[CIS 4.

12 (2008) 157179] Comparative Islamic Studies (print)

doi: 10.1558/cis.v4i12.157 Comparative Islamic Studies (online)

ISSN 1740-7125
ISSN 1743-1638

A Twentieth Century Indian Sui Views Hinduism:

The Case of Khwaja Hasan Nizami (18791955)
Marcia Hermansen
Loyola University Chicago

mherman@luc.edu

AbstrAct
This article undertakes an analysis of how an early twentieth century Indian Sui Muslim, Khwaja Hasan Nizami (18791955), treated
various aspects of Hinduism in multiple Urdu publications. During
the 1920s Nizami was identiied as a primary activist in a tabligh
campaign to counter Arya Samaj efforts to draw neo-Muslim populations back into the Hindu fold. Despite these politically charged
activities, Nizamis engagement with devotional and spiritual
aspects of Hinduism suggests a willingness to continue the HinduMuslim cooperation of the Khilafat movement period (19191924)
in order to embrace a national Indian identity based on mutual religious respect and tolerance.
Keywords: Khwaja Hasan Nizami; tabligh; Muslim views of Hinduism.

This paper will deal with the image of the Hindu and Hinduism as represented in selected works of Khwaja Hasan Nizami, a well known writer
and Indian Muslim religious leader of the irst half of the twentieth century. The period of Nizamis major activities spans the very era when
Hindu-Muslim relations in India became increasingly strained as the
time of Partition approached.1 I will attempt to trace multiple facets of
1.

Christophe Jaffrelot, The Hindu Nationalist Movement in India (New York: Columbia

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A Twentieth Century Indian Sufi Views Hinduism

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Nizamis personal and intellectual encounters with Hinduism and the

ways in which external political events shaped his representations of
Hinduism.
Khwaja Hasan Nizami grew up among the custodians of one of the
major Sui institutions in India, the Nizamuddin shrine in Delhi. Breaking
with his familys hereditary role of being pilgrim guides and professional
petitioners [dua gu],2 Nizami became one of the more successful Urdu
journalists and writers of the early twentieth century. One major theme
of his literary output was the vanished glory of the Mughal Empire. He
is credited with a vast number of works on a wide variety of subjects,3
often pamphlets or articles, as well as novels. In literary circles, he was
especially recognized for his popular semi-autobiographical diaries
called Roznamcha.
In the early twentieth century Urdu came into its own as a prose language. Khwaja Hasan Nizami participated in this development as an
innovative stylist, particularly in the ields of biography, autobiography, and diary writing. It is said that his oratorical style and eloquence
were shaped by the fact that he went to school with Mughal princes. At
the height of his career he associated with great Urdu literary igures
such as, Shibli Numani, Abul Kalam Azad, Akbar Allahabadi,4 and Iqbal.5
Nizami also went beyond the book as a literary form by becoming
involved in all kinds of journalistic activities, writing articles for Muslim
newspapers as well as starting a number of his own religious magazines,
for example, Pir Bhai (Brother Disciple) Darvish [Dervish], and Munadi
[The Caller]. Printing and publishing were not at all centralized activities in India at that time. In fact many vernacular language books in
India and Pakistan are still self-published in small runs of 5001000 copUniversity Press, 1998), 1, 2 passim and many other scholars consider the 1920s as
the critical decade for the hardening of communal identities in South Asia.
2.

In the culture of Sui shrines the custodians and purported descendants of the
saints are believed to have closer access to them and therefore are often paid to
supplicate on behalf of pilgrims.

3.

By some accounts, as many as ive hundred. Mulla Wahidi, Sawanih-i umri-yi: Khwaja
Hasan Nizami (Delhi: Munadi Khwaja Number, 1957), 130.

4.

Wahidi, Sawanih, 136145. Allahabadis side of their correspondence was published

by Nizami in Khutut-i Akbar bi-nam-i Khwaja Hasan Nizami (Delhi: Mahbub al-Matabi,
1953).

5.

Iqbal and Nizami met and exchanged letters on a number of topics, occasionally
disagreeing.

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ies. Nizami, due to the volume of his publications, eventually came to

constitute his own publishing center. All of his works, including those
considered in this article, were originally composed in Urdu.
Nizami also worked to reform Sui institutions in India and was himself recognized as a prominent Sui shaykh with many disciples, and,
in fact, as a renewer of the Chishti Sui order. During the 1920s his
activities assumed a signiicant political role as he opposed the Arya Samaj and Swami Shraddhananda (d. 1926)6 for their puriication [shuddhi]
movement aimed at returning more recently converted Muslim castes
in India to the Hindu fold. He along with a range of Muslim leaders and
movements termed his propagation [tabligh]7 efforts and certain of his
strategies and goals resembled the goals of the more famous tabligh
of the organization, Tablighi Jamaat, founded by his contemporary,
Maulana Muhammad Ilyas (d. 1944). For example, Nizami wrote and disseminated basic explanations of Islamic beliefs and practice. Unlike the
Tablighi Jamaat of Ilyas, however, Nizami only rarely went on walking
tours to villages to teach isolated and marginalized Muslim communities, nor did he avoid becoming involved in political activities, as we
shall see.8
In the throes of anti-shuddhi enthusiasm Nizami is said to have had
hundreds of thousands of handbills, posters and pamphlets printed and
distributed among Muslims to warn them of the Arya threat.9 His most
prominent text combating the Shuddhi Movement was Dai-i Islam (The
Missionary of Islam), irst published in 1923. The Arya Samaj responded
to this publication by having 10, 000 copies reproduced in Hindi and sold
in the Hindu community, ostensibly to spread alarm that a grand anti6.

On Shraddhananda see J.T.F. Jordens, Swami Shraddhananda: His Life and Causes (New
Delhi: Oxford, 1981).

7.

Christian missionary in India, Murray Titus, writing in 1930, considered Nizami

to be himself the living center of the most active and interesting tabligh (propaganda) movement. Indian Islam: A Religious History of Islam in India (London: Oxford
University Press, 1930), 51.

8.

Two articles by Yoginder Sikand treating various Muslim responses to the Arya
shuddhi campaigns by are The Fitna [Crisis] of Irtidad [Apostasy] Muslim Missionary Response to the Shuddhi of the Arya Samaj in Early Twentieth Century India.
Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 17(1), 1997: 65-82 and a later reprise Arya Shuddhi
and Muslim Tabligh: Muslim Reactions to Arya Samaj Proselytization (19231930)
in Religious Conversion in India: Modes, Motivations, and Meanings eds. Rowena Robinson and Sathianathan Clarke (New Delhi: Oxford, 2003), 98118.

