A Brief Biography of Imam Ahmad al-Faruqi ibn ‘Abd al-Ahad as-Sirhindi (q.s.)
بِسۡمِ
ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
Imam
Ahmad al-Faruqi ibn ‘Abd al-Ahad as-Sirhindi (q.s.) was the Pearl of the
Crown of the Knowledgeable Saints. He was
the Treasure of Those who Came Before and of Those who Came After. In him were combined all their favours and
generosity. He was the Sinai of Divine
Manifestation, the Furthermost Lote Tree of the Unique Knowledge, and the
Fountain of the Hidden Prophetic Knowledge.
He was the Genius of Scholar,s and he was the Sulthan of the Earth, which
smiled when he was born and was honoured by his existence. He was the perfect Perfected Guide. He was the Caller to Allah’s (s.w.t.) presence, the One Quthb and the Unique Heavenly Imam.
He was the Reviver of the Second Millennium. Sayyidina
wa Mawlana, our Leader and Master. Imam
Ahmad al-Faruqi as-Sirhindi (q.s.),
ibn Shaykh ‘Abd al-Ahad (q.s.), ibn Shaykh
Zayn al-‘Abidin (q.s.), ibn Shaykh ‘Abd
al-Hayy (r.a.), ibn Shaykh Muhammad (r.a.), ibn Shaykh Habibullah (r.a.), ibn Shaykh Rafi’ ad-Din (r.a.), ibn Shaykh Nur (r.a.), ibn Shaykh Sulayman (r.a.), ibn Shaykh Yusuf (r.a.), ibn Shaykh ‘Abdullah (r.a.), ibn Shaykh Ishaq (r.a.), ibn Shaykh ‘Abdullah (r.a.), ibn Shaykh Shu’ayb (r.a.), ibn Shaykh ‘Aad (r.a.), ibn Shaykh Yusuf (r.a.), ibn Shaykh Shihab ad-Din (q.s.), known as Shaykh Farq Shah al-Qabidhi
(r.a.), ibn Shaykh Na’ir ad-Din (r.a.),
ibn Shaykh Mahmud (r.a.), ibn Shaykh Sulayman
(r.a.), ibn Shaykh Mas’ud (r.a.), ibn Shaykh ‘Abdullah al-Wa’i
al-Aswghari (r.a.), ibn Shaykh ‘Abdullah
al-Wa’i al-Akbar (r.a.), Shaykh ibn ‘Abd
al-Fattah (r.a.), ibn Shaykh Ishaq (r.a.), ibn Shaykh Ibrahim (r.a.), ibn Shaykh Na’ir (r.a.), ibn Sayyidina ‘Abdullah (r.a.), the son of Amir al-Mu’minin, the khalif
of the Prophet (s.a.w.), Sayyidina ‘Umar
ibn al-Khaththab (r.a.).
He was born on the day
of ‘Ashura, the 10th of
Muharram in the year 971 AH, in the village of Sihar Nidbasin. In some translations, it is called Sirhind, in
the city of Lahore, in the Indian subcontinent. He received his knowledge and education
through his father, and through many shuyukh
in his time. He made progress in three thuruq: Suhrawardiyyah, Qadiriyyah,
and Shishtiyyah. He was given permission to train followers in
all three thuruq at the age of 17
years. He was busy in spreading the
teachings of these thuruq 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 Naqshbandiyyah.
His spiritual progress eventually
brought him to the presence of the ghawts
and quthb of his time, Khwaja Baqi’billah
Razi ad-Din Muhammad al-Baqi’ (q.s.),
who had been sent from Samarqand to India by the order of his shaykh, Khwaja Muhammad al-Amkanaki (q.s.). He took the Naqshbandi Order from the shaykh and stayed with him for two
months and some days, until Khwaja Muhammad al-Baqi’ (q.s.) opened to his heart the secret of this thariqa’ and gave him authorisation to train his muridun in the Order. He said about him, “He is the highest quthb in this time.”
The Prophet (s.a.w.) predicted his advent in one of
his hadits when he said, “There will
be among my ummah, a man called ‘Swilah’.
