What do you think about maharaja Ranjit Singh ji ?

[Michin Khel]

Asad71 you are like bengali tiger , trying very hard to connect bengal and pathans.
Kabul and FATA were never conquered by ranjeet and other sikhs. syed ahmad bareilvi was from rohailkhand, a yousafzai state in india. If you read his book, he also claim to be a yousafzai. His movement was never established in bengal, he never went in that direction. He served as a soldier in yousafzai state of tonk in rajputana and from there he went to afghan lands.
The aim of his jihad was to expel british from india and establish islamic rule on india. He wanted tonk to be base of his jihad but nawab of tonk refused to help him against british. He then decided to go along with his followers to pakhtunkhwa as it was the only free muslim land at that time and was perfect for initiating his jihad against farangis.
But in the mean while muslim majority punjab came under occupation of sikhs so he decided to free punjab first. He declared jihad against sikhs, ranjeet who previously had no intention of crossing indus, had to counter jihad of syed ahmad. In two wars sikhs got defeated with the help of afghans. But after that syed ahmad declared himself amir ul momineen, demanded wives for him and his indian followers from yousafzais. Yousafzais took this as an insult and turned against so called amir ul momineen.

[Wahe Guru]

Asad71 you are like bengali tiger , trying very hard to connect bengal and pathans.
Kabul and FATA were never conquered by ranjeet and other sikhs. syed ahmad bareilvi was from rohailkhand, a yousafzai state in india. If you read his book, he also claim to be a yousafzai. His movement was never established in bengal, he never went in that direction. He served as a soldier in yousafzai state of tonk in rajputana and from there he went to afghan lands.
The aim of his jihad was to expel british from india and establish islamic rule on india. He wanted tonk to be base of his jihad but nawab of tonk refused to help him against british. He then decided to go along with his followers to pakhtunkhwa as it was the only free muslim land at that time and was perfect for initiating his jihad against farangis.
But in the mean while muslim majority punjab came under occupation of sikhs so he decided to free punjab first. He declared jihad against sikhs, ranjeet who previously had no intention of crossing indus, had to counter jihad of syed ahmad. In two wars sikhs got defeated with the help of afghans. But after that syed ahmad declared himself amir ul momineen, demanded wives for him and his indian followers from yousafzais. Yousafzais took this as an insult and turned against so called amir ul momineen.

"..But in the mean while muslim majority punjab came under occupation of sikhs so he decided to free punjab first. He declared jihad against sikhs..."

At that time Punjab as a whole was barely majority Muslim but Sikhs were small in number with Muslims and Hindus being majority BUT they were all Punjabis.

For any land to be "free" does it have to be ruled by a Muslim or Muslims? Did not Sikhs have a right to expel Afghan rulers from Punjab just like Afghans had (and have today) a right to expel outside rulers or invaders of their land?

Ranjit did not conquer Kabul but he did conquer some areas from Afghan rulers
which today are part of KP including Peshawar. He also conquered Kashmir from Afghan rule.

[Michin Khel]

"..But in the mean while muslim majority punjab came under occupation of sikhs so he decided to free punjab first. He declared jihad against sikhs..."

At that time Punjab as a whole was barely majority Muslim but Sikhs were small in number with Muslims and Hindus being majority BUT they were all Punjabis.

For any land to be "free" does it have to be ruled by a Muslim or Muslims? Did not Sikhs have a right to expel Afghan rulers from Punjab just like Afghans had (and have today) a right to expel outside rulers or invaders of their land?

Ranjit did not conquer Kabul but he did conquer some areas from Afghan rulers
which today are part of KP including Peshawar. He also conquered Kashmir from Afghan rule.

Those who are not my thoughts, those were thinkings and plans of syed ahamad shaheed...according to "him " whole hindostan should be under muslim rule. I personally myself do not agree with his wahabi jihadism, he was rejected by pashtuns of that time.
I perfectly agree with you that sikhs occupied some afghan areas along indus and took kashmir from durranis. Many pakistanis and afghans might not accept abilities of ranjeet singh just because he was enemy but in my opinion he was a clever and able military leader as well as politician. He organized sikhs into a powerful military force and if i am not wrong he also win support of many punjabi muslim clans.

