The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (88 page)

 
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(b. 1563 (AH 971))
A leading figure in the
Naqshbandi
S
f
order, who did much to restore Sunni orthodoxy to
Mughal
India. He became a Naqshbandi adherent of Khw
ja B
q
Bi’llah in 1600 and succeeded him as
shaykh
in 1603. His claim to strong spiritual authority led to a period in prison, but his followers recognized him as ‘the Renewer’. In his teachings (mainly collected in his letters), he abandoned the pervasive S
f
doctrine, derived from
ibn ’Arab
, of
wa
dat al—wuj
d
, the oneness of being: this claims that everything which exists can only do so because it is created by God, and might therefore be regarded as an aspect of Divine Reality—‘Wherever you turn, there is the face of God’ (Qur’
n 2. 115). The obvious risk here is that of
pantheism
, so close to the surrounding Hinduism which Sirhind
contested strongly. Instead, he emphasized
wa
dat al-shuh
d