9.

Yoginder Sikand, Arya Shuddhi and Muslim Tabligh, 106.

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Hindu conspiracy against them was on the rise.10 Yoginder Sikand has
prepared a useful overview of some of the main points made in Nizamis
book. Sikand characterizes Nizamis strategies for tabligh as revealing a
remarkable understanding of the social dynamics of religion, for example, his suggestion that folk Islamic beliefs and practices such as festivals, story-telling about Muslim saints and heroes, sending parties of
religious singers out to villages, and so on, included effective strategies
for preserving and increasing emotional attachment to Islam among
rural populations.11 Ironically, Nizami was apparently not able to mobilize many Muslim volunteers to take up his cause. The Arya edition of
the book excerpted and issued with accompanying criticisms produced
by Swami Shraddhananda in both Hindi as Hindu par Shahkhoon awr khatra ke ghante (The Hour of Murder and Danger for Hindus)12 and in Urdu
as Muhammadi sazish ka inkishaf (Exposing the Muslim Conspiracy),13 may
have been more popular among Hindus than Nizamis original among
Muslims and he is said to have ended up giving away three thousand
copies.14 Still Nizamis work went through three editions in its irst year
of publication.15 After being criticized by Gandhi for certain offensive
elements in it,16 Nizami offered to expunge them.
Nizami was considered to be a representative of Muslim opinion in
India. He had attracted the attention of the British police as early as
1911 and was kept under surveillance due to his writings, travels, and
political organizing.17 He was initially supportive of the activities of the
Ali brothers, Muslim leaders of the Khilafat Movement18 who opposed
the elimination of the Turkish Caliph and British rule generally. Hindus
and Muslims found common cause at this period in condemning British
10.

Yoginder Sikand, Arya Shuddhi and Muslim Tabligh, 106.

11.

Yoginder Sikand, The Fitna of Irtidad, 75-77. In addition to the ulama and Sui
shaykhs, Nizami explained how ordinary Muslims from all walks of life could be
mobilized for tabligh activities. Sikand, Ibid, quoting Dai-i Islam, 4-38.

12.

Cited in Sikand, Arya Shuddhi and Muslim Tabligh, 106.

13.

Swami Shraddhananda, Muhammadi sazish ka inkishaf (Delhi: Matba Tej, 1924).

14.

Yoginder Sikand, The Fitna of Irtidad, 77, citing Nizami, Dai, 40.

15.

Sikand, Arya Shuddhi and Muslim Tabligh, 106.

16.

Gandhi, Young India, Issue devoted to Hindu-Muslim Relations, May 29, 1924.

17.

Wahidi, Sawanih, 120.

18.

A standard source for this Movement is Gail Minault, The Khilafat Movement: Religious Symbolism and Political Mobilization in India (New York: Columbia, 1982).

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colonialism and seeking Home Rule for Indians. Nizami was associated
with such circles for a time, but during the 1920s he became increasingly identiied with promoting Muslim communal interests due to his
religious activism and strong opposition to the Arya Samaj.
Nizami frequented the princely states as well as the intellectual salons
and his portraits of notable personalities of the era grace the pages of his
series of diaries. His attitudes to British rule and to Hindu-Muslim co-operation luctuated during his career. As a good journalist, Nizami seems
to have responded quickly to the pulse of Muslim popular opinion.
Nizami lived until 1955 although his later years were marked by ill
health and loss of vision. Thus he experienced the trajectory of the
struggle for Indian home rule which he supported, and the creation of
Pakistan about which he demonstrated some ambivalence. At the time
of the turbulent events of the Partition of India he and his family took
refuge in Hyderabad for several years.
It is clear that as a twentieth century Sui in India, Nizami both
inherited and fashioned for himself a set of complex representations
of Hindus and Hinduism. In his writings one can trace various strands
of the historical patterns characterizing the encounter of the two religions and respective civilizations. The idealized image of Muslim Suis
in India, in particular as represented by the Suis of the Chishti Order, is
that of tolerance and openness to spiritual exchange and inter-religious
cooperation. Chishtis are considered to be the most Indianized of the
four main silsilas (Sui orders). This is because the Chishti Suis were
willing in many cases to initiate Hindus as well as other non-Muslims
as disciples without the requirement of formal conversion to Islam. The
Chishti Order also sanctioned the use of Qawwali music as a spiritual
practice in order to reach a broader indigenous audience. This tradition
of Sui music and poetry became one means of translating Islam for the
Indian population. In one of his works, Fatimi dawat-i Islam (The Fatimid
Missionary Movement for Islam).19 Khwaja Hasan Nizami describes the
Chishti appropriation of Hindu rituals such as rubbing with sandalwood
paste that were transferred from ceremonies surrounding idols to ritual
veneration of Suis saints graves.20
19.

Khwaja Hasan Nizami, Fatimi dawat-i Islam (Delhi: H. Nizami, 1925 2nd ed.). This work
positively treats the Agha Khani and Bohra Ismaili movements in India and seems
to relect an interest in elements of Hindu-Muslim interaction more generally.

20.

Asghar Ali Engineer, Muslims Views of Hindus in the Past and Present, in
Religions View Religions: Explorations in Pursuit of Understanding, ed. Jerald Gort, Henry

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As part of their openness to more pluralistic or universalist interpretations, Chishtis were also said to lean towards the monistic mystical Unity of Being [wahdat al-wujud], which exhibited more afinity to the all is
one or everything is brahman doctrines of some Indian philosophies.
Early Chishtis were said to eschew political activities and court patronage, although by late Mughal times the Chishti shrines and their custodians seem to have been beneited from court favor and patronage.21
An example of the Chishti tolerant approach found in Nizamis writings occurs in one of his most popular books, the Nizami bansri (The Nizami Reed Flute), a biography of Nizamuddin Auliya (d. 1325) and other
Chishti Suis. Here Nizami claims to make extensive use of a work still
in manuscript, Char Rozah (Four Days), which is supposed to have been
written by a medieval Hindu observer, HarDev.22 Nizamis account of
Hardevs adventures often portrays the Hindu as the sympathetic and
sensitive character. For example, in one anecdote a coarse Muslim shopkeeper claims that the Hindu, HarDev, is a non-Muslim subject under
Muslim rule [dhimmi] and therefore under his protection. During a subsequent encounter with the Sui saint, Nizamuddin Auliya uses his spiritual insight and psychic knowledge of the incident in order to correct
the shopkeeper, reminding him that all beings are, in fact, exclusively
under the protection of God alone.23
In the body of this paper after offering a biographical introduction to
Nizami and his times, I will discuss several of the Urdu texts available
to me that reveal facets of Nizamis representation of Hinduism. These
works include a retelling of the Krishna story for a Muslim audience, a
tract written to discourage the customary sacriice of cows during the
Muslim festival of Id, and an introduction of basic Hindu beliefs written
for Muslims.24 These works may be said to respectively engage Hindu
devotional [bhakti] beliefs, Hindu practices, and Hindu doctrines
I will also briely consider another of his works which displays a more
confrontational attitude, a collection of materials relevant to the pubHansen, H.M. Vroom (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2006), 198199.
21.

