Sufi tradition teaches equality and moral values

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

During the medieval period, widespread immorality and oppression across the world led historians to refer to it as the ‘Dark Age’. However, during the same period, the saint traditions and the Sufi movement promoted the ideals of social equality and moral values, said history scholar Dr Gani Patel.

He was speaking at the concluding session of the history festival organised by the department of history at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University (Bamu) on Thursday. The programme was presided over by prominent historian Dr Dulari Qureshi. Among those present were head of the department (HoD) Dr Geetanjali Borade, along with Dr Pushpa Gaikwad, Dr Beena Sengar, Dr Kumar Bhavar, Dr Amol Kulkarni, and Machhindra Chaudhary.

Delivering the third lecture in the Dr R S Gupte Memorial Lecture Series, Dr Satish Kadam reviewed the contributions of often overlooked groups within the Bhakti tradition. He noted that male and female saints of the Warkari tradition, as well as saints belonging to Vaishnav, Shaiva and Sufi traditions, worked to promote Hindu–Muslim unity.

Dr Gani Patel delivered a lecture on the theme ‘Principles and Philosophy of the Sufi Tradition.’ In her presidential address, Dr Dulari Qureshi highlighted the life and work of Dr R S Gupte. She noted that B R Ambedkar recognised Dr Gupte’s talent in the field of history and invited him to teach at Milind College. She also mentioned that after the establishment of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Dr Gupte played a key role in founding its department of history.

The programme was compered by Dr Suvarnamala Maske, while the vote of thanks was proposed by Dr Rahul Bachate. Dr Kamaji Dak, Dr Sachin Borade, Dr Ashwin Jogdand, and Dr Ravi Gavhande contributed to organising the event.