A Simple Guide to ISLAM
Tasawwuf – Sufism
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Saviour of Islam. His success however was more marked in the
reign of Jahangir, when many of the leading officers of the court
became his followers. He also managed to effect certain religious
reforms among the Emperor’s soldiers. Jahangir was so impressed
with his saintly life that he became his disciple.
On his advice the Emperor made several changes in matters of
state. For instance, the custom of falling prostrate before the king,
which had been in force from the time of Akbar, was discontinued.
A new mosque was built close to the Diwan-e-Am in the fort, for
the special convenience of the king and his courtiers, and the Sunni
code was adopted as the law of state.
He thus succeeded, by the grace of God, to extirpate the heresies
introduced by Akbar, and purged sufism of many of those un-
Islamic elements which had become attached to it through its long
history. It was because of his efforts that the doctrines of mysticism
were harmonised with the teachings of the Quran and Sunnah.
Shaikh Ahmad forbade his disciples to make use of the following
practices: the use of music; dancing, while in the state of ecstasy;
prostration before one’s
pir;
the worship of saints and shrines, and
illuminating the tombs of saints.
Shaikh Ahmad is credited with as many as 644 treatises on
different religious subjects. His teachings are mainly embodied in a
series of letters. Shaikh Ahmad died in 1624 in Sirhind.