On the relection of this in architectural patronage see Catherine Asher, Architecture of Mughal India (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992), 295.

22.

He also published this separately under the title, HarDev ka roznamcha [Hardevs
Diary].

23.

Khwaja Hasan Nizami, Nizami bansri (New Delhi: Liberty Art Press, 1990), 3946.

24.

Khwaja Hasan Nizami, Hindu madhhab ki malumat (Delhi: Delhi Printing Works,
1923).

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licity tour that Nizami organized in 1927 for a Muslim Maharana in

order to convince more recently converted Muslim groups not to return
to their Hindu roots. His most controversial work from this period, the
manual Dai-i Islam instructing Muslims how to defend their faith against
Arya promotion of Hinduism, while noteworthy in this context, cannot
be considered a work about Hinduism itself.
Nizamis Writings and the Representation of the Hindu
Throughout his career Khwaja Hasan Nizami took an interest in other
religions. In addition to the writings on Hinduism mentioned in this
paper, Nizami wrote favorably about Jesus, the Sikhs25 and Bahaullah,
founder of the Bahai faith.26 It is known from Nizamis writings and
autobiographical references that he had embarked as a young man on an
extensive study of Hinduism and visits to major Hindu pilgrimage sites.
In 1323/1905 and 1324/1906 Khaksar Sahibs teachings instilled in me a
desire to meet Hindu fakirs and visit the Hindu pilgrimage sites. Leaving Delhi, I irst went to Mathura and Brindavan and spent some time
in the company of the fakirs who lived there. On this trip, my only baggage was a blanket, a bag, and a long colored shirt.
From Mathura I traveled to Ayodhya, Benares, Gaya, Bodhgaya, Hardwar, Rishikesh, and other sites. I visited their famous temple and met
some other religious mendicants [faqirs].27

Nizami then explains that he subsequently published only a few anecdotes about this lengthy trip scattered among his various writings. A full
book about these experiences that he had written was never published
because his opponents within the clan wanted to use his positive interest in Hinduism against him. The image of Muslim Suis exchanging esoteric knowledge with Hindu yogis is one familiar from Mughal paintings
and other literary references. The early travels of Nizami seem to have
fulilled this tradition of inter-religious encounter. One product of this
interfaith phase in Nizamis career is his biography of Krishna.
25.

A chapter in Khwaja Hasan Nizami, Bivi ki talim (Delhi: Halqa-i Mashaikh Book
Depot, 1924), 172 ff. as well as Sikh qaum (Batala: Khwaja Press, n.d.). On his views of
Sikhism see Yoginder Sikand, Building Bridges Between Sikhs and Muslims: The
Contribution of Khwaja Hasan Nizami, Studies in Inter-Religious Dialogue 9(2), 1999:
178188.

26.

Nizamis work, Irani darvish featured a translation of Bahaullahs Kitab al-asrar.

Nizami is said to have met with Abd al-Baha while in Egypt. Sawanih, 90.

27.

Ap biti, 60.

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biography of Krishna [Krishan biti]

In his preface to the irst edition of Krishan biti or as later editions were
titled, Krishan katha, Nizami characterized the biography of Krishna
as the body and soul of Indian life.28 In general, Nizami liked to utilize
the biographical genre as a didactic and realistic form. His portrayal of
Krishna is sympathetic, treating Krishna as a historical heroic igure. In
the preface he articulates several reasons for undertaking the work.
The irst reason cited is his desire to overcome the problem of certain
authors injecting fantasies and legends into the Krishna story.29
My aim in composing this treatise is to explain to Muslims the true
state of Krishna and to not allow any negative thinking to remain in
their minds regarding this past igure since this is against the guidance
of Quran and sharia which teach that, certain thoughts are sins.
I think that to consider Krishna, as some ignorant Hindus and worthless Hindu books have portrayed him, as debauched, deceitful, and a
trouble-maker, is untrue and a serious sin.30

While defending Krishna against false accusations, Nizami is at the

same time blaming certain Hindu writings for distorting his life story.
Throughout the text, Nizami tackles whatever details of the Krishna story he considers objectionable. A prominent example of this is the sexual
innuendo surrounding Krishnas dalliance with the cowgirls [Gopis].
Here Nizami is not so much opposed to miracle and myth as to the
potentially scandalous elements surrounding the episodes of Krishnas
entertainment of the Gopis and his association with Radha. In terms of
arguments against erotic understandings of Krishnas association with
the Gopis, Nizami notes the improbability of such goings on in the context of the honor codes of the society of the cow herders village where
Krishna lived. In addition, Nizami contends that Krishna was only a
child at this time and thus was unlikely to have had any romantic or
28.

Krishan biti ba taswir (subtitled The True and Explained Life Account of Indias
Famous Avatar, Sri Krishna) (Delhi: Halqa-i Mashaikh, 1917). The preface to the
1919 and subsequent editions of the work was prepared by Krishan Prasad, a disciple of Nizami who was himself a Hindu who served as Prime Minister under the
Nizam of Hyderabad. Krishan Prasad was a patron of Persianate culture, Hindustani music, as well as being a Chishti Sui.

29.

Nizami, Krishan biti ba taswir (subtitled The True and Explained Life Account of
Indias Famous Avatar, Sri Krishna) (Delhi: Halqa-i Mashaikh, 1917), 2.

30.

Nizami, Krishan biti ba taswir (subtitled The True and Explained Life Account of
Indias Famous Avatar, Sri Krishna) (Delhi: Halqa-i Mashaikh, 1917), 2.

