Ismail Hadji Maulvi-Mohammed

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Ismail Hadji Maulvi-Mohammed (1781-1831), Muslim reformer, was born at Pholahnear Delhi, India. In co-operation with Syed Ahmed he attempted to free Indian Islam from the influence of the native early Indian faiths. The two men travelled extensively for many years and visited Mecca. In the Wahhabite movement they found much that was akin to their own views, and on returning to India preached the new doctrine of a pure Islam, and gathered many adherents.

The official Muslim leaders, however, regarded their propaganda with disfavour, and the dispute led to the reformers being interdicted by the British government in 1827. The little company then moved to Punjab where, aided by an Afghan chief, they declared war on the Sikhs and made Peshawar the capital of the theocratic community which they wished to establish (1829). Deserted by the Afghans they had to leave Peshawar, and Ismail Hadji fell in battle against the Sikhs amid the Pakhli mountains (1831). The movement survived him, and some adherents were still found in the mountains of the north-west frontier in 1911.

Ismail's book Taqoualyat el Iman was published in Hindustani and translated in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, xiii. 1852.