Tomb of Mujaddid-e-Alf-e-Sani.
IN DEPTH:
He was given these titles as accolades for his undeniable work & effort to revive the spirit of Islam & oppose the corruption prevalent during the time of the Mughal Empire. His significant religious influence in India still holds great impact upon its Sufi roots even to this day.
Most of the branches which stem from the Naqshbandi order today, such as the Mujaddidi, Saifi, Tahiri & Qasimiya branches, trace their spiritual lineage through Sheikh Sirhindi, often referring to themselves as "Naqshbandi Mujaddidi" due to this connection.
He is also a descendant of the noble Companion & second Khalifa of Islam, Hazrat Sayyiduna Umar Farooq (R.A).
His mother relates, "After the birth of my son Ahmad, I fell unconscious whereupon I had a vision & saw that my home was full of Awliya Allah (Saints) who were all congratulating me on the birth of my son".
His father relates, "On the day of the birth of my son, I had a vision in which I saw Allah's Messenger (s.a.w) reciting first the Azan & then the Takbir in the ears of my son."
Being born into a pious family descending from Sayyidina Umar Farooq, he received most of his early education from his father, Sheikh Abdul Ahad. He memorised the Qur'an thus becoming a Hafiz, & then was then sent to Sialkot in Pakistan, where he learned logic, philosophy & theology, also studying advanced texts of Tafsir & Hadith before he returned home.
At a young age, Sheikh Sirhindi had also made rapid progress in the Soharwardiya, Qadriya & Chishtiya orders of Sufism & was given permission to initiate & train followers at the age of 17.
While busy spreading the teachings of these Tariqas, he felt a void within himself & continuously searched to fulfil it. He then found an interest in the Naqshbandi order, as he saw through the secrets of the other three Tariqas that it was, in reality, the best & most favourable.
In his words, the Naqshbandi Tariqa is "the mother of all Tariqas."
His spiritual progress eventually brought him into the presence of the Ghaus & Qutb of his time, Sheikh Mohammad Baqi. Through the guidance & supervision of this great Saint, Sheikh Sirhindi progressed up the spiritual ladder & soon became a Master of this order, his mystical insight & piety inspiring all those who learnt from him.
Eventually, the emperor commanded that the Sheikh be imprisoned in Gwalior Fort for an unlimited period.
A great miracle is reported by his son, Sheikh Sayyid, who says, "He was under very intense security in jail, where guards surrounded his room on every side. Yet every Friday, he would be seen in the mosque. No matter how much security he was under, he would disappear from prison & miraculously appear in the mosque."
The Sheikh's state of patience & gratitude was such that he never wished ill upon his enemies, nor did he allow his family & followers to do so. Many thousands of prisoners in Gwalior Fort embraced Islam at the hand of the Sheikh & a very many of these took Bayt (pledge of allegiance) at his hands, attaining high stages of Wilayat (sainthood) as a result of his company.
The Sheikh would say, "If the Emperor had not imprisoned me, so many thousands of people would have been deprived of the Light of Islam."
This imprisonment allowed him to fulfil the Sunnah of Prophet Yusuf, as he endured the hardships of captivity with the utmost patience. The Sheikh wrote to his family & friends from the prison, saying, "Although hardship is indeed distasteful, it is a blessing. Praise Allah & do not spend even a moment in neglect. Always be busy in one of three things; the first is recital of Qur'an, the second is Salaah & the third, abundance of Zikrullah (Remembrance of Allah). Always be pleased with whatever state Allah has given you. Pray that Allah gathers us all in Paradise & that our meeting each other in this Duniya is for the Aakhirah itself."
Despite all the hardship suffered by the Sheikh in prison, the emperor noticed that he was unmoved from his original stance.
In addition, the Karamat (miracle) of the Sheikh had come to the emperor's notice, in that thousands of thieves & bandits had attained guidance & become pious people through the company of the Sheikh. It was at this point that the emperor began to regret imprisoning the Sheikh. Around this time, the Emperor Jahangir had a dream in which he saw Sayyiduna Rasulullah (s.a.w) saying, "O Jahangir, you have imprisoned a very great person!"
After this dream, the emperor Jahangir sorely regretted his actions & demanded the immediate release of the Sheikh. The Sheikh was brought to the Emperor, who apologized & asked the Sheikh to forgive him. The emperor now began to treat the Sheikh with the utmost respect & would even serve him himself. Indeed, his love for the Sheikh increased so much that Jahangir would find absence from the Sheikh unbearable. Shah Jahan was also amongst the Mureeds of the Sheikh & other members of the ruling group, including scholars & ministers, continued to join the Silsila Mujaddidia right up to & including the reign of Alamgir Aurangzeb.
"The Shariah has three parts: knowledge, action & sincerity of motive (ikhlas); unless you fulfil the demands of all these parts, you do not obey the Shariah. & when you obey the Shariah, you obtain the Pleasure of God, which is the most supreme good in this world & the Hereafter.
The raptures & ecstasies which the Sufis experience, the ideas & truths which come to them in the course of their journey, are not the goal of Sufism. They are rather myths & fancies on which the children of Sufism are fed. One has to pass over them all & reach the stage of satisfaction (Raza) which is the final goal of "Suluk" (travelling, i.e. the Sufi path) & "Jazba" "(overwhelming love)."
The three volumes were compiled as detailed below:
Volume 1 - contains 313 letters & was compiled by Khwaja Yaar Mohammad Badakhshi Talqani, a Mureed of Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi.
