Chola of Baba Nanak

The Chola (cloak) of Baba Nanak (RH), is the holiest relic of Baba Nanak (RH) and is carefully preserved in Dera Baba Nanak, a small village in Gurdaspur District of the Punjab, India. It is significant because it is the cloak which Baba Nanak (RH) wore very often in his lifetime. It is so sacred that Baba Nanak’s immediate followers took every care to keep it safe, and even today, special care is given to keep the cloak safe. The regard and reverence given to the Chola by the Sikh community is a testimony to the authenticity of the cloak.

In 1895, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (AS) himself visited Dera Baba Nanak and drew a sketch of the Chola, after a delegation of his companions had already gone earlier and confirmed that the Chola was preserved there.

Allegation

Some Sikhs today claim that the Chola has verses from different scriptures in different languages to show Baba Nanak’s respect for all religions. But this is not true in the slightest. As one can see from the Sketch of Chola above, the writings on the cloak are only from the Holy Qur’an.

Challenge of Promised Messiah (AS)

As many knowledgeable Sikhs were hiding the true identity and contents of the Chola at the time, after Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (AS) personally saw it and noted that the only inscriptions on the Chola were purely Islamic, like the Shahadah and verses from the Qur’an, he became fully convinced that Baba Nanak (RH) was indeed a follower of Islam. Subsequently, he issued a bold challenge to all Sikhs in his book Satt-Bachan:

The cloak (Chola) still exists; anyone who wishes may go and see it. And we are prepared to offer a cash reward of three (3000) thousand rupees if anywhere in the cloak there is even the slightest mention of the Vedas or its verse, or any praise of any religion other than Islam, or any verses from any scripture other than the Holy Qur’an…

[Satt-Bachan, Rohani Khizain, Volume 10, page 156]

Conclusion

Over a hundred years have passed, yet no Sikh has ever dared to come forward to meet this challenge. For those willing to reflect, this serves as a striking sign of the truthfulness of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (AS) and the clear Islamic identity of Baba Nanak (RH).

Some Sikhs may further argue that the Chola was just a gift to Baba Nanak. But if it really was only a gift, then why did Baba Nanak wear it so often himself? And why has it been kept as such a sacred relic by Sikhs ever since? For those willing to reflect, the importance of the Chola to Baba Nanak (RH) clearly shows that he followed Islam and that his faith was deeply connected to the message of the Qur’an.

It is itself a miracle that the Chola was preserved for many centuries after Baba Nanak’s passing, and that too by people who did not believe in Allah and his Messenger, Muhammad (SAW). Reflecting on this can make it clear to a person that it was solely by divine decree that the Chola survived, so that when the Promised Messiah (AS) appeared, he could reveal the true faith of this revered saint and prove to the world that it was solely through the beautiful religion of Islam from which this noble Saint received all his blessings.

May Allah open the hearts of our Sikh brothers and sisters to recognize the faith that Baba Nanak RH himself embraced – and guide them towards the True Islam.

One reason Hazrat Ahmad (AS) penned Sut-Bachan (The True Word) was to demonstrate that Baba Nanak was a Muslim through his words and actions. This was also a prophecy of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (AS), that Allah had shown him in a dream that Guru Nanak was a Muslim. This claim is corroborated, as Baba Nanak is recorded to have told Muslims of various spiritual stages to send Darud upon Holy Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, which is recorded in the Siri Guru Granth Sahib. Durood, a well-known Islamic Persian/Urdu term for Salawat, refers to the Islamic practice of invoking peace and blessings upon the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. The reference is shown below.

GURU NANAK RH (d. 946H)

“ਬਾਬਾ ਅਲਹੁ ਅਗਮ ਅਪਾਰੁ ॥ (53-10, ਸਿਰੀਰਾਗੁ, ਮ: 1)
baabaa alhu agam apaar.
O Baba, the Lord Allah is Inaccessible and Infinite.

