Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi was the most prominent saint of Naqshbandi Sufi silsila (order), one of the orders into which Sufis were organized. Chishti, Qadaria, Suhrawardy and Mawlawi are the other silsilas. he was a disciple of Khwaja Baqi Billah, the originator of Naqshbandiah silsilah in India.
Also known as Mujaddid Alif, Shaikh Ahmed Sirhindi was born in 1564 at Sirhind (currently in the Patiala district of the Punjab). He died in 1624 at Sarhind.
Ahmad Sirhindi disapproved of religious syncretism of Mughal emperor Akbar. Known for his orthodoxy and anti-Shia views, he was opposed to the Akbar’s religious views.
A notable work of Sirhindi is Maktubat-e-Imam Rabbani in which he has referred to the execution of Arjan Dev.
He had hailed the assassination of Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth Sikh Guru, who was executed by orders of fourth Mughal Emperor Jahangir, who ruled from 1605 to 1627. Guru Arjan Dev was charged with treason because he had given shelter to Prince Khusrau at Tarn Taran, who had rebelled against his father Jahangir for the Mughal throne.
Sirhindi was sent by Jahangir to the fort of Gwalior in 1619 for a brief period of imprisonment for his arrogance and rudeness.
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the first education minister of free India, eulogised Sirhindi as the defender of Islam and criticised Akbar’s religious policy.
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