شیخ احمد سرہندی رحمۃ اللہ علیہ کے خواتین کے نام مکتوبات : علمی مباحث کاجائزہ

Abstract

The main purpose of the article is to highlight the key themes of letters by Shaikh Aḥmad Sirhindī to the Women and to analyse their social and intellectual content. It is also important to explore the socio-historical significance of these letters. The letters or maktūbāt of Aḥmad Sirhindī are significant because they are a source of the reformist ideology of Sirhindī, who is rightly acclaimed as mujaddid of the second millennium. It is also important to nuance the significance of his maktūbāt written in the Persian language, being the magnum opus of the reformist ideas of Aḥmad Sirhindī. These maktūbāt comprise almost 526 letters in three volumes written to different disciples and followers of Sheikh and have been extensively studied, discussed, and translated into Arabic, Turkish, and Urdu and partially in English. This article aims to study three letters written to women, to see the content of these letters as a mirror to the academic, intellectual, and social perspectives of Muslim women in sixteenth-century India as well as to have an insight into Shaikh’s attitude towards the role of women in religious reform.