ਪਾਕੀ ਨਾਈ ਪਾਕ ਥਾਇ ਸਚਾ ਪਰਵਦਿਗਾਰੁ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥ (53-10, ਸਿਰੀਰਾਗੁ, ਮ: 1)
paakee naa-ee paak thaa-ay sachaa paravdigaar. ||1|| rahaa-o.

Sacred is His Name, and Sacred is His Place. He is the True Cherisher. ||1||Pause||

ਤੇਰਾ ਹੁਕਮੁ ਨ ਜਾਪੀ ਕੇਤੜਾ ਲਿਖਿ ਨ ਜਾਣੈ ਕੋਇ ॥ (53-10 ਸਿਰੀਰਾਗੁ, ਮਃ 1)
tayraa hukam na jaapee kayt-rhaa likh na jaanai ko-ay.

The extent of Your Command cannot be seen; no one knows how to write it.

ਜੇ ਸਉ ਸਾਇਰ ਮੇਲੀਅਹਿ ਤਿਲੁ ਨ ਪੁਜਾਵਹਿ ਰੋਇ ॥ (53-11 ਸਿਰੀਰਾਗੁ, ਮਃ 1)
jay sa-o saa-ir maylee-ah til na pujaaveh ro-ay.

Even if a hundred poets met together, they could not describe even a tiny bit of it.

ਕੀਮਤਿ ਕਿਨੈ ਨ ਪਾਈਆ ਸਭਿ ਸੁਣਿ ਸੁਣਿ ਆਖਹਿ ਸੋਇ ॥੨॥ (53-11, ਸਿਰੀਰਾਗੁ, ਮ: 1)
keemat kinai na paa-ee-aa sabh sun sun aakhahi so-ay. ||2||

No one has found Your Value; they all merely write what they have heard again and again. ||2||

ਪੀਰ ਪੈਕਾਮਰ ਸਾਲਕ ਸਾਦਕ ਸੁਹਦੇ ਅਉਰੁ ਸਹੀਦ ॥ (53-12 ਸਿਰੀਰਾਗੁ, ਮ: 1)
peer paikaamar saalak saadak suhday a-or saheed.

The Pirs, the Prophets, the spiritual teachers, the faithful, the innocents and the martyrs,

ਸੇਖ ਮਸਾਇਕ ਕਾਜੀ ਮੁਲਾ ਦਰਿ ਦਰਵੇਸ ਰਸੀਦ ॥ (53-12 ਸਿਰੀਰਾਗੁ, ਮਃ 1)
saykh masaa-ik kaajee mulaa dar darvays raseed.
the Shaikhs, the mystics, the Qazis, the Mullahs and the Dervishes at His Door

ਬਰਕਤਿ ਤਿਨ ਕਉ ਅਗਲੀ ਪੜਦੇ ਰਹਨਿ ਦਰੂਦ ॥੩॥ (53-13, ਸਿਰੀਰਾਗੁ, ਮ: 1)
barkat tin ka-o aglee parh-day rahan darood. ||3||
-they are blessed all the more as they continue reading their prayers in praise to Him. ||3||”

[PDF: Sentence by Sentence English Translation & Transliteration of Siri Guru Granth Sahib, pp. 250-251]

The English translation is evidently wrong, hiding the truth. In many other instances, this same translator translates ‘Kitab Quran’ as ‘Bible and Quran’. An example can be seen below.

“ਪੰਜ ਵਖਤ ਨਿਵਾਜ ਗੁਜਾਰਹਿ ਪੜਹਿ ਕਤੇਬ ਕੁਰਾਣਾ ॥ (24-11, ਸਿਰੀਰਾਗੁ, ਮਃ 1)
panj vakhat nivaaj gujaareh parheh katayb kuraanaa.
You may chant your prayers five times each day; you may read the Bible and the Koran”

[PDF: Sentence by Sentence English Translation & Transliteration of Siri Guru Granth Sahib, pg. 115]

An abridged form of this article was tweeted here.