[asad71]

Ranjit Singh had made Lahore his capital. It is said he had converted the famous Badshahi mosque into his royal stable - which was much resented by the weak Muslims. He also constructed a huge Gurdwara just adjacent to the mosque - as if to show the superiority of his faith.

[JattApache]

About the original question,
I am not even a Pashtana, but I have a deep seated
HATRED for Ranjit Singh.
ICK !!!
His name strikes a terrible note when I hear it.
I will never forgive him./

The Sikhs and hindus were never accused of the routine inhuman behaviour attributed to the Muslims. In fact, they made every attempt not to offend the prejudices of Muslims


just read this :

Sikh holocaust of 1746 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Durrani empire made a GENOCIDE against hindus sikhs, not renjit singh or marathis

Today, it's part of history, and i don't blame any pashtuns....

[Michin Khel]

The Sikhs and hindus were never accused of the routine inhuman behaviour attributed to the Muslims. In fact, they made every attempt not to offend the prejudices of Muslims


just read this :

Sikh holocaust of 1746 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Durrani empire made a GENOCIDE against hindus sikhs, not renjit singh or marathis

Today, it's part of history, and i don't blame any pashtuns....

Dear fake indian aka da kunar ghro, wah guru and khalsa warrior are genuine sikhs and indians, they are representatives of voices of sikhs and indians. You on the other hand should stop this drama, its not going to work. I would identify your every fake id as you are now easy to read.

[KhalsaWarrior]

Ranjit Singh had made Lahore his capital. It is said he had converted the famous Badshahi mosque into his royal stable - which was much resented by the weak Muslims. He also constructed a huge Gurdwara just adjacent to the mosque - as if to show the superiority of his faith.

No proof of that has ever been found, Asad. Why would he do so when he had Muslim soldiers in his army and ruled a Muslim dominated region of Punjab?

[JattApache]

No proof of that has ever been found, Asad. Why would he do so when he had Muslim soldiers in his army and ruled a Muslim dominated region of Punjab?

exactly, MRS never wanted to provocate a muslim dominated punjab
he never wanted to make prejudice to muslims
he respected all the religions, muslims sikhs and hindus

His empire was secular, and not Sikh-dominated or jat-dominated.

[KhalsaWarrior]

exactly, MRS never wanted to provocate a muslim dominated punjab
he never wanted to make prejudice to muslims
he respected all the religions, muslims sikhs and hindus

His empire was secular, and not Sikh-dominated or jat-dominated.

Lets be honest. Sikhs naturally dominated the top positions in his court. Most of his local governors ministers and generals were Sikhs. Having said that, there was a fair sprinkling of Hindus, Muslims and Christian European adventurers.

[asad71]

No proof of that has ever been found, Asad. Why would he do so when he had Muslim soldiers in his army and ruled a Muslim dominated region of Punjab?

1.This is not very old history. There are definitely records, by I can't quote any. This could be available in Urdu books/publications from Lahore.

2. Yes, the gurdwara is still there almost touching the mosque.

[Manzareh]

Since this thread was made i call a sikh guy at the gym "RANJEEET SINGHAAA" he gets happy and picks up the wrong weights.

[KhalsaWarrior]

1.This is not very old history. There are definitely records, by I can't quote any. This could be available in Urdu books/publications from Lahore.

2. Yes, the gurdwara is still there almost touching the mosque.

Let me tell you - if you were to look, you wouldn't find any credible references or mentions of Ranjeet Singh having converted the Badshahi mosque into a stable. Its pure misleading hearsay. The Punjabi Musalmans comprised one of his infantry battalions, his leading artillery officer was a Muslim - Mian Ghausa and so was his foreign mininster Azizuddin.

