Sufism and Shariah – A study of Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi’s effort to reform Sufism pdf download

Sufism and Shariah – A study of Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi’s effort to reform Sufism

Sufism and Shariah Book

 Preface

This book is a study of the ideas of the great seventeenth-century Indian saint and religious reformer, Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi.

The Shaykh ranks among the renovators (mujaddidin) of Islam for the great service he has rendered. The Muslim community of the subcontinent in his time was passing through a very critical period of its history.

Akbar, the Mughal ruler of Delhi, had initiated policies that were seriously affecting Islamic life. His belief was that the religion of the Prophet had run its course and should be replaced by a new religion; in fact, he launched an eclectic religion of his own making.

 The Sufis, on the other hand, were spreading under the cover of Sufism different beliefs and practices among the masses who had already contracted various forms of shirk under the influence of the polytheistic culture of India.

The ‘ulama’ (religious scholars) who were supposed to be the guardians of religion were instead using their expertise to justify un-Islamic practices.

Shaykh Ahmad made a Herculean effort to fight these evils. With the help of his disciples whom he posted at key places in India, he tried to spread the ideas of Islam and reform the lives of the people. He also tried to restore Islamic laws and institutions, and raise the status of Muslims in India.

 A much more important service was that which Shaykh Ahmad rendered at the level of ideas. A section of scholars at the royal court were challenging the fundamentals of Islam.

 They denied the necessity of prophecy, doubted the utility of the Shari’ah, and advocated the self-sufficiency of reason.

Shaykh Sirhindi preached and wrote against these ideas. In his letters, which he sent to many outstanding figures in different walks of life, he demonstrated the limitation of reason in matters of faith, defended the laws of the Shari’ah, and established the necessity of prophecy.