RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL IDEAS OF SHAIKH AHMAD SIRHINDĪ

Author(s): Aziz Ahmad

Source: Rivista degli studi orientali , 1961, Vol. 36 (1961), pp. 259-270
Published by: Sapienza - Universita di Roma

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41879388

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 [I]

RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL IDEAS

OF SHAIKH AHMAD SI RH INDI

The sufi order of the Naqshbandïs which became the spearhead

of Islamic reaction against Akbar's heresy was comparatively a new-
comer to India. It was closer to orthodoxy than any other sufi school.
Moreover, it had borrowed from Ibn al-'Arabï the theory of the venera
tion of the shaikh 1 (spiritual preceptor) and developed it into the disci-
plinising concept of tasawwur-i-shaikh (adoration of the preceptor)
which enhanced the spiritual hold of the süfi leader on his disciples,
some of whom could be powerful nobles in the land. It initiated a
policy of close association with these nobles, to neutralise the effects
of the imperial heresy of Akbar, continuing the tradition of the Suhra-
wardïs, and in fact of Ibn al-'Arabî himself. 2 The Naqshbandï order
gathered momentum on the arrival in India of Khwãja Bãqi-billãh,
in the last years of Akbar's reign, at a time when after Abul Fazl's
death a strong orthodox nucleus of noblemen had gained power in
administration. These included Akbar's foster-brother Mirza 'Azïz
Koka, the trusted imperial bakhshl Shaikh Farïd 3 and the goveno
Lahore Qilïch Khan. These, and even the liberal-minded 'Abdur Rah
Khan Khanan 4, a poet in Hindi 5 and patron of Tulsï Dãs, ca
deeply under the influence of Khwajã Bãqí-billãh. These nobles he
almost imperceptibly but firmly the citadel of orthodoxy in Mu
India, and Akbar, liberal as ever and now old and broken-hearted
did not seem to mind or even notice.
This Naqshbandï mission reached its culmination in the life and

1 Ibn al-'Arabi, Al-amr al-mubikam, Istanbul A. H. 13 1 5, p. 82. The

doctrine was originally derived from the Christian mysticism of St. John of the Cross
(Miguel Asín Palacios, El Islam Cristianizado , Madrid 1931, p. 143; cf. Baruzi,
Saint Jean de la Croix , Paris 1924, p. 556).
2 For similar rôle played by Ibn al- 'Arabi in the courts of Syria and Anatolia
against the Crusaders see Asín Palacios, op. cit., pp. 94-1 11.
3 Most of the political letters of Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindï are addressed to hi m
4 Shaikh Muhammad Ikram, Rüd-i Kausar, Karachi n. d., pp. 69-70, 126-7.
s Pandit Vanshidhar, lAbdur Rahim Khan Khanan and his Hindi Poetry ,
Islamic Culture, Hyderabad Deccan 1948, XXIV, p. 123 et seq.

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 2ÓO Aziz Ahmad [2]

work of Khwajã Bäql-billäh'

mad Sirhindï. His scholarsh
logy, and in addition he had
Chishtï, the SuhrawardI and
Kashmiri had introduced hi
seems to have imbibed much
of Sayyid 'Ali Hamdãnl 2. B
bandï order with its Centr
heresies. With these he m
his contact with Abul Fazl an
ing 3 and the latter sought hi
His first concern was to r
its Prophet, which had bee
movement, Akbar's veiled h
the dialectics of Abul Fazl a
Prophet was not a necessary
tion of this trend he wrote his first considerable work. Ithbät-al-nabüw -
wat. Simultaneously he used the medium of Maktübäty letters writ-
ten to individuals and later compiled for wide public circulation, a
technique of religious propaganda already highly developed by Shaikh
Yahyã Mãneri for the general propagation of his religious, mystical
and political views directed towards the rehabilitation of Islam in
India. These letters contained an outspoken denunciation of Akbar's
policies, after his death.
"The monarch is to the state " he wrote to Shaikh Farid " as the
heart is to body. If heart remains pure so does the body and vice
versa. The purity of the state depends upon its ruler. You are
aware what the Muslims have suffered in the previous reign. In for-
mer periods of decadence the plight of Muslims had not exceeded the
point that they followed their religion while unbelievers followed their
own . . . but in the previous (Akbar's) reign the infidels forced pagan
practices on this Muslim land, and the Muslims were prevented from
observing their religious commandments: if they did so they were in
dauger of losing their lives 5 ". In a letter to another nobleman Khãn-i

