Devotional paths to divine

• Sufis were Muslim mystics who rejected outward religiosity and emphasized love, devotion to God, and compassion towards all fellow human beings
• In the eighth and ninth centuries, religious scholars developed different aspects of the Holy Law (Shariat) and theology of Islam
• Sufis provided Islam with a more personal dimension of devotion to God, rejecting elaborate rituals and codes of behavior demanded by Muslim religious scholars
• Sufis believed in training the heart to look at the world differently and developed methods like zikr (chanting), contemplation, singing, dancing, discussion of parables, breath control, etc., under the guidance of a master or pir
• Sufis settled in Hindustan from the eleventh century onwards, with major Sufi centers developing all over the subcontinent during the Delhi Sultanate
• The Chishti silsila was one of the most influential Sufi orders, with notable teachers like Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, Baba Farid, Khwaja Nizamuddin Auliya, and Bandanawaz Gisudaraz
• Sufi masters held assemblies in khanqahs or hospices, where people of all backgrounds sought blessings, discussed spiritual matters, and attended music and dance sessions
• Sufi masters were often attributed with miraculous powers, and their tombs or dargahs became places of pilgrimage for people of all faiths
• Baba Guru Nanak, a fifteenth-century figure, established a centre at Kartarpur and emphasized equality, worship of one God, and social commitment
• Baba Guru Nanak's teachings emphasized right worship, welfare of others, and purity of conduct, which are now remembered as nam-japna, kirt-karna, and vand-chhakna
• compiled his compositions into the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy scripture of the Sikhs
• The Sikh movement began to get politicized in the seventeenth century, leading to the institution of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699, forming the Khalsa Panth as a political entity
• Baba Guru Nanak's idea of equality had social and political implications, influencing the development of the Sikh movement with an emphasis on right belief and worship, honest living, and helping others