This intensive course will look at some of the Collected letters (Maktubat) of Shaykh Ahmad al-Faruqi as-Sirhindi (rh). Known as Mujaddid Alf Thani and Imam Rabbani, he lived in India around the 16th Century. He was credited as one of the revivers of orthodox Sunni Islam in India against the syncretistic religious tendencies prevalent during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Akbar. Ahmad Sirhindi was a true Sufi scholar of the Naqshbandi order who wrote many books. His greatest work on Islamic philosophy was Tauheed-i-Shuhudi based on the concept of Wahdat-ush-Shuhud (unity of witnessing) which was highly critical of the philosophy of Wahdat-ul-Wujud (unity of being) and to him, mysticism without Shariah was misleading. It is said the fruits of the Maktubat was the Emperor Aurangzeb.

The ideas and advice in the Maktubat were so powerful, that they spread all over the Muslim world as far as West Africa and even today it is read amongst many of the leading Turkish Islamic movements.

There is a strong parallel between Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi’s time and the world we live in today. Indeed there is much we can learn from this great scholar’s life and writings. In an age of e-mailing, SMS, Facebook and Twitter, the power of the letter may have diminished but should never be underestimated. This course will shed more light on his letters, insha’Allah.

This short, intensive course aims to cover the following:

1. Reform in Islam
2. Indian in the 16th Century. What did Akbar do ?
3. Imam Rabbani & Maktubaat
4. Significance and Islamic Revival India

Shaykh Dr Muhammad Akram Nadwi