Walking with Nanak: Travels in his Footsteps Paperback – November 19, 2016

This book a perilous mix of history, fiction and travelogue. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it; so much so that I bought three copies for different family members to read. Mr. Khalid is a very talented writer who keeps your interest from the very first word until the last. It’s quite a fascinating undertaking, for someone to grow up in a Muslim family (presumably) and in a Muslim country but to take an interest in, and write about, a saint who is of a different religion and who has been shunned across the border to India.What fascinated and interested me the most were the travelogues. Perhaps this is because he travelled extensively with a close friend of mine, Iqbal Qaiser or perhaps because this is the part of the book that can be verified as fact. Having been to many of these Gurdwaras and places mentioned in the book with Iqbal Qaiser, I was able to picture myself with the both of them on their journey. Even when he talks about Guru Nanak he paints a nice picture but for Sikh readers, they may not take too kindly to his interpretation of Guru Nanak and treating him as a mere mortal. Without going into details, I should warn the orthodox Sikh, that they may not agree with everything that has been written about Guru Nanak, as a man, not as a saint.Mr. Khalid brings up very interesting observations and questions. Many of which the current generation of young Sikhs must think of, but not have the courage to ask. That being said, I wish Mr. Khalid had read a few different books on Sikhism first. He uses footnotes, where appropriate, but he mainly referenced Surjit Gandhi, P.S. Grewal and Trilochan Singh who do not seem to have a coherent understanding of Sikhism or Gurbani (the Guru’s message) themselves. For example, Mr. Khalid quotes Singh when he says the first nine Gurus initiated early Sikhs by having them drink water that had been used to wash the Guru’s feet (charan kamal). Any Sikh, with even a cursory understanding of Gurbani, understands that “charan kamal” in Gurbani is a metaphor for the Guru’s teachings. To metaphorically drink the water which was used to wash the Guru’s feet means, to wholly embrace and accept the Gurus’ teachings.I understand that Mr. Khalid mentioned future Gurus to, in his opinion, show how Sikhism evolved from Guru Nanak’s teachings. For example, when discussing future Gurus, he seems to think that the later Gurus built sarovars (ponds) as places of pilgrimage and washing away their sins. One may surly think this to be the case when one sees the way current misguided Sikhs superstitiously bathe in these tanks but these sarovars served a very practical purpose; when pilgrims travelled days or weeks to see the Guru, they needed a place to bathe. This was the only reason for sarovars. The Gurus would not build sarovars as places of pilgrimages to “wash away ones’ sins” because the Gurus have explicitly told us “When the mind is filthy, everything is filthy; by washing the body, the mind is not cleansed” (Guru Amar Das, page 558).He also seems to hold and dwell on the opinion that the Muslim Mughal rulers were against the Sikh Gurus for political reasons only and that was the cause of Sikh-Mughal tensions. If we only focus on the martyrdom of Guru Arjun Dev we can see Mr. Khalid failed to read the letters by Ahmed Sirhindi to the Mughal Court which encouraged the Mughals to finish off the Sikhs (the originals of these letters are in Lebanon but copies are widely available). Sirhindi claimed that he was “Mujaddid Alf saānī”, meaning the "reviver of the second millennium” or the chosen one who would come a thousand years after the Prophet Mohammad Sahib to revive Islam. Sirhindi, and the Naqshbandis, were afraid that too many Hindus and Muslims were converting to Sikhism; if people were converting to Sikhism, how could he claim to be Mujaddid Alf saānī? Mr. Khalid could have also studied how the followers of Sakhi Sarwar were afraid of Sikhism’s growing popularity and were therefore also against Guru Arjun Dev. For these reasons, his book would have been better served by sticking with Guru Nanak only.Overall, this book was a great read. You will surely enjoy this book if you remember that it is written by a lay person who is not a scholar of Sikhism but by someone who wants to know him. So read it with a grain of salt. By the end of the book, I feel that Mr. Khalid found Nanak after “walking with him”.

In this book, Khalid tries to strip down the janamsakhis and present a more likely account on what occurred during Guru Nanak's travels. While the author's religion shouldn't matter, it is important to note that the author is a Pakistani Punjabi Muslim, and hence this can be seen as a bit different "outsider" perspective than the many books written about Guru Nanak already. I highly enjoyed it as I was looking for a book that covered Guru Nanak written in a more academic and less dogmatic and fanciful ('miracle filled') stories. This will appeal to all religions whether one is sikh,ulsim, hindu, buddhist, or christian. Khalid covers some of the regions policitics and ties it to the current day policies in this politically and religious tied region.

An interesting book that tries to retrace the Guru's journey while describing visits to the gurudwaras marking his visits in modern-day Pakistan. Worth a read.

Absolutely loved reading the book . Extremely thankful to Haroon Khalid for providing such valuable information in such a beautiful way about Guru nanak dev ji !!

Enjoyed the mixture of religion, history, architecture, and travel narrated in an easy to read format against a setting of current political condition. Highly recommended.With the opening or Kartarpur corridor and Guru Nanak's upcoming 550th birth anniversary next year, this book has made me even more keen to make a trip to Pakistan in 2019.

Beautiful description of the places, arousing the desire to travel to all those places. Definitely understand the turmoil of the author. Amazing book. Thank you HK.

I learned so many new things reading this book. Thank you for your research and compilation in such thorough detail.

Excellent book . It makes you feel Walking With Nanak 👏👏It brought tears to my eyes at so many places