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{{short description|Indian Sufi philosopher}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=April 2018}}
{{Infobox religious biography| region =
|honorific_prefix = Mujaddid Al-fe Thani, Shaykh
| era = [[Mughal Empire|Mughal India]]
| image = Sirhindi1.png
| caption = Ahmad's name in [[Arabic calligraphy]]
| name = Ahmad Rabbani Faruqi Sirhindi
| native_name =
| birth_date = 26 May <ref>[http://www.worldknowledge1.com/biography/sheikh-ahmed-sirhindi.php Biography of Ahmad Sirhindi in Urdu Language] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621135552/http://www.worldknowledge1.com/biography/sheikh-ahmed-sirhindi.php |date=21 June 2018 }} Retrieved 8 June 2018</ref><ref>[http://storyofpakistan.com/mujaddid-alf-sani Biography of Ahmad Sirhindi on storyofpakistan.com website] Retrieved 5 June 2018</ref> 1564<ref name="Schimmel">{{cite book| author=Annemarie Schimmel | title=Islam in the Indian Subcontinent| isbn=9004061177}}</ref>{{rp|90}}
| birth_place = [[Sirhind]], [[Subah of Lahore|Punjab]], [[Mughal Empire]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1624|12|10|1564|05|26}}
| death_place = [[Sirhind]], [[Subah of Lahore|Punjab]], [[Mughal Empire]]
| main_interests = [[Sharia|Islamic Law]], [[Islamic philosophy]]
| influenced = [[Ala Bakhsh]]
| notable_ideas = Evolution of [[Islamic philosophy]], application of Islamic law
| religion = [[Islam]]
| denomination = [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]]
| jurisprudence = [[Hanafi]]
| creed = [[Maturidi]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://brill.com/view/journals/wdi/60/2-3/article-p293_6.xml?language=de#FN000073|title=Salafī Challenge and Māturīdī Response: Contemporary Disputes over the Legitimacy of Māturīdī kalām|publisher=Brill}}</ref>
| Sufi_order = [[Naqshbandi]]
}}

'''Ahmad al-Fārūqī al-Sirhindī''' (1564–1624) was an Indian [[Islamic scholar]], a [[Hanafi]] jurist, and a member of the [[Naqshbandi|Naqshbandī]] [[Sufi]] order. He has been described by some followers as a [[Mujaddid]], meaning a “reviver", for his work in rejuvenating Islam and opposing the newly made religion of [[Din-i Ilahi]] and other problematic opinions of [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] emperor [[Akbar]]. <ref name="Schimmel" />{{rp|92}}<ref name="Glasse, Cyril 2001, p.432">Glasse, Cyril, ''The New Encyclopedia of Islam'', Altamira Press, 2001, p.432</ref> While early South Asian scholarship credited him for contributing to conservative trends in Indian Islam, more recent works, notably by ter Haar, Friedman, and Buehler, have pointed to Sirhindi's significant contributions to Sufi epistemology and practices.<ref>Aziz Ahmad, ''Studies in Islamic Culture in the Indian Environment'', Oxford University Press, 1964. Friedmann, Yohannan. Shaikh Aḥmad Sirhindī: An Outline of His Thought and a Study of His Image in the Eyes of Posterity. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2000. Haar, J.G.J. ter. Follower and Heir of the Prophet: Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi (1564-1624) as Mystic. Leiden: Van Het Oosters Instituut, 1992. Buehler, Arthur. Revealed Grace: The Juristic Sufism of Aḥmad Sirhindi (1564-1624). Louisville, Kentucky: Fons Vitae, 2011.</ref>

Most of the [[Naqshbandi|Naqshbandī]] suborders today, such as the [[Naqshbandi|Mujaddidī]], [[Naqshbandi|sirahauzi sandilvi, Khālidī]], [[Naqshbandi|Saifī]], [[Naqshbandi|Tāhirī]], [[Qasimiya]] and [[Naqshbandi|Haqqānī]] sub-orders, trace their spiritual lineage through Sirhindi.

[[File:Tomb of Ahmad Sirhindi, Rauza Sharif Complex, Sirhind.jpg|thumb|Tomb of Mujaddid e Alfsani]]

Sirhindi's shrine, known as [[Rauza Sharif]], is located in [[Sirhind]], [[Punjab, India]].

