Harmandir Sahib, Amritsar · Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 4.0

Sikhism

Tradition·Founded 1499 CE·est. ~26 million worldwide

Sikhism → 1 branch

Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee

Branch
Overview Belief 38How to Live 10Practice 32Stories & Scripture 28Community 10 You × Sikhism Discussion
G Figure of Sikhism

Guru Gobind Singh — the last human Guru.

Founded the Khalsa with five who offered their heads, lost four sons, and closed the succession by crowning a book.

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Names & titlesGuru Gobind Singh
DomainTenth Guru — founder of the Khalsa, closer of the line
RelationsFather of four sons, all martyred; ended the human Guruship with himself
Depicted asArmed and crowned with a plume — the saint-soldier
StandingGave the community its form, its discipline, and its final Guru: the book
Understanding it — context, not catechism: how this passage is held

Guru Gobind Singh did three things that fixed Sikhism's permanent shape: he founded the Khalsa in 1699 with its uniform and code, he ended the human Guruship by vesting authority in the scripture and the community, and he wrote to the emperor Aurangzeb — whose forces killed all four of his sons — a letter of moral reproach rather than revenge. The Zafarnama sets the condition Sikhs still cite on the use of force: only when every other means has failed. He was assassinated in 1708, having deliberately left no successor to fight over.

From the sources — the passages this rests on; concise renderings, cited

When all other means have failed, it is righteous to draw the sword.

Zafarnama of Guru Gobind Singh (rendered)

The letter to Aurangzeb — the saint-soldier's ethics of last resort.

The same ground, other faiths

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← Sheikh Farid and Bhagat Namdev — the Sufi and the calico-printer.the previous passage in Sikhism Bhai Mardana — the Muslim who carried the tune. →the next passage in Sikhism Sikhism's Belief roomback up one layer Propose a change to this passageone button — it routes to the review pool

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