1 Ikram, op. cit. y p. 150.

2 Sayyid 'All Hamdãnl, Dhakhirat al-Mulük , India Office Library,
London Persian Ms No. 11 30, ff. 88 a, 94 Ä-95 a.
3 Muhammad Hashim Kashmi, Zubdat al-Maqãmat , Cawnpore n.d., pp. 126
et seq.
«• Ikram, op. cit., 148.
5 Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindï, Maktubãi , 3 vols. Lucknow 1877, I,
letter 47, p. 65.

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[3] Religious and Political Ideas, etc . 261

A'zam he remarked: " The degradation of Islam h

that infidels mock Islam and its followers, and without let or hin-
drance celebrate their own pagan rites in bazars, whereas Muslims are
restained from the observance of their religious law 1
At least, to some extent the wrath of Shaikh Ahmad reveals a
viewpoint not very different from that of Badãunl. For instance in
a letter to Lãlã Beg he regards Akbar's prohibition of cow-slaughter
as interference in the religious freedom of Muslims 2.
On the accession of Jãhãnglr (1605) he pinned his hopes on the
new emperor and advised his powerful disciples at the imperial court
to realise their responsibility to impress upon the new sovereign's mind
the necessity of moulding the state on the basis of religious law, to
introduce to him pious and selfless 'ulema for the guidance of his mind
and to be wary of self-seeking mullãhs who had been primarily respon-
sible for the religious disaster of the previous reign 3.
But before Shaikh Ahmad could win Jahângïr or for that matter
the spiritual élite of Muslim India to his views, there was an element
of mystical egoism in his own utterances which deeply disturbed them.
In fact, Shaikh Ahmad who brought the Alfi movements in India to
an end was also their product. Whereas he avoided auch extravagant
public claims as those of Akbar or the Mahdï of Jaunpur, his egoism
sought more esoteric mystical path in such pronouncements as his
claim to have overreached the spiritual stage of Abü Bakr 4, the fifst
Caliph of Islam and the fountainhead according to Naqshbandis of
their order 5, or his claim to have elevated the mystical ' reality of Mu-
hammad ' to the ' stage of Abraham ' For these pronouncements
he was admonished by Khwãja Bãql-billãh 6, imprisoned by Jahan-
gir 7, and denounced by the 'ulema as a heretic who should be executed 8.
His later apologies, . . . that a momentary light of spiritual ecstasy
seemed to have taken him to a stage higher than that of the fountain-
head of his order, did not constitute any disrespect for the saint, as
such experiences are common enough among the sufïs and he had to

1 Op. cit., I, letter 65, p. 82.

2 Op. cit I, letter 81, p. 106.
3 Op. cit., I, letter 47, p. 65 ; I, letter 53, p. 70 etc.
4 Op. cit., I, letter 11, p. 15.
5 Op., cit., I, letter 22, p. 231.
6 Ikram, op. cit., p. 153.
7 Emperor Jahângïr, Tuzuk, edited by Syud Ahmud. Aligarh 1864, pp. 272-3»
It is difficult to agree with the view of Shaikh 'Inãyatullãh that his imprisomment
was due to Shi'a intrigues ( Encyclopaedia of Islam , new edition, fascicule 5, p. 297).
8 Ikram, op. cit., pp. 15-62.

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 2Ó2 Aziz Ahmad [4]

confess this one to his spiri

of the ' reality of Muhamm
servant to his master 2, sti
made public through his wid
which must not be made pu
In his implied claim to b
its second millenium 4 he was much more successful 5. The Alfï mo-
vements had prepared the mind of the ijmct in that direction, and the
Shaikh regarded the second millenium of Islam not as an era of its
decline, but of its renaissance 6. On the sûfï level he transformed
Ibn al-'Arabï's concept of the qutb 7, to that of qayyüm , later defined
by his followers as the saint ' who held sway over all names, princi-
ples, expressions and qualities, who goverened the will of all worship-
pers of God and the form of their worship, and was an intermediary
between the worshippers and the Worshipped One ' 8. Although he
did not claim to be a qayyüm , his later followers regarded hi,m and
his two successors as having that rank, which to the orthodox 'ulema
seemed heretical as it claimed for the qayyüm the powers not only of
prophethood but also of divinity. The ijma ' of Indian Islam which
had been so critical of Akbar's heresy, overlooked all this and accepted
him as the Mujjadid-i Alf-i thânï (renovator of the second millenium)
because of the rest of his teaching, which provided them with religio-
political security in India.
Chastened in Jahângïr's prison, Shaikh Ahmad emerged out of it
as his friend 9. The emperor bestowed gifts on the saint and men-
tioned his name with increasing respect in his autobiography; the saint
repeated to him the maxim, ' religious law thrives under the sword '
in a letter in which he congratulated him on expanding the ' army of