By his intercession, many people will be
saved.” It was mentioned in the
collection of Imam Abu al-Fadhl ‘Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad Jalal
ad-Din as-Suyuthi (q.s.).
What confirmed the truth
of this hadits is what Imam Rabbani (q.s.) wrote about himself: “Allah has Made
me the swilah between the two Oceans.” “Swilah means “connection”. So, he meant that Allah (s.w.t.) had Made him a connection between the two oceans, the two types
of knowledge, external and internal.
Shaykh Mir Husam ad-Din
(q.s.) said, “I saw the Prophet (s.a.w.) in one of my dreams standing on
the minbar and praising Imam Ahmad
as-Sirhindi. The Prophet (s.a.w.) was saying, ‘I am proud and
happy with his presence among my ummah.
Allah (s.w.t.) has Made him a
reviver of the religion.’”
Many saints predicted
his advent. One of them was Shaykh Ahmad
ibn Abu al-Hasan al-Jami’ (q.s.). He said, “After me, will appear seventeen men
of the People of Allah, all of whom are named ‘Ahmad’ and the last one among
them will be at the head of the millennium. He is going to be the highest of them, and he
is going to receive the state of Unveiling. He is going to revive this religion.”
Another to predict his
advent was Khwaja al-Amkanaki (q.s.).
He said to his khalif, “A man from India is going to appear. He will be the imam of his century. He will
be trained by you, so hurry to meet him, because the people of Allah (s.w.t.)
are awaiting his arrival.”
Shaykh Muhammad al-Baqi’
(q.s.) said, “That is why I moved
from Bukhara to India.” When they met,
he told him, “You are the one whose appearance the shaykh Khwaja Muhammad al-Amkanaki predicted. When I saw you, I knew you were the quthb of your time. When I entered the region of Sirhind in India,
I found a lamp which was so big and so bright that its light reached up to the
heavens. Everyone took from that lamp’s
light. You are that lamp.”
It is said that the shaykh of his father, Shaykh ‘Abd al-Ahad
ibn Zayn al-‘Abidin (q.s.), who was a
shaykh of the Qadiri Order, had been
given a jubbah from his shaykh which had been passed down from
the Ghawts al-A’azham, Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qadir
al-Jilani (q.s.). Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qadir (q.s.) had said about it to his successors, “Keep it for that one
who is going to appear at the end of the first millennium. His name is Ahmad. He is going to revive this religion. I have dressed him with all my secrets. He combines in himself both the internal and
external knowledge.”
Imam Ahmad al-Faruqi (q.s.) said, “Let it be known to you that
the Heavenly Guardians attracted me because they wanted me to be attracted, and
they facilitated for me the passage through time and space in the different
states of the seeker. I found that Allah
(s.w.t.) is the Essence of all matter, as it had been said by the people
of taswawwuf. Then I found Allah in all matter without
incarnation. Then I found Allah (s.w.t.)
together with all matter. Then I saw Him
Ahead of everything, and then I saw Him Following everything. Finally, I reached a state where I saw Him,
and I saw nothing else. This is what is
meant by the term, ‘witnessing the Oneness,’ which is also the state of fana’. That is the first step in wilayat, and the highest state in the Beginning of the Way. This vision appears first on the horizons,
then secondly in the self. Then I have
been lifted to the station of baqa’ which
is the second step in wilayat.
This is a station which
many saints did not speak about because they did not reach it. All of them speak about the station of fana’, but following that state is baqa’. In that state, I found all Creation another
time, but I found that the essence of all Creation is Allah (s.w.t.),
and Allah’s Essence is the Essence of Myself. Then I found Allah (s.w.t.) in
everything, but in reality, in myself. I
was Raised to a higher state, to find Allah (s.w.t.) with everything,
but in reality, He was with myself. Then
I was Lifted to see Him preceding everything, but in reality, He was preceding
myself. Then I was Lifted to a state
where He was following everything, but in reality, He was following myself. Then I saw Him in everything, but in reality,
He was in myself. Then I saw everything,
and I did not see Allah (s.w.t.). And this is the end of the stations by which they
had brought me back to the beginning. In
sum, they lifted me to the station of fana’,
then to the station of baqa’, then
they brought me back to be with people, in the station of the common people. This is the highest state in guiding people to
the Divine Presence. It is the perfect
state of guidance, because it matches the understanding of human beings.”
