Abdul Hakim Sialkoti

Abdul Hakim Sialkoti (; – 1656) was a Mughal-era Punjabi Muslim Islamic scholar, philosopher, theologian and metaphysician.

Biography Abdul Hakim Sialkoti was born in 988 AH/ during the reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar into a weaver family from Sialkot. He was the son of Shaykh Shams al-Dīn, a religious scholar. Abdul Hakim received his early education from his father, and then studied under the renowned religious scholar of his time, Shaykh Kamāl al-Dīn (d. 1017 AH/ 1608), who was also the teacher of another well-known theologian, Ahmad Sirhindi.

During the reign of Akbar, Sialkoti taught in Lahore where he came to be known as Fazīl Lahorī. He had two notable class fellows, Ahmad Sirhindi and Nawab Sa'dullah Khan. When Sa'dullah Khan was appointed as vizier of Emperor Shah Jahān, Sialkoti was introduced to the emperor by the former who ordered him to be sent for. He became the most influential scholar in the imperial court, and taught in the imperial madrassa in Delhi. He was the one who introduced the Persian philosopher Mulla Sadra in the Subcontinent, and his fame reached as far as Ottoman Empire already during his lifetime.

Students His notable students include Chandar Bhan Brahman, Qāzi Abdur Rahīm Murādabādī, Syed Ismail Bilgrāmī, Shaykh Muhammad Afzal Jaunpurī, Ismatullah Saharanpuri and Moulavī Muhammad Qanuajī. After Abdul Hakim Sialkoti's death in 1656, his son Maulvī Abdullah (d. 1094 AH/1682) became chief scholar of Sialkot, and his madrassa became a centre of learning.