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sexual interest in the Gopis. Naturally, the idea of insulting [gustakhi]

one anothers religious symbols, was to become very charged in India at
this time given the occurrence of the Colorful Prophet [Rangila rasul]
episode in which a Hindu author had composed an insulting portrayal
of Muhammad and his publisher was subsequently assassinated. Therefore, Nizamis recounting of Krishnas life is also careful to delect any
criticisms of Krishna as licentious. At the same time it demonstrates that
a prominent Muslim opponent of politicized aspects of Hinduism, in this
case shuddhi of the 1920s, could at the same time have written sympathetically about a Hindu religious icon. The Krishna igure and celebration of festivals such as Holi were certainly not alien to the experience
of many Indian Muslims. Still, Nizamis deliberate efforts for inter-communal understanding in producing this work suggest his support for a
united Indian nation. In fact, a popular perception of Nizami and his successors as being ideal integrated Muslim citizens of India continues until
the present.
In his treatise Nizami also felt the need to counter the implication that
Radha was Krishnas physical lover. He does so by philosophizing about
Radha as indicating a concept rather than a historical female. Thus, she
is said to abstractly represent not an actual lesh and blood female, but
the name given to Krishnas attraction to the principle of love [isqh] for,
according to Nizami, Hindus make images for such feelings and qualities.31 He explains that the beauty of the spiritual station of love whose
manifestation was Krishna was given the name Radha while an image
[murti] was fashioned to be an embodiment of this spiritual state.
In his explanation Nizami also seems to be aiming to counter negative
understandings of idol-worship on the part of his Muslim readers. For
example, his statement that, Everyone knows that in the olden times
Hindus made images for the divine qualities and through these they
would teach people about Gods attributes as in the case of the feminine principle, could be understood as an apology for the Hindu use of
images in worship.32 Ironically, Nizamis strategy of treating the worship
of diverse images and Gods in Hinduism either by historicizing them,
as in the case of Krishna, or by turning them into philosophical principles, as with Radha, is quite similar to that of his Hindu opponents in
the Arya Samaj movement. As a scholar of the Arya Samaj has observed,
31.

Nizami, Krishan katha (Delhi: Ansari Press, 1941), 72.

32.

Nizami, Krishan katha (Delhi: Ansari Press, 1941), 72.

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For the Arya Samaj monotheism replaced polytheismonly a rationalistic monotheism remained supported by a new reinterpretation of
the past.33 The Aryas held that only the Vedas were authoritative while
later Hindu texts and their contents were distorted aspects of popular
religion and myth that had to be explained away. Thus all forms of personal God-worship and myth were discouraged according to the Arya
Samajist perspective.
Nizami uses various strategies in order to convey the concept of Krishna sympathetically to his Muslim audience. Who constituted his audience? In likelihood it consisted of a Muslim learned elite like himself
with the addition of a new group of middle and lower middle class Muslims achieving literacy, or even non-literates who might have the texts
read to them. The sophistication of certain of his arguments suggest that
these were not so much works of popularization of higher themes to a
less educated audience, but rather works of translation of Hindu ideas to
Muslims who might have little knowledge of the Hindu religion and its
doctrines. In some ways Nizami resembles his Arya Samajist opponents
when he writes in the demythologizing mode. In downplaying the idea
of Krishna as a distinct personal God, Nizami articulates a perspective
compatible with modernist sensibilities among his Indian contemporaries, whether Muslim or Hindu.
In terms of establishing parallels to Muslim religious and theological
symbolism, he presents Krishna in this work both as a guide [hadi] and
avatar. The guide idea allows Nizami to invoke elements of the Muslim understanding of prophethood without explicitly calling Krishna a
prophet.
Throughout the text, Nizami translates Hindu religious concepts into
Muslim religious and political frameworks. Therefore, one observes a
certain Islamization of Hindu themes, for example, Krishna is compared
to Moses while the Hindu igure of Jasudha, who allowed her infant
daughter to be sacriiced in place of Krishna, is compared to that of the
Quranic heroine Asiya, wife of Pharoah. Nizami notes with regard to
Jasudhas heroism and devotion that it is usually women who are the
irst to heed a new religious mission, in this case as well as in the case
of Khadija, wife of Muhammad.34 Earlier in the section about Jasudha, he
33.

Kenneth Jones, Arya Dharm: Hindu Consciousness in 19th Century Punjab (Berkeley:
University of California, 1976), 32.

34.

Krishan katha, 57.

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compares her nurturing actions with those of Halima, the Arab tribal
woman who nursed the infant Muhammad.35 In an odd mixture of theological categories, Nizami asserts that the memory of Jasudhas sacriice
of her child will remain alive until the day of Resurrection [qiyamat].36
The symbolism of Krishnas lute playing and dancing is also interpreted with special consideration of the expectations of a Muslim audience. For Nizami, the lute of Krishna evokes Islamic images such as the
famous reed lute of Rumis Sui poem, the Masnavi, rather than the frivolity of music used purely for entertainment. The imagery of the dancing Krishna provokes the following comment from Nizami:
We Muslims cringe at the mention of dancing but it should make no difference in our respect for Krishna, since such dancing was the custom
of the Hindus at this epoch. Everyone, high and low, rich and poor,
used to dance, just as today the British and Europeans, from their lower
classes up to their royalty, dance together with their wives.37

In presenting the biography of Krishna, Nizami is playing to a number

of audiences. In trying to bring the igure of Krishna to life he is writing
for both Hindus and Muslims against the Arya Samajis, enemies both of
Islam and of traditional popular Hinduism.38 Through the composition
of this biography he is also attempting to forge alliances with groups
of sympathetic Hindus in order to constitute a shared Hindu-Muslim
Indian identity that could form the basis for social coexistence and
political cooperation.
A second objective of the work is stated to be familiarizing Muslims
with Hindus and Hinduism. Nizami establishes his credentials and
authority for providing such information.
I have been studying the religious knowledge and society of the Hindus
for twenty years and to some extent I have succeeded in understanding
their religious and worldly values. By studying their religious sciences I should not give the impression that I have mastered Sanskrit or
perused all of their learned books. Instead, my goal was that I should
study the Hindus themselves, their customs and habits, for these are
35.

Krishan katha, 53.

36.

Krishan katha, 53.

37.

Nizami, Krishan biti ba taswir, 61.

38.