He also said, “I
accompanied today one who has reached the End of Ends, the Quthb of all Creatures, the Perfect Man, Shaykh Muhammad al-Baqi. Through him, I received incredible Blessings,
and by his blessing I was granted a power of attraction that allowed me to
reach every human being that Allah (s.w.t.) had Created. I was honoured to attain a station that
combines the state of the Ending with the state of the Beginning. I achieved all the states of Seeking and I
reached the Ending, which is the meaning of ‘Reaching the Name of ar-Rabb’, by
the support of Asadullah, ‘Ali ibn Abi Thalib (k.w.). I was Raised up to
the state of the ‘Arsh, which is the haqiqat of Muhammad (s.a.w.), by the support of Shah Baha’ ad-Din
an-Naqshband. Then I was Lifted even
higher, to the state of Jamal, which
is the state of the Haqiqah of the
Muhammadan aqthab, by the madad of the Prophetic Spirit.
I was supported by Shaykh
Ala’ ad-Din al-Aththar, from whom I received the states of the greatest spiritual
poles from the presence of Muhammad (s.a.w.).
Then Allah’s (s.w.t.) Divine Care
attracted me, and I ascended to a state that is beyond that of the aqthab, the special original state. Here, the support of al-Ghawts al-A’azham, Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (q.s.) pushed me up to the state of the origin
of origins. Then I was ordered to come
back down, and as I was descending, I passed by all thirty-nine thuruq other than the Naqshbandiyyah and the Qadiriyyah. I looked at the states of their shuyukh, and they greeted me and saluted
me, and they threw on me all their treasures and all their private knowledge,
which unveiled to me realities which had never been unveiled to any person in
my time. Then on my descent I met Khidhr
(a.s.), and he adorned me with the Divine
Knowledge before I reached the state of the aqthab.”
Imam Ahmad al-Faruqi (q.s.) explained, “Abu Dawud said in a swahih hadits that the Prophet (s.a.w.)
said, ‘Allah (s.w.t.) 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.”
He also revealed, “In a
vision, the Prophet (s.a.w.) gave me
good tidings: ‘You are going to be a spiritual inheritor and Allah (s.w.t.)
is going to Give you the authority to intercede on behalf of hundreds of
thousands on the Day of Judgement.’ 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.’”
He said, “The knowledge
that is emerging from me is coming from the state of wilayat, but I am receiving it from the Nur of the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.).
Saints are unable to bring forth such knowledge,
because it is beyond the knowledge of saints. It is the knowledge of the essence of this religion
and the essence of the knowledge of Allah’s (s.w.t.) Essence and
Attributes. No one before has spoken
about it, and Allah has Granted me to be the one to revive the religion in its
second millennium.”
He said, “Allah (s.w.t.)
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 ayat 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 (s.w.t.). If I
were to reveal one word of the meaning of it, they would cut off my head, as
they did to ibn al-Hallaj and to ibn ‘Arabi. This is the meaning of the hadits of the Prophet (s.a.w.), in al-Bukhari, narrated by Abu
Hurayrah (r.a.), ‘The Prophet (s.a.w.) 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.’”
He said, “Allah (s.w.t.)
has Shown me all the names of those who are entering our thariqa’, from the day of Sayyidina Abu Bakr (r.a.) to the Day of Judgement, both men and women, and all of them are
going to enter Paradise, with the intercession of the shuyukh of the thariqa’.” And he added, “al-Mahdi will be one of the
followers of this thariqa’.”
On his intercession, he
said, “One day I was in swuhbah with
my followers doing dzikr, and it came
to my heart that I had done something wrong. Then Allah (s.w.t.) Opened to my eyes, ‘I
have Forgiven anyone who sits with you and anyone asking intercession by means
of you.’” He also said, “Allah (s.w.t.)