== Early life and education ==
Ahmad Sirhindi was born on 26 May 1564 in the village of [[Sirhind]].<ref name="Schimmel"/>{{rp|90}} He received most of his early education from his father, 'Abd al-Ahad, his brother, Muhammad Sadiq and from Muhammad Tahir al-Lahuri.<ref>Itzchak Weismann, ''The Naqshbandiyya: Orthodoxy and Activism in a Worldwide Sufi Tradition'', [[Routledge]] (2007), p. 62</ref> He also [[Hafiz (Quran)|memorised the Qur'an]]. He then studied in [[Sialkot]], which had become an intellectual centre under the [[Kashmiri people|Kashmir]]-born scholar Kamaluddin Kashmiri.<ref name="Schimmel"/>{{rp|90}} <ref>S.Z.H. Jafri, ''Recording the Progress of Indian History: Symposia Papers of the Indian History Congress, 1992-2010'', Primus Books (2012), p. 156</ref> There he learned [[Logic in Islamic philosophy|logic]], [[Kalam|philosophy and theology]] and read advanced texts of [[tafsir]] and [[hadith]] under another scholar from [[Kashmiri people|Kashmir]], Yaqub Sarfi Kashmiri (1521-1595), who was a sheikh of the tariqa Hamadaniyya [[Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani]] Sufi Order. Qazi Bahlol Badakhshani taught him [[Fiqh|jurisprudence]], prophet [[seerah|Muhammad's biography]] and [[Islamic history|history]].<ref>Khwaja Jamil Ahmad, ''One Hundred greater Muslims'', Ferozsons (1984), p. 292</ref><ref>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.</ref>

Sirhindi also made rapid progress in the [[suhrawardiyya|Suhrawardī]], the [[qadiriyya|Qadirī]], and the [[chishtiyya|Chistī]] traditions, and was given permission to initiate and train followers at the age of 17. He eventually joined the [[Naqshbandi|Naqshbandī]] order through the Sufi missionary [[Khwaja Baqi Billah]], and became a leading master of this order. His deputies traversed the [[Mughal Empire]] in order to popularize the order and eventually won favour with the Mughal court.<ref>''Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia'', Routledge, 2006, p. 755.</ref>

== Views ==
{{Sufism|Sufis}}
Ahmad Sirhindi's teaching emphasized the inter-dependence of both the [[Sufi]] path and [[sharia]], stating that "what is outside the path shown by the prophet is forbidden." Arthur Buehler explains that Sirhindi's concept of shariah 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 shariah, 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."<ref>Arthur Buehler. Revealed Grace. Fons Vitae, 2014, p. 97</ref> Sirhindi also wrote a treatise under the title "''Radd-e-Rawafiz''" to justify the execution of Shia nobles by [[Abdullah Khan II|Abdullah Khan Uzbek]] in Mashhad. In this he argues:
<blockquote>"Since the Shia permit cursing Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and one of the chaste wives (of the Prophet), which in itself constitutes infedality, it is incumbent upon the Muslim ruler, nay upon all people, in compliance with the command of the Omniscient King (Allah), to kill them and to oppress them in order to elevate the true religion. It is permissible to destroy their buildings and to seize their property and belongings."<ref>Yohanan Friedmann, "'''Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi: An Outline of His Thought and a Study of His Image in the Eyes of Posterity'''", Chapter 5, Section 3, Oxford University Press (2001).</ref>
</blockquote>
He has expressed his hate towards Shias in his letters too. According to him, the worst distorters of faith "are those who bear malice against the companions of Prophet Muhammad. God has called them Kafirs in the Quran". In a letter to [[Shaikh Farid Bukhari|Sheikh Farid]], he said that showing respect to the distorters of faith ([[Bidʻah|''ahl-e-Bidʻah'']]) amounted to destruction of Islam.<ref>Syed Athar Abbas Rizvi, "'''Muslim Revivalist Movements in Northern India'''", p. 250, Agra University Press, Agra, (1965).</ref>