1 Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindï, op. cit., I, pp. ioo 202.

2 Op. cit., il, letter 97, p. 174.
3 Hujwirï, Kashf al-mahjub , Chapter III. Enjoins strict secrecy in su
matters.

4 Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindï, op. cit., II, letter 4. pp. 14-5; II, letter
6, p. 17.
5 Mulla 'Abdul Hakim Siälkoti was the first man to use this title for him
Skaikh 'Inãyatullãh, op. cit., p. 297.
6 Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindï, op. cit., I, letter 261, p. 305: I, letter
2°9, pp. 208-212.
7 Ibn al-' Arabi, Futühiät al-Makkiyah, Cairo, A. H. 1293, Vol. II,
pp. 7-1 1 ; IV, p. 95.
8 IKRAM, oi>. cit., DD. IQI-2.
9 Jahângir, op. cit., pp. 308, 370.

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[5] Religious and Political Ideas, etc. 263

Islam ' *. It is difficult to estimate the exact, direct

ence of Shaikh Ahmad on Jahângïr, but there i
easy-going emperor was by no means the pagan
mas Roe and other European chroniclers 2. W
of his own autobiography that he held Muslim s
great esteem 3, and if he also visited Hindu sanyâ
because he considered they had mastered ' the s
which is the science of süfism ' 4. He obviously co
in Hindu festivals or ceremonies like shïvarâtrï and rakhï-bandhan 5,
as sound political tradition, but also revived intense celebration of
Muslim festivals like Muharram 6. On the other hand, he was contemp-
tuous of Hindu image-worship 7, persecuted Jains 8, and gave his con-
quest of Kangrä the colour of a holy war 9. He discouraged apostasy 10
but would not tolerate forcible conversions to Islam Shaikh Ahmad

1 Shaikh Ahmad Sir hindi, op. cit ., III, letter 47, p. 82.
2 " . . . bread up without any religion at all, continues so to this hower and
is an Atheist. . ( The Embassy of Sir Thomas Roe to the Court of the Great Mogu
1615-1619, edited by William Foster, London 1800, 11, p. 314). Some of Roe's
account seems to have been generally based on bazar gossip, for instance he mentio
that Jahangir was uncircumcised (II, 313), whereas Badäuni had specifically describ
the ceremony of Jahângïr's circumcision (Badäuni, Muntakhab al-Tawârïkh
Calcutta 1868-9, II, p. 170). Croyat regards Jahangir a follower of a religion of
own making. (CROYAT, Early European Travellers to India , pp. 147-8. Among m
dern Hindu historians Beni Prasad thinks that Jahangir did not believe in the Pro
phet (Beni PRASAD, Jahângïr ), but the overwhelming evidence of Jahangir's Tuz
and his diplomatic correspondence prove the contrary. Nearly every reference
Jahangïr's religious views in Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi's Maktubãt expresses satisfact
with Jahangir's adherence to orthodox Islam (I, letter 53, p. 70; I, letter 43, p.
II, letter 193, pp. 193-4; II, letter 92, p. 161; III, letter 43, p. 76 which describes
orthodox religious discussion in the palace on a night in Ramazan; III, letter 43, p.
in which Jahangir is complimented on strengthening Islam in India). Other mo
dern Hindu historians like Sri Räm Sharma, The Religious Policy of the Mughal E
perors. Oxford 1940, chapter on Jahangir), and ISHWARI PRASAD, Muslim Rule
India , Allãhãbãd 1930, p. 526) regard him as a broadminded Muslim. The revival
trend in modern Urdu literature (Shibli's poems) implies that the ' adi of Jahang
represented the Islamic tradition of 'Umar.
3 Jahângïr, Tuzuk , tr. into English by Rogers and edited by N. Beve-
ridge, London 1909, pp. 58, 189-90, 240, 256, 425, 428.
Jahângïr, op. cit., p. 356.
5 Jahângïr, op. cit., 246, 361.
6 Guerrïro, translated by Payne.
7 J a h â n g ir, op. cit., p. 254.
8 Jahângïr, op. cit., p. 438.
9 Jahângïr, op. cit. (Aligarh edition, 1864), pp. 318, 340-2.
10 Jahângïr, op. cit., p. 83.
11 Jahângïr, op. cit., p. 101.

