Adina Beg’s significance to the Punjabi Muslim narrative

Language, Culture & History in my humble opinion are the three core components of a nation’s collective self-esteem. Language isn’t just a means to communicate, it’s a social institution of its own, it shapes the way we perceive the world. Ever wondered why jokes don’t just translate over in to another language? Also, considering that poets are social scientists of their time, language is a treasure chest of heritage that can only be unlocked by its speakers.

The language you speak also affects the way you interpret the world. To emphasize, some concepts simply don’t exist in other languages, so while the Mongolian language has two separate terms for dark blue (huhe) & light blue (qinker), Mandarin has one term for both, blue (lan) [1] or even take a look at the image [2] below for the various concepts of friendship in Arabic:

Scroll to bottom for source [2]

For ethnic groups whose identity is premised on cultural assimilation i.e. Punjabi, Sindhi, it becomes even more important because newer settlers will follow established mores. So, since, Punjabi Muslims organize themselves on tribal lines, the newer migrants also then retain a strong affinity towards their ancestry & more. We can look at the Prime Minister Imran Khan or the current Chief Minister of Punjab, Usman Buzdar. Both of these individuals have only furthered the cause of the Pashtun & Baloch peoples INSIDE Punjab. Punjab is as a mere vehicle, an ATM machine for the emancipation of their people at our expense. Think of how Punjabis were cleansed out of Balochistan, yet we have Baloch Culture Day shoved down our throats in Lahore. What kind of math is this?

While, being born of a good lineage is a gift from Allah, for the survival of Punjab as a cultural organism, an entity, which has existed since, immemorial with a continuity of thousands of years be it linguistic, cultural or genetic although not exactly in the form we see today, the assimilation of these groups is essential. The Punjabis of Kashmiri origin in this regard are a model. Proud of their lineage yet own Punjab as their own akin to the Baloch of Sindh.  

Just like language isn’t just random noises, history too isn’t just stories for the sake of stories. The stories in the Holy Quran serve as a means to deter & learn from previous nations on what lead to their demise. The characters, the circumstances among other variables in those stories all hold a symbolic value that then serve as a template on how to navigate our present world when those patterns re-emerge. Surah Al-A’raf mentions Hazrat Shoaib A.S.’s people, the Madyan who were warned for their dishonesty in business that were destroyed in an earth quake for their refusal to comply.

Building on the point about the symbolic significance of characters in a story & now turning towards the crux of the piece, this is why people of every nation will cite names of their elders, their forefathers & their achievements to a) for self-esteem b) learn from their stories. For this reason, the fringe Punjabi “nationalist” circles for decades have attempted to position Maharaja Ranjit Singh as that kind of hero to be rallied behind.

Ironically, even though this is meant to make Punjabis proud of their identity it only further pushed Punjabi Muslims away from it. It has also reinforced the trope that Punjabi language & culture is for people of Sikh faith & that “Urdu Musulmaano ki zabaan hai” idea along with the hodge podge narrative that comes with it of glorifying every Central Asian horse rider (no matter how oppressive) to come to Punjab so long as they are Muslims.

That’s because Punjabi Muslims have divorced themselves from their ethnic-identity & become these post-ethnic cosmopolitans with no real attachment to anything tangible. What many people don’t realize is that even the Islam one follows is influenced by their local culture. The Hanafi from Hindustan & the one from Syria are different for this exact reason.

Putting aside the subset of Punjabis who do so due to their own disdain for religion, the Ranjit Singh glorification from practicing Punjabi Muslims stems from a lack of knowledge, naivety & a desperation to latch on to something local. Neither of the secularist nor the Pan-Islam variety of Punjabis can imagine beyond being subsidiaries to other people, they can’t imagine that Punjabi Muslim is an entity of its own.

Previously, I wrote an exhaustive post on Adina Beg, the Punjabi of Arain tribe, who rose from being a literal domestic servant at the very top of Punjab. The blogpost still requires in-text citations, but I wait for anyone to pull any inaccuracies in the actual content. My intention with this essay is to argue for & present the significance of Adina Beg for Punjabi Muslims, why its Adina Beg & not Ranjit Singh who should be positioned as the main character in the Punjabi Muslim narrative & the lessons we can apply today:

1. Balance of Power:

Can be defined as: state/nation/s not allowing other states/nations to gain too much power. This balance can be achieved in two ways: 1) increasing one’s own capacity 2) making alliances to counter the hegemon.

These two principles defined Adina Beg’s journey from being a domestic servant in Mughal army officer homes to very top of Punjab’s politics. It’s how Adina survived while simultaneously raising his stock at the expense of: Afghans, Sikhs, Mughals & the Marathas in the chaos ridden 18th century Punjab, where no one player could truly assert their will & establish a sustained political order & carved out a living space for himself and more importantly the Punjabi Muslims.

Syed Latif’s quote encapsulates this in his book “History of the Punjab” in his concluding thoughts on Adina Beg, who at his zenith becomes the ruler of all the Punjab: “The Sikhs he amused, the Delhi Court (Mughals) he despised, the Afghans (Durranis) he bewildered and the Marathas he effectually influenced in his favour to break the power of both the Sikhs and the Afghans and to obtain his own independence”.

