Though his central concern was with Sufi thought
on issues of religious renewal, prophecy, and
sainthood, he is best known for advocating the
strict implementation of sharia by the state and
the purification of islam from what he viewed as
Hindu accretions. He established the Naqshbandi
Sufi lineage in India by founding the subbranch of
the Mujaddidin, and he was named “the renewer
of the second millennium” by his followers.
Sirhindi’s famous collection of letters, known
as Maktubat-i imam-i rabbani, is today a classic
of Indo-Muslim literature, though at the time
of publication it was proscribed by the Mughal
emperor aUrangzeb. Sirhindi’s ideas were received
by 17th-century Muslims with both enthusiasm
and hostility. He sharply denounced the eclectic
pluralism of Emperor Akbar’s din-i-ilahi, and his
continued criticism of the inadequate role given
to Islam in the politics of the state led to his brief
imprisonment by Emperor Jahangir in 1619 in
the Fort of Gwalior. Sirhindi condemned forms
of Sufism that cultivated what he saw as extrem-
ism equivalent to the pantheistic mysticism of ibn
al-arabi, and he attributed such trends to Hindu
influence. From the informed perspective of his
own mystical experiences, Sirhindi argued that at
the final stages of mystical experience, which are
understood by other schools of Sufi thought as
annihilation, fana (see baqa and fana), and ulti-
mate union with God, the truth emerges that God
cannot be comprehended intuitively. Hence, he
argued that humans can know God only through
His revelation, and this can take place only
through human submission to sharia, the Muslim
legal code based on revelation.
Sirhindi’s arguments necessitated his vocifer-
ous and uncompromising attitude toward Hindu-
ism and marked the shifting of Indian Muslim
attitudes away from tolerance of Hinduism to the
attitudes of strict nontolerance so characteristic of
Aurangzeb’s reign. Sirhindi is interpreted by mod-
ern historians as the individual largely responsible
for initiating Sunni revivalism in the subcontinent
by his persuasive arguments against the pluralistic
and pantheistic trends of his time. Sirhindi died in
1624, and he is believed to be buried in the vicin-
ity of his mosque in Sirhind, which is a sacred
place of pilgrimage for Indian Muslims.
See also hindUism and islam; mUghal dynasty.
Megan Adamson SijapatiFurther reading: Muhammad Abdul Haq Ansari, Sufism
and Shariah: A Study of Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi’s Effort to
Reform Sufism (Leicester, England: The Islamic Foun-
dation, 1986); Yohanan Friedmann, Shaykh Ahmad
Sirhindi: An Outline of His Thought and a Study of His
Image in the Eyes of Posterity (Montreal and London:
McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1971).siyam See fasting.
slavery
Islam does not abolish the practice of slavery,
but it does place certain limitations upon it.
The qUran delineates rights and restrictions for
slave holders, such as granting them the right to
engage in sexual relations with their slave girls,
while maintaining that Muslims must treat “those
whom your right hand possesses” with kindness
and equity. Slaves are allowed to marry with their
owners’ permission, are provided a degree of pro-
tection for their lives and property, and are held
accountable for their actions. The Quran encour-
ages the release of slaves as a meritorious act and
Muslims are required to free their slaves to receive
forgiveness for certain sins.
In the hadith and Islamic legal manuals,
slavery is envisioned as an exceptional condi-
tion. Individuals may be enslaved as prisoners
of war or may be born into slavery. Although
free Muslims are not allowed to be enslaved, a
slave who becomes a Muslim is not automati-
cally released from bondage. Slaves possess a
dual nature: As property, they may be bought and
sold, and they are subject to their owners; but
as persons they may profess faith in Islam, own
property, earn money, marry, obtain an edUcation,
or purchase their own freedom. In terms of reli-
gious obligations, Islamic law recognizes a slave’s
inherent limitations. Many religious obligations
are optional for slaves, subject to the amount ofslavery 629 J