Hazrat
Muhammad Al- Masoom Sirhindia r.a.
Hazrat
Muhammad Al- Masoom Sirhindia r.a.
Dotting
GT Road, away from the hustle and bustle of Chandigarh and somewhere
between Ludhiana and Ambala, lies the dusty town of Sirhind
that holds within itself important pages of Indian history book.
Sirhind is mostly known among Muslims through Sheikh Ahmed Sirhindi,
the famous Sufi of the Naqshbandi order who was conferred the
title of Mujaddid Alif-sani.
Mujaddid, in Islamic tradition, refers to a person who, Muslims
believe, is sent by God in the first half of every century of
the Islamic calendar.
As it says in the hadith: Allah shall raise for this Umma
at the head of every century a man who shall renew (or revive)
for it its religion (Sunan Abu Dawud)
The Mujaddids objective is to revive Islam, remove from
it any extraneous elements and to restore it to its pristine
state. A Mujaddid might be a caliph, a founder of a sufi order,
a saint (wali), a prominent teacher, a scholar or some other
kind of influential person.Usually all those who are considered
to be the Mujaddid may not compulsory that they claim. They
can be recognize by their work for Islam and its revival. [Wikipedia]
Mujaddid
Alif-sani would mean reviver of Islam in the second millennium.
Even though his name was familiar, I never knew the exact location
of Sirhind till a friend I was visiting in Chandigarh told me
about it. It was the place where Ahmed al-Faruqi was born on
the day of Ashura, the 10th of Muharram in the year 971 Hijri
or 1564 AD.
He received his knowledge and education through his father and
through many shaikhs in his time. He made progress in three
tariqats: Suhrawardiyya, Qadiriyya, and Chistiyya. He was given
permission to train followers in all three tariqats at the age
of 17 years. He was busy in spreading the teachings of these
tariqats and in guiding his followers, yet he felt that something
was missing in himself and he was continuously searching for
it. He felt an interest in the Naqshbandi Sufi Order, because
he could see by means of the secrets of the other three tariqats
that it was the best and highest. His spiritual progress eventually
brought him to the presence of the Ghawth and Qutb of his time,
ash-Shaikh Muhammad al-Baqi, who had been sent from Samarqand
to India by the order of his shaikh, Muhammad al-Amkanaki. He
took the Naqshbandi Order from the shaikh and stayed with him
for two months and some days, until Sayyidina Muhammad al-Baqi
opened to his heart the secret of this tariqat and gave him
authorization to train his murids in the Order.
A
high point of Sheikh Ahmed Sirhindis life was his confrontation
with Akbar and then with his successor Jahangir. Things came
to such a pass that he was incarcerated in the Fort of Gwalior
for three years. Eventually, he was freed by the Emperor and
went back to preaching in Sirhind where he died in 1624 AD.
He is largely credited to have led the revival of Islam in India
in the 16th-17th century. However, some scholars have criticized
his role saying that he steered the intellectual discourse away
from the liberal dogma during the times of Akbar and Jahangir.
Others have criticized him for his alleged role in the assassination
of Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth Guru of Sikhism, in 1606 at the
hands of Jahangir who suspected Arjan Dev of helping his rebellious
son, Khusrau.
He
followed Hanfi Tariqah (way) and received knowledge from the
Mujaddadiya Jama-e-Kamalat, Jami Tarq Qadriya, Suharwadiya,
Qabruyiya, Kalandariya, Madariya, Naqshbandiya, Chishtiya-Nizaamiya
and Sabariya, chains of Sufi orders.
* All Saints of the era / time congratulated His mother, and
described His Darjaat (state) (Ref.: Madarij Aaliya).
* His father saw in a vision that Huzoor (saws) came with all
Prophets Alaihis salaam and gave Azaan and Takbir in His ears
and described His Darjaat (Ref.: Madarij Aaliya)
* His fathers saw in a vision the Prophets (AL), Saints Angels
with 70000 green flags and were describing His virtues.
