Baba Ratan Hindi

Baba Ratan Hindi (; ), or Baba Rattan al-Hindi ("Baba Rattan the Indian"), is purported to have been a non-Arab companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad from India. No authentic historical reference about Baba Ratan is available, whatever is known about him is based on the prevalent oral traditions.

Description

Baba was born in Punjab. He was a trader who used to take goods from India to Arabia. According to local traditions, he was a companion of Muhammad and was blessed to live over 700 years. As per Maulana Manazir Ahsan Gilani, the first reference to Baba Ratan dates back to the 12th century. Around that time, there were stories circulating of an Indian sahaba of Muhammad still being alive and that various Muslim scholars and traders from Central Asia and Western Asia, even Andalusia in the Iberian peninsula, travelled to Bathinda to meet with Baba Rattan in-order to hear his accounts on Muhammad and compile hadith based upon them. According to mediaeval Muslim scholar Allama Shamsuddin Zahbi, Baba Rattan was a fraud. However, another scholar named Allama Safdi thought Baba Rattan's claims were authentic.

There are several narratives around him, some ascribing him as a disciple of Gorakhnath. Others associate him with Muhammad, who foretold his birth at Mecca in Arabia where he travelled during Hajj, before finally settling in Bathinda in Punjab after his reported conversion to Islam.

In all the various versions of traditions accounting Baba Rattan's life, he is credited with living a long life of 700 years. The name given for Baba Rattan's father varies depending on the tradition, with some variations being Nusr, Sahu, or Janak. Most Muslim accounts of his life claim he travelled to Arabia to become the disciple of Muhammad.

Narrative versions

Hafiz Ibn Hajar

According to the 16th century Asab by Hafiz Ibn Hajar, Baba Rattan's grandfather was a Vaishya Hindu from Bathinda named Janak Dev Sarraf. This details present in this work differs from most Muslim accounts. Some of the accounts of Baba Rattan that Hafiz Ibn Hajar mentions are as follows:

According to the 12th century Abu Marwan Andalusi, who learnt about Baba Rattan whilst travelling to Basra in Iraq and supposedly going afterwards to Bathinda to meet Baba Rattan at his monastery, Baba Rattan was an elderly man with white-hair who spoke an unintelligible language. Baba Rattan's words were translated for the traveller, with it consisting of a claim that Baba Rattan had been in Medina during the Battle of the Trench, claiming to be 14-years-old at the time. Baba Rattan claimed that he helped dig the trenches and when Muhammad saw him doing-so, who blessed him to live a long life.
Sayyed 'Ali bin Muhammad from Khorasan also supposedly visited Baba Rattan and was told that Rattan had played with Muhammad while the prophet was still a child. Baba Rattan claimed to have heard about the arrival of the "seal of the prophets" after the birth of Muhammad, therefore he travelled to Arabia to meet him. When Rattan arrived in Mecca, there was a storm and he saw a child with camels on the outskirts, who ended up being Muhammad. The young Muhammad got into trouble when the boy was separated from one of the camels due to flooding, and Baba Rattan apparently coming to the rescue by grabbing and holding the boy above the water to get to the astray camel. In-response, the boy blessed Rattan with a long-life. Rattan, without knowing that the boy was Muhammad, continued onward to Mecca but when he could not locate the prophet (who was still a young boy), he returned to Bathinda. However, 30 years later Rattan heard about Muhammad's activities in Medina, he went to Arabia again, where Muhammad recognized him as being the man who helped him with his camel years earlier. Then, Rattan converted to Islam and stayed with Muhammad for 12 days before returning to Bathinda.
Hussain bin Muhammad was another mediaeval Muslim scholar who apparently visited Baba Rattan. His recorded account is as follows: After arriving in Bathinda in his youth, Hussain noticed a crowd gathered around an old and twisted tree, with a small box in its branches apparently being the home of Baba Rattan. After greeting Rattan, Rattan revealed that as a young boy, he accompanied his father on trading mission to Arabia, and during one of these trips, he helped a boyhood Muhammad with his camels. After returning to India and being some years later, Rattan claimed to have witnessed the moon being split into two and the two halves falling to the east and west respectively, leaving a totally dark sky, but adjoining again some time later, with Rattan interpreting this as a miracle.

Nath

According to Nath accounts, Baba Rattan spread the Nath tradition in the west. Baba Rattan performed miracles in Kabul, which impressed a local ruler, thus he was bestowed with a land-grant to construct a temple and establishing a dhuna (sacred-fire) within it. According to the Nath version, Baba Rattan helped Muhammad of Ghor against Prithviraj Chauhan.

Visakha Singh

Visakha Singh in Malwa ItihÃÂs names Baba Rattan as "Rattan Mal", describing him as a Muslim Siddha, claiming he betrayed the ruler of Bhatinda, Vena Pal, allowing the Islamic conquest of the settlement and the end of the native dynasty.

Shrines and veneration

Reverence of Baba Rattan began in the Mughal-era or perhaps earlier to the period of the Delhi Sultanate. There is a dargah named after him, the Haji Ratan Dargah, in Bathinda, India. People who migrated to Pakistan during the partition of India in 1947 still venerate him. Whilst Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs all claim Baba Rattan as their own, there is no doubt on his connection to Sufism.

Notes

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