Foresightedness of Hazrat-e-Aqdas Shah Saeed Ahmed Raipuri (R.A)

This year on 26th September, 2016, it will be four years since the sad demise of Hazrat-e-Aqdas Shah Saeed Ahmed Raipuri (R.A), representative of “WalliUllahi” ideology and the fourth spiritual descendent of “Silsilay-e-Raipur”. May Allah raise his ranks, and accept us for his humanitarian cause, “Struggle for the sake of humanity on the basis of God’s worship.”

The current devastated and extremely wretched condition of our societal dilemmas is a testament itself that masses of our beloved country, Pakistan, are in a dire need of identifying their authentic religious successors in order to foster a high conscientious capability among themselves. The prevalent situation of any nation is directly related to its past. The present critical situation of our society, regarding which Hazrat-e-Aqdas Shah Saeed Ahmed Raipuri (R.A) had cited long before in the light of his highly refined social intellect, is the unfortunate consequence of our tragic past (following the creation of Pakistan) framed by our incompetent political leadership and its haphazard polices as it was absolutely devoid of possessing the slightest possibility of foresightedness. In his entire life, Shah Saeed Ahmed Raipuri (R.A) relentlessly strived to identify and pinpoint the capitalist and inhumane policies devised by the global imperialist forces, propagated through their local advocates and ultimately imposed on the human societies through political and economic systems. Today, the U-turn taken by our civil and military bureaucracy in terms of its former interior and foreign policies clearly reflect that the prevalent ground realities of our region have changed drastically over the past few decades. Thus, various weakness and loopholes pertaining to our formerly implemented policies are being highlighted and recognized with much attention. A few years back, it was extremely difficult to challenge and criticize these policies. But now, initiating a process of closely examining these unfortunate conclusions of our past, and thereby, accordingly strategizing a framework to resolve them in the context of nationalistic interests is being declared as the foremost necessity in today’s time.

Hazrat-e-Aqdas Shah Saeed Ahmed Raipuri (R.A) is accredited for expressing his ideologies and conceptions, long before in 80’s and 90’s, deeply related to the calamitous social issues faced today, but his sound analysis and remarkable social intellect was neither payed any heed nor even acquainted with a single mark of significance. However, today, all national institutions and the state itself declare the urgent need of adopting his vision and guidance by considering it as an inescapable necessity for our nation’s survival! In addition to this, even the those religious sects which have never had their religious philosophy aligned in the righteous direction, and have always deliberately drafted far away from the propagation of authentic Islamic conceptions are now also trying to conceal their feeble religious theories with a new layer of deception and appealing titles in order to depict them as capable enough to settle our present day’s issues. But, accepting the emergence of our current issues as being thrived from the notorious policies bred by them in the past, and thereby, apologizing for their such carnivorous instincts that have inflicted our past and consequently our present, is something totally unacceptable to them!

After 1980’s Afghan Soviet Invasion, many scholarly figures emerged as prominent symbolic reflections of Hazrat-e-Aqdas Shah Saeed Ahmed Raipuri’s (R.A) spiritual and conscientious intellect as a result of developing a deep and persistent association with him. It was one of these disciples who issued a fatwa at Jamia Rashidiya Sahiwal (one of the renowned religious seminaries) regarding the increasingly progressing Jihadi activities and the heinous implementation of worst form of dictatorship imposed by the so called “Ameer-ul-Momineen”( Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq), in order to expose the underlying tyrannical agendas concealed  in the appealing entitlement of  “Jihad”. This view point, no doubt, was completely different from the prevalent mindset at that time, but the inflicted catastrophes following the so called “Afghan Jihad” proved its legitimacy very well. Similarly, many of other disciples of Shah Saeed Ahmed Raipuri (R.A), irrespective of the oppressive circumstances, continued to propagate and express the true Islamic interpretations in their respective social circles, which obviously conflicted the attainment of narcissistic gains of exploitative political system, and their self-created lot of “Muftis and Mullahs”, imposed at that time, and thus, was also intensely resisted by them.

Hazrat-e-Aqdas Shah Saeed Ahmed Raipuri(R.A) was the successor of “Khanqah Rahimia Raipur” that played phenomenal role in the freedom movement of the subcontinent. Unlike the descendants (Gaddi-Nashrrns) of conventional “Khanqahs” and religious seminaries, he did not confine himself to the preaching of a few Islamic rituals. Instead, he fully adopted the ideology of ShahWali Ullah Dehlawi and addressed all aspects pertaining to society’s collective life to effectively instill a deep impact on the intellectual factions of our country. He propagated the message of social change based on the principle of “Allah’s obedience and welfare of Humanity”. With every passing day, his teachings are disseminating among the conscientious youth in the lengths and breadths of country.