And read this, especially the para in bold -

Ranjit Singh : The Quintessential Indus Man

By Yasser Latif Hamdani

Today (29th June) is the 170th death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the Bismarck of Punjab and Pakhtunkhwa, whose great Indus state was the forerunner of Pakistan.

Narrowminded ideologues – writing in the aftermath of bitter communal bloodletting accompanying the birth of Pakistan- have not been able to fully appreciate the significance of this great statesman to the state of Pakistan. If they were to apply their minds to the history of the Punjab from late 18th to mid 19th century theywould find in support of the legal arguments employed by Jinnah a hundred years later. The great tragedy ofcourse was that Sikh leadership could not come to terms with Jinnah in 1947 even though the latter had given them a blank cheque.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh literally cobbled together a number of principalities to forge an independent state from Kashmir to NWFP consisting of Punjabis and Pakhtuns, Muslims and Hindus. This state had its own foreign relations and foreign policy. It also showed that India was never one country but a continent which was to become the basic premise upon which Muslim League was t0 build its case for Pakistan. More importantly, however, Ranjit Singh laid the foundations for the Punjabi parochialism that was to create such a huge problem for both Indian National Congress and the All India Muslim League, forcing the latter to search for a slogan that sought to tame this parochialism. It was this powerful parochialism that Jinnah referred to when he told Mountbatten that “A Punjabi is a Punjabi before he is a Muslim or Hindu ” while arguing against the partition of the province. This identity was given to the Punjabis by Ranjit Singh.

How did this one-eyed Sikh warrior manage to bring together Punjabi Musalmans, Sikhs, Hindus and Pushtun Musalmans together in this one great Sikh-dominated state remains a mystery. It is said that a calligrapher tried to sell a beautifully copy of the Quran to Ranjit Singh’s Foreign Minister Fakir Azizuddin who wouldn’t buy it. Ranjit Singh overheard the argument, took the Holy Quran, kissed it and bought it for a price in excess of what is being asked. When asked why he replied “God gave me one eye – so that I could see all religions with the same eye”. Our historians would have us believe that this man defiled the Badshahi Mosque.

Perhaps the most poignant lessons that the Pakistani state can learn from the Maharaja is the way he brought the Wahabi-led Islamist insurgency against the state in form of Syed Ahmad and Shah Abdul Aziz. These forerunners of the modern day Taliban and Al Qaeda had taken refuge in NWFP and had used the Pathan tribesmen to wage a “Jehad” against Ranjit Singh and his state which was in any event Muslim majority. Ranjit Singh and the Army of the Indus crushed this earliest insurgency of the Taliban, pushing back Afghans who had occupied Peshawar since Mahmud Ghaznavi’s time, thus establishing what was to become the permanent border of British India later and consequently Pakistan’s border. It is often said that the British and Russians failed to subdue insurgencies in the tribal area. It is suggested that the US might lose the war as well. However, Ranjit Singh proved that the Army of Indus could defeat this insurgency. Today another Army of the Indus is fighting yet another war in the same region to safeguard another Muslim majority state against a “Jehad”. Inshallah the Army of the Indus will overcome.

This is no call for Punjabi parochialism lest I be mistaken- I believe in Punjab being divided up into several provinces. My interest in Ranjit Singh is purely from a Pakistani angle. Just as we admire Tipu Sultan but do not become Mysore Nationalists, we don’t become Punjabi nationalists by admiring Ranjit Singh. This is however an attempt to honor one of the greatest sons of this soil from whom the Pakistani nation state can learn a thing or two in state-craft.

[Amir al Ghaznavi]

Let me tell you - if you were to look, you wouldn't find any credible references or mentions of Ranjeet Singh having converted the Badshahi mosque into a stable. Its pure misleading hearsay. The Punjabi Musalmans comprised one of his infantry battalions, his leading artillery officer was a Muslim - Mian Ghausa and so was his foreign mininster Azizuddin.

And read this, especially the para in bold -

Ranjit Singh : The Quintessential Indus Man

By Yasser Latif Hamdani

Today (29th June) is the 170th death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the Bismarck of Punjab and Pakhtunkhwa, whose great Indus state was the forerunner of Pakistan.