Today, our backs are against the wall yet again in a multi-ethnic federation. This time though the issues are so convoluted, one wonders where to even start. On one end we have non-Punjabi ethnic groups, whose entire modern identities revolve around opposing Punjabis, yet that very “Punjabi” establishment, which is nothing more than a colonial hangover, they credit us with is the reason behind the dilution of our language, culture & identity, referring to the various identity projects in our cultural sphere such as Saraiki.

2. Unity

Punjabi Muslims in the 1881 census carried out by the Raj administration were a majority among Punjabis at 47.6% whereas Sikhs were a mere 8.2% [3]. The number of Sikhs could have only been lower during Ranjit era a century or so back, but it were the Sikhs who carved out an Empire. Why?

Sikh Punjabis had (& have) assabiyah or “group feeling” which was developed after years of persecution at the hands of the Mughals which helped crystallized their identity & provided the community with a deep sense of purpose that spanned across tribal lines. Even before Ranjit Singh, the loose confederation of Sikh principalities known common as “Misls” had the foresight to unite against Afghan interlopers in Punjab or at least not side with them against their own despite not always being on good terms with each other.

Ibn Khaldun: Royal authority & large-scale dynastic power are attained only through a group and group feeling. That is because aggressive and defensive strength is obtained only through group feeling, which means affection and willingness to fight and die for each other. Yet, what affinity did Punjabi Muslims had towards each other? Also, Ibn Khaldun “On the other hand it is easy to establish a dynasty in lands that are free from group feelings. [4] which explains the constant foreign rule in our lands.

What makes Adina Beg unique is he imagined beyond the petty tribal lines & organized a Pan-Punjabi army particularly one whose core were Punjabi Muslims. The assabiyah & sense of purpose that Sikhs had, Adina Beg was the Punjabi Muslim version of this. We see a glimpse of this in April 1755, when Adina Beg raised a vast army of 100,000 mostly Punjabi Muslims:

The Rohilla Pashtuns had rebelled against the Mughals, which is at this point was a shell of itself, whereas once it would send armies all the way to Balkh in Northern Afghanistan during the days of Shah Jahan, it could not even keep regional rulers in-check. Rohillas were joined by their kin, Malerkotla based Afghans & their leader who deserted their Mughal employer & started plundering Sirhind.

Adina Beg at this point was practically independent (ruling Jalandhar Doab) due to the confusion caused by Durrani invasions & could not tolerate such a buildup to his East when the Western front was already prone to incursions from the same ethnicity, so “Adina Beg, who had been the ruler of the place for years and whom all the zamindars of that country obeyed on account of his strictness and ability, gathered together all the zamindars and an army of the Sikhs, the followers of Nanak and thus had about 50,000 horse and nearly the same number of foot, along with cannons, light artillery (Rehkala), long firelocks (Jizails), matchlocks and rockets.” [5]

What makes this victory even sweeter is that according to Syed Latif the opposing Afghans outnumbered Adina Beg’s forces [6] yet despite that not only did Adina Beg come out as the winner but both the Rohilla & Malerkotla Afghan chiefs lost their lives in this affair.

For Punjabi Muslims this victory is a watershed moment considering the centuries worth of aggression. With Ibn Khaldun’s commentary on group feeling & Adina Beg’s example, it becomes apparent to us that its a lack of ittehad, assabiyah, sense of collective purpose is what held back Punjabi Muslims from aspiring towards something greater in Punjab. Whereas Afghans settled in Punjab had such strong sense of assabiyah that they would habitually side with Durrani invading forces by deserting Mughal army, the state of Punjabi Muslims was such that some tribes would ally with the same Ahmad Shah Abdali that had plundered through Punjab & raised Lahore to the ground, so long he didn’t bother them.

Yet what came of these Punjabi Muslims? Think of the Gakhar & Warraich tribes who were once part of Adina’s army only to get picked apart & absorbed by Sikhs after Adina’s death. At no point there is a sense of urgency to put aside differences and unite against common foes like the Sikh misls. The case of Muqarrab Khan Gakhar is even more mortifying, when we realize the Sher Shah Suri-Sarang Khan episode & for him to ally with the same people, the Durranis.

This isn’t to say Punjabis never achieved anything in political terms as far founding a great state, the example of Gujarat Sultanate founded by Punjabi Muslims of Tanka Rajput lineage comes to mind who were Tughlaq governors that declared independence & the Sultanate lasted over a 150 years, but I digress.

Today, we repeat the mistakes of our elders & get picked apart by non-Punjabis in their provinces. The way Punjabis were cleansed out of Balochistan & part of interior Sindh is something no ethnic group has experiences. If anything Baloch & Pashtuns have only gained more areas in Punjab & keep claiming more as all it takes is a few families to migrate in a Punjabi city. Yet our people insist on only being Arain, Gujjar, Jatt while our enemies hate us indiscriminately of tribe, high born, low born. Even Punjabis who adhere to the Saraiki identity project are not spared in Balochistan. Something about being doomed to repeat history when you don’t read it.

