Ahmad Sirhindi

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Ahmad Sirhindi : biography

– 1624

Works

Most famous of his works are a collection of 536 letters, collectively entitled Collected Letters or Maktubat, to the Mughal rulers and other contemporaries. It consists of three volumes. An elaborate printing of the book was accomplished in 1973 in Nazimabad, Karachi, Pakistan. It was reproduced by offset process in Istanbul, Turkey. A copy of the Persian version exists in the library of the Columbia University. Maktubat was rendered into the Arabic language by Muhammad Murad Qazanî, and the Arabic version was printed in two volumes in the printhouse called Miriyya and located in the city of Makkah. A copy of the Arabic version occupies number 53 in the municipality library in Bayezid, Istanbul. It was reproduced by offset process in 1963, in Istanbul. A number of the books written by Ahmad Sirhindi were reprinted in Karachi. Of those books, Ithbât-un-nubuwwa was reproduced by offset process in Istanbul in 1974. The marginal notes on the book, which is in Arabic, provide a biography of Ahmad Sirhindi. These Collected Letters has been translated into Bangla by Hazrat Shah Mohammad Muti Ahamed Aftabi Dinajpuri(R.)

Selections from the Maktubat of Ahmad Sirhindi

Early life and education

Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi was born after midnight, on 14 Shawwal 971 H. in the village of Sirhind. From an ashraf family claiming descent from caliph Umar, he received most of his early education from his father, Shaykh ‘Abd al-Ahad and memorised the Qur’an. He was then sent to Sialkot, in modern Pakistan, where he learned logic, philosophy and theology and read some advanced texts of tafsīr and hadīth before he returned home.Sufism and Shari’ah: A study of Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi’s effort to reform Sufism, Muhammad Abdul Haq Ansari, The Islamic Foundation, 1997, p. 11. Sirhindi also made rapid progress in the Suhrawardī, the Qadirī, and the Chistī turūq, and was given permission to initiate and train followers at the age of 17. He eventually joined the Naqshbandī order through the Sufi missionary Shaykh Muhammad al-Baqī, and became a leading master of this order. His deputies traversed the length and breadth of the Mughal Empire in order to popularize the order and eventually won some favour with the Mughal court.Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia, Routledge, 2006, p. 755.

Sirhindi’s world view

According to Yohanan Friedmann and J.G.J. ter Haar, Sirhindi should be regarded as a synthesizer who brought Sufi practices, including those regarded as antinomian, and the Islamic juristic traditions into a single system supported by rational argument, scripture, and mystical experience.

Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi’s teaching emphasized the inter-dependence of both the Sufi path and Shariah, stating that "what is outside the path shown by the prophet (Sharia) is forbidden." Arthur Buehler explains that Sirhindi’s concept of sharia is a multivalent and inclusive term encompassing outward acts of worship, faith, and the sufi path. Sirhindi emphasizes Sufi initiation and practices as a necessary part of sharia, and criticizes jurists who follow only the outward aspects of the sharia. In his criticism of the superficial jurists, he states: “For a worm hidden under a rock, the sky is the bottom of the rock.” (Arthur Buehler. Revealed Grace. Fons Vitae, 2014, p. 97)

Yohanan Friedmann has argued against communalist interpretations of Sirhindi’s thought specifically in South Asian nationalist historiography, pointing out that there is no evidence that Sirhindi or his disciples spread "anti-Hindu sentiments wherever they went." , McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1971, p.110

Importance of Sharia v. Sufism

According to Simon Digby, "modern hagiographical literature emphasizes [Sirhindi’s] reiterated profession of strict Islamic orthodoxy, his exaltation of the sharia and exhortations towards its observance." Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 38, No. 1 (1975), pp. 177-179 On the other hand, Yohanan Friedmann questions how committed Sirhindi was to sharia, commenting: "it is noteworthy that while Sirhindi never wearies of describing the minutest details of Sufi experience, his exhortations to comply with the shariah remain general to an extreme." , McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1971, p.42 Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 38, No. 1 (1975), pp. 177-179 Friedmann also claims "Sirhindi was primarily a Sufi interested first and foremost in questions of mysticism."Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi: an outline of his thought and a study of his image in the eyes of posterity], McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1971, p.xiv Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 38, No. 1 (1975), pp. 177-179

Oneness of being (wahdat al-wujūd)

Sirhindi strongly opposed the mystical doctrine known as wahdat al-wujūd (‘unity of being’) or tawhīd-i wujūdi, a concept which emphasizes that in reality all things exist within God. Nonetheless, he did not hold a particularly unfavorable view of the sufi mystic and theoretician Muhyī ‘l-Dīn ibn Arabī, who is often presented as the originator and most complete propounder of this philosophy. Sirhindi writes:

I wonder that Shaykh Muhyī ‘l-Dīn appears in vision to be one of those with whom God is pleased, while most of his ideas which differ from the doctrines of the People of truth appear to be wrong and mistaken. It seems that since they are due to error in kashf, he has been forgiven… I consider him as one of those with whom God is well-pleased; on the other hand, I believe that all his ideas in which he opposes (the people of truth) are wrong and harmful.Sufism and Shari’ah: A study of Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi’s effort to reform Sufism, Muhammad Abdul Haq Ansari, The Islamic Foundation, 1997, p.247

In refuting the monistic position of wahdat al-wujūd, he instead advanced the notion of wahdat ash-shuhūd (oneness of appearance). According to this doctrine, the experience of unity between God and creation is purely subjective and occurs only in the mind of the Sufi who has reached the state of fana’ fi Allah (to forget about everything except Almighty Allah).Encyclopaedia Britannica: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/10170/Shaykh-Ahmad-Sirhindi