Saeed Ahmed Raipuri

Shah Saeed Ahmed Raipuri شاہ سعید احمد رائپوری
Personal
Born	January 1926 Gumthala, District Karnal, India
Died	26 September 2012(2012-09-26) (aged 86) Lahore, Pakistan
Resting place	Gulzar-e-Saeedia Rahimia Near Rahimia Institute of Quranic Sciences, Lahore
Religion	Islam
Denomination	Sunni
Jurisprudence	Hanafi
Main interest(s)	Shah Waliullah's Philosophy
Notable work(s)	Social Change
Occupation	Islamic scholar, Sufi Sheikh, author
Muslim leader
Disciple of	Abdul Qadir Raipuri, Muhammad Ilyas Kandhalvi, Muhammad Zakariya Kandhalvi
Influenced by Shah Waliullah, Mahmud al-Hasan, Abdul Qadir Raipuri, Ubaidullah Sindhi, Husain Ahmad Madani
Influenced Mufti Abdul Khaliq Azad, Dr. Mufti Saeed-ur-Rehman Awan, Mufti Abdul Mateen Naumani

Saeed Ahmed Raipuri (Urdu: سعید احمد رائپوری, January 1926 – 26 September 2012) 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, 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 four other campuses of Rahimia Institute of Quranic Sciences in Karachi, Sukkur, Multan and Rawalpindi. Thousands of youth are associated with the institute through the organization of seminars and other events. In 1992, he was appointed the successor of his father Abdul Aziz Raipuri.

Background

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. During 1947 and 1948, he studied in Madrasa Mazahiral Uloom. 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. The network of Nizam ul Madaris ur Rahimia is very extensive with innumerable madaris (religious schools) affiliated with it throughout Pakistan.

Quotes

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

• 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).