In his Makutbat letter 193 he is said to have stated "The execution of the accursed Kafir of Goindwal (Guru Arjan Dev Ji) at this time is a very good achievement indeed and has become the cause of a great defeat of the hateful Hindus."<ref>https://www.sikhmissionarysociety.org/sms/smspublications/guruarjandevjitheapostleofpeace/chapter3/</ref><ref>https://punjab.global.ucsb.edu/sites/default/files/sitefiles/journals/volume12/no1/3_singh.pdf page 6.</ref>

<blockquote>
Jahangir writes in his Tuzuk that he had the Guru put to death and had his property confiscated. Mujaddid-i-Alf Thani Sheikh Ahmed Sirhindi (1564-1624), as a hard-line supporter of Islamic orthodoxy and a highly influential religious revivalist, had opposed Akbar’s policy of religious tolerance. He had concerns about the spread of Sikhism in Punjab. So he cheered on the murder of the Guru, thus giving it a religious rather than political colour.
</blockquote> <ref>https://www.thefridaytimes.com/when-emperors-turned-on-gurus/</ref>
<blockquote>
His views are confirmed by the letters that he wrote
to [[Shaikh Farid Bukhari|Sheikh Farid Bukhari]] who later became known as Nawab
Murtaza Khan.</blockquote>
<ref>https://archive.org/stream/TheMartyrdomOfGuruArjanDevJi/TheMartyrdomOfGuruArjanDevJi_djvu.txt</ref>
=== Importance of Sufism in Shari’ah ===
According to Simon Digby, "modern hagiographical literature emphasizes Sirhindi's reiterated profession of strict Islamic orthodoxy, his exaltation of the [[shariah]] and exhortations towards its observance."<ref name=Digby>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/614232?seq=1 Review by Simon Digby of Yohanan Friedmann ''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] Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 38, No. 1 (1975), pp. 177-179</ref> On the other hand, Yohanan Friedmann questions how committed Sirhindi was to shariah by commenting: "it is noteworthy that while Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi never wearies of describing the minutest details of Sufi experience, his exhortations to comply with the shariah remain general to an extreme."<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/614232?seq=1 Review by Simon Digby of Yohanan Friedmann ''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.42 Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 38, No. 1 (1975), pp. 177-179</ref> Friedmann also claims "Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi was primarily a Sufi interested first and foremost in questions of mysticism.".<ref>''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</ref> Sirhindi wrote a letter to Mughal emperor [[Jehangir]] emphasizing that he is now correcting the wrong path taken by his father, emperor [[Akbar]].

=== Oneness of appearance and oneness of being ===

Ahmad Sirhindi advanced the notion of ''wahdat ash-shuhūd'' (oneness of appearance).<ref name="Schimmel" />{{rp|93}} 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 ''[[Muraqaba#Fana fillah|fana' fi Allah]]'' (to forget about everything except Almighty Allah).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica | title=Shaykh Aḥmad Sirhindī | url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Shaykh-Ahmad-Sirhindi | access-date=6 April 2018 }}</ref> Sirhindi considered ''wahdat ash-shuhūd'' to be superior to ''wahdat al-wujūd'' (oneness of being),<ref name="Schimmel" />{{rp|92}} which he understood to be a preliminary step on the way to the Absolute Truth.<ref>Annemarie Schimmel, Islam in the Indian Subcontinent, p. 94. {{ISBN|9004061177}}</ref>

Despite this, Sirhindi still used Ibn al-'Arabi's vocabulary without hesitation.<ref name="Schimmel" />{{rp|95}}

Sirhindi writes:

<blockquote>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.<ref>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</ref>
</blockquote>

On the other hand, [[William C. Chittick]], a prominent Ibn 'Arabi scholar, writes:

<blockquote>When Sirhindī explains the meaning of waḥdat al-wujūd, he demonstrates little acquaintance with the writings of Ibn ʿArabī or his major followers. By insisting that it was an inadequate expression of the nature of things and that it needed to be supplanted by waḥdat al-shuhūd, he was taking for granted that it was the teaching of Ibn ʿArabī and that wujūd was being used in the philosophical sense. He seemed not to recognize that Ibn ʿArabī used it to mean “finding” and “witnessing” as well as “being” and “existence.” So, at least partly because Sirhindī was oblivious to the meaning of wujūd as finding and perceiving, he felt it necessary to insist that seeing God in all things goes back to the viewer. The unity achieved on the path to God, he claimed, is that of shuhūd, not that of wujūd. But, for Ibn ʿArabī and many of his followers these two words meant the same thing. So Sirhindī not only ascribes a doctrine to Ibn ʿArabī that he does not profess—waḥdat al-wujūd—but he also understands wujūd in a way that is not compatible with Ibn ʿArabī’s use of the word.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Chittick |first1=William|title=Wahdat al-Wujud in India|url=https://iphras.ru/uplfile/smirnov/ishraq/3/4chitt.pdf |journal=Ishraq: Islamic Philosophy Yearbook 3|year=2012|pages=29–40 [36]}}</ref></blockquote>