* Shaikh Abdul Aziz the Caliph of Shaikh Abdul Kuddus Gangohi
was present in Sirhind at the time of His birth and saw a concourse
of Angels, who were describing the virtues of Huzoor Mujaddid
Alf Sani.
* Shaikh Abul Hassan Chishti who was present at all time of
His birth said that He saw a vision in which all Prophets &
Saints had gathered and it was Explained that Huzoor Mujaddid
Alf Sani will have the Excellencies of all the Saints put together.
* A week before His birth, all musical instruments stopped playing.
Seeing this miracle all musicians and qawwals were astonished
and did Tauba (repentance).
* Sufis were unable to listen to mehfil due to this miracle
and they concentrated all their attention towards the birth
of Huzoor Mujaddid Alf Sani.
* On the day of Huzoor Mujaddid Alf Sanis birth the throne
of Mogul Emperor Jalaaluddin Akbar toppled and Akbar saw a horrific
dream which was interpreted that a Buzurg-e-Wahid
(Matchless Sants with Unique powers) has been born who would
put an end to his Kingdom and Lows.
MIRCALES (Makhsoos Kamaalat) OF AALA HAZRAT MUJADID
ALF-SANI (R.J)
The
body of Huzoor Mujaddid Alf Sani was created out of the clay
which remained after the coming into existence of the Holy Prophet
Huzoor (saws).
* He is known as Huzoor Mujaddid Alf Sani which means reviver
of Deen-e-Islam.
* He is the Qayyum-e-Awwal (The First Qayyum) and all were benefited
by His virtues and He brought everyone under one roof.
* He has been awarded the title Khazinat-ul-Rehmah.
* He has also been known as the Unique One (Martaba-e-Fardiyat).
* He was the Majmua Qutub-Al-Madar (He saved the world from
extinction due to the spread of Deen-e-Ihali) and Qutub-Al-Irshad.
* All Qutub-Al-Madar and Qutub-Al-Irshad would be from Silsilah
of Huzoor Mujaddid Alf Sani, upto the doomsday (Qayamat).
* Hazrat Imam Mehedi would be the Caliph from the Silsilah of
Huzoor Mujaddid Alf Sani.
* He has been awarded the state of Mehboobiyat Zatiya
Kharqah (Most beloved to Allah).
* He reached the post higher than even Ashaab-e-Yameen (Companions
who were closest to Prophet Mohammed (saws).
* He was gifted Malaahat-e-Mumtazeje (the attribute of uniting
Deen-e-Islam) in Sayyahat (Journey on the Path of Sufism).
* He is the one, who has shown people the Right Path to Allah.
* He received all knowledge directly from Huzoor Mohammed (saws)
due to His closeness.
* He had the ability to speak directly with Allah, as per His
will (without any reason).
* He was awarded Ilm-e-Ludni (Knowledge which was
given to Prophet Hazrat Musa Alaihis-salaam by Hazrat Khwaja
Khizar Alaihis-salaam as per Quran).
* The secret knowledge of the Quran was revealed to Him.
* He was taught Imle-e-Samvat by Amir-ul-Momineen Hazrat Ali
Murtaza Qarmullahu wajhu.
* He was explained regarding the secrets of Life & Death
by Hazrat Khwaja Khizar Alaihis-salaam and Hazrat Iliyas Alaihis-salaam.
* He was awarded Ilm-ul-Yakeen & Haqq-ul-Yakeen which was
only given to Ashab-e-Kibaar.
* The secret knowledge of Allahs entity was revealed to
Him.
* He was awarded the state similar to the Ashab-e-Kibaar since
they were taught all things by Huzoor Himself.
* The "Kaaba Sharif" came for Ziyaarat of "Huzoor
Mujaddid Alf Sani" , and "Aab-e-Zam Zam" issued
from the well of "Khanqah Sharif". At that time a
lot of people performed the "Hajj" and drank "Aab-e-Zam
Zam".
* The site of the "Khanqah Sharif" has been awarded
the position of "Heaven". (Jannat).
* The benefits of all the Silsilah's are merged into the Silsilah
of Aala Hazrat Mujaddid Alf Sani and the Naqshbandi-Mujaddadi
is considered the best.