Said to me, ‘Anyone for whom you pray janazah
will be Forgiven, and if anyone mixes earth from your grave with the earth of
their grave, they will be Forgiven.’”
On his Creation, he
said, “Allah (s.w.t.) has Created me from the residue of His Prophet (s.a.w.).” He also said, “The Ka’bah was always coming and
making thawaf around me.”
He said, “Allah (s.w.t.)
Said, ‘I have Given you special gifts and perfection, which no one will receive
other than you until the time of the Mahdi.’” He also said, “Allah (s.w.t.)
Gave me an incredible power of guidance. Even if I direct my guidance to a dead tree,
it will become green.”
One great shaykh wrote to him asking, “The states
that you reached, and you are speaking about, did the swahabah receive them, and if they did, did they receive them at
one time, or did they receive them at separate times?”
He answered, “I cannot
give you an answer unless you come into my presence.”
When the shaykh came, Imam Ahmad al-Faruqi (q.s.) immediately unveiled to him his
spiritual reality and cleaned the darkness of his heart until the shaykh fell prostrate at his feet and
said, “I believe, I believe! I see now
that these states were all revealed to the swahabah
simply by looking at the Messenger (s.a.w.).”
One time, in Ramadhan,
he was invited by ten of his muridun
to break fast with them. He accepted the
invitation of each of them. When it came
time to break the fast, he was present at each of their houses, breaking the
fast, and they saw him in each of their houses at the same time.
One time he looked at
the sky and it was raining. He said, “O
rain, stop until such and such hour.” It
stopped until the exact time he had said, after which it started raining again.
One time, the ruler
ordered that a man be executed. That man
came to Imam Ahmad al-Faruqi (q.s.)
and said, “Please write a stay of execution for me.”
He wrote to the ruler, “Do
not execute this man.” The ruler was
afraid of Shaykh Ahmad al-Faruqi (q.s.)
and pardoned the man.
Imam Ahmad al-Faruqi (q.s.) said, “I was authorised to give initiation
in three thuruq: Naqshbandi,
Suhrawardi and Shishty.”
He was so famous that
the scholars of external knowledge in his time became jealous of him. They went to the ruler and told him, “He is
saying things that are not accepted in the religion.” They pushed the ruler until he put him in
jail. He stayed in jail for three years.
His son, Shaykh Sayyid
ibn Ahmad (q.s.), said, “He was under
very intense security in jail. Guards
surrounded his room on every side. Yet
every Friday, he would be seen in the big mosque. No matter how much security he was under, he
would disappear from prison and appear in the mosque.” From this, they knew they could not put him
behind bars and, therefore, they released him.
He wrote many books. One of the most famous is the Maktubat. In it, he said, “It must be known that Allah
has Placed us under His Obligations and His Prohibitions. Allah (s.w.t.) Said:
سُوۡرَةُ الحَشر
... وَمَآ
ءَاتَٮٰكُمُ ٱلرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ وَمَا نَہَٮٰكُمۡ عَنۡهُ فَٱنتَهُواْۚ ... (٧)
… So, take what the Messenger assigns to you, and deny yourselves that
which he withholds from you ... (Surah al-Hashr:7)
If we are going to be
sincere in this, we have to attain fana’
and the love of the Essence. Without
these, we cannot reach this degree of obedience. Thus, we are under another obligation, which
is to seek the path of taswawwuf,
because this Way will lead us to the state of fana’ and the love of the Essence. Each thariqa’
differs from the other in its states of perfection; so too does each thariqa’ keep the sunnah of the Prophet (s.a.w.)
and have its own definition of what that entails. Every thariqa’
has its own way of keeping the sunnah
of the Prophet (s.a.w.). Our thariqa’,
through its shuyukh, requires us to
keep all the commands of the Prophet (s.a.w.)
