الرحلةThe Journey

أحمد السرهندي

Ahmad Sirhindi (RH)

Also known as: Mujaddid Alf Thani, Imam Rabbani

971–1034 AH · 1564–1624 CE

Sufism & Theology Hanafi Sufism Theology

'Renewer of the second millennium', the Naqshbandi master of Mughal India.

Ahmad Sirhindi was a Hanafi scholar who joined the Naqshbandi order under Khwaja Baqi Billah of Delhi. He opposed the religious policies of the emperor Akbar, which mixed elements of many faiths, and called on the Mughal nobility to uphold the Shari'ah. He was briefly imprisoned by the emperor Jahangir.

In his letters, the Maktubat, he argued for wahdat al-shuhud (unity of witnessing) as a corrective to popular readings of wahdat al-wujud. His followers called him Mujaddid Alf Thani, the renewer of the second Islamic millennium, and his branch, the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi, spread widely.

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Life journey

  1. 1564 CE Sirhind سرهند
    Died 1624 CE · 1034 AH
    Studied in Sialkot and Agra, and met his Naqshbandi master in Delhi.

Key works

  • Maktubat-i Imam-i Rabbani مكتوبات
    The Letters
    His letters on Sufi doctrine and the Shari'ah.

Sources

  • Yohanan Friedmann, Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi: An Outline of His Thought (1971)
  • Muhammad Hashim Kishmi, Zubdat al-Maqamat
Draft, awaiting scholarly review.