* The way of Huzoor Mujaddid Alf Sani is the union of Shariyat
& Tariqat and a person following the Tariqah cannot only
achieve the Mukamat-e-Vilayat but can reach Kamaalat-e-Nabuwwat.
* Huzoor Mujaddid Alf Sani was shown all the Murids who would
enter into His Silsilah, till the day of Qayaamat by Allah (Huzoor
was shown all the Ummath & Aadam Alaihis-salaam was shown
all the childrens till the day of Qayaamat.)
* All circumstances of the past and future were revealed to
him.
* He also attained the age of 63 years similar to Huzoor Muhammad
s.a.
Sheikh
Ahmed Sirhind - Sheikh Ahmed Sirhind
The
entrance to his shrine is imposing and a mosque is situated
adjacent to the shrine. The plaque at the top of the main gate
reads:
bismillah ar rahmaan ar rahiim
laa ilaahaa illalaah muhammad rasuul allah
Mazaar puranvaar Hazrat Imam Rabbani Mujaddid Alifsani Sheikh
ahmed Faruqui Naqshbandi Sirhindi rahmat ullah alaihu
It
roughly translates into:
In the name of Allah, Most Magnificent, Most Merciful
There is no God but Allah and Mohammad is His Messenger
The illuminated mausoleum of Hazrat Imam Rabbani Mujaddid Alifsani
Sheikh ahmed Faruqui Naqshbandi Sirhindi (may Allah have mercy
upon him)
The
plaque also tells us that the construction was done in 1925
AD which is not is fairly recent. As it is the case with Taj
Mahal the mausoleum of Sheikh Ahmed Sarhind is also built in
two stories. A demo grave at the top and the actual grave at
the bottom.
Demo
Grave Sheikh Ahmed Sirhind Actual Grave Sheikh Ahmed Sirhind
Wishes
One of the interesting sights at the mausoleum is this intricate
marble work made colorful by wish-threads tied by the devotees.
For every wish they solicit through Sheikh, the devotees tie
a thread. Today Sirhind Sharif receives many of its visitors
from other parts of North India who are going to Ajmer Sharif
for the annual Urs and stop at Sirhind along the way. The population
of Muslims is minuscule in Punjab and a large percentage consists
of immigrant workers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Quite
close to the dargah of Sheikh Ahmed Sirhindi stands Fatehgarh
Sahib Gurudwara and holds an exalted status in the eyes of Sikhs.
It is the place where the two younger sons of Guru Gobind Singh
were bricked alive.
After the heroic death of two elder sons of Guru Gobind Singh,
in the battle of Chamkaur, on December22, 1704 his two younger
sons, namely, Zorawar Singh and Fateh Singh were done to death,
by being bricked alive in the fort of Sirhind on December 28,
1704 by the order of the tyrant Nawab Wazir Khan. Mata Gujri,
grandmother of the two Sahibzadas expired due to the shock of
brutal murder of her two grand children. A Hindu Philanthropist
Dewan Todar Mal cremated three dead bodies with the help of
other devotees of the Guru. He purchased the land by paying
gold coins to the muslim Zamindar named Atta. Here stands the
Gurdwara Jyoti Swarup. A big hall with a seating capacity for
5,000 persons has been recently constructed. It has been named
Dewan Todar Mal Hall. [All About Sikhs]
Gurudwara
Fatehgarh Sahib
Sirhind,
like many other places of historical importance dotting North
Indian landscape has been largely forgotten but will feature
prominently whenever we look back into the past.
An
edited version of this article by Mohib Ahmad earlier appeared
at the Indian Muslim opinion website at www.IndianMuslims.in
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Imam-e-Rabbani
Shaykh Ahmad al-Farooqi Sirhindi
Hazrat Mujaddid Alif Saani(rah)
Shaykh Ahmad al-Farooqi Sirhindi son of Makhdoom Sheikh Abdul
Ahad, scholar as well an activist of the Farouqi Chistia Order,
decedent of Umar Farouqi, Second Caliph, with twenty eight links
in the chain, was born on the day of 'Ashura, the 10th of Muharram
in the year 971 H., in the village of Sirhind near the city
of Lahore in present-day India. Sirhindi's shrine is located
in Sirhind, India and is referred to as "Rauza Sharif"..
