A Misunderstood Reformer: Sayyid Ahmad Shaheed

By Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi

The great renovator of Islam and Fighter for its cause that Sayyid Ahmad Shaheed was, ranks among those select and heavenly souls who were supremely blessed with an unshakable faith in god and his promises and had an implicit belief in the life after death. God had also cleansed his heart from the defilements of falseness, vanity and vain pretensions. The world and all its wealth, power and pelf, were to him valueless like dust. When the Sayyid was staying at Calcutta before embarking the ship for Hajj, Ghulam Husain Khan made bold to say, 'The ship you are going in is an ordinary one. It would be proper if you go by the ship 'Atiur-Rahman', which has sixty cannons on board and is captained by Muhammad Husain turk who holds the charge of forty ships. If you go to Arabic by it, the people there would think more highly of you'.

This suggestion made the Sayyid's blood boil in anger. He said in reply, 'What did you say, Ghulam Husain Khan! Honor is given by God and not by Man. I regard the esteem and reverence of this world as a dead dog!'.

The Sayyid so detested worldly fame and honour that he had earnestly prayed God that no trace of his grave might remain after his death. As, so it happened for God did not allow his sepulchre to be known and made a place of adoration by the coming generations.

Viewed in this context, the Sayyid does not require that his successors, scholars, penmen and historians should either study and evaluate the efforts he had made for the revival of Islam or trade the effects of his movements on the later revivalist and reformatory movements. But the present generation of this millat, and those to come later on, do need to make a close study of accomplishments impartially and justly so as to allocate him the place he deserves in the history of Islam. This is an obligation we owe to him, and the sooner we discharge it, the better it would be for us.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0B143W1G3
• ISBN13: 9798824651010
• Release Date: May 2022
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 70 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 5.5" x 8.5"