حضرت احمد الرفاعیؒ اور سلسلۂ رفاعیہ مستشرقین کی نظر میں

Orientalists Viewpoint of Haḍrat Aḥmad al- Rifā‘ī and Rifā‘īya Order

Abstract

Rifā‘īya is a ṣūfī order that was founded by Sayyid Aḥmad Kabīr Rifā‘ī´. He was a contemporary of Shaikh ‘Abd al-Qādir Jīlānī, the founder of Qādirīya order. He was famous among people due to his knowledge, piety and services for preaching Islam. The founder of Rifā‘īya order has been referred to in Tadhkiras and works on Ṣūfī history. This paper underlines how orientalists have highlighted the life and achievements of Aḥmad Kabīr Rifā‘ī´and the order founded by him. The orientalists referred to herein are David Samuel Margoliouth, Sir H.A.R Gibb, John P.Brown. John Spencer Trimingham, John Renard, Joseph Mill, Valeri J. Hoffman-Ladd, Nile Green, Thomas Eich, Annemarie Schimmel and Clifford Edmund Bosworth. All these Western Scholars have generally eulogized the saint with a few exceptions while narrating saintly miracles.