It is said that the territory of Sirhind was a dense forest
abound with lions so named as Sher-e-Hind which when mutilated
became Sirhind.
He received his knowledge and education through his father and
through many shaikhs in his time. He made progress in three
tariqats: Suhrawardiyya, Qadiriyya, and Chistiyya. He was given
permission to train followers in all three tariqats at the age
of 17 years. He was busy in spreading the teachings of these
tariqats and in guiding his followers, yet he felt that something
was missing in himself and he was continuously searching for
it. He felt an interest in the Naqshbandi Sufi Order, because
he could see by means of the secrets of the other three tariqats
that it was the best and highest. His spiritual progress eventually
brought him to the presence of the Ghawth and Qutb of his time,
ash-Shaikh Muhammad al-Baqi, who had been sent from Samarqand
to India by the order of his shaikh, Muhammad al-Amkanaki. He
took the Naqshbandi Order from the shaikh and stayed with him
for two months and some days, until Sayyidina Muhammad al-Baqi
opened to his heart the secret of this tariqat and gave him
authorization to train his murids in the Order.
With the intention of proceeding on the Haj pilgrimage, he set
out from Sirhind to Delhi and stayed with Maulana Hasan Kashmiri
and from him heard of the virtues of Khawaja Baqi Billah. This
aroused in him an intense wish to see him. When he saw, he was
delighted, gave up the idea of the pilgrimage and engaged in
spiritual training under the guidance of Khawaja Baqi Billah
for three months. Hazrat Khawaja Baqi - Billah was so much impressed
with the spiritual powers of the Mujaddid that he also awarded
him the robe of his heir.
On his return from Delhi to Sirhind he drew a detailed and extensive
programme for the moral and spiritual awakening of the people
along with introduced teaching and sermonizing. Not much time
had elapsed that he was again called to Delhi and received two
letters one after the other at short intervals. He went there.
Hazrat Khawaja made him guardian of his children. This was their
last meeting. After this the Mujaddid returned to Sirhind. Hazrat
Baqi-Billah passed away in the meantime. The Mujaddid was in
Lahore. When news reached him, he set out to Delhi immediately,
paid homage to him at his grave and stayed for a short period
of time.
During the reign of Akbar, in the tenth century Hijri, Islam
was passing through a lean period; was under seige of blasphemy,
atheism, and irreligious. Akbar was providing state patronage
to Deen-e-Ilahi and was practicing un-Islamic rites. Fire, trees,
and water were worshipped. At this juncture. Islam needed a
fearless believer to defend it against the onslaught. He did
not permit the opportunist scholars and the misguided emperor
to garner strength and kept the torch of truth burning in such
trying times.
Sirhindi's World view
Sirhindi's worldview focused on the idea that ontologically,
the prophethood is far greater than closeness with Allah. He
believed that Sufi ideas which centered around spiritual growth
beyond the material world, while exhibiting key concepts, fell
short of encompassing Islam as a whole. Sirhindi, still accepting
and using these ideas of walayat, or closeness with Allah, focused
on a much more human understanding and reality by focusing on
following the sunnah of Muhammad (SAWS) and his companions.
His influence went so far as implementing jurisprudence in the
Islamic world by emphasizing the Shariah and fiqh, integrating
both into Indian Muslim government and society. This was accomplished
through his 536 letters collectively entitled Collected Letters
or Maktubat, to the Mughal rulers conveying his ideas.
