Commonsense About Ahmadiyyat — Page 15
he produced evidence that the Holy Prophet had listened to music. This was not good enough for the mufti, who wanted the accused to produce evidence that Imam Abu Hanifa had sanctioned listening to music, since they were all Hanifites. As this could not be done, the accused was upbraided and branded as a backslider. . The Imam Ibn-i-Taimiyyah was a highly distinguished scholar, who was imprisoned for a long time in Egypt and was tortured and died in prison. Some hours before his death, the Minister from Damascus, who originally pounced on him, came to him for his forgiveness. The dying Imam said: 'I forgive you and all those who opposed me, because they did not know I was right. I also forgive the King Nasir by whose command I was imprisoned, because his advisers did not know the truth. '. Shams Tabrezi was a noble saint of his time, and was the guru or mentor of some who became famous saints later. For saying that hymn singing was quite lawful, he was skinned alive. . Jalal-ud-Din Rumi of whirling dervish fame, Founder of Maulvi. Order of Sufism and the author of the famous Mathnavi, was declared an apostate, as were all who followed him. . The Eighth Century. The 'heretics' of this century were two important personages. . One was the Imam Ibn-i-Qayyum, who did not equate visiting the tomb of Prophet Ibrahim in Hebron with visiting the Ka'aba in Mecca and the Holy Prophet's Mosque and his tomb in Medina. . He was imprisoned, humiliated, lashed and tortured. . The other was Sufi Taj-ud-Din Sibki, who was also plagued by the priesthood. . The Ninth Century. Maulana Abdul Rahman Jami, a popular saint, was accused of heresy. 15