Book Review
Yohanan Friedmann, Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi:
An Outline of His Thought and a Study of His Image in the Eyes of Posterity
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000)
by Adil Khan

Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi (1564-1624) is a Sufi saintly figure, often remembered for his religious revivalism ( tajdīd ) in Indo-Islamic history. Sirhindi is regarded by his followers as mujadid-i alf-i thānī, the Renewer of the Second Millennium. He was born in Sirhind, a city in the eastern Punjab, and the son of a Sufi Shaykh. Sirhindi joined the Naqshbandi order in 1600, and as a result, often has his life split into two periods by Islamic scholars, non-Sufi and Sufi. Friedmann believes that this oversimplified description of Sirhindi does not accurately portray the development of his thought. Friedmann believes that although Sirhindi’s thought does develop, it is always within a Sufi framework, and never radically departs from inherently esoteric expectations of the thought of the Sufi masters (pp. 41-69). Perhaps more importantly, Friedmann argues that Sirhindi’s self-image was that of a mujaddid (renewer of the faith) and not a politician (pp. 22-33). Friedmann argues that Sirhindi was far more concerned with what he believed to be the spiritual decay of Muslims, rather than the function of the state.
In one of Sirhindi’s more prolific moments, he describes the four maqāmāt (stages) of a Sufi’s ecstatic experience. The first two stages describe spiritual ascent, while the last two describe the spiritual descent of the Sufi. They are:

(1) sayr ila’ allāh (journey towards God) – the Sufi achieves fanā’ (self-annihilation), and knowledge of God changes from being mumkināt (possibility) to being wājib (necessary) (2) sayr fī allāh (journey through God) – the Sufi achieves baqā’ (regeneration) and experiences spiritual heights beyond verbal desription (3) sayr ila’ allāh bi-allāh (journey towards God through God) – the Sufi begins the descent from spiritual climax into the realm of the possible (4) sayr dar ashyā’ (journey in things) – the Sufi re- acquires the knowledge of the physical world that had escaped him in the ascent (p. 36).

Sirhindi associates the first two stages with wilāyah (sainthood) and the last two stages with nabūwah (prophethood). The interesting paradox in this explanation is that nabūwah (prophethood), which Sirhindi asserts is the superior stage, occurs in the spiritual descent, after a Sufi has already surpassed the spiritual apex. In Sirhindi’s thought, once a Sufi eventually passes through the intoxication, he will then revert back to a second sobriety ( al-sahw al-thānī ) (p. 25). This explanation allows Sirhindi to present an interesting dynamic to the traditional Sufi discrimination between creator and creation, because even though the stage of nabūwah (prophethood) does not represent a maximum of spiritual experience, it imposes an affirmation of the physical world in the telos of Sufi ideology.
Friedmann contrasts this with Ibn al-Arabi’s perceptions of natural phenomenon, which fall into either wahdat wahdat al-wujūd (Unity of Being) or wahdat al-shuhūd Unity of Appearance) (p. 60). Traditionally, Sufis like Ibn al-Arabi would deny the existence of the physical world by arguing that creation is merely an extension of one of God’s most perfect attributes, His wahdat al-wujūd (Unity of Being). This is an expression of one of Islam’s most essential concepts, tawhīd (unity). Sirhindi neither completely denies the existence of the physical world, nor does he affirm its permanence; instead, Sirhindi manages to find a median between the two extremes, which allows a Sufi to see the creator and the creation in a unique manner (p. 64). The physical world for Sirhindi expresses a quasi-permanence and a quasi-reality.
Friedmann shows how by maintaining this perception of God’s relation to the physical world, Sirhindi can re-interpret the Sufi statement hama ūst (All is He) as hama az ūst (All is from Him) (p. 68). This is different from explicitly denying hama ūst (All is He) and asserting that it should be replaced with hama az ūst (All is from Him) to avoid inaccuracy. Sirhindi explanation is more subtle. His re-interpretation of hama ūst (All is He), once again, offers of a median between the two Sufi and non-Sufi extremes. Seeing the creator and the creation together as this unique manifestation is an integral part of Sirhindi’s metaphysics. Sirhindi believes that both answers exclusively are inaccurate extremes. Friedmann argues that Sirhindi believed that it is irrelevant whether someone is veiled by light or veiled by darkness, because one should attempt to free himself from all veils (p. 39).
Friedmann presents an interesting and thought provoking analysis of Sirhindi’s thought. It is clear and easy to follow. Sirhindi’s historical time frame alone makes his influence on the development of South Asian Islam even greater. Friedmann seems to capture Sirhindi’s Sufism in a concise and tasteful manner, without making a mockery of the extant polemic literature. Friedmann writes a powerful reinterpretation of Sirhindi’s thought that should be mandatory reading for every serious student of South Asian Islam.