Imam Rabbani Ahmad Sirhindi
Imam Rabbani Ahmad Sirhindi, founder of the Mujaddidi branch of the Naqshbandi order, is known as 'mujaddid-i alf-i thani', the renewer of the second Islamic millennium. Criticizing wahdat al-wujud in favour of wahdat al-shuhud, he profoundly shaped Sufi thought from the Indian subcontinent to Central Asia and the Ottoman lands through his Maktubat. He died in Sirhind on 8 Safar 1034 (20 November 1624); the Rauza Sharif built over his grave is a major shrine today. (Source: TDV 'İmâm-ı Rabbânî' [Hamid Algar]; Friedmann, Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi.)
