Saeed Ahmed Raipuri (Urdu: سعید احمد رائپوری, January 1926 – 26 September 2012[1][2][3]) was a Pakistani Muslim scholar as well as the spiritual heir of Khanqah-e-Rahimia Raipur (India) and a contemporary authority of Shah Waliullah’s thought. He was among prominent disciples of Ilyas Kandhlawi, founder of Tablighi Jamaat and Zakariyya Kandhlawi. Rising above practical politics,[4] on the basis of the thought of Shah Waliullah, Mahmud Hasan Deobandi, Abdul Qadir Raipuri, Ubaidullah Sindhi and Hussain Ahmed Madani, he established JTI in 1967. Under his supervision, a journal named "Azm (عزم)" was launched in 1974 which is still being published. In 1987, he established an organization "Tanzeem Fikr-e-Waliullahi" based on the philosophical works of Shah Waliullah. He established "Shah Waliullah Media Foundation" to publish literature based on Waliullahi philosophy. He also established Rahimia Institute of Quranic Sciences, Lahore in 2001. There are currently multiple other campuses of Rahimia Institute of Quranic Sciences in Karachi, Sukkur, Multan, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Quetta.[5] Thousands of youth are associated with the institute through the organization of seminars and other events.[6] In 1992, he was appointed the successor of his father Abdul Aziz Raipuri.[7]

Shah Saeed Ahmed Raipuri
شاہ سعید احمد رائپوری
Personal
BornJanuary 1926
Gumthala, District Karnal, India
Died26 September 2012(2012-09-26) (aged 86)
Resting placeGulzar-e-Saeedia Rahimia Near Rahimia Institute of Quranic Sciences, Lahore
ReligionIslam
DenominationSunni
JurisprudenceHanafi
Main interest(s)Shah Waliullah's Philosophy
Notable work(s)Social Change
OccupationIslamic scholar, Sufi Sheikh, author
Muslim leader
Disciple ofAbdul Qadir Raipuri, Muhammad Ilyas Kandhalvi, Muhammad Zakariya Kandhalvi
Influenced
  • Mufti Abdul Khaliq Azad, Dr. Mufti Saeed-ur-Rehman Awan, Mufti Abdul Mateen Naumani

Background

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Shah Saeed Ahmed Raipuri was the eldest son of Shah Abdul Aziz Raipuri. He started to learn from Abdul Qadir Raipuri when he was 5 years old and spent thirty years of his life with him.[citation needed] During 1947 and 1948, he studied in Madrasa Mazahiral Uloom.[citation needed] Shah Saeed Ahmed Raipuri was the fourth Sheikh after Shah Abdul Rahim Raipuri (1853-1919), who was himself a Naqshbandi Pir born in Tigri, Ambala, India. Shah Abdul Rahim Raipuri established Khanqah-i-Aliya Rahimia in Raipur which, later on, became one of the leading centres of Deobandi learning. Like many of Abdul Rahim's successors, Shah Saeed Ahmed Raipuri replicated it in Lahore by the name of Idara Rahimia Ulum-i-Qurania in 2001.[5] The network of Nizam ul Madaris ur Rahimia is very extensive with innumerable madaris (religious schools) affiliated with it throughout Pakistan.[4][8]

Quotes

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He was a Muslim Sufi, scholar and thinker, known for the reformist, revolutionary and progressive ideology. Here are some of his quotes:[9]

  • If rulers are unworthy and rights of humanity violated, then work for a revolution to offset decadence.
  • Allah ordered the Prophet (peace be upon him) to eradicate tyranny from society, to help oppressed people, and to free all people of the world from oppression and injustice.
  • The purpose and ideology of the Quran is to worship Allah and eradicate injustice from this world and give freedom to the oppressed. It is the divine order of the Quran to eradicate poverty, establish peace, and put an end to an environment of war and fighting. It is the divine order of the Quran to fulfil the rights of your wives, children, parents, brothers and sisters, relatives, and neighbours, and going even further, the Quran enjoins upon us to fulfil the rights of all humanity.
  • Namaz was supposed to create Walis. Instead, nowadays, we see that the traits of people offering the same Namaz are that of tyrants and evil doers.
  • Allah says that Namaz is my right and I can forgive my right. But lying, slandering, harming others – these are the rights of the men (Haqooq-ul-Ibad).

References

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  1. ^ Obituary.
  2. ^ Obituary.
  3. ^ "Shah Saeed Ahmed Raipuri passes away". Dunya News. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
  4. ^ a b Kamran, Tahir (2006). "Evolution and Impact of 'Deobandi' Islam in the Punjab" (PDF). The Historian: A Research Journal. 3: 28–50. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 November 2011. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
  5. ^ a b Rahimia Institute of Quranic Sciences.
  6. ^ "Seminar on thoughts of Shah Waliullah". Dawn News. 27 June 2005. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
  7. ^ Rashdi, Zahid (8 October 2012). "Maulana Saeed Ahmed Raipuri". Roznama Islam.
  8. ^ Azad, Mufti Abdul Khaliq (2006). Mashaikh-i-Raipur: Khanqah-i-Aliya Rahimia Raipur aur mashaikh Raipur ka taaruf. Lahore: Dar ul Tehqiq wal Ishaat. pp. 198–199.
  9. ^ "RIP Shah Saeed Ahmad Raipuri". Retrieved 26 September 2012.