Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi

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Sheikh Ahmed Sirhindi, commonly known as Mujaddid-e-Alf-Sani (the reformer of the second millennium), was born on 26 June, 1564, in Sirhind, a city of East Punjab. He was educated at home and was inducted into mysticism by his father, Sheikh Abdul-al-Ahad, who was himself an eminent Sufi. At the age of 36 he went to Delhi and there he met Khawaja Baqi Billah who introduced him to the Naqshbandi Silsilah. Sheikh Ahmed was not new to Sufi discipline as he had made remarkable progress and soon reached the sublime heights of experience and beatific vision. He died on 15 December, 1624, at the age of 60 years. Mujaddid's Reforms 1. Successful Jihad against Deen-e-Elahi During his period the Muslims in India had become so deficient in the knowledge of true Islam that they had more belief in Karamat or miracles of the saints than Islamic teachings. The Ulema and theologians of the time had ceased to refer to the Quran and Hadith in their commentaries, and considered jurispredence the only religious knowledge. Akbar, the Mughal King had started a series of experiments with Islam, propagating his own religion Deen-e-Elahi, an amalgamation of Hindu and Muslim beliefs. In these circumstances, Sheikh Ahmed set upon himself the task of purifying the Muslim society. His aim was to rid Islam of the accretions of Hindu Pantheism. However the Mujaddid succeeded in his efforts at last and Jahangir cancelled all those orders of his father which were against the spirit of Islam and thus Deen-e-Elahi came to an ignoble end. 2. Refusal to prostrate before Jahangir As soon as Akbar died and Jahangir ascended the throne, Sheikh Ahmed Sarhindi came out to reform and to do away with all Un-Islamic practices and beliefs initiated by Akbar among the Muslims. Sheikh Ahmed Sarhindi never entered into any political conflict directly. He wrote letters to all the nobles' of Jahangir's

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