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 264 Aziz Ahmad [6]

Sirhindï seems to have be

religious beliefs1 though h
demolition of their mosqu
ship by Hindus 2, presum
areas far removed from t
does not seem to have ru
The political thought w
and disseminated in his le
cestor 'Umar 3. It follow
tical thinkers, who wrote t
cing a challenge of poten
al-Mulk Tüsl 4, Sayyid 'A
Ahmad regards the king
his sword. His relation to
It is binding on the Musli
the laws of Islam in the l
tion and security to the
He regards Islam and k
Hinduism) as opposites, an
The two opposites cannet
of the other 8. If the unb
vert Muslims to Hinduism
that the honour of Islam
lievers and their faith. Therefore, he who holds infidels in affection
and esteem or keeps company with them, dishonours his own religion;
a good Muslim should avoid contact with non-believers even in daily
business 9. Shaikh Ahmad, however, sharply distinguishes this religio-

1 See supra.
2 Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindï, op. cit., II, letter 92, pp. 161-2.
3 Harzat 'Umar kê Sarkãri Khutüt (Official letters of the Caliph 'Umar) compiled
and translated into Urdu by Khurshid Ahmad Fãriq, Delhi 1959, pp. 36, 66, 118-9,
1 40- 1, 145-6, 161, 164, 190, 363-4; Arabic Text in op. cit., pp. 13-14, 29-30, 59-69,
70, 71-74, 82, 83, 96, 197-8.
4 Nizãm al-Mulk Tõsí, Siyãsat Nãmalv, edited by C. Shefer. Paris
1891, pp. 138-56.
5 Sayyid 'All Hamdânï, op. cit., ff. 94 a- 95 a.
6 Zla al-dïn- Barnï, Fatãwã-i Jahãndãri , India Office, London, Persian
Ms. no. 1 149, ff. 15^-16 ^, 118 ¿-133 ay 166 b, Perhaps the first Muslim political ma-
nual emphasising this line of thinking is Fakhr-i Muddbbir's Âdãb al-Mulük , India
Office London Persian Ms. no. 647, ff. 18^-25^.
7 Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindï, op. cit., II, letter 62, p. 121.
8 Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindï, op. cit., I, letter 163, pp. 165-6.
9 Same letter p. 165.

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 [7] Religious and Political Ideas , etc. 265

social isolationism from Hindu caste-system. The ' uncleanness of

the infidels ' he points out is one of false belief and therefore not external
but internal, and contradicts himself on the point of mixing with the
infidels by quoting the example of the Prophet, who had not refused
the hospitality of Jews and pagans x.
On the whole he considers it binding on the Muslims to hold the
infidels and their idols in contempt 2. Innovations - presumably those
inclined towards eclecticism - could be tolerated in the days of the
glory of Islam, but not in the age of its (political) decline 3. Even
his views on gizya which he regards not as the poll for the protection
of zimmis , but as a symbol of humiliation 4 is in accordance with the
political thinking of Islam in retreat and almost the opposite of the
injunction of 'Umar to his commanders: ť Restrain Muslims from being
unfair to the zimmïs' beware, that an act of aggressiveness or breach
of faith on your part may lead to the loss of your rule 5.
Within Islam his concern was to close the breach between the
religious law (, shartat ) and the mystical system of the sufïs ( tarlqat ),
actually to weld them together in a single synthesis. Mystical expe-
rience, in his view, should be fully in accord with religious discipline 6,
othermise it would be tainted with heresy or personal fallacy 7. Sha -
ri1 at, he regarded as all-comprehensive, embracing all the realities of
this world and the next and all the possibilities of true mystical expe-
rience 8. It is based on the Word of God, which is eternal and immortal;
from which flow the Old and the New Testament and the Qur'an; which
is the source of all imperatives, positive as well as negative 9. Next
to the Qur'an is the sunnah of the Prophet as revealed in the life and
teaching of his successors, the holy caliphs, specially Abü Bakr, the
most exalted of men after the prophets I0. Sharz'at has two appearances,
an external and a real one. The external appearance is based on wha-
tever is unambiguously enjoined in the Qur'an and the sunnah ; it is

