Sikhism

Hew McLeod mailed the final proofs for this volume just before he went into the hospital and died 20 June 2009. It is fitting that the reissue of Sikhism was Hew’s last publication because that volume summarized much of his research and understanding of the Sikhs and their religion. The book has three major sections on History, Religion, and Society. Each contains valuable and highly readable information on innumerable topics. Hew also wrote an extensive introduction that explored his methodology and approach to Sikhism, as well as a glossary and appended documents that enhanced the value of the book. Except for minor corrections, this edition remains unaltered in terms of argument and presentation of facts.

The original book aroused less controversy than some of his earlier works, probably for two reasons. First, Hew already had published a monograph, collections of lectures, and documents that drew fire from a variety of scholars and activists. His revised dissertation, Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion (Clarendon Press, 1968) examined the hagiography surrounding the life of Guru Nanak. Hew specifically analysed the Janam-sakhi accounts that served as the basis for various popular biographies that incorporated anecdotes concerning Nanak’s birth, childhood, manhood, and death. Since many of those stories had come to be accepted as historical facts, especially in the work of Max Macauliffe’s monumental work, The Sikh Religion (Oxford University Press, 1909), Hew quickly came to be portrayed as a western scholar intent on undermining basic tenets of Sikhism. The negative responses grew louder with the release of three shorter works: The Evolution of the Sikh Community (1975), The Sikhs: Sikh History, Religion and Society (1989), and Who is a Sikh: The Problem of Sikh Identity (1989). Full bibliographic information on these and other important books by Hew McLeod are appended to this Foreword. Individual Sikhs and groups of like-minded Sikhs organized loosely or in institutes challenged Hew on literally hundreds of facts, interpretations, and often material taken out of context or deliberately distorted. Hew’s autobiography, Discovering the Sikhs (2004) summarizes the disputes and assesses the validity of critics’ charges.

The attacks prior to 1997 also reflected intense struggles among Sikhs over identity, control of institutions, and the militant responses to the attack on the Golden Temple and ensuing Delhi massacres in 1984. The rhetoric and sometimes angry responses to Hew’s work, and to a lesser extent, to Western academics in panels and conferences, were colored by a widespread sense of ‘Sikhism in Danger.’ ‘The ongoing atrocities in the Punjab and the demands for a separate ‘Khalistani1’ Punjab that prevailed in the decade after the brutal killings in Amritsar and Delhi created movements and alliances that affected Sikh public life in the diaspora. Although the fights over who controls gurdwaras and public discourse still continue, Sikhs have regained a sense of confidence and generally spend more time and funds on projects relating to supporting community institutions than focusing on the implications of growing academic interest in Sikhs and Sikhism throughout the world.

In fact, Hew McLeod’s lifelong interest and sympathy for Sikhism became apparent to all when he served as an expert witness supporting the centrality of the turban for Sikhs in a Royal Canadian Mounted Police hearing on that topic. ‘The decision that Sikhs could wear turbans and not traditional ROMP headgear was largely influenced by the arguments of McLeod and other specialists concerning Sikh tradition and customs. In 1999, Hew again gave extensive evidence at a Canadian Human Rights Commission hearing on the carrying of kirpans on aircrafts. Although that hearing supported the ban of kirpans by one airline, the proceedings and final report clearly showed that Hew had proven the centrality of the Aupan for Sikh identity. While accepting his arguments, the committee based its decision primarily on technical legal grounds. As the many Sikhs who knew Hew McLeod personally and in professional settings almost unanimously acclaim, despite disputes of specific interpretations, Sikhism had no better friend and well-wisher than Hew McLeod. This was particularly true in New Zealand, where Hew’s detailed research produced a book on Punjabis in the country and also stimulated further study and collection of data. Again, just before his death, a New Zealand TV program highlighted his life and contribution to Sikhs in New Zealand. Copies of that program are found in several venues including YouTube and other sites.

Sikhism is a synthesis of what Hew had learned since the 1960s. His Introduction sets out his arguments and presuppositions in clear fashion. From his perspective, that of a historian, there are three problems that should be addressed at the outset. First, the historian must evaluate sources, often untrustworthy or at least questionable in origin and intent. Second, sources must be interpreted. Third, as with all religious traditions, some material is held sacred by devout believers. In the case of the Sikhs, re-examining the historical context in which a religion grows and evolves is important. Also the scholar must reach at least tentative conclusions about major events that are seen as fact from traditional perspectives but which may require careful documentation. Hew then follows his discussion of religious belief and history with a clear statement of his basic assumptions for the book. The seventeen points are set forth in typically straightforward fashion. They range from the separate nature of Sikhism, the role of its founders and Gurus, and the importance of reformulation and strengthening of core ideas in a modern context, to observations about caste and the place of women in Sikhism.

Since the publication of Sikhism in 1997, Hew made fresh scholarly contributions to Sikh Studies on a regular basis while struggling with an illness that eventually ended his life. Some of the themes in the book were elaborated and served as the basis for three major works. In 2003 Oxford University Press published his Sikhs of the Khalsa: A History of the Khalsa Rahit. From my perspective, that tome is the most important McLeod volume except for his initial study of Guru Nanak and his subsequent autobiography. The basic arguments about how Sikh views of rahit (the Sikh code of belief and practice) evolved over time were already summarized in the first edition of this volume. What Hew accomplished six years later was to pull together a lifetime of research and translation into one magnificent volume that will continue to be invaluable for Sikhs and scholars alike. The arguments are further elaborated in a separate translation of a controversial document, the Prem Sumarag (2006).