Bhai Sahib Bhai Mohinder Singh Ahluwalia | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Civil Engineering |
| Occupation | Chairman |
| Years active | 1995–present |
| Known for | Interfaith work |
Bhai Sahib Bhai Mohinder Singh Ahluwalia OBE KSG (born on 31 March 1939 in Gulu, Uganda) is the chairman of the Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha UK. [1] He is listed in the top 100 most influential Sikhs in the world. [2]
Bhai Sahib has worked as chairman of the GNNSJ since 1995.
He is the first British Sikh to be awarded the official title of ‘Bhai Sahib’ by the Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee, SGPC, Amritsar (the Sikh ‘apex’ organisation representing some 26 million Sikhs globally), for his selfless service in propagating the Sikh faith, engagement in interfaith work and heritage conservation. [3]
In the 2015 New Year Honours, Bhai Sahib was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to Interfaith and community cohesion.
In 2012 Bhai Sahib made history by becoming the first Sikh in the world to be honoured with the Pontifical Order of Knighthood of St Gregory for his interfaith work. [4] [5]
In addition he has received a wide range of awards recognising his community work including:
The following outline is provides an overview of Sikhism, or Sikhi.
The Namdharis, also known as Kuka and Kukaism, are a Sikh sect that differs from mainstream Sikhs chiefly in that it believes that the lineage of Sikh Gurus did not end with Guru Gobind Singh (1666–1708), as they recognize Balak Singh (1797–1862) as the 11th Guru of the Sikh religion, thus continuing the succession of Sikh Gurus through the centuries from Guru Nanak Dev to the present day. The 12th Guru was Ram Singh (1816–1885), who moved the sects centre to Bhaini Sahib (Ludhiana) and is regarded as the first Indian to use non-cooperation and non-violence boycott in order to combat the British Empire in India.
Panj Pyare refers to a gathered ad hoc quintet of five baptized (Amritdhari) Khalsa Sikhs who act as institutionalized leaders for the wider Sikh community.
Bhai Mani Singh was an 18th-century Sikh scholar and martyr. He was a childhood companion of Guru Gobind Singh and took the vows of Sikhism when the Guru inaugurated the Khalsa in March 1699. Soon after that, the Guru sent him to Amritsar to take charge of Harmandir Sahib, which had been without a custodian since 1696. He took control and steered the course of Sikh destiny at a critical stage in Sikh history. He was also a teacher of the Gianian Bunga, later becoming known as the "Amritsari Taksal", currently located in Sato Ki Gali.
Sikh music, also known as Gurbani Sangeet , and as Gurmat Sangeet, or even as Shabad Kirtan, is the classical music style that is practised within Sikhism. It exists in institutional, popular, and folk traditions, forms, and varieties. Three types of Sikh musicians are rababis, ragis, and dhadhis. Sikh music exists in various melodic modes, musical forms, styles, musicians, and performance contexts.
Guru Nanak founded the Sikh faith in the Punjab region of the northern part of the Indian subcontinent in the end of fifteenth century. He was first of the ten Sikh Gurus. The tenth, Guru Gobind Singh, formalised its practices on 13 April 1699. He baptised five Sikh people from different parts of India, with different social backgrounds, to form the Khalsa. Those five Beloved Ones, the Pañj Piārē, then baptised him into the Khalsa fold. This gives the order of Khalsa a history of around 500 years. Historical theory and analysis suggests that Sikhism came into existence during the early Medieval period of the Bhakti movement and also after repeated invasions by Muslim rulers upon the Hindu community during Mughal rule, which lasted between especially in the region of North India.
British Sikhs number over 520,000 people and account for 0.85% of the British population as of 2021, forming the United Kingdom's fourth-largest religious group. According to the 2021 United Kingdom census, British Sikhs numbered 524,529, with 520,092 in England, 4,048 in Wales, and 389 in Northern Ireland. The largest Sikh populations in the United Kingdom are in the West Midlands and Greater London.
Gurdwara Palatine Sikh Religious Society (SRS), based in Palatine, Illinois, is a United States-based Not-for-Profit Religious Organization and a place of worship, incorporated in 1972. It manages the largest Gurdwaara Sahib of Midwest America at 1280 Winnetka Street, Palatine on a Campus spread over fourteen acres of land at a prime location in Chicago's metropolitan area. In a seven-day-a-week religious program, devotees visit the Gurdwaara Sahib to make prayers, listen to the Sikh hymns (Kirtan), and discourses on Spirituality.
English Sikhs number over 520,000 people and account for 0.92% of England's population in 2021, forming the country's fourth-largest religious group. In 2006 there were 352 gurdwaras in England. The largest Sikh populations in the U.K. are in the West Midlands and Greater London.
The Guru Nanak Interfaith Prize is a biannual, $50,000 award to "an individual or an organisation in recognition of propagating Guru Nanak’s philosophy of discovering oneness of humanity by exploring the differences that separate people". The prize is administered by Hofstra University, New York as part of its efforts in the advancement of religious study, and is supported by the Sardarni Kuljit Kaur Bindra Foundation, funded by a gift from the family of Ishar Singh Bindra.
Harjinder Singh Dilgeer He is the only author who has written Complete History of the Sikhs and has translated Guru Granth Sahib in English and has published NEW MAHAN KOSH Encyclopedia of Sikh literature, Punjab & Sikh History {3 of the 4 volumes of the NEW Mahan Kosh have been published in March 2021. He has written in detail about the concept and the history of Akal Takht Sahib, Sikh culture, Shiromani Akali Dal, history of Anandpur Sahib, and Kiratpur Sahib, Dictionary of Sikh Philosophy etc. The Sikh Reference Book is his magnum opus. 'The Sikh Reference Book' is an encyclopedia consisting of more than 2400 biographies, complete chronology of Sikh history, 400 concepts of Sikh philosophy as well more than 800 Sikh shrines. He has produced a Sikh Encyclopedia CD-ROM. His latest books are Encyclopedia of Jalandhar (English), Banda Singh Bahadur, Sikh Twareekh in five volumes, Sikh History in ten volumes ; and English translations of Nitnaym and Sukhmani Sahib.. His latest work is the English translation of Guru Granth Sahib, in seven volumes and a Sikh encyclopedia named Nawah Mahan Kosh consisting of four volumes.
Gurū Nānak, also known as Bābā Nānak, was the founder of Sikhism and is the first of the ten Sikh Gurus. His birth is celebrated as Guru Nanak Gurpurab on Katak Pooranmashi, i.e. October–November.
A Ragi is a Sikh musician who plays hymns (shabads) in different ragas as prescribed in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib.
Nanak Naam Jahaz Hai is a 1969 National Award winning Punjabi film directed by Ram Maheshwary, starring Prithviraj Kapoor, I. S. Johar, Nishi, Veena and Vimi. The film is based on a true incident which took place at Golden Temple, Amritsar. The film was awarded the 1970 National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Punjabi, and National Film Award for Best Music Direction,
Guru Arjan was the fifth of the ten total Sikh Gurus. He compiled the first official edition of the Sikh scripture called the Adi Granth, which later expanded into the Guru Granth Sahib. He is regarded as the first of the two Gurus martyred in the Sikh faith.
The Jathedar of the Akal Takht is the head of the Akal Takht and head of the Sikhs worldwide. The jathedar has the de facto power as the supreme spokesperson of the Khalsa to summon, trial and sentence any person who identifies as a Sikh from the Akal Takht.
Shaheed BhaiSangat Singh Bangesar was a Sikh warrior, general and martyr in the Battle of Chamkaur.