1 Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindï, oj). cit.. III, letter 22, pp. 36-77.
2 Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindï, op. cit., I, letter 269, p. 339.
3 Op. cit. y II, letter 23, pp. 38-39.
4 Op. cit., I, letter 163, p. 166; I, letter 193, p. 193.
5 Khurshid Ahmad Fâriq, op. cit., Caliph 'Umar's letter to 'Utba
ibn Ghazwän, p. 174, Arabic text in op. cit., p. 88 quoting Tabarï, IV, 212.
6 Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindï, oò. cit., I, letter 13, d. 18.
7 Op. cit., I, letter 30, p. 40.
8 Op. cit., I, letter 36, p. 50; I, letter 40, p. 54.
9 Op . cit., I, lettçr 266, p. 312.
10 Op. cit., I, letter 221, p. 231; I, letter 248, p. 266; I, letter 266, p. 334; I, let-
ter 313, p. 455.

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 266 Aziz Ahmad [8]

the sphere of the knowle

Whatever has been left am
the sunnah is the sphere of
mã-i rãsikhin ) x. These
are superior to the saints,
Indeed, the observance of
profitable for emancipation
of self-imposed penance or
of view all the exercises of
Shaikh Ahmad's distrust of heterodox sufisťn was because of its
susceptibility to those pantheistic or monistic notions which were
common to esoteric experience of Hinduism and Islam, and which lead-
ing to such syncretisms as that of Kabir at the popular level and of
Akbar at the aristocratic level, were threatening, in his view, the disin-
tegration of Islam in India and its gradual absorption into Hinduism.
He, therefore subjugates the mystic experience of the Muslim and
contains it within the strict confines of his religious experience. From
this religio-mystical complex it becomes easy to expel any heterodox
elements which may prove sensitive to the pull of bhakti movement:
" To regard Rãm and Rahïm identical is the height of folly. The Creator
and the creature cannot be identical . . . Before the birth of Rama and
Krishna no one called God by these names. How could he assume
these names after their birth " 4. Thus he disposed of the movements
of Kabîr and Chaitãnya, which had not only checked the spread of
Islam among Hindu lower castes but were actually gaining converts
from Islãm s. In discussing the Avatãrs of the Hindus or their pantheon,
Shaikh Ahmaďs attitude was polemical 6, though he did believe the
Divine grace could not have left India without prophets to guide it
but perhaps they came and went unheeded 7. Hinduism, as he saw

1 Op. cit., II, letter i8, p. 31.

2 Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindï, op. cit., letter 266, p. 325. Similarly
Khwãja Nizãm al-din Awliyã had criticised the view that saints are superior to t
prophets, for they are occupied with God and the prophets with people, and hel
that when a prophet occupied himself for an instant with the worship of God, th
single instant exalted him to a much higher rank than a life-time of worship by
saint. (Amir Hasan Sijzi, Favãid al-Favãd , Delhi 1865, p. 68). Ibn al-
' Arabi on the other hand holds that prophethood has an end, but sainthood has no
end. ( Fusüs al-ìlikam, tr. by Khãjã Khan, Madras 1928, p. 12).
3 Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindï, op. cit., I, letter 52, p. 69.
4 Op. cit., I, letter 167, p. 171.
5 D. C. Sen, Chaitanya and his Age , Calcutta 1922, pp. 219-229.
6 Shaikh Ahmad S ir hindi, op. cit., I, letter 167, pp. 171-2.
7 Op. cit., I, letter 259, p. 248.

