Imam-e-Rabbani
Shaykh Ahmad al-Farooqi Sirhindi
Hazrat Mujaddid Alif Saani(rah)
Shaykh
Ahmad al-Farooqi Sirhindi son of Makhdoom Sheikh Abdul
Ahad, scholar as well an activist of the Farouqi Chistia
Order, decedent of Umar Farouqi, Second Caliph, with
twenty eight links in the chain, was born on the day
of 'Ashura, the 10th of Muharram in the year 971 H.,
in the village of Sirhind near the city of Lahore in
present-day India. Sirhindi's shrine is located in Sirhind,
India and is referred to as "Rauza Sharif"..
It is said that the territory of Sirhind was a dense
forest abound with lions so named as Sher-e-Hind which
when mutilated became Sirhind.
He
received his knowledge and education through his father
and through many shaikhs in his time. He made progress
in three tariqats: Suhrawardiyya, Qadiriyya, and Chistiyya.
He was given permission to train followers in all three
tariqats at the age of 17 years. He was busy in spreading
the teachings of these tariqats and in guiding his followers,
yet he felt that something was missing in himself and
he was continuously searching for it. He felt an interest
in the Naqshbandi Sufi Order, because he could see by
means of the secrets of the other three tariqats that
it was the best and highest. His spiritual progress
eventually brought him to the presence of the Ghawth
and Qutb of his time, ash-Shaikh Muhammad al-Baqi, who
had been sent from Samarqand to India by the order of
his shaikh, Muhammad al-Amkanaki. He took the Naqshbandi
Order from the shaikh and stayed with him for two months
and some days, until Sayyidina Muhammad al-Baqi opened
to his heart the secret of this tariqat and gave him
authorization to train his murids in the Order.
With the intention of proceeding on the Haj pilgrimage,
he set out from Sirhind to Delhi and stayed with Maulana
Hasan Kashmiri and from him heard of the virtues of
Khawaja Baqi Billah. This aroused in him an intense
wish to see him. When he saw, he was delighted, gave
up the idea of the pilgrimage and engaged in spiritual
training under the guidance of Khawaja Baqi Billah for
three months. Hazrat Khawaja Baqi - Billah was so much
impressed with the spiritual powers of the Mujaddid
that he also awarded him the robe of his heir.
On his return from Delhi to Sirhind he drew a detailed
and extensive programme for the moral and spiritual
awakening of the people along with introduced teaching
and sermonizing. Not much time had elapsed that he was
again called to Delhi and received two letters one after
the other at short intervals. He went there. Hazrat
Khawaja made him guardian of his children. This was
their last meeting. After this the Mujaddid returned
to Sirhind. Hazrat Baqi-Billah passed away in the meantime.
The Mujaddid was in Lahore. When news reached him, he
set out to Delhi immediately, paid homage to him at
his grave and stayed for a short period of time.
During the reign of Akbar, in the tenth century Hijri,
Islam was passing through a lean period; was under seige
of blasphemy, atheism, and irreligious. Akbar was providing
state patronage to Deen-e-Ilahi and was practicing un-Islamic
rites. Fire, trees, and water were worshipped. At this
juncture. Islam needed a fearless believer to defend
it against the onslaught. He did not permit the opportunist
scholars and the misguided emperor to garner strength
and kept the torch of truth burning in such trying times.
Sirhindi's World view
Sirhindi's worldview focused on the idea that ontologically,
the prophethood is far greater than closeness with Allah.
He believed that Sufi ideas which centered around spiritual
growth beyond the material world, while exhibiting key
concepts, fell short of encompassing Islam as a whole.
Sirhindi, still accepting and using these ideas of walayat,
or closeness with Allah, focused on a much more human
understanding and reality by focusing on following the
sunnah of Muhammad (SAWS) and his companions. His influence
went so far as implementing jurisprudence in the Islamic
world by emphasizing the Shariah and fiqh, integrating
both into Indian Muslim government and society. This
was accomplished through his 536 letters collectively
entitled Collected Letters or Maktubat, to the Mughal
rulers conveying his ideas.
Sayings
Abu Dawud related an authentic hadith that the Prophet,
upon whom be Allah peace and blessings, said, 'Allah
will send at the beginning of every century someone
by whom the religion will be revived,' but there is
a difference between the Reviver of the Century and
the Reviver of the Millennium. It is like the difference
between one hundred and one thousand." In a vision,
the Prophet gave me good tidings: 'You are going to
be a spiritual inheritor and Allah is going to give
you the authority to intercede on behalf of hundreds
of thousands on the Day of Judgment.' He bestowed on
me with his holy hand the authority to guide people,
and he said to me, 'Never before have I given that authority
to guide people.' Allah unveiled to me the Secrets of
the Unique Oneness and He poured into my heart all kinds
of Spiritual Knowledge and its refinement. He unveiled
to me the Secrets of the ayats of Qur'an so that I found
beneath every letter of the Qur'an an ocean of knowledge
all pointing to the High Essence of Allah Almighty and
Exalted. If I were to reveal one word of the meaning
of it they would cut off my head, as they did to Hallaj
and to Ibn 'Arabi. This is the meaning of the hadith
of the Prophet , in Bukhari, narrated by Abu Huraira
(r), "The Prophet poured into my heart two kinds
of knowledge, one of which I have revealed and another
which if I were to reveal they would cut my throat.
Works
His works are his letters written to many of his contemporaries
known as Maktubaat.
"Moving to Allah is a vertical movement from the
lower stations to the higher stations; until the movement
surpasses time and space and all the states dissolve
into what is called the Necessary Knowledge (cilm ul-wajib)
of Allah. This is also called Annihilation (fana').
"Moving in Allah is the stage in which the seeker
moves from the station of Names and Attributes to a
state which neither word nor sign can describe. This
is the State of Existence in Allah called Baqa.
"Moving from Allah is the stage in which the seeker
returns from the heavenly world to the world of cause
and effect, descending from the highest station of knowledge
to the lowest. Here he forgets Allah by Allah, and he
knows Allah with Allah, and he returns from Allah to
Allah. This is called the State of the Farthest and
the Nearest.
"Moving in things is a movement within creation.
This involves knowing intimately all elements and states
in this world after having vanished in Annihilation.
Here the seeker can achieve the State of Guidance, which
is the state of the prophets and the people following
the footsteps of the Prophet . It brings the Divine
Knowledge into the world of creation in order to establish
Guidance.
Hazrat Mujaddid Alif Sa'ani was a great writer but his
letter proved more popular than his books. These letters
translated in Urdu, not only express his opinion on
various issues but are also fine pieces of language
and style. Besides them following are some of the titles
of his books:
Mobada-o-Ma'ad.
Ma'arife-ladqiya.
Makashifaat-e-ghebia.
Sharah Rubaeyat-e-Hazrat Khawaja Baqi-Billah.
Risala-Telilia.
Risala Isbat-ul-Nabuwwat.
Risala Basilsila-e-Aha'dis.
One day a man told him that his relative was grievously
ill and requested to pray for him. He hesitated a little
and said it was not proper to pray for health to the
deceased. Hearing this he went out crying and when he
reached his village he found his relative dead and the
people were crying.
He died on 9 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1079 Hijri.
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