"When the Mughal emperor Akbar manifested general tolerance of all religions, the Muslim religious class, the ‘ulamā’, were not at all amused. As a result, there were a number of Islamic Revivalist Movements, some of which included a belief in the coming of a Messiah, who would sweep away all the corruption and inaugurate an era of piousness, a true, pristine Islam. One of the first to launch such a revival movement was Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindī5 , later known as Mujaddidi Alf-i Thānī . For Sirhindi, the sunna and Sharī‘a remain the most important components of Islamic culture."

“Kufr and Islam are opposed to each other. The progress of one is possible only at the expense of the other and co-existence between these two contradictory faiths is unthinkable.”

“Whenever a Jew is killed it is to the benefit of Islam.”

“Like many fundamentalists, Sirhindi has no tolerance for philosophers, since he believed that “the human intellect is incapable of understanding properly the nature of God without prophetic assistance.” But this rejection of the philosophers also “leads him to an equally indignant rejection of their natural sciences. Their geometry, astronomy, logic, and mathematics are useless as far as the hereafter is concerned and fall therefore within the category of ‘inconsequential things’ .”

“Although Sirhindi wrote a number of treatises on Sufi themes, he is best known for his letters to various Sufi shaykhs and Mughal dignitaries, which have been regarded as a turning point in the development of Indo-Muslim religious thought. Sirhindi’s insistence on strict adherence to the sharia was at least partially responsible for inspiring the Mughal emperor, Awrangzib, to carry out orthodox reforms that reversed the heretical developments of his prede- cessor, Akbar’s rule. ... Sirhindi also wrote a number of letters concern- ing the martial jihad and relations with non-Muslims under Muslim rule. In these letters, Sirhindi consistently advocates a harsh and uncompromis- ing stance toward the Hindus under Mughal rule.”

“As Ayesha Jalal points out, he was “a firm believer in the need to use state power to enforce Islam”.”

“It is therefore enjoined upon every Muslim to wage a regular crusade against all innovations.”