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[9] Religious and Political Ideas , etc. 267

it, was not only antithetical too, but also the arch-e
and therefore he urged Muslims to curse the infidel pra
ing is the proclamation of enmity x.
Athough he does not say it in so many words it
that his strong criticism of Ibn al-'Arabťs ontologic
due to its dangerous pantheistic resemblances with V
resilience could lend itself to extravagant heresies w
then for several conturies all the sûfï orders had ful
their systems the influence of this ontological moni
jüd) as explained by Ibn al-' Arabi 2, and a rejection
revolution in the basic structure of süfism itself. Shaikh Ahmad had
himself followed the same path earlier and had regarded all religions
as leading to God 3. The revolution he brought about in süfism nega-
tived this position completely.
ShaiMi Ahmad came to hold the view that the heterodox süfism
of Hallãj and Bãyazíd Bistãml and others of their category, was for-
merly more an esoteric experience than a philosophy, but it found its
dialectical expression in the writings of Ibn al-'Arabï 4. This view
forms an interesting point of comparison with the estimate of Miguel
Asín Palacios:

" En el fondo, es decir, en las ideas, no difiere notablemente de sus contempo

rános y predecesores: la misma dogmática, de apariencia ortodoxa; igual pa
teísmo, con mayor o menor franqueza expresado, igual excepticismo místi
sobre las aptitudes de la razón filosofica; la misma doctrina metafísica de l
tríada alejandrina; igual concepción plotiniana de la emanación cosmogónica
análoga psicología mística. Lo característico en Abenarabi no es eso; es
ingenio extraordinario conque he sabido combinar tantas y tan heterogené
y aun contradictorias ideas, para organizar con ellas una síntesia armónica.
El método para conseguir esta armonía es el de la interpretación alegórica
de los textos revelados " s.

But Shaikh Ahmad could not brook any ' allegorical ' interpreta
tion or any mystic deviation when the Qur'anic text was clear on a

1 Op. cit., I, letter 266, p. 325.

2 For parallel between Ibn-'Arabi's monism and the Vedanta see Khaja Khan
notes in his synoptical translation of Fusus al-Hikam. Madras 1928. For element
in Ibn al- 'Arabi's mytical system which may be traced indirectly to Hindu mysti
cism see Miguel Asín Palacios, El Islam Christianazado , Madrid 1931, pp. 189-96.
3 Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi, op. cit., I, letter 31, p. 41.
4 Op. cit., II, letter I, pp. 5-6.
5 Miguel Asín Palacios, El Mistico Murciano Abenarabi (Extracto de Bo-
letín de la Academia de la Historia) Madrid 1925-8, III, p. 4. For elements absorbed
in Ibn al- Arabi's syncretism see, op. cit., III, 5.

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 268 Aziz Ahmad [IO]

point: " We believe in the

kam)' in the light of the v
the Victories of Mecca (Ibn
According to Shaikh Ahm
in two ways, as ontologica
jüd or as wahdat al-shahü
alone is existent and all els
rances they regard as One-
of ontological monists lead
But, argues Shaikh Ahma
except that of God's, it is
the other hand, he says, p
simple unitarianism and
presents no such conflict.
existent and is unique ( ya
actions (< af'âl ); and in no
Qualities and actions of Hi
sible because of His will can
which are unique 3. God's
should not be confused wi
say: " All is God " ( hama
from Him." ( hama azüst) 4
of God: and creatureliness
ture must not venture to
creature; and those süfis
to transcend this relationshi
which are nevertheless rep
religious precepts 5.
This doctrine of phenom
reas the ontological monis
kish commentators had be
rything ', but ' God is the
it enjoins between man and God is that of love and not of union

1 S a i k h Ahmad S i r h i n d Ï , 0/. cit., I, letter 100, pp. 121-2. (Although

consistently critical of Ibn al-Arabi's entire structure of thought, Shaikh Ahmad
was at times more moderate in regarding his ' errors ' as merely of misguided illumi-
nation op. cit., I, letter 30, p. 40: I, letter 266, p. 316).
2 Shaikh Ahmad S i r h i n d ï, op. cit., I, letter 43, p. 57: I, letter 291,
pp 410-4.
3 Op. cit., I, letter 265, p. 311.
4 Op. cit., II, letter i pp. 6-7.
5 Op. cit., I, letter 30, p. 38.