Sayings
Abu
Dawud related an authentic hadith that the Prophet, upon whom
be Allah peace and blessings, said, 'Allah will send at the
beginning of every century someone by whom the religion will
be revived,' but there is a difference between the Reviver of
the Century and the Reviver of the Millennium. It is like the
difference between one hundred and one thousand." In a
vision, the Prophet gave me good tidings: 'You are going to
be a spiritual inheritor and Allah is going to give you the
authority to intercede on behalf of hundreds of thousands on
the Day of Judgment.' He bestowed on me with his holy hand the
authority to guide people, and he said to me, 'Never before
have I given that authority to guide people.' Allah unveiled
to me the Secrets of the Unique Oneness and He poured into my
heart all kinds of Spiritual Knowledge and its refinement. He
unveiled to me the Secrets of the ayats of Qur'an so that I
found beneath every letter of the Qur'an an ocean of knowledge
all pointing to the High Essence of Allah Almighty and Exalted.
If I were to reveal one word of the meaning of it they would
cut off my head, as they did to Hallaj and to Ibn 'Arabi. This
is the meaning of the hadith of the Prophet , in Bukhari, narrated
by Abu Huraira (r), "The Prophet poured into my heart two
kinds of knowledge, one of which I have revealed and another
which if I were to reveal they would cut my throat.
Works
: His works are his letters written to many of his contemporaries
known as Maktubaat.
"Moving to Allah is a vertical movement from the lower
stations to the higher stations; until the movement surpasses
time and space and all the states dissolve into what is called
the Necessary Knowledge (cilm ul-wajib) of Allah. This is also
called Annihilation (fana').
"Moving in Allah is the stage in which the seeker moves
from the station of Names and Attributes to a state which neither
word nor sign can describe. This is the State of Existence in
Allah called Baqa.
"Moving from Allah is the stage in which the seeker returns
from the heavenly world to the world of cause and effect, descending
from the highest station of knowledge to the lowest. Here he
forgets Allah by Allah, and he knows Allah with Allah, and he
returns from Allah to Allah. This is called the State of the
Farthest and the Nearest.
"Moving in things is a movement within creation. This involves
knowing intimately all elements and states in this world after
having vanished in Annihilation. Here the seeker can achieve
the State of Guidance, which is the state of the prophets and
the people following the footsteps of the Prophet . It brings
the Divine Knowledge into the world of creation in order to
establish Guidance.
Hazrat Mujaddid Alif Sa'ani was a great writer but his letter
proved more popular than his books. These letters translated
in Urdu, not only express his opinion on various issues but
are also fine pieces of language and style. Besides them following
are some of the titles of his books:
Mobada-o-Ma'ad.
Ma'arife-ladqiya.
Makashifaat-e-ghebia.
Sharah Rubaeyat-e-Hazrat Khawaja Baqi-Billah.
Risala-Telilia.
Risala Isbat-ul-Nabuwwat.
Risala Basilsila-e-Aha'dis.
One day a man told him that his relative was grievously ill
and requested to pray for him. He hesitated a little and said
it was not proper to pray for health to the deceased. Hearing
this he went out crying and when he reached his village he found
his relative dead and the people were crying.
He died on 9 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1079 Hijri.
Hazrat Shah Fazle Rehma Gunjmuradabadi(rah) a great sufi saint
belongs to the family of Hazrat Mujadid Alif Sani(rah), You
can read the whole biography of Hazrat Sayed Shah Fazle Rehma
Gunjmuradabadi(rah) at this link http://www.aulia-e-hind.com/dargah/GunjMuradabad.htm
Some
more dargahs in Sirhind
Muhammed
Maasoom (R), Sirhind, Punjab
Muhammed Saifudheen (R), Sirhind, Punjab
Anybody
wants to visit Sirhin can contact ...
Hazrat
Sayyed Mohd Yahhya Mujaddadi Salmah allahu t'aala
Sajjadah Nasheen of Huzoor Aala-Hazrat Mujaddid Alf Saani Rehmatullah
aleh,
Hazrat Sayyed Masoom Farooquee Rehmatullah aleh &
Hazrat Sayyed Saifuddin Farooquee Rehmatullah aleh
Khankah-e-Aaliyah Mujaddadiya, Sir Hind, Fateh Gard, Punjab
- 140406 INDIA.
Tel. 01763 - 232144.
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