The volume was named Dar al-Ma'rifat & was completed in 1025 AH. Sheikh Sirhind ordered that it end at 313 letters, 313 being a sacred number (a significant figure in Islam, as there was 313 Muslim soldiers in the famous battle of Badr, in which the Muslims were victorious).
Volume 2 - was named as Noor al-Khallaq & contains 99 letters. It was compiled by Khwaja Abdul Hayy.
He answered, "I cannot give you an answer unless you come into my presence."
When the Sheikh went to him, he immediately unveiled to him his spiritual reality & cleansed the darkness of his heart. The Sheikh fell prostrate at his feet from the strength of such Light & said, "I believe, I believe! I see now that these states were all revealed to the Sahaba simply by looking at the Messenger (s.a.w)."
- One time in the month of fasting, Ramadan, he was invited by ten of his Mureeds to break fast with them. He accepted the invitation of each of them. When the time came to break the fast, he was present at each of their houses, breaking the fast & they saw him in each of their houses at the same time.
- Once, he looked at the sky & it was raining. He said, "O rain! Stop until such & such hour." It stopped until the exact time he had said, after which it started to rain again.
- One day, the King ordered that a man be executed. That man came to Sheikh Ahmad Sirhind & said, "Please write a stay of execution for me." He wrote to the Sultan, "Don't execute this man." The Sultan, out of respect & fear for the Sheikh, pardoned the man.
- One time, a Mureed made the intention to visit Sheikh Ahmad Sirhind. On his way, he was invited to be the guest of a man who disliked the Sheikh. The Mureed, however, didn't know this until after dinner, when the host began insulting the Sheikh.
As the Mureed went to sleep later that night, in his heart he was saying, "O Allah, I came to visit the Sheikh, not to hear someone curse the Sheikh. Forgive me."
Then he slept & when he awoke, he found that the man had died. He went quickly to the Sheikh & began to tell him the story. Sheikh Ahmad Sirhind raised his hand & said, "Stop! There is no need to tell me what happened. I am the one who caused it."
- "It must be known that Allah has placed us under His Obligations & His Prohibitions. Allah said, "Whatever the Prophet gave you, take it & whatever he prohibited you, leave it." (59:7) If we are going to be sincere in this, we have to attain to Annihilation & the love of the Essence. Without these, we cannot reach this degree of obedience. Thus we are under another obligation, which is to seek the Way of Sufism, because this Way will lead us to the state of Annihilation & the love of the Essence.
- "In the journey leading to the unveiling of the Divine Realities, the seeker moves through various stages of knowledge of & proximity to His Lord."
- "The entire process (of reaching Allah) is like threading a needle. The thread seeks the eye of the needle, passes through & then proceeds down to where it began. There the two ends meet, form a knot & secure the entire thread. They form a whole; thread, eye, needle & any material they catch is sewn into the fabric of the unity."
- "It must be known to everyone that the Naqshbandi Sheikhs chose to guide their Mureeds first through the movement from Allah, travelling from the higher states to the lower. For this reason they maintain the common veils over the spiritual vision of the Mureed, removing the veil of ordinary consciousness only at the final step. All other Tariqas begin with the movement to Allah, moving from the lowest states to the highest & removing the common veils first."
- It is mentioned in the Hadith of the Prophet (s.a.w), "Scholars are the inheritors of the Prophets." The knowledge of Prophets is of two kinds: knowledge of laws & knowledge of Secrets. The scholar cannot be called an inheritor if he does not inherit both knowledges. If he takes only one knowledge, he is incomplete. Thus the real inheritors are the ones who take the knowledge of the laws & the knowledge of the Secrets & only the saints have truly received & protected this inheritance."
Later, the Sheikh appointed Khwaja Mohammad Masoom as his successor & instructed all his Khulafa & Mureeds to take Bayt at the hand of Khwaja Mohammad Masoom. The responsibility of running the Khanqah was also passed on. If any new people came to the Sheikh asking to be his Mureeds, the Sheikh would send them to Khwaja Mohammad Masoom.
Some people related that during these days, they asked the Sheikh why he had isolated himself so much from creation.
He replied that his time for leaving this world was very close & that he had reached the age of sixty three, exactly the age at which Allah's Nabi (s.a.w) had passed away, so he knew that he too would pass away very soon. The Sheikh stated:
"O men of Allah! I have passed on to you everything that has been given to me by Allah & His Messenger (s.a.w). In the struggle to uphold the true Deen of Islam, I worked hard & relentlessly all my life. I was a victim of oppression & tolerated much hardship, but despite the harshest of harsh attempts by various forces to destroy the cause, I remained steadfast & never allowed myself to be complacent. Now I am to part from you & I leave you in the Hands of the Lord of the Worlds. Our next meeting will be under the banner of Allah's Messenger (s.a.w) on the Day of Qiyamat."
Upon hearing this, those present could not hold themselves back & began to weep uncontrollably & all began to say, "O Imamul Awliya! There is no doubt whatsoever that you have striven relentlessly in the struggle to uphold the Shariah & to revive the Deen of Islam & insha Allah, we will testify to this fact on the Day of Judgement."
After this the Sheikh made Dua & then proceeded from the Khanqah.
Despite being so ill, the Sheikh continued to pray Salah in congregation & did not reduce his habit of Zikr & Muraqaba.
The illness gradually worsened & at the time of Chasht prayer, on Tuesday 28th Safar 1034 AH (10th December 1624 AD), the Sheikh left this world & was reunited with the Merciful Creator at the age of 63.
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