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[il] Religious and Political Ideas , etc. 269

(vasi); the creature is not an infinitisemal manifest

vine. In the Creator-creature relationship One is w
is wrong of gnostic to cry out ' I am Truth ' (' I am God ', ana
al-Haq). The mystic cry of lover of God should be ť I am His creature '
( anã ' abduh ) *.
So far the criticism of Ibn al-'Arabï had been either from the
rationalist premises or from the purely orthodox point of view. H
ly before had an alternative system been built up within süfism
never before either in India or elsewhere had süfism been broug
so close to the religious core of Islam 2. It is not surprising theref
that Shaikh Ahmad's doctrine of phenomenalogical monism had su
revolutionary impact on Indian Islam. It redi verted its various s
ams, orthodox, liberal and esoteric into a single channel; it relaxed
tension between the religious law and mystical experience, it reso
the age-long conflict between the süfis and the 'ulema uniting t
in a single synthesis of solidarity. It is also not surprising that Sh
Ahmad's influence on Islam outside India was also quite considerab
It is strange that this revolution in sufi thought brought abo
by Shaikh Ahmad primarily with the religio-political motive of s
ing at the root of that eclecticism which had drawn its inspirati
from resemblances between the monist doctrines of sufism and Vedanta
was itself in many ways parallel to RãmãnujVs refutation of Shan-
kracharya's absolute monism. But there is no trace direct or indirect
of even the knowledge, let alone any influence of, Rãmãnuja or any
one of his followers on Shaikh Ahmad; though they both represent a
parallel but independent development in the history of two different
religions, in mutual ignorance in the same sub-continent. One has to
repeat the conclusion of Tara Chand ina similar context: «It is obviou-
sly futile to discuss the origins and migrations of mysticism in history
for mystical experience is implicit in all religions " 4.
After secession from the firmly established tradition of ontological
monism it was a much easier task to ward off the incursions of the
rationalists to make the orthodoxy of Indian Islam secure on this front;
all that Shaikh Ahmad had to do was to re-affirm the position taken

1 Op. cit., I, letter, I, 6-7.

2 For a detailed study of Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi's doctrine of phenomenalo-
gical monism see Burhan Ahmad Faruql, Mujjaddiď s Conception y Tawhld, Bom-
bay 1940.
3Mustafa Sabri, Mawãqif al-aql wcil-ilm wďl-alim . III, pp. 275-
99, Cairo 1950.
4 Tara Chand, Influence of Islam on Hindu Culture , Allahabad 1936, p. 105.

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 270 Aziz Ahmad [12]

up by Ghazãli vis-à-vis Fãr

the pale of Islam 2, and to
of the Mu'tazilites 3.
The Ijma' endorsed his title of the ' renovator of the second mil-
lennium ' ( mujjaddid-i alf-i thânï ), and there is no dubt his writings
and his influence checked the process of Indian Islam's disintegration
into syncretic heresies. He re-integrated the formalistic dynamics of
religion and the inner vitality of deep mysticism. This is perhaps
the most distinct contribution of Indian Islam to the religio-mystical
thought of Islam in general. But, on the other hand his easy victory,
specially the one against the rationalists gave to Indian Islam the
rigid and conservative stamp it bears to-dày. In a way he was the
pioneer of what modern Islam is to-day in Indian sub-continent, sepa-
ratist, isolationist, self-confident, conservative, more intolerant than
tolerant, not too liberal, deeply conscious of the need of a reformation
but distrustful of innovations, accepting speculation in theory but
dreading it in practice, and insular in its contact with other civiliza-
tions. This is not surprising because at one time or other the intel-
lectual leaders of modern Muslim India, Sayyid Ahmad Khan 4, Iqbãl 5
and Abul Kaläm Ãzãd 6, widely different though their religious and
political solutions have been, had been under the influence of Shaikh
Ahmad Sirhindi.

Aziz Ahmad

2 Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi, op. cit., I, letter 31, p. 43.

3 Op. cit., letter 266, pp. 315-323.
* A 1 t ã f Husain Hãli, Jlayãt-i Jœuïd, Cawnpore 1901, II, pp. 9-10;
Sayyid Ahmad Khan, Namiqã, dar bayãn-i tasawwur-i Shaikh, 1852.
5 Muhammad IqbãJ, Recostruction of Religious Thought in Islam, Ox-
ford 1934, pp. 182, 187; Bal- Jibril, Lahore 1935, p. 17.
6 Abul Kalãm Ãzãd, Tazkirã, Lahore, n.d., pp. 131-2, pp. 264-8.
Abul Kalãm Azãd defines religio-poli tical revolution (da'wat) and revolutionary reso-
lution (ť azimat-i da1 wat). He regards the work of Ibn Taymiyah and Shaikh
Ahmad as belonging to the latter category.

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