 15, 2018 ) p. 9
  3. Abdul Matin, Socio-religious reform and Sufism in 20th century Bengal: A study of the role of Pir Abu Bakr of Furfura Sharif, India (SACS Special Issue 2018) p. 26
  4. N. Hanif, Biographical encyclopaedia of Sufis: South Asia (Sarup & Sons, 2000) p. 325.
  5. Shah Noorur Rahman, Islam and its Early Introduction in Bengal, (Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Vol. 56 (1995), pp. 425-434) p. 432
  6. Dr. Md. Yousuf Ali and Abu Sadat Nurullah, Challenges of Islamic Da‘wah in Bangladesh: The Christian Missions and Their Evangelization, IIUC STUDIES, ISSN 1813-7733 , Vol. – 4, December 2007, Published in April 2008 (p 87-108)
  7. Afia Dil, Impact of Arabic on Bengali Literature and Culture, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (Hum.), Vol. 57(1), 2012, pp. 101-152, p.104
  8. "Shah Sultan Rumi (R) - Banglapedia". en.banglapedia.org. Retrieved 2019-11-28.
  9. "A Short Walk to the History of Islam in Bengal (Part II) Mohammad Al Amin". Perspective. 2019-02-15. Retrieved 2019-11-28.
  10. "Sufism - Banglapedia". en.banglapedia.org. Retrieved 2019-11-29.
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