For example, in a collection of his own pronouncements on tabligh published in

1926, Nizami includes a number of statements criticizing the Arya Samajists for
lack of reverence towards Rama and Krishna. Tablighi isharaton ka majmua (Delhi:
Ibn Arabi Karkon, 1926), 73, 102.

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the very books of the Hindus which any person can learn to understand, these are the books of history, religion, mysticism and society.
After reading them one is no longer concerned with reading paper
books.39

These comments, taken with others in the adjacent sections of the text,
indicate a certain ambivalence in the authors appreciation of Hinduism.
On the one hand he mentions critics who characterize the Hindus as
following distorted or primitive customs. Here Nizami is relecting not
only Muslim sensibilities but also internalizing some of the criticisms of
Hinduism made by the British colonizers along with the disparagement
of certain aspects of popular Hindu beliefs and customs on the part of
Hindu reformers such as the Arya Samaj. Nizami wants to distinguish
himself from these groups and does so by asserting that there is in fact
something valuable about popular Hinduism that has enabled it to persist beyond the religions and civilizations of the ancient Greeks, Romans,
and Egyptians.40
Nizami provides another reason for the composition of this biography
of Krishnathat of serving the cause of the Urdu language. He asserts
that it is the shared responsibility of Hindus and Muslims to assist the
progress of Urdu, and to keep it alive. Thus an important subject like the
life of Krishna should be treated in Urdu and treated well, and moreover
expressed in clear and simple Urdu.
Perhaps the most intriguing reason given by Nizami for preparing the
biography of Krishna is the quest for his own identity.
I have studied Hindus in a way that does not require books. I didnt ask
for a bibliography of Hindu books. These you will ind at the European
publishing houses where they have crossed the ocean in order to be
printed. I dont claim to be a master of Hindu learning and I only claim
that through the Hindus themselves I have studied their religion and
world. I took up a staff and blanket travelling to Mathura, Brindaban,
and Gokal, staying there for some time. I traced Sri Krishnas life from
birth, to childhood, to triumphTo Hardwar Ayodhya, and Banaras
I travelled alone, the earth was my bed and my pillow a stoneWhy
have I made this investigation? For the reason that I have lived in India
for six hundred years, many of my ancestors are buried in this soil, I
have ruled this region for hundreds of years. It is now this soil that
has come to hold a claim on me, rather than I having a right to it
39.

Nizami, Krishan biti ba taswir, 3.

40.

Nizami, Krishan biti ba taswir, 3.

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Islam has told me that love of homeland is part of faith. Thus, why
shouldnt I make every effort to see and understand my beloved? My
being is constituted by the earth of this land and my prophet has said,
He who knows himself knows his Lord.41

The implication of these passages is that by knowing more about Hinduism, Nizamiand ultimately any other Muslimwill come to know
more about himself. Here we ind the theme of Hindu Muslim unity
established through their mutual association with a place, its soil and
history. Nizami thus corrects the negative perception of dual loyalty
on the part of Indian Muslims by demonstrating their integration into
India in both physically embodied and speciically Islamic terms. It
should be pointed out that such ideas about the Indianness of Muslims
were not alien to Nizamis contemporary Muslim interlocutors, whether
among the ulema42 or more secular Indian Nationalists such as Maulana
Abul-Kalam Azad. Such discourse might draw on a long Indian Muslim
heritage of celebrating the glories of India and the positive references to
it in Islamic tradition, for example, praise of India in the works of Azad
Bilgrami (d. 1786).43
In the passage cited above, the trope of metonomy guides Nizamis representation of himself as the archetypal Muslim migrant who has been
in India for six hundred years. This expression of his identity can be
positively read as a willingness to develop from the role of an outsider
to becoming incorporated into the body of India thereby indicating, at
least symbolically, the willingness of all Indian Muslims to acknowledge
and embrace the Indian part of their heritage and identity. He is careful not to represent himself as having a right to rule, rather it is India
that ultimately transcends religious identities and rules him. Further,
by evoking mystical union Nizami suggests that becoming united with
and absorbed by his beloved homeland is ultimately a source of selfknowledge and even knowledge of God.
41.

Nizami, Krishan katha, 38. This hadith is favored by the mystical or Sui interpreters
of Islam.

42.

On Indian nationalism among Deobandi ulema see Yoginder Sikand, The United
Nationalism of Maulana Madni Milli Gazette, 15(5), 2004. Online at http://www.
milligazette.com/Archives/2004/01-15Aug04-Print-Edition/011508200434.htm
Viewed Nov. 1, 2009.

43.

On Azad Bilgramis representation of India see Carl Ernst India as a Sacred Islamic
Land in Religions of India in Practice, ed. Donald S. Lopez Jr., 556564 (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1995).

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In these paragraphs we gain some insight into the Hindu as

understood by Khwaja Hasan Nizami. We also note that Nizami raises a
number of themes current in cultural studies and post-colonial theory,
by interrogating the sources and organization of knowledge about the
Other. He asserts that his knowledge of Hindus and Hinduism is derived
from direct lived experience rather than from bibliographies complied
by the colonizers or books printed in the European metropoles. We can
therefore characterize Nizamis position as asserting that knowledge
requires association with a living Other and a real Hinduism that
is accessible to him as an Indian. The Krishna igure is clearly one that
carries an appeal for him, both as a historical human teacher whose
activities impart lessons of the highest human moral standards, and as
an abstract philosophical ideal that is able to transcend communal identities. He concluded the 1917 edition of the book with a nationalist plea
for Hindu Muslim unity and cooperation. O Indians, now you must forget all the disagreements into which the struggle to rule has plunged us
Hindus and Muslims, for now both of us are being ruled by a third party.
Now we should become of one body, one mind, one mentality in order to
live in this country, and say: Our India is the best in the world.44
refraining from slaughtering cattle [tark-e gao kushi]
This book represents a second example of how Nizami engages the Hindu Other in his writings. The issue of cow slaughter by Muslims, whether
for daily consumption or as a mass ritual performed at the time of the Id
festival, has played an important role in deining the respective identities of the two religious communities. For example, the fact that the tolerant Emperor Akbar is said to have banned it and the strict Aurangzeb
to have reinstituted it is regularly invoked to symbolize their respective attitudes to Hinduism. In the nineteenth century, a Hindu campaign
against the practice of killing cattle, held sacred by Hindus, emerged45
and this issue continues to symbolize the difference between the two
religious communities until today.
Protecting cows was one element of the platform of the Arya Samaj.
44.

Nizami, Krishan biti, (Delhi: Munshi Kanz Fazl Husain, 1917), 144. This line is from a
popular poem by Muhammad Iqbal.