Narrowminded ideologues – writing in the aftermath of bitter communal bloodletting accompanying the birth of Pakistan- have not been able to fully appreciate the significance of this great statesman to the state of Pakistan. If they were to apply their minds to the history of the Punjab from late 18th to mid 19th century theywould find in support of the legal arguments employed by Jinnah a hundred years later. The great tragedy ofcourse was that Sikh leadership could not come to terms with Jinnah in 1947 even though the latter had given them a blank cheque.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh literally cobbled together a number of principalities to forge an independent state from Kashmir to NWFP consisting of Punjabis and Pakhtuns, Muslims and Hindus. This state had its own foreign relations and foreign policy. It also showed that India was never one country but a continent which was to become the basic premise upon which Muslim League was t0 build its case for Pakistan. More importantly, however, Ranjit Singh laid the foundations for the Punjabi parochialism that was to create such a huge problem for both Indian National Congress and the All India Muslim League, forcing the latter to search for a slogan that sought to tame this parochialism. It was this powerful parochialism that Jinnah referred to when he told Mountbatten that “A Punjabi is a Punjabi before he is a Muslim or Hindu ” while arguing against the partition of the province. This identity was given to the Punjabis by Ranjit Singh.

How did this one-eyed Sikh warrior manage to bring together Punjabi Musalmans, Sikhs, Hindus and Pushtun Musalmans together in this one great Sikh-dominated state remains a mystery. It is said that a calligrapher tried to sell a beautifully copy of the Quran to Ranjit Singh’s Foreign Minister Fakir Azizuddin who wouldn’t buy it. Ranjit Singh overheard the argument, took the Holy Quran, kissed it and bought it for a price in excess of what is being asked. When asked why he replied “God gave me one eye – so that I could see all religions with the same eye”. Our historians would have us believe that this man defiled the Badshahi Mosque.

Perhaps the most poignant lessons that the Pakistani state can learn from the Maharaja is the way he brought the Wahabi-led Islamist insurgency against the state in form of Syed Ahmad and Shah Abdul Aziz. These forerunners of the modern day Taliban and Al Qaeda had taken refuge in NWFP and had used the Pathan tribesmen to wage a “Jehad” against Ranjit Singh and his state which was in any event Muslim majority. Ranjit Singh and the Army of the Indus crushed this earliest insurgency of the Taliban, pushing back Afghans who had occupied Peshawar since Mahmud Ghaznavi’s time, thus establishing what was to become the permanent border of British India later and consequently Pakistan’s border. It is often said that the British and Russians failed to subdue insurgencies in the tribal area. It is suggested that the US might lose the war as well. However, Ranjit Singh proved that the Army of Indus could defeat this insurgency. Today another Army of the Indus is fighting yet another war in the same region to safeguard another Muslim majority state against a “Jehad”. Inshallah the Army of the Indus will overcome.

This is no call for Punjabi parochialism lest I be mistaken- I believe in Punjab being divided up into several provinces. My interest in Ranjit Singh is purely from a Pakistani angle. Just as we admire Tipu Sultan but do not become Mysore Nationalists, we don’t become Punjabi nationalists by admiring Ranjit Singh. This is however an attempt to honor one of the greatest sons of this soil from whom the Pakistani nation state can learn a thing or two in state-craft.

I hate the fact that he took Peshawar, but I cant blame him for that. Ranjt Singh was a great man. One of my favourite Sikhs along with the great Shaheed Bhagat Singh

These Pakistanis should be very supportive and appreciative of Ranjit Singh for essentially creating their borders for him. Pakistan Pashtuns especially should honour this man as they owe their identity to him

[Manzareh]

^ I dont owe my identity to any sikh or anyone.

[Amir al Ghaznavi]

^ I dont owe my identity to any sikh or anyone.

Sure you do. Youre a Pakistani. There would be no Pakistan if it wasnt for Ranjit Singh. There would be no such thing as a Pakistani Pakhtun if it wasnt for Ranjt Singh