and to leave all the things he prohibited. Our shuyukh
do not follow the easy ways but insist on keeping the difficult ways. In all their seeking, they keep in mind the
verse of Qur’an:
سُوۡرَةُ النُّور
رِجَالٌ۬ لَّا تُلۡهِيہِمۡ تِجَـٰرَةٌ۬ وَلَا بَيۡعٌ عَن
ذِكۡرِ ٱللَّهِ ... (٣٧)
By men whom neither traffic
nor merchandise can divert from the remembrance of Allah … (Surah an-Nur:37)”
On the Path, Imam Ahmad
al-Faruqi (q.s.) said, “In the
journey leading to the unveiling of the Divine Realities, the seeker moves
through various stages of knowledge of and proximity to His Lord. Moving to Allah (s.w.t.) 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 ‘ilm al-wajib of Allah. This is also called fana’. Moving in Allah (s.w.t.)
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 (s.w.t.)
Called baqa’. Moving from Allah (s.w.t.) is the
stage in which the seeker returns from the Divine realm to the world of cause
and effect, descending from the highest station of knowledge to the lowest. Here, he forgets Allah (s.w.t.) by
Allah (s.w.t.), and he knows Allah (s.w.t.) with Allah (s.w.t.),
and he returns from Allah (s.w.t.) to Allah (s.w.t.). 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 fana’. 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 (s.a.w.). It brings the Divine Knowledge into the world
of Creation in order to establish guidance.
The entire process is
like threading a needle. The thread
seeks the eye of the needle, passes through, and then proceeds down to where it
began. There the two ends meet, form a
knot, and secure the entire thread. They
form a whole, thread, eye and needle, and any material they catch is sewn into
the fabric of the unity. It must be
known to everyone that the Naqshbandi shuyukh
chose to guide their muridun first
through the movement from Allah (s.w.t.), travelling from the higher
states to the lower. For this reason,
they maintain the common veils over the spiritual vision of the murid, removing the veil of ordinary
consciousness only at the final step. All
other thuruq begin with the movement
to Allah (s.w.t.), moving from the lowest states to the highest, and
removing the common veils first.”
On prophetic
inheritance, he said, “It is mentioned in the hadits of the Prophet (s.a.w.),
‘Scholars are the inheritors of the prophets.’ The knowledge of prophets is of two kinds:
knowledge of laws and knowledge of secrets. The scholar cannot be called an inheritor if
he does not inherit both types of knowledge. If he takes only one type of knowledge, he is
incomplete. Thus, the real inheritors
are the ones who take the knowledge of the laws and the knowledge of the
secrets, and only the saints have truly received and protected this inheritance.”
He left behind him many
more books. He passed away on the 17th
of Swafar 1034 AH, at the age of 63. He
was buried in the village of Sirhind. He
was a shaykh in four thuruq: Naqshbandi, Qadiri, Shishty and
Suhrawardi. He preferred the Naqshbandi,
because he said, “It is the mother of all thuruq.” He passed the secret of the Naqshbandi thariqa’ to Shaykh Muhammad al-Ma’sum ibn
Ahmad al-Faruqi (q.s.).
I agree, from the onset I really think the webpage of Darul itself needs a major overhaul. Technology now is simple and very easy to leverage, I too agree with some points that you point out in leveraging wikis, blogs, online videos, etc.
ReplyDeleteI really want to see this as part of the Youth group one day actually. Anyway, if you think you need some help on the tech front, just drop me a note. I shall try to help.
Assalamu'Alaikum,
ReplyDeleteI've already pointed that out to DA when I was in the ExCo & Council that the web site needs to be overhauled.
It takes too long to load, oftentimes the information is outdated, the script only runs on IE properly.
We have a tremendous backlog of old footage from the public talks, events and sharahans that the Association does not use, for example.
But if DA does not want to do it, we'll do it our way, insha'Allah.
Thanks for the offer. Much appreciated.
Wassalam
May Allah swt assist in all your efforts and strengthen the faith to do it for His sake. amin amin ya robbal alamin.
ReplyDeleteAsalamu'Alaikum,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your blessing.
Amin.
Wassalam