3. Punjabi Muslim Consciousness

Tahmas Khan was a slave raised by Mughlani Begum, a contemporary & an acquaintance of Adina Beg who met him numerous times. Tahmas has this to say about Adina below [7] :

This sense of nativism in Adina Beg’s thought process as explained above by Tahmas Khan & his feelings towards the above group are not only invaluable insights for Punjabi Muslims. Now, the alliance with Marathas/Sikhs was a necessary evil to expel interlopers from Punjab & Adina Beg’s political maneuvering had one sole purpose & that was to elevate himself to the very top with Punjabi Muslims being at the core of this setup.

So, after the Durranis had been expelled from Hindustan, the Marathas whom Adina Beg had also used for the purpose of expelling Durranis had left him in-charge of all of Punjab & now it was time to counter the growing Sikh influence. :

“Adina Beg could not remain silent. He was a lover of discipline, a man of action, firm in mind and tenacious of purpose. Being born and bred in this province, Adina knew perfectly well when and how to strike at them. He had an army of 10,000 horse and foot. To strengthen himself against the Sikhs he enlisted a large number of more troops and called upon the noted zamindars and chiefs in every part of the province to join him in removing the Sikh menace and restoring peace and order to “the country. Consequently, the Gakhar, the Jhanjhuha and the Gheba zamindars of the Sind Sagar Doab, Chaudhari Rahmat Khan Waraech in the Chaj Doab, Raja Ranjit Dev of Jammu, Chaudhari Pir Muhammad Chattha, Izzat Bakhsh, Murad Bakhsh, Bhatti and other zamindars in the Rechna Doab, Raja Ghamand Chand, Nidhan Singh Randhawa, Mirza Muhammad Anwar of Kadian, Afghans of Kasur and Daulpur in the Bari Doab, Afghans of Jullundur and Alawalpur, Rai Ibrahim of Kapurthala, Rais of Bankala, Dasuha, Khardunbala and Phagwara and Rajputs of Rahon were persuaded to join him in his war against the Sikhs.“ [8}

So, for those who claim that Adina Beg was pro-Sikh/Maratha particularly Abdali’s kin as a way to justify their plundering of Punjab under the guise of “protecting Muslims” & presenting themselves as some kid of saviors of the Muslim Ummah, it becomes evident that the alliance was simply a political move. That Adina Beg wanted one group and one group only to prevail in the Punjab & that was his kin, the Punjabi Muslims.

4. Imagine

If survival was the only objective then Adina Beg could have spent his entire career as a revenue collector in Jalandhar Doab for the six villages he was assigned at the beginning of his career. He commanded the respect of all the zamindars in the area, was known for his administration & could have simply carved out his niche in his Jallandhar Doab as a Nazim & pay tribute to which ever party ruled Lahore.

However, Adina Beg aspired for more than just carving out a small niche for himself like the Punjabi Muslims tribal leaders, who only got absorbed in to someone else’s political project.

While Punjabi Muslims have brought multiple dynasties to power and even carved out their own empire far away from our home, the Gujarat Sultanate, Adina Beg’s autonomous government was the first time that Punjabis had self rule, since the time of Hindu Shahis that had roots in Punjab. He wasn’t pro-Sikh because of Punjab, nor was he pro-Afghan because we have the same religion, rather he was a Punjabi Muslim, an entity and a narrative of its own.

Conclusion:

Now, I don’t claim Adina Beg was a perfect human being, so whatever refutation that awaits this piece should factor this in, but he was most definitely a net positive for his people. First Punjabi to form an independent government in Punjab, since Hindu Shahi era & gave Punjabi Muslims a sense of collectivism, identity & a direction they always lacked and still do.

Nations learn from their history & their elders in order to navigate their present. Just as on an individual level our past gives us a sense of what works, what doesn’t and how things could be done better, same applies on a macro level to nations. Therefore, the life & career of Adina Beg is one replete with lessons for Punjabi Muslims that can be applied in modern times.

Resources:

[1] https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00551/full

[2] https://tommccallum.medium.com/self-knowledge-12-levels-of-friendship-a724a34da5e#:~:text=Sadeeq%20%E2%80%94%20a%20true%20friend%2C%20someone,confidant%2C%20someone%20you%20trust%20deeply

[3] Krishab, G (no date). Demography of the Punjab (1849-1947) Retrieved from https://punjab.global.ucsb.edu/sites/secure.lsit.ucsb.edu.gisp.d7_sp/files/sitefiles/journals/volume11/no1/6_krishan.pdf

[4] Muqadimmah by Ibn Khaldun pg. 123

[5] Later Mughal History of Punjab by Hari Ram Gupta pg. 82

[6] History of the Punjab by Syed Latif pgs. 231-232

[7] Tahmas Nama pg. 64

[8] Evolution of Sikh Confederacies by Hari Ram Gupta pg. 122.