Muslim Revivalist Movements in Northern India in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

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Focussing on the controversy surrounding the Wahdat-ul-Wujud (Unity of Being, All is He) of Ibn ‘Arabi (1165-1240) and the Wahdat-ush-Shuhud (Unity of Appearance, All is from Him) of Shaikh ‘Alaud-Dawla Simnani (1261-1336), the work goes on to analyse the impact of the above ideologies on the teachings of early Chishtiyas, Suhrawardiyas, Firdausiyas and Shattariyas. It then discusses the impact of the Islamic millennium and the messianic movements on the body-politic of Islam in India, culminating with the Mahdawi movement in the realm of religion and the Sulh-i-Kul (Universal peace and concord) of Akbar the Great in the realm of politics and government. The study of Muslim revivalist movements in Northern India that emerged as a reaction to the pressure of the movements mentioned above, is the principal objective of the present book. Their pioneers such as Shaikh ‘Abdul Haq Muhaddis Dehlawi (1515-1642) and Mujaddid Alf-i-Sani Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi (1564-1624) differed widely in their ideologies and practices. Shaikh ‘Abdul Haq proceeded cautiously, while Mujaddid made strenuous efforts to convert the Mughal noblemen to his puritanically Islamic teachings. The Mughal emperors from Akbar to Aurangzeb remained execrable to the emergence of a religious state within their empire and took their leaders to task as soon as they found them a threat to their state policies. Although the Naqshbandiya leadership to which Mujaddid belonged was divided within its ranks on the question of Wahdat-ush-Shuhud, the Qadriyas under Miyan Mir (d. 1635) and Mulla Shah (d. 1661) ardently propagated the Wahdat-ul-Wujud and its ethical and social ramifications. Naturally such a study is bound to be studded with controversial judgements but the author’s presentation of the vast source material on the subject has aroused considerable interest among the independent and objective thinkers, in the Muslim religious movements in India.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Saiyid Athar Abbas Rizvi

Dr. S.A.A. Rizvi, M.A., Ph.D., D.Litt. has been working as Reader in the department of Asian Civilizations at the Australian National University, Canberra since 1967. in 1969 he was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. Before joining the A.N.U. he worked as Head of the History Department, Jammu and Kashmir University, and earlier as Secretary of the History of the Freedom Movement Committee, Government of U.P. Dr. Rizvi was a Research Associate in the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, during 1962-63 and was a Fellow in the same institution in 1969. In 1972 he was a Visiting Professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Among Dr. Rizviâ€™s most important publications, are the following: Source Book on Medieval Indian History, in Hindi, Vols. I-X (Aligarh Muslim University, 1955-62); Freedom Struggle in U.P. Vols. I-VI (U.P. Government, Lucknow, 1957-61); Muslim Revivalist Movements in Northern India in the 16th and 17thCenturies (Agra, 1965); Fatehpur Sikri (New Delhi, 1972); Fatehpur Sikri in collaboration with Dr. V.J.A. Flynn (Bombay, 1975); Hindi translations of the Maqaddamah of Ibn Khaldun (Lucknow, 1961); Haqaâ€™iq-i-Hindi (Varanasi, 1957); Alakh Bani (Aligarh, 1971); Religious and Intellectual History of the Muslims in Akbarâ€™s Reign 1556-1605 with special reference to Abuâ€™l-Fazl (New Delhi, 1975); A History of Sufism in India, Vol. I (New Delhi, 1978); A History of Sufism in India, Vol. II (1983); Shah Wali-Allah and his times (Canberra, 1980) and Iran: Royalty, Religion and Revolution (Canberra, 1980); Landmarks of South Asian Civilizations (New Delhi, 1984). He has also contributed chapters to the Cambridge History of Islam Vol. II (Cambridge, 1970); the Cultural History of India (Oxford, 1975) and in the World of Islam (London, 1976). His research articles have been published in various international Journals. Forthcoming: A History of Islamic Proselytisation in India, A Short History of Sufism in India, Awrangzib and his time to be published by Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.