45.

Extensive scholarship exists about movements for cow protection in colonial Indian history. Notable examples are The Challenge of Gau Mata: British Policy and
Religious Change in India, 18801916 by Peter Robb in Modern Asian Studies 20(2),
1986: 285319 and D. N. Jha, The Myth of the Holy Cow (New York: Verso, 2002).

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It is therefore initially surprising to ind that Khwaja Hasan Nizami

was a supporter of protecting cattle and published a treatise to this effect. Even more surprising is the fact that this tract, issued for the irst
time in 1921, was republished by the author as late as 1950, this latter
time with a dedication to the people of Pakistan. This indicates that the
motivation for its composition was not limited to promoting peaceful
co-existence in the Indian environment before Partition.
There are two main components to this treatise: a section on how to
save the lives of cows and a call to abandon the practice of cow sacriice.
When the original edition of the book was published,46 its aim was stated
to be fostering Hindu-Muslim unity and cooperation. Nizami notes that
rescuing cows is not new in the Indian context since Muslim rulers had
previously banned cow slaughter. At the time of the 1857 rebellion and
during the period of Gandhian leadership Muslims had suspended the
practice. Nizami cautions, however, that Muslim should undertake such
cooperation with Hindus without any expectations of concessions or
payback.47 He states that the principle involved, rather than one of political expediency, should be the Islamic value of consideration for ones
neighbor.
Nizami then debates potential objectors who contend that if today
cow killing is halted for the sake of sparing Hindu sensibilities, tomorrow there will be demands that the Muslim call to prayer no longer be
given.48 He retorts to such objections by stating that despite the loss of
Muslim power in India, Hindus have not attempted to stop any Muslim
practices other than cow killing.
He disputes with those who suggest that this could lead to cow worship, stating that Muslims should spare cattle simply due to their intrinsic usefulness. At a later point in the text he musters the health argument, by stating that eating beef can be harmful while drinking milk is
healthy.49 He then uses traditional Islamic proof texts from the Quran
and examples from the hadith and prophetic Sunna interpreted in novel
ways to buttress his argument. For example he cites the Quranic verse,
God does not need the meat and blood of your sacriices.50 In further
46.

Nizami, Tark-i qurbani-i gao (Delhi: Halqa-i Mashaikh, 1921).

47.

Nizami, Gaee ki jan bachanee ka bayan (Dehli: Khwaja Hasan Nizami, 1951).

48.

Nizami, Gaee ki jan bachanee ka bayan, 3.

49.

Nizami, Gaee ki jan bachanee ka bayan, 60.

50.

Q 22:37. Nizami, Gaee ki jan bachanee ka bayan, 17.

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relections, Nizami invokes a higher mystical ideal of the interpretation of sacriice by suggesting that the ego [nafs] should be sacriiced
instead of an animal.51 A further justiication for Muslims abandoning
cattle sacriice was that the practice of the Prophet Muhammad was
peace-making.52 In fact, some of Nizamis proposals for establishing
shelters for the maintenance of old cattle are reminiscent of the tactics
of the Arya Samaji movements of cattle rescuing [gaurakhshini].
This work may be taken to represent a somewhat later phase of Nizamis career that we may broadly characterize as being more concerned
with the Hindu at the level of political negotiation. The issue of cow
slaughter is dealt with from the perspective of Islam in the Indian environment, and here Nizami as a Muslim makes common cause with some
positions of the Arya Samaj, Gandhi, and the Ali brothers. The later edition of the text indicates that Nizami did not alter his position on the
issue of cattle protection despite the changed political climate following
Partition.
Information about the Hindu religion [Hindu madhhab ki malumat]
This book was irst published in summer 1923, and aims to present basic information about Hinduism, in particular its fundamental doctrines
and practices, in a dispassionate and informational mode, both to Muslims and Muslim missionaries [dais]. In his brief introduction Nizami
states,
I did not write this book for the purpose of quarrel, debate or other
sorts of polemic but rather I wrote it so that Muslims would come to
know and understand Hindu philosophy in order to dispel from their
hearts that sort of unfamiliarity which is the source of mistrust.53

Rather than claiming special expertise or authority on the subject,

Nizami apologizes in advance due to any misinterpretations he may
offer due to lack of knowledge of Sanskrit or due to being an outsider.
This is an intriguing shift from his claim to embodied knowledge based
on actual encounter in his rendition of the biography of Krishna. Nizami
cites his main sources as being two books by Hindus, Pandit Amarnaths
book, Commentary (Sharh) on the Vishnu Purana and the Makhzan-i madhahib [Treasury of Religions] of Ujagar Mal. In addition, he states that he
51.

Nizami, Gaee ki jan bachanee ka bayan, 18

52.

Nizami, Gaee ki jan bachanee ka bayan, 19

53.

Hindu madhhab ki malumat (Delhi: Halqa-i Mashaikh, 1923), 1.

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has made inquiries on certain points from Hindu friends.54 This work,
while presenting basic information about Hindu beliefs and practices,
avoids attempting to compare them to Islamic concepts or presenting
them in Islamic terms and Nizamis voice is largely absent, apart from
the brief preface and concluding remarks. It is also worth noting that
Nizami does not directly take the position of encouraging Muslims to
eliminate Hindu customs and rituals that have mingled with their own
practice, as had been common and continued to be emphasized in more
legalistic perspectives advocated by reformist ulema.
After the introduction, the book begins with a glossary of technical
terms from the Hindu religion.55 The next topic covered is Hindu cosmology, followed by Hindu sacred books, Hindu sects, rituals, and the
Hindu concept of time.56 A further section covers the four Gs; the cow
[gao], Ganges [Ganga], Gita, and the Gayatri Mantra.57 Social and practical
elements such as caste, pilgrimage sites, and belief in astrology complete the survey of Hinduism.
At the conclusion of Nizamis overview of Hindu doctrine and practice, an additional brief treatise (20 pages) by Nawab Sir Amin Jang
Bahadur on The Philosophy of the Hindu People is appended. Overall
the tenor of the entire work is accommodating and contextualized within an appeal for inter-religious dialogue and harmony. Despite this, the
concluding remarks, perhaps unavoidably, obliquely mention the Arya
threat and anticipate, thousands, no hundreds of thousands of Muslims
needing to learn Sanskrit and know about Hinduism in order to preserve
and propagate their own religion.58
Tazkira-yi muslim maharaja
This 1927 book gathers and reproduces speeches, letters, and newspaper notices surrounding the tour that Nizami organized for a Muslim
Maharana, Nasr Allah Khan, in 1927. It is clear that Nizami considered
this to be a critical historical moment meriting signiicant documentation. In fact, the work is some 700 pages long! The material comprising
his documentation includes an untypically dry history of the Maharanas
54.