Following are a few highlights that constitute a brief outlook of the comprehensive ideology of Shah Saeed Ahmed Raipuri (R.A) that can serve as a source of authentic guidance to solve our present day problems.

1.      His thoughts regarding Islam as a humanistic religion state:

“Islam is a strong advocate of peace, social justice, equality, progress and prosperity, religious tolerance and humanitarianism. It presents the idea of social progress by uniting the society on a common ideology of mutual respect and harmony. “Treaty with the Jews” is the ideal example representing this humanitarian version of Islam. Life of Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) is the exemplified source of guidance for us. The Holy Prophet (S.A.W) ended the inhumane political system of Makkah, but people were fully granted the liberty to freely practice their own religion. They were never forced to accept Islam. In fact, according to the Quranic verse, “Let there be no compulsion in religion” ([2:256]), religious tolerance was declared as one of the basic Islamic principles.”

2.      His ideology regarding teachings of different religions states:

“The essence of all religions is solely based on brotherhood and safeguarding the rights of weak factions of the society. All religions stress upon the need of mutual coexistence mandatory for the survival and progress of humanity. Religious extremism and sectarianism emerge from the selfish desires and self-centered mindsets. Religious and political elite of the society exploit the sacred teachings of religion to justify their inhumane and unjust policies for the attainment of the personal gains”

3.      Regarding politics, he strongly criticized the systems of Feudalism and Capitalism. He regarded Islam as the “Messiah” of the weak and destitute factions of humanity. He considered the dominance of Capitalism as the worst face of Western Imperialism which exploits democratic process as a veil to justify and protect its exploitative policies. He proclaimed that the social development of the third world countries could only be attained through the establishment of a sovereign and democratic political and economic system in each country.

4.      He disproved the exertion of heinous acts intended to instigate regional destabilization aimed to disrupt its harmony, irrespective of whether they have their religious roots or are linked to tyrannical agendas of global imperialism. He regarded regional co-operation and principal of peaceful coexistence as a prerequisite to social progress and prosperity of every country.

5.      He strongly criticized the implementation of dual education system in the country. He used to say ”Splitting the nation into ‘Mister’ and ‘Mullah’ through college and madrassah is the worst remembrance of the era of  British Raj in India. After Independence, our education system should have been devised in accordance with our national requirements, but, our ruling and intellectual elite failed to cope with this challenge. Situation has worsened to an extent that there are dozens of education systems running in the country that is splitting the innocent youth into numerous conflicting factions which is a great danger to national unity and harmony. Our education system has not only created separation between ‘Deen’ and ‘Dunya’ but has also intoxicated our minds with moral degeneration in the form of self-centeredness, callousness, economic expoitation, materialism, sectarianism, and class prejudice.”

Being a conscientious and visionary social thinker, his insightful opinion and teachings provide satisfactory answers to the challenges of the present era. Above presented viewpoints provide a slight reflection of his religious and social acumen intended to appeal and familiarize younger generations with his thoughts. It is a matter of great fortune for all of us that his writings, addresses, lectures, and various other compositions are now being published as a result of strenuous efforts of Mufti Abdul Khaliq Azaad who is the spiritual and ideological successor of Shah Saeed Ahmed Raipuri (R.A). It is imperative upon all of us to seek authentic and humanistic interpretation of Islam presented by Shah Saeed Ahmed Raipuri (R.A) through his thought and actions. We should also humbly invite those factions of the society who intentionally ignored the teachings of Shah Saeed Ahmed Raipuri (R.A) due to their ideological or financial inclinations to revisit the teachings of Shah Saeed Ahmed Raipuri (R.A). It is time to start a new journey of conscientious social effort and acknowledge the status of Hazrat-e-Aqdas Shah Saeed Ahmed Raipuri(R.A) as a high-esteemed religious and social intellectual since he was the first to warn us about the catastrophes that are inflicted upon us today due to our wrong policies. If subsequent actions are not taken and effective strategies are not formulated to compensate our loss, then God forbids, these inflictions may turn into a societal cancer!

Translation: Miss Ayesha Javed, Rawalpindi