Why do Muslims celebrate the birthday of Hindu king Chhatrapati Shivaji?

Shivaji Maharaj was a secular, good-hearted and humanitarian ruler. He was very proud of his religion but he never hated any other religion nor did he discriminate on the basis of religion. He respected every religion.’

These words are from Akif Ahmed Dafdar, a Muslim leader from Sholapur, Maharashtra, India and President of Chhatrapati Shivaji Muslim Brigade Maharashtra.

His organization last week celebrated the Jayanti or birth anniversary of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the founder of the Maratha Empire and a staunch Hindu king, with great fervor.

In Sholapur, men and women belonging to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Muslim Brigade took to the streets to celebrate Shivaji’s birthday, in other cities of Maharashtra like Mumbai, Osmanabad, Taljapur and Sangli, Muslims also actively participated in these celebrations.

In a detailed conversation with Independent Urdu, Akif Ahmad Dafdar said that the names of three emperors in India, Aurangzeb, Shivaji Maharaj and Tipu Sultan, have been used for politics and hatred of Muslims, but we are trying to present the real history.

‘More than 90 per cent people in Maharashtra worship Shivaji Maharaj as a deity. Our forefathers and forefathers of Muslims have accomplished great feats by staying with them, so why should we separate ourselves? We cannot achieve anything by isolating ourselves.’

He added: ‘In our country Shivaji Maharaj’s birthday is called Shiva Jayanti which is celebrated on February 19 every year. I say this again and again that whenever we celebrate someone’s birthday or jayanti, we must keep in mind that as Muslims we have to fulfill the Shariah requirements. It should not seem that we have accepted mental slavery. We can reduce the hatred spread about Shivaji Maharaj.’

It is worth mentioning here that the majority of Muslims in India have the same opinion about Shivaji Maharaj as the majority of Hindus have about the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.

Some Indian Muslims say that Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj fought most of his wars against Muslim rulers. He laid the foundation of Hindu Swaraj by hoisting the ‘saffron flag’ over the forts of the Muslim rulers.

However, according to Akif Dafdar, Mughal emperor Aurangzeb fought more wars than Shivaji Maharaj against Muslim rulers.

According to him: ‘Adil Shahi of Bijapur, Nizam Shahi of Ahmednagar and Qutb Shahi of Golconda, including many Muslim kingdoms were ended by Aurangzeb. Aurangzeb has fought 10 times more wars against Muslim empires than Shivaji Maharaj has fought.

Syed Shahwaiz, a young writer, researcher and journalist from Sholapur, told Independent Urdu that it is shown that the wars fought by Shivaji Maharaj were religious wars, but the reality is that the Rajas, Maharajas and Nawabs only fought for their own interests. They fought to spread empire and government and not to spread a particular religion.

Naushad Usman, a social worker from Aurangabad, Maharashtra state, while talking to Independent Urdu, referring to a book by historian MM Deshmukh from Nagpur, said that the wars of kings and maharajas used to be political and not religious. were

He said: ‘MM Deshmukh has written in his book that the secretary of Afzal Khan, the general of the Adil Shahi Sultanate of Bijapur, was a Brahmin named Krishna Kulkarni, while Shivaji Maharaj’s lawyer was a Muslim named Kazi Hyder. He actually wants to say in his book that it was a political and not a religious conflict between kings and maharajas.’

‘All kings, maharajas and nawabs have fought wars to achieve political goals and expand their governments. They did not see whether our cannon ball would bring down the temple or the mosque.’

According to Akif Dafdar, some Muslim historians have done a lot of ignorance, they have called the rule of Aurangzeb or any other Muslim king as Islamic rule in their books. By doing this, these people have committed a great sin. Our class of historians have named Mughal rule as Muslim rule, but when the British occupied India, it was not written that it was a Christian rule. Our historians have even written that our ancestors ruled for eight hundred years. Now, when the same thing is said to the majority class, which is 70 to 80 percent of the population, they get upset that we have been kept as slaves for so many years.’

Akif Dafdar says that ever since Muslims in Maharashtra started celebrating Shivaji Maharaj’s birthday, communal harmony in the state has got a lot of boost.

“We have seen in childhood that the situation in Maharashtra on the occasion of Shiv Jayanti looked very strange and critical. There used to be a strict police guard in the Muslim areas, but today those conditions are not seen anywhere.’

Naushad Usman said that with the large-scale participation of Muslims in the celebrations of Shiv Jayanti, the thinking of local Hindus towards Muslims has started to change.

When Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray came to Aurangabad, he was presented with the Quran with Marathi translation and commentary, so he stood up and took it in his hands. He said that he would take the time to read it. After that Shiv Sena started publishing calendars in Urdu language and started putting up hoardings.’

‘History has been distorted’

According to Akif Ahmad Dafdar, after India’s independence, some Brahminical forces, so-called historians and research scholars have portrayed Shivaji Maharaj as an enemy of Muslims. ‘However, it is the social brigade, the Maratha Samaj Seva Sangh or other righteous Marathas and Hindus who have worked to present the true history of Shivaji Maharaj. When the real history came out, the majority of Hindus understood that if Shivaji was just, why should hatred be spread in his name.’

Naushad Usman said that some people wrote books in the past telling Hindus that Muslims killed Shivaji Maharaj’s son Banaji because he refused to convert to Islam, which is far from the truth.

‘Later, people influenced by the progressive movement like Comrade Sharad Patil and Comrade Govind Pansare brought out the truth about Shivaji Maharaj. After that Maratha Siva Singh has moved to present the truth.’

Shivaji Maharaj and Muslims

According to writer and journalist Syed Shahwaiz, right-wing historians have presented Shivaji Maharaj as being against Muslims, while the reality is that Muslims were part of his government system, Muslims held important positions in the army. were

‘Shivaji’s grandfather Maloji Bhonsle had no children. He once made a vow before Hazrat Shah Sharif, a Muslim Sufi Saint of Ahmednagar, that if I have sons, I will name them after him. When his vow was fulfilled, he named one of his sons as Shah Ji and the other as Sharif Ji.

Akif Ahmad Dafdar said that Shivaji Maharaj’s family had special devotion to Muslim Sufi saints.

‘Shivaji’s grandfather Maloji Bhonsle was a devotee of the Sufi saint Hazrat Shah Sharif. His father Shahji Bhonsle was a disciple of Sufi saint Hazrat Sheikh Muhammad Baba. Shivaji Maharaj himself was a special devotee of Sufi Pir Hazrat Yakut Baba.

‘There lived a Muslim Sufi saint named Muni Baba in Pune. He was named Muni Is Liya because he did not speak. It is known from history that before every battle, Shivaji Maharaj himself went to Muni Baba or sent one of his ministers to seek prayers. ‘

According to Naushad Usman, Shivaji Maharaj had given land for a mosque in Ratnagri district of Maharashtra where ‘Shivaji Masjid’ stands today.

‘Shwaji Maharaj gave 653 acres of land to Sufi Pir Hazrat Yakut Baba in Ratnagiri district for the construction of a mosque. A beautiful mosque stands there. Local people know this mosque as Shivaji Masjid.’

Akif Ahmad Dafdar claimed that 30 percent of Shivaji Maharaj’s army was Muslim and 11 of his personal bodyguards were also Muslim.

Qazi Hyder was the first secretary and lawyer of Shivaji Maharaj. The commander of his cavalry was a Muslim named Sidi Bilal. The chief of artillery was Ibrahim Khan. ‘

He said: ‘Shivaji is the founder of the Indian Navy. When he formed his naval force, he entrusted its command to Muslims named Daulat Khan and Darya Sarang. These same people later built many ships.’

Who was Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj?

According to author, researcher and journalist Syed Shahwaiz, Shivaji Maharaj belonged to the Bhonsle family who lived in a place called Viral near the famous caves of Ellora during the Nizam Shahi period of Ahmadnagar.

There is also a theory that Shivaji Maharaj’s ancestors belonged to the Rajput Sisodia dynasty of Mewar (Rajasthan). Gradually this family got rid of Sisodia.

Shivaji was born on February 19, 1630 in Shivineri Fort, 40 km from Pune. His father Shahji Raja Adil Shahi was a high official in the court. Shivaji’s education was under the supervision of his mother Jijabai.

In 1647, at the age of 17, Chhatrapati Shivaji conquered the Adil Shahi fort of Tornala and also Kondana and Purandar forts and a large area of ​​western Maharashtra came under his control and in the same year he vowed to establish Swarajya. What did

According to Syed Shahwaiz, Shivaji Maharaj established Hindu Swarajya in western Maharashtra with great struggle and competition and made Raigarh Fort his capital.

He was crowned on 16 June 1674 but this coronation was not so easy. The Brahmins of that time objected, the reason given by the Brahmins being that the Maharaja belonged to a Shudra (lower caste) and therefore we would not crown him.

Maharaj Kashi’s pandit Gaga Bhat was forced to be summoned for the coronation with a huge sum of money. Thus the coronation of Maharaj took place.

After establishing Swarajya, he divided his state into several districts. Built forts.

Mahatma Jyoti Baphle wrote a pavara (folk song) on ​​Shivaji in which he called Shivaji Kalavari Bhushan. At the end of this folk song, he calls Shivaji the son of Shudra, meaning Shivaji was the son of Bhosle Shudra.

Historian Shijwalkar, while writing the biography of Shivaji, has mentioned this folk song in the information he collected about his family.

He died on 3 April 1680 at Raigad. Historians differ on the cause of Shivaji Maharaj’s death. The first reason is that he died of typhoid, but some say that he was poisoned or died of natural causes due to a blood infection.