Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi

Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi
Title Ala Hazrat
Born 14 June 1856[1]
Muhallah Jasoli, Bareilly, NWP, British Indian Empire
Died 28 October 1921 (aged 65)
Muhallah Sodagraan, Bareilly, UP, British Indian Empire
Nationality India
Ethnicity Pashtuns
Era Modern era
Region South Asia
Jurisprudence Hanafi
Creed Sunni
Main interest(s) Aqeedah, Fiqh, Tasawwuf
Website
Barelvi movement
Tomb of Ahmed Raza Khan
Central figