The influence
of Sheikh Ahmed Sirhindi on Bediuzzaman Said Nursi
Dr.KM
Bahauddeen Hudawi
Introduction
Bediuzzaman Said Nursi is one of the great
reformers of 21st century whose works approach Islam in a
psychological and scientific manner. His vision as well as mission was to re
construct the Islamic ideologies by words and deeds. He was well confident that
an Islamic life can co exist with modern life without an alienation to the
political power. In that sense his ideologies differ to that of his
contemporary intellectuals of Islam Sayed Qutub, Hasanul Banna, Abul A’la
Moududi and Dr. Sir Allama Muhammad Iqbal. Every one of them effected with the
ideas of the other who were claiming for an Islamic state in a way or other[1]. (Wahida 2007,
11)
Then
who impacted in Said Nursi to forward some spontaneous views on Islam and its
co existence? His deep root in the mysticism or tasawwuf especially the
impact of qadiriyyah and naqshanabdiyyah order made him acceptant
of inclusiveness as he says referring to central figures of tasawwuf:
“Nursi
learned and was inspired by the teachings and writings of spiritual leaders and
pioneers of tariqah, Sufi orders. References to them can be found
throughout the Risale. Significant names standing out among the others
include Shayk Abd al Qadir Geylani, Imam Rabbani Shaykh Ahmed Sirhindi, Imam
Ghazali, and Shah Naqshaband.” (Pirim 1988)
He
admires these figures throughout his writings. For example referring to central
figures of tasavvuf he notes:
‘My
conjecture is that if persons like Shaykh Abdul Qadir Gilani[2]
and Shah Naqshaband[3]
and Imam Rabbani were alive they would expend all their efforts in
strengthening the truths of belief and tenets of Islam. For, they are the means
to eternal happiness. If there is deficiency in them it results in eternal
misery.’[4]
The
above saying of Said Nursi demonstrates the figures who left imprints on his
thoughts and ideas and gave stimulation for his silent revolt against the so
called modernization of Mustafa Kamal. This paper is meant to highlight the
influence of Imam Rabbani and his sufi order Naqshabandiyya tariqah
upon Said Nursi. A thorough analysis of Nursi’s life depicts the multifarious
influence of Imam Rabbani on the spiritual and political life of Nursi.
Let
me introduce Imam Rabbani and his spiritual and political life. He was born in
Sirhind, province of Lahore in AH 971 /AD 1564. He is more famous as Mujaddid
Alf Thani say regenerator of the Second millennium and his lineage associates
with Umarul Faruq the second Khalifa of Islam which bestowed him the name Al
Faruqi. Spiritually he depended upon the Naqshabandiyya order of Sufism
and became the disciple of Mu’yyiduddin Muhammad Al Baqi Billa[5]
and thus the eighth in the series of disciples of Khwaja Bahauddin Naqshaband.
The series from Khwaja Bahauddin Shah Naqshaband to Ahmed Faruqi
Sirhindi is: Bahauddin, Mohammed ibn Muhammad Ala’uddin Al Bukhari Al
Khawarazmi (d. AH 802), Ya’qub Al Jarkhi, Naswiruddin Ubaidullah Al Ahrar ibn
Mahmud ibn Shihabuddin(AH 806-933), Mohammed Zahid Al Qazi Al Samarqandi,
Darwesh Mohammed Al Samarqandi, Khajaki Al Amkanaki Al Samarqandi and Muhammad
Al Baqi.
As
we know, Naqshabandiyya order was popularized by Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn
Muhammad Bahauddeen Shah Naqshaband Al Uwaisy Al Qadiri(d. AD 1392/AH 794). He was
born, died and buried in Bukhara. His direct Shaykh in tariqa was Sayed Amir Kalali.
His series of Shykhs from Prophet Muhammad (SAW) may be summarized as follows:
Prophet
Muhammad (SAW) (d. AD 632),Abu-Bakr Al Siddique (d. AD 634),Salmanul Faris (d.
AH 36/AD 658),Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abu- Bakr (d. AH 108 or 109/ AD 727 or
728),Ja’far Al Sadiq (d. AH 148/AD 766),Abu Yazid Thaifur ibn Eisa ibn Adam Al
Bisthami(AH 188-261/AD 805-876), Abul Hasan Ali (d.AH425/AD 1035),Abu Ali Al
Fadl ibn Muhammad Al Farmadi Al Thusi(d.AH 447/AD 1056), Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn
Yusuf ibn Al Husain (d. AH 535/AD 1141), Abul Abbas Al Khadir ,Abdul Khaliq ibn
Al Imam Abdul Jameel, Arif Al Rayurkari, Sheikh Muhammad Al Bukhari, Sheikh Ali
Rametni (d.AH 721/AD 1322), Muhammad Baba Al Samasi, Sayed Amir Kalali. (Haqani n.d.)
In
contrary to other orders of Sufism naqshabandiyya order allows its members to
mingle with the mass or accompany the nobles to guide them. One of their basic
principles is “al khalwatu fil jalwa” which means the isolation in mingling.
They claim the naqsh or the script of Allah is band or pasted in
their hearts through meditation and the memory of Allah Almighty is still in
their heart though they are among people. This order of Sufism was prevalent in
whole Turkey with special importance of Imam Rabbani Sheikh Ahmed Sirhindi when
Said Nursi was born and up brought. He mentions his four teachers in his
Risala-i Nur..
“There
was an immense love for Said towards Sheikhs of Eastern Anadul. He mentioned
four of them in his biography they are: Sayed Nur Muhammad who taught him the
naqshabandiyya order, Sheikh Abdul Rahman Taghi who taught Said the love,
Sheikh Fahim from whom Said learned elm al haqeeqa and Sheikh Muhammad Al
Kufrawi the final teacher Said met…… this short menu refers to an important
point that the majority of grand scholars in the last decade of 19th
century in Anadul were the followers of naqshabndiyya and kahlidiyya order.” (Wahida 2007,
52)
These
all Sheikhs of Turkey were the followers of Imam Rabbani in their views and
deeds. Undoubtedly these teachers may have influenced the public life Said
Nursi with a deep rout in spirituality. No wonder, the Mughals against whom
Imam Rabbani faught were originally Turkish and the interaction between Indian
and Turkish Muslim rule caused the preaching of Sirhindis ideologies in Turkey.
As
we closely examine the writings of Nursi we can see that he completely supports
and elaborates on beautiful intensions and aims of tariqah such as
strengthening faith and purifying the soul and also draws the potential dangers
of following a journey through these orders. Though, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi did
not follow any one of his sheikhs particularly (Wahida 2007,
53) .
It is mostly because he saw the supremacy of Shari’a upon tariqah,
an idea forwarded by Sheikh Ahmed Sirhindi.
“Unlike the Sufic preachers Imam Rabbani laid great stress on the
importance of propagation of the Shariat by the state. His ideas on sharia were
something different from the prevalent sufic notions. The Sufis believed primarily
in their individual salvation and in the moral persuasion of the masses. Imam Rabbani, however holds a contrary view.
He considers the scholars of Shari’a are superior to Sufis”. (Hasan 2007, 92)
We can see this spiritual influence of Imam Rabbani when Nursi
quotes him to support his claim. For example he quotes Imam Rabbani:
In his letters (maktubat) Imam Rabbani the hero and a sun of the
Naqshabandi order said: I prefer the unfolding of a single matter of the truths
of belief to thousands of illumination, ecstasies and instances of
wonder-working. (Pirim 1988,
43)
The impact of Sirhindi now also is prevalent in Turkey. The
naqshabandiyya order is very popular and Mhamud Afandi is leading this order.
Politically, Said Nursi tried to fix himself in a situation
parallel to that of Imam Rabbani Sheikh Ahmed Sirhindi who fought against the
ordinances of Jalaluddeen Akbar who was affected by the Bhakti Movement and
Sufism and formulated a new religion named Din-e-Elahi. This comparison is
something right because Said Nursi witnessed the sunset of Ottoman Empire and
the uprising of Modern Turkey when the modernization of Turkey by Mustafa Kamal
badly affected Islamic ideology.
Let me explain about the then prevailing tendencies before we
actually examine Sheikh Ahmed Sirhindi’s ideas and teaching. Akbar’s reign
marks the culmination of an epoch in which a common Hindu-Muslim culture was
growing in different parts of the country.
The dominant religious tendencies both among the Muslims as well as
Hindus had many common points. These were the Sufi movement and Bhakti cult.
Politically, the endeavour of Akbar was to make the Mughal state the common
concern of Hindu and Muslims.
But the very success of this tendency accentuated opposite
tendencies. The Bhakti movement in Maharashtra assumes in this period an anti
Muslim character. The followers of Guru Nanak gradually shed away their
catholicity and assumed the nature of a militant sect. Similarly among the
Muslims, there was a feeling of revolt against the existing tendencies of
Sufism with its tolerance and freedom of individual worship. There was a cry
“Islam has become impure”, “Muslims are being influence by Kafirs”. The slogan “Back
to original Islam” was raised.
The beginning of second millennium had revived the idea of a
regenerator. The leadership of this tendency was however assumed by the
Naqshabandi Movement which was led by Imam Rabbani Sheikh Ahmed Sirhindi. A
large number of Muslim nobles who were dissatisfied with the growing influence
of Hindu nobles or subsequently of the Persian nobles found themselves in
complete agreement with this movement and extended to it their complete
support.
He responded against many policies of Jalaluddin Akbar and
advocated for the establishment of sharia’. He preached his views by the
spontaneous overflow of the words in type of letters addressed to his disciples
and nobles and also to rulers. The nobles and even the army and administrative
staff were influenced by his policies. They directly challenged the autocracy
of the king when he appointed Shaikh Badruddin as his chief khalifa in
army. His influence grew so much that
even the king was alarmed and decided to bring the situation under his control.
That resulted in framing many charges against him and he was imprisoned in
Gwalior.
These situations and the rare and brave personality of Imam Rabbani
impressed Said Nursi when Islam was being modernized by Europeanization process
of Mustafa Kamal and he used to imprison, threaten and execute the Muslim
scholars. Nursi followed the same path and influenced the mass by his
ideologies. He was completely stimulated by Imam Rabbani and selected the same
path of letters and writings to save the faith of public and nobles. He
challenged but his challenge did not threaten the system of government.
Nursi did not translate this challenge into an open revolution
against the system of administration anywhere in any time. After the
establishment of the Republic of Turkey it seems that he was satisfied with the
idea that a Muslim can function under the shade of a Turkish secular system if
the system is not against the Islamic ideology. (Wahida 2007)
We can see the same example in Sheikh Ahmed Sirhindi. Even during
his confinement he urged his followers not to do anything against the state
probably because the Sheikh believed that the success of his program depended
on the co operation of the king who was after all much more amenable to
influence of the ulema than his father. (Hasan 2007)
But there is slight difference between the ideas of both Imam
Rabbani and Said Nursi. Nursi claims for the co existence of Islam with the
secular state but Imam Rabbani considers the King or the ruler is the centre of
shari’a. In a letter to Khan-i-Azam he says: sages have said that the Shar’a is
always under the sword and the triumph of the sharia depends on the kings. He
makes the idea clear in following words: the king stands in the same relation
to the world as the heart stands to the body. If the heart is sound, the body
is also well. If, however the heart is in a bad way, the body also suffers.
Thus the welfare of the world depends on the goodness of the king (Sirhindi
n.d.) .
Let us come to the
conclusion that both the figures Imam Rabbani and Said Nursi have many similarities
and the former influenced the latter in spirituality and politics. Their views
on tariqa and sharia are parallel and they both preached the ways of non
violence –an ideology that is in contrasts to that of his contemporaries. Although,
we may find some slight difference in their views on the state, policies on
Kafirs and Heretical Tendencies, resemblances are more in their thoughts and
deeds.
References:
Haqani, Abdul Fani Al. Al Futuhat Al Haqqaniyya.
Hasan, S. Nrul. Religion,
State and Society in Medieval India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press,
2007.
Pirim, Ian.Markham and
Suendam Brinci. An Introduction to Said Nursi: Life, Thought and Writings.
England: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 1988.
Sirhindi, Imam Rabbani
Sheikh Ahmed. Maktubat.
Wahida, Shukran. Islam
in Modern Turkey; An Intellectual biography Bediuzzaman Said Nursi. 2007.
[1] Islam
in Modern Turkey, An intellectual biography of Bediuzzaman Nursi by Shukran
Wahida, Arabic Translation by Mohammed Fadil 2007. Page: 11.
[2]
Sayyid Abdul Qadir Al Gilani (AH 470-561/AD 1077-1166) known as Gouth al A’zam,
was the founder of the qadiri order and towering spiritual figure in the
history of Islam.
[3] Muhammed
ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad Bahauddeen Shah Naqshaband Al Uwaisy Al Bukhari. He
was the founder of Naqshabandi Order.
[4] The
letters, Fifth letter page: 41.
[5]
Mu’yyiduddin Muhammad Al Baqi Billah was born in Kabul. He migrated to Delhi
and was the first Sheikh of Naqshabandiyya order in India. His mission was
popularized by Imam Rabbani and influenced mass and nobles. He died in AH
1014/AD1606. His tomb is in Delhi.
