The favors of Imam Rabbani Mujaddid Alf Thaani Hadhrat Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi (May Allah sanctify his secret) on the Ummah

 The favors of Hadhrat Imam Rabbani (May Allah sanctify his secret) on the Ummah are not limited to any one aspect or field but cover the whole gamut of life.  Be it religion, society, mysticism, or any other aspect of life, the Imam has left unforgettable impressions on all of them and turned every aspect of life back to the commands and guidelines given by the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam).

 

        Some people have this wrong impression about the Sufis that they remain unconnected from the society and always live in seclusion blind to the problems of Muslims.  There can be nothing father than truth.  The lives of the Naqshbandi Sufis are proof enough of this.  Especially the life of Hadhrat Imam Rabbani (May Allah sanctify his secret) was a continuous struggle against the forces of falsehood.  His spiritual authority was taking the seekers of truth from one peak to another and on the other hand, he was also engaged in establishment of the religion, removal of wrong customs and reprehensible innovations and revival of the Sunnah and the Islamic spirit.

 

The Imam used the following methods for this purpose:

 

·        He prepared and trained a large number of his caliphs and students for this purpose and then sent them to various parts of South Asia and other countries so that they could preach Islam and bring people back into the fold of the Shariah.  In Muslim countries, groups of Sufis were sent under his most famous caliphs.  Maulana Yaar Muhammad Qadeem Taliqani (May Allah shower His Mercy on him) was sent with 70 Sufis to Turkey and surrounding areas.  Maulana Farkh Hussain (May Allah shower His Mercy on him) was sent with 40 Sufis to Yemen, Syria and Rome.  Similarly 10 Sufis were sent under Maulana Sadiq Kabuli (May Allah shower His Mercy on him) to Kashghar.  Maulana Shaykh Ahmed Barki (May Allah shower His Mercy on him) was sent with 3 other caliphs to Khorasan and surrounding areas.  In South Asia, a caliph of the Imam was present in every city.

 

·        Hadhrat Imam Rabbani (May Allah sanctify his secret) wrote letters to the leaders and important people of various areas and these letters were spread all around.  These letters dealt with religious issues, the rules of the Shariah, the subtleties of Islamic mysticism and stress obedience to the Sunnah.

 

·        Various high-ranking nobles of the court were motivated to join the Order.  It was repeatedly emphasized to them not only to establish Islam in areas under them but also to use their influence in the court and counsel the emperor as well.

 

·        The spirit of Islam was revived in the common folk and awareness was created in them that they would not follow any royal decree which went against the Shariah.  This was spread in the royal army as well.

 

Establishment of Islam

 

The movement of establishment of religion which was started by Hadhrat Khwaja Baqibillah and Hadhrat Imam Rabbani (May Allah sanctify their secrets) first showed its success when Emperor Akbar died.  Some sections of the court tried to make 17-year-old Khusro the king as he was the nephew of Raja Maan Singh.  In light of his young age and his inclination towards irreligiousness, it would have been easy to lead him by the nose.  However, the nobles who were under the influence of the Khwaja and the Imam were led by Syed Fareed Bukhari (May Allah shower His Mercy on him) worked against it and made Jahangir the emperor.  Even though Jahangir was no saint, but he was much better than others.  These nobles took the allegiance of preservation of Islam from him.  As soon as he took the throne, Jahangir passed laws which ensured prohibition of un-Islamic taxes, prohibition of wine, suspension of un-Islamic punishments and many other laws of public welfare.

 

The hopes pinned on Jahangir failed as he soon fell under the influence of his wife, father in law and his brother who encouraged him to drink wine and themselves became de facto rulers.  Hadhrat Imam Rabbani (May Allah sanctify his secret) was in continuous contact with the nobles and wrote them letters and guided them.  He stressed that they should give proper advice to the emperor and guiding him properly.  These efforts bore fruit as history shows.

 

Revival of Islamic spirit

 

Hadhrat Imam Rabbani (May Allah sanctify his secret) writes:  Islam has become so weak that its enemies condemn Muslims in public….

 

The Imam became more concerned with this when he spent some time with the army of Jahangir after his release from the fort of Gwalior.  After this, the thoughts of Jahangir also changed.  In Tuzk, he expresses his displeasure on customs like Sati, etc. and orders that they be stopped.

 

Removal of false customs and practices

 

Although this era was one of great popularity of Tasawwuf, the mystical sciences of Islam, some customs had crept in, which had no relation to Islam.  Some false Sufis had gone to the extent of shrugging away the commands of the Shariah.  They had become careless about the Sunnah.

 

        It is nothing but a miracle of Hadhrat Imam Rabbani (May Allah sanctify his secret) that he turned the scholars and Sufis to obedience of the Sunnah.  He declared that the objective of Tasawwuf is to follow the Holy Quran and Hadith.  The Imam said:  If we get all the spiritual states and ecstasy and we are not adorned with the beliefs of the Ahle Sunnah, it is all bad.  If all bad things are combined in us and we are adorned with the beliefs of the Ahle Sunnah, then there is no fear.

 

These were some of the effects of the blessed personality of Hadhrat Imam Rabbani (May Allah sanctify his secret).  All the schools of thought and sects agree that Imam Rabbani (May Allah sanctify his secret) is the Mujaddid (reviver) of the second millennium.