Hindu madhhab ki malumat, 1.

55.

Hindu madhhab ki malumat, 27.

56.

Hindu madhhab ki malumat, 828.

57.

Hindu madhhab ki malumat, 2934.

58.

Hindu madhhab ki malumat, 64.

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ancestors and district, newspaper articles criticizing and supporting the

tour, artists renditions of several dramatic moments in the Maharanas
tour, and a selection of contemporary cartoons from Arya Samajist and
Muslim newspapers. It may be that Nizami had developed political aspirations at this time as this work tends to be rather self-promoting.
The Maharana, Nasir ud-Din Khan, was a Rajput who had rejected the
call of the Arya Samaj shuddhi movement to convert back to Hinduism. The context was the Arya appeal, in some cases successful, to the
Malkana Rajputs who had been considered Muslim for centuries but
who socially maintained most links to their Hindu background, including their names and many customs of daily life.
Nizami organized the publicity tour of the Muslim Maharana from Delhi to Lahore, making a number of whistle stops at Muslim towns along
the trains route. This tour became controversial for a number of reasons and was criticized by the Arya Samajist press as well as by Muslim
leaders such as Muhammad Ali. In the case of the Arya Samaj the tour
was objectionable in constituting a direct challenge to their project of
puriication [shuddhi]. The Muslim leader, Muhammad Ali, on the other
hand, saw such gestures as inlaming communal passions that would be
detrimental to his object of maintaining the Hindu-Muslim unity which
had emerged during the Khilafat movement.
Some of the objections to the tour in the popular press took the form
of casting doubt on the Maharanas authenticity. After all, his name was
not prominent on the civil list.59 Another objection concerned the fact
that the Maharaja was billed as a new Muslim, implying a fresh victory
in the wars of conversion. According to some critics it was hardly appropriate that he should share the platform at a new Muslim conference
in Lahore with a Britisher who had recently accepted Islam, since the
Rajas ancestors had been at least nominally Muslim for some 400 years.
The Maharana himself defends his designation as a new Muslim in the
sense that in March 1926 he had decisively rejected the appeal of the
Arya Samajists that he and his people should revert to Hinduism.60
Nizamis activist stance against shuddhi meant that he had to break
with many of his old allies among the Muslim Indian nationalists. It is
clear that his engagement with Hinduism had changed with his political
59.

Being on the civil list would have indicated that he was important enough to
receive some payment from the British administration.

60.

Tazkira-yi musulman maharana (Delhi : Karkun Halqa-i Mashaikh, 1927), 37.

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afiliations. The threat of assimilation and the loss of Muslim identity

here leads Nizami to stress the distinctiveness of Islam in a number of
ways. While this publication illustrates Nizamis approach of countering
shuddhi by demonstrating that leaders and upper class Malkana Rajputs
as well as the masses could identify with Islam rather than Hinduism, his
other writings from this period relect the tabligh strategy of promoting
basic education in Islamic teachings through translating the Quran61 and
hadith collections into accessible Urdu.
conclusions
In conclusion, one may take Khwaja Hasan Nizamis representations of
Hindus and Hinduism as exemplifying some of the currents and tensions expressed in early twentieth century India as communal identities
became increasingly charged and polarized.
In terms of the Hindu religion, Nizamis writings demonstrate that
it was possible for a Muslim of his generation to ind elements shared
with Hindus such as admiration for heroism and sacriice, or respect for
guides and teachers. This idea of promoting common moral and spiritual
values is evident in the authors treatment of Krishna as an exemplary
igure. The type of Hindu who was the most accessible to Nizami was the
one following bhakti or devotional religion. The biography of Krishna,
then, may be seen as representing the Hindu in the tradition of Sui/
bhakti compatibility and fusion, an articulation of South Asia Islam that
appreciates the other and attempts to establish common ground.
The issue of representing Muslim identity in India, however, occasionally became problematic for Nizami since loyalties beyond India are
both real and positive for Muslims. Perhaps in response Nizami made
the move of tracing the origin of the Aryans to ancient Egypt in his work
Firauni tarikh,62 thereby complicating the myth of Hindu origins in an
interesting way.
Writing laudatory biographies about Hindu icons such as Krishna and
Rama could also be taken as relecting one Muslims response to a disturbing phenomenon of India in the 1920s, the maligning or insulting
61.

For example Nizami published several guides to easy rules of Quran study,
interpretation, and recitation such as Quran asan qaida (Delhi: Delhi Printing Works,
1922) and a multi volume popular-level hadith commentary Amm fahm tashrih-i
Bukhari (Delhi: Halqa-i Mashaikh, 1930).

62.

Khwaja Hasan Nizami, Firauni tarikh. (Delhi: Lauh-e Mahfuz Urdu Library, 1944),
279280.

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of other religions leaders and heroes, leading to inlamed communal

passions and riots.
Nizami, as a Muslim mystic, straddled both reformist causes and the
tradition of popular devotion to the saints represented by Indian Suism.
Thus on occasion he made use of some of the same reformist tactics and
organs of inluence as his primary Hindu rivals in the Arya Samaj. Examples would be the use of the popular press and extensive travel on the
new networks of railways. In a new move for a Sui guide, who traditionally trained disciples through intimate personal contact, Nizami allowed
aspiring disciples to sign up for initiation on vouchers printed in the
back of some of his publications. While he continued the Sui tradition
in inding commonality with devotional Hindu symbols and practices,
the scope of his tolerance stopped short at accepting actual conversion
from Islam to Hinduism and thus Nizami became a political activist when
opposing the campaign of the Arya Samaj. In this opposition he went
further than other nationalist Muslim leaders such as the Ali brothers.
In Khwaja Hasan Nizamis writings his attitudes to Hinduism, religiously and politically, can be seen to respond to the changing circumstances in India during the earlier part of the twentieth century. Initially
he may be observed attempting to broaden the arena of Indian identity so
as to make possible a national space shared by Hindus and Muslims. Muslim communal identity politics became more aggressive in response
to the onslaught of the Arya campaigns of reconversion and turned
the Sui into a political activist. While the original enemy was British
colonialism, a foe that united Hindus and Muslims, the rise of communal politics carried away much of the cooperation forged during the Khilafat movement. Nizami, like many other Muslim leaders, seems to become less trusting
of the good intentions of Hindu leadership, including that of Gandhi.
In his autobiography Nizami includes an imaginative section entitled,
the spiritual autobiography, or Lahuti ap biti.63 This segment explains
both the physical/human [nasuti] and spiritual/divine [lahuti] aspects
of the human condition. Following concepts suggested by the Sui poet
Rumis verses about the progression of existence through mineral, vegetal, human, and ultimately, angelic realms,64 Nizami imaginatively
63.