=== Reality of the Quran and Ka'ba versus the reality of Muhammad ===
[[File:Imam rabani 2.jpg|thumb|300x300px|Tomb Of Ahmad Sirhindi, Sirhindi's shrine, known as [[Rauza Sharif]]]]

Sirhindi had originally declared the reality of the Quran ''(haqiqat-i quran'') and the reality of the Ka'ba (''haqiqat-i ka'ba-yi rabbani'') to be above the reality of Muhammad (''haqiqat-i Muhammadi''). This caused fury of opposition, particularly among certain Sufis and ulama of Hijaz who objected to the Ka'ba having exalted spiritual "rank" than the Prophet.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Mabda'a wa-ma'ad|last = Sirhindi|first = Ahmad|publisher = Ahmad Brothers|year = 1984|location = Karachi|pages = 78}}</ref> Sirhindi argued in response that the reality of the Prophet is superior to any creature. The real Ka'ba is worthy of prostration since it is not created and is covered with the veil of nonexistence. It is this Ka'ba in the essence of God that Sirhindi was referring to as the reality of the Ka'ba, not the appearance of the Ka'ba (''surat-i ka'ba''), which is only a stone.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Maktubat-i Imam Rabbani 3 vols. Ed.|last = Ahmad|first = Nur|publisher = Education Press|year = 1972|location = Karachi|pages = 147( letter 124)}}</ref> By the latter part of the nineteenth century, the consensus of the Naqshbandi community had placed the prophetic realities closer to God than the divine realities. The rationale for this development may have been to neutralize unnecessary discord with the large Muslim community whose emotional attachment to Muhammad was greater than any understanding of philosophical fine points.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Sufi Heirs of the Prophet: the Indian Naqshbandiyya and the rise of the mediating sufi shaykh|last = Buehler|first = Arthur|publisher = University of South Carolina Press|year = 1998|isbn = 1-57003-201-7|location = Columbia, S.C USA|pages = 246–247 (Appendix 2)}}</ref>{{further|Sufi metaphysics}}

