What was his contributions towards Islam?
Why was he called Mujaddad Alf Sani ( Mujaddad being Reviver and Alf Sani = Second Millennium)?
He is said to be against Sufism (Popular mode of preaching Islam) and promoted Orthodox Islam.
What is the reason that sufi saints like Data Ganj Bukhs, Nizam u Din Auliya, etc have more following than Mujaddad?
Re: Ahmad Sirhindi - Mujaddad Alf Sani
i would recommend you read his 'Maktoobaat'...it's in Faarsii but also available in Urdu.
Re: Ahmad Sirhindi - Mujaddad Alf Sani
Thanks KKF. I'll definitely go through that but having read those maktoobaat how do you answer the questions I raised?
Re: Ahmad Sirhindi - Mujaddad Alf Sani
his religious philospohy was similar to Deobandi thought, He was contemperory of Guru Arjan, Jehangir and famous lahore sufe Pir Mian Mir:)
Re: Ahmad Sirhindi - Mujaddad Alf Sani
did he played any part in tussle between guru and Jehangir?
Re: Ahmad Sirhindi - Mujaddad Alf Sani
Jehangir oredred Guru's execution because of political reason which was that Guru gave political asylum to rebal guru khasrau, Jehangir always viewed him as an extremeist. the primary reason was support given to prince khusrau by Sikhs in support of siege of Lahore, the death of Guru is turning point in the sikh history, millitant version of Sikhi came into existence after this, which always hurt Aurangzeb and finally paving the way of kingship of Lahore.
Re: Ahmad Sirhindi - Mujaddad Alf Sani
I remember a speech by Mufti Zarwali against Mughals and in support of Mujaddad, where he claimed that Mujaddad made Jehangir to kill Akbar's nau ratans who made Akbar to consider him like a prophet.
Re: Ahmad Sirhindi - Mujaddad Alf Sani
yes that is alleged,Sirhindi was from Naqshbandi sect,nau ratans included likes of Mulla DoPyaja who never supported Din-i-ilahi, I don't think that Rajput general was even touched. Jehangir was against conversions of any sort, Guru Arjan was also recorded to have converted muslim into sikhi which was a true, intrestingly Jehangir considered Guru Arjan, a hindu. But Jehangir is also known for taking blessing from revered Sadhus. His secular credentials are almost as good as Akbar's.
Re: Ahmad Sirhindi - Mujaddad Alf Sani
Was there any tussle between the Sufis, Sadhus, guru and mujaddad because it seems that orthodox would not have tolerated any other sect. I mean whether mujaddad also fought war against the infidels or just preached through word of mouth and books?
Re: Ahmad Sirhindi - Mujaddad Alf Sani
I think the Kaur has a lot of knowledge on these guys as well. :)
Read about him in history classes but forgotten now, so what was the background of mujaddad alf saani, where was he born, period and significance?
Re: Ahmad Sirhindi - Mujaddad Alf Sani
Was there any tussle between the Sufis, Sadhus, guru and mujaddad because it seems that orthodox would not have tolerated any other sect. I mean whether mujaddad also fought war against the infidels or just preached through word of mouth and books?
Except ideological struggle to control masses, they never fought a hand to hand fight, though Ahmed Sirhindi had protection from governor of Lahore. Sufis like pir mian mir were always on the side of Gurus, it is said in sikh folklore that Pir mian mir was so enraged after seeing the torture of Guru Arjan that he was about to destroy lahore before Guru Arjan stopped him.
Even Ranjeet Singh always had suspicion on muslim clergy whom he considered unreliable even though his kingdom was about punjabizm rather than sikh empire, Secular credential of Maharaja is lower than Jehangir.
Re: Ahmad Sirhindi - Mujaddad Alf Sani
I think the Kaur has a lot of knowledge on these guys as well. :)
Read about him in history classes but forgotten now, so what was the background of mujaddad alf saani, where was he born, period and significance?
I think he was born during Akbar's period and lived throughout the period of Jehangir too. Many people believe that he played a pivotal role against Akbar's Deen e Ilahi. He never liked Sufism and was against the basic Sufi concept of Wahdat ul Wajood (Unity of God - God exists in everything and all the things exists in God).
Re: Ahmad Sirhindi - Mujaddad Alf Sani
I think he was born during Akbar's period and lived throughout the period of Jehangir too. Many people believe that he played a pivotal role against Akbar's Deen e Ilahi. He never liked Sufism and was against the basic Sufi concept of Wahdat ul Wajood (Unity of God - God exists in everything and all the things exists in God).
He was contemperory of akbar too, but noone ever dared to oppose akbar except birbal who always found some smart way of presenting his case. Din-i-illahi was theologically weak and it is always very hard to succeed in India, Din-i-illahi died in much more ignominious death than Buddhism and Jainism in India, before Ahmed Sirhindi, pundas would have annhilated Illahis because many of the religious practices were near to hinduism too:D or they might have labbelled it as another sect of muslims. His overall personality seems orthodox but he didn't have much political power as majority of lahoris were with either with gurus or Pir mian mir, both of them being more influential than Sirhindi.
Re: Ahmad Sirhindi - Mujaddad Alf Sani
Yes that is the point I want to understand. though the orthodox clergy claimed to service religion more than Sufis, but how come Sufis always have more following than orthodox clergy?
Re: Ahmad Sirhindi - Mujaddad Alf Sani
May be because orhodoxy was boring and hence not appealing enough, but ideologies gather strength only if they are adequately supported by regime, be it secualarism of Akbar or orthodoxy of Aurangzeb or Zia. Ideology always construct society and a country positivity and negativity is more circumstantial:)
Re: Ahmad Sirhindi - Mujaddad Alf Sani
But religion is always boring in the sense it does not allow what people want to do for pleasure. Almost all religions require their followers to act according to wish of God and not according to their own wishes.
Sufism was probably followed more because it allowed a sense of freedom to people which was missing in orthodox version. Orthodox clergy portrayed a God always keen to revenge people for their mistakes, whereas Sufis portrayed a loving God.
Re: Ahmad Sirhindi - Mujaddad Alf Sani
I always believed that there should be right balance between two ideologies, orthodox Islam is not bad either, Deoband in India doesn't kill a single bird even, speaks of how peaceful right wingers can be. Sufism has inherent mysticism and inherent love of god, they are more about human and god, than orthodox which is about Islamist and Allah.
Re: Ahmad Sirhindi - Mujaddad Alf Sani
True, being orthodox does not mean to kill non-orthodox. But somehow, orthodox clergy in any of the world's religion have tunnel vision. Their version of religion is quite fragile to changing world.
Re: Ahmad Sirhindi - Mujaddad Alf Sani
Design of orthodoxy is to stick to the rules prescribed by the elders but somehow wrong element creeps in, and in effort to destroy the other ideology through violence it finally starts hitting itself, best way that I found here is of pundas, they ideologically assimilate other, Buddha is labelled as avtaar of vishnu according to them, abrahmic religions have set boundaries hence they have to persuade people of the ever changing dynamic society of world, Orthodoxy has multiple faces like Secularism:)
Re: Ahmad Sirhindi - Mujaddad Alf Sani
Seems that Mujaddad would also have relied on some external forces like Shah Waliullah, who invited Abdali to India, but in Mujaddad's period Mughals were strong compared to weak position during Shah Wali ullah's period.