Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi

Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi commonly known as Mujjadad Alif Sani was born in the village of Sirhind in 1564. The title Mujaddad Alif Sani means “the reviver of the second millennium” and was given to him for his untiring efforts in opposing the innovations introduced in Islam during the time of Mughal Emperor Akbar.

He got his early education at home from his father, Shiekh Abdul-Ahad, who was a descendant of Caliph Umar (r.a). Sheikh Sahib then went to many places for learning Hadith, Tafsir, and Logic. He finally met Sheikh Khawaja Baqi billah and eventually joined his Sufi order ( Naqshabandi ). Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi received Khilafat from Khawaja Baqi-Billah and started propagation of Islam.

However, Indian Muslim’s concept of Islam was being corrupted by the admittance of Hindu rituals in Islam and such things were going under the supervision of Emperor Akbar. Emperor Akbar forced his own concept of “Sulh-e-kul” on the people which were aimed to mix all the religions of Hindustan and to introduce an amalgamation which he called “Deen-e-Elahi”. Akbar presented himself as the head of his religion with the title of “Zil-e-Elahi’ and ordered people to prostrate to him upon entering his royal court.

In that era of darkness, Sheikh Khawaja Baqi-Billah started opposing Emperor Akbar and his mission was carried forward by his most prominent disciple Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi after his death. Shiekh Ahmad Sirhindi bravely started preaching against the heretic cult of Akbar and presented his philosophy of “ Wahdat-ul-Shuhood” in response to the philosophy of “Wahdat-ul-Wajood”.

According to “Wahdat-ul-Wajood” all the things in the universe are part of God’s essence and hence they can be worshipped, this greatly impressed Emperor Akbar who started mixing Hinduism and Islam based on Wahdat-ul-Wajood forming a new religion called “Deen-e-Elahi” as already mentioned. Shiekh Sahib came up with a notion that all these things have been created by a creator; creature and the creator can never be on the same plate. He stated that it is an open shirk to worship anything except Allah.

After the death of Emperor Akbar, he started a coordinated effort to take the message of true Islam to all the prominent personalities and especially those who were connected with the royal court. He persuaded Akbar’s son, Emperor Jahangir to introduce Islamic laws through the Emperor at first put him in jail. This Islamic trend reached at peak during the kingship OF Emperor Aurangzeb, who implemented Sharia in its true form.

Sheikh Sahib converted unorthodox Sufi Muslims who had introduced Biddahs in Deen-e-Islam and used to prefer Blind Taqlid over Sunnah and Quran into true Muslims. His wrote a famous book “Tauheed-e-Shuhudi” on the above mentioned two contradictory notions and urged Muslims that they were a separate nation than Hindus and can rightly be called as the architect of two nations theory.

His footsteps for the revival of Islam were followed by Hazrat Shah Wali Ullah and Hazrat Allama Iqbal and resulted in the establishment of a separate state in the form of “Pakistan”.
He urged people to strictly adhere to the Quran and Sunnah and not to deviate from that. He passed away on 1624 A.D but revived the true essence of Islam in Sub-continent.