==Sufi lineage==

=== Naqshbandi chain ===
[[Naqshbandi]] [[Sufis]] claim that Ahmad Sirhindi is descended from a long line of "spiritual masters" all the way up to [[prophet]] [[Muhammad]].<ref name=lineage>{{cite web|url=http://www.islahulmuslimeen.org/golden_chain.asp |date=August 2009 |access-date=5 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101124033432/http://islahulmuslimeen.org/golden_chain.asp |title=Family Lineage of Ahmad Sirhindi|archive-date=24 November 2010 }}</ref>
# [[Muhammad]], d. 11 AH, buried in [[Medina]], Saudi Arabia (570/571–632 CE)
# [[Abu Bakar Siddique]], d. 13 AH, buried in Medina, Saudi Arabia
# [[Salman al-Farsi]], d. 35 AH, buried in [[Al-Mada'in|Madaa'in]], [[Saudi Arabia]]
# [[Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr]], d. 107 AH, buried in Medina, Saudi Arabia.
# [[Jafar Sadiq]], d. 148 AH, buried in Medina, Saudi Arabia.
# [[Bayazid Bastami]], d. 261 AH, buried in [[Bastam|Bastaam]], [[Iran]] (804 - 874 CE).
# [[Abu al-Hassan al-Kharaqani]], d. 425 AH, buried Kharqaan, Iran.
# [[Abul Qasim Gurgani]], d. 450 AH, buried in Gurgan, Iran.
# [[Abu ali Farmadi]], d. 477 AH, buried in [[Tus, Iran|Tous]], Khorasan, Iran.
# Abu Yaqub [[Yusuf Hamdani|Yusuf Hamadani]], d. 535 AH, buried in Maru, Khorosan, Iran.
# [[Abdul Khaliq Gajadwani|Abdul Khaliq Ghujdawani]], d. 575 AH, buried in Ghajdawan, Bukhara, Uzbekistan.
# [[Arif Riwgari]], d. 616 AH, buried in Reogar, Bukhara, Uzbekistan.
# [[Mahmood Anjir-Faghnawi]], d. 715 AH, buried in [[Vobkent|Waabakni]], [[Transoxiana|Mawarannahr]], Uzbekistan.
# Azizan [[Ali Ramitani]], d. 715 AH, buried in [[Khwarezm]], Bukhara, Uzbekistan.
# [[Mohammad Baba As-Samasi]], d. 755 AH, buried in Samaas, Bukhara, Uzbekistan.
# [[Amir Kulal]], d. 772 AH, buried in Saukhaar, Bukhara, Uzbekistan.
# [[Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari]], d. 791 AH, buried in Qasr-e-Aarifan, Bukhara, Uzbekistan (1318–1389 CE).
# Ala'uddin Attar Bukhari, buried in Jafaaniyan, Mawranahar, Uzbekistan.
# Yaqub Charkhi, d. 851 AH, buried in Tajikistan
# Ubaidullah Ahrar, d. 895 AH, buried in [[Samarkand]], Uzbekistan.
# Muhammad Zahid Wakhshi, d. 936 AH, buried in Wakhsh, Malk Hasaar, [[Tajikistan]]
# Durwesh Muhammad, d. 970 AH, buried in [[Samarkand]], [[Uzbekistan]]
# Muhammad Amkanagi, d. 1008 AH, buried in Akang, [[Bukhara]], [[Uzbekistan]]
# [[Khwaja Baqi Billah]], d. 1012 AH, buried in [[Delhi]], [[India]]
# Ahmad al-Farūqī al-Sirhindī<ref name=lineage/>

'''References'''

# ʿUmdat al-Maqāmāt
# Zubdat al-Maqāmāt
# Ḥaḍrāt al-Quds, by Shaykh Badruddīn Sirhindī
# Silsiḻa Mashāikh Mohrā Sharīf
# Rauḍat al-Qayyūmiya (volume 1), by Shaykh Muhammad Iḥsān Mujaddidī

== See also ==
*[[Mujaddid]]
*[[Ali Hujwiri]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* Dr. Burhan Ahmad Faruqi, ''[https://archive.org/details/mujaddidsconcept032413mbp Mujaddid’s Conception of Tawhid]'', 1940
* Shari'at and Ulama in Ahmad Sirhindi's ''Collected Letters'' by Arthur F. Buehler.

== External links ==
* [http://en.turktakvim.com/8/Islamic_Informations/Biography_of_Hadrat_Imam_Rabbani.html?ID=79 Biography of Hadrat Imâm Rabbânî]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070216060603/http://www.naqshbandi.org/chain/25.htm Biography of Imam Rabbani Ahmad al-Faruqi as-Sirhindi] (from the [[Naqshbandi Haqqani Sufi Order|Naqshbandi-Haqqani Sufi Order]]).
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090810170341/http://www.maktabah.org/index.php/sufism/45-maktubat/62-maktubat-imam-rabbani.html Translations of Imam Rabbani's Letters in various languages]

{{Islamic theology}}
{{Islamic philosophy}}
{{Hanafi scholars}}
{{Maturidi}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sirhindi, Ahmad}}
[[Category:1564 births]]
[[Category:1624 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian Muslims]]
[[Category:Naqshbandi order]]
[[Category:Critics of atheism]]
[[Category:People from Fatehgarh Sahib]]
[[Category:Sunni Sufis]]
[[Category:Islamic philosophers]]
[[Category:Hanafi fiqh scholars]]
[[Category:Hanafis]]
[[Category:Maturidis]]
[[Category:Mujaddid]]
[[Category:Hashemite people]]
[[Category:Punjabi people]]
[[Category:Indian Sufis]]
[[Category:Muslim saints]]
[[Category:16th-century jurists]]
[[Category:17th-century jurists]]
[[Category:Critics of Ibn Arabi]]

Ahmad Sirhindi - Revision history

->GorgeCustersSabre at 10:36, 1 January 2022