Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi on Mystical Ontology

Among Sufis who have criticized and redefined mystical concepts and principles, Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi(971/ 1564- 1034/1624) has had a remarkable role and position. While having avoided scoffing and rejecting other mystics, he states that they have not been able to pass all wayfaring stations. They are, therefore, in intermediate level and could not come to the end. Thanks to his unique intuitive knowledge, Which, as he claims, is beyond the other scholar’s sciences and saint’s Gnostic sciences, he has offered certain new definitions which sometimes entirely contradicted the formal Sufi concepts. The widespread impact of Ibn Arabi’s school on Indian Sufis and the heretical utterances of some who believed in oneness of being determined him to criticize Ibn Arabi’s Ontology. By introducing the intuitive unity instead of Ibn Arabi’s unity of being, he redefined Ibn Arabi’s ontological concepts. This article seeks to elucidate Sirhindi’s ontological Ideas such as intuitive unity, the relationship between God and the universe and being and non- existence.