But there are also cultural connections to Islam. The Sikh religion emerges in Punjab, which is where or near the various Muslim rulers of the time held their capitals. Whether we're talking about the Dali Sultanate, which was in power for over 250 years when Sikhism started to emerge with Guru Nanak, but also the Mughal Empire, which really developed in its early stages at the same time that Sikhism develops. So many of the followers of Sikhism were both Hindu and Muslim. A lot of the terminology of Sikhism borrows words and borrows ideas from both Islam and Hinduism. The word Allah is used to refer to God in parts of the Guru Granth Sahib, but so is the word Ram. One of the first and closest followers of Guru Nanak, who was with him most of his life, was Bhai Mardana.