Syed Ahmad Shaheed

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Syed Ahmad of Rai Bareilly (b.1786 d.1831) also called Syed Ahmed Shaheed. A warrior from India who under the influence of Shah Abdul Aziz, son of Shah Waliullah, and it is said Salafi Muslim doctrines toured Afghanistan and the areas occupied by the Sikhs raising the banner of Jihad and rallying the Pashtun tribes to his banner. His movement briefly seemed to pose a serious threat to Ranjit Singhs Sikh Kingdom after it inflicted several defeats on Sikh troops as well as briefly recapturing Peshawar. However his haste in imposing his puritan version of Islam without taking into consideration the local customs and sectarian differences undermined his appeal in the region and triggered a backlash by local tribesmen.

He fell betrayed by some locals and was killed by the Sikhs along with hundreds of his troops and followers including swatis and syeds of Kaghan in Balakot, Mansehra in 1831.

[edit] Dispute

Opponents of Syed Ahmad Barelwi dispute this history. They claim Barelwi and his sidekick Maulvi Ismail raided the Sufi Shrine with his supporters and looted donation boxes and ornaments over there in the name of Wahhabism. He was later in dispute with Pashtun tribesmen over distribution of the loot and the Pashtuns killed him in the tribal areas.

Some Pashtuns claim they killed him for blasphemy. Sikhs make no claim of killing him. The dead bodies of him and his sidekick were nowhere to be found.

[edit] References

WORLD POLICY JOURNAL: The Hidden Roots of Wahhabism in British India by Charles Allen Volume XXII, No 2, Summer 2005 Print Full Text

[edit] External links

Syed Muhammad Hubaan Muhammad Shafi Sabir Tazkara Sarfaroshan e Sarhad[1]