Ap Biti, 135144. Also published separately as Lahuti ap biti (Gurdaspur: Azamiyya

Book Depot, 1922).

64.

I died as plant and rose to animal,

I died as animal and I was Man.
Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?

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details his own process of evolution. In these past experiences he

ascends through successive spheres of existence in the mineral, vegetable, and animal planes, then Nizami proceeds through human history
evoking events from Quranic tales of the Prophets, to heroes of Islamic
history, and inally to the personalities of his own age. Here he identiies with a range of contemporary political igures including Kaiser
Wilhelm, Hindenberg, King George of England, Lloyd George, and inally
even Gandhi.
My name is Khalid,65 my name is Timur,66 and Nadir (Shah),67 I am both
Mahmud of Ghazna and I am also called the idol at Somnath.68 I am also
Kaiser Wilhelm and Hindenbergand King George and Lloyd George,
and Marshall Foch is also my name! The ones you called Mr. Rowlatt69
and Mr. Gandhi were none other than me.70

In interpreting this passage we may say that in the Sui tradition

Nizami is able to identify himself with even the most remote or distant
Other, politically or religiously, at the level of mystical experience, and
that he is ultimately trying to transcend or synthesize all oppositions.
Nizami and his spiritual home, the Nizamuddin Shrine [dargah], symbolically represent the space of Indian Muslims transcending communalism and striving for harmony. Nizami, like many others who dreamed
of overcoming differences, must have been disappointed with the rise of
communalism and the partition of India. At the same time he was drawn
into the controversy over the shuddhi campaigns in such a way that
Yet once more I shall die as Man, to soar
With angels blest; but even from angelhood
I must pass on: all except God perishes.

65.

Khalid Ibn Walid, an early Islamic military leader and hero.

66.

Tamerlane, the conqueror.

67.

Nadir Shah, the Persian ruler who sacked Delhi is 1739, therefore a negative military example for Muslims.

68.

Mahmud of Ghazna is known as an early Muslim conqueror of North India. The

Hindu temple of Somnath was destroyed by his troops, therefore this juxtaposition
evokes one of the most painful clashes between Muslim and Hindu identities and
disparate readings of shared historical experience. The fact that Nizami experiences himself as both Mahmud and the idol may represent the concept of embracing
opposites and transcending difference and enmity.

69.

A reference to the British Judge Rowlatt who drafted the notorious 1919 Rowlatt
Act designed to curb seditious activities in India. Gandhi is said to have launched
his peaceful resistance [satyagraha] movement in response to this Act.

70.

Ap biti, 140.

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some observers have primarily construed him as a communal agitator.71

The presentation here of his writings introducing Hinduism in a positive
light to his fellow Muslims may serve to correct this imbalance.
references
Asher, Catherine. Architecture of Mughal India. New York: Cambridge, 1992.
Ernst, Carl. India as a Sacred Islamic Land. In Religions of India in Practice, ed.
Donald S. Lopez Jr., 556564. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press,
1995.
Engineer, Asghar Ali. Muslims Views of Hindus in the Past and Present. In
Religions View Religions: Explorations in Pursuit of Understanding, ed. Jerald
Gort, Henry Hansen, H.M. Vroom, 197226. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2006.
Jaffrelot, Christophe. The Hindu Nationalist Movement in India. New York: Columbia, 1998.
Jha, D. N. The Myth of the Holy Cow. New York: Verso, 2002.
Jones, Kenneth. Arya Dharm: Hindu Consciousness in 19th Century Punjab. Berkeley:
University of California, 1976.
Jordens, J.T.F. Swami Shraddhananda: His Life and Causes. New Delhi: Oxford,
1981.
Minault, Gail. The Khilafat Movement: Religious Symbolism and Political Mobilization
in India. New York: Columbia, 1982.
Nizami, Khwaja Hasan. Amm fahm tashrih-i Bukhari. Delhi: Halqa-i Mashaikh, 1930.
. Bivi ki talim. Delhi: Halqa-i Mashaikh Book Depot, 1924.
. Fatimi dawat-i Islam. Delhi: H. Nizami, 1925 2nd ed.
. Firauni tarikh. Delhi: Lauh-e Mahfuz Urdu Library, 1944.
. Gaee ki jan bachanee ka bayan. Dehli: Khwaja Hasan Nizami, 1951.
. Hindu madhhab ki malumat. Delhi: Delhi Printing Works, 1923.
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1953.
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. Krishan katha. Delhi: Ansari Press, 1941.
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71.

For example, Gene Thursby, Hindu-Muslim Relations in British India: a Study of Controversy, Conlict, and Communal Movements in Northern India 1923-1928 (Leiden: E. J. Brill,
1975), 37.

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179

. Tazkira-yi musulman maharana. Delhi : Karkun Halqa-i Mashaikh, 1927.

37.
Robb, Peter. The Challenge of Gau Mata: British Policy and Religious Change in
India, 18801916. Modern Asian Studies 20 (1986): 285319. doi:10.1017/
S0026749X00000846
Sikand, Yoginder. The Fitna of Irtidad: Muslim Missionary Response to the Shuddhi of the Arya Samaj in Early Twentieth Century India. Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 17 (1997): 6582. doi:10.1080/13602009708716358
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Swami Shraddhananda, Muhammadi sazish ka inkishaf. Delhi: Matba Tej, 1924.
Thursby, Gene. Hindu-Muslim Relations in British India: a Study of Controversy, Conlict, and Communal Movements in Northern India 1923-1928. Leiden: E. J.
Brill, 1975.
Titus, Murray. Indian Islam: A Religious History of Islam in India. London: Oxford,
1930.
Wahidi, Mulla. Sawanih-i umri-yi: Khwaja Hasan Nizami. Delhi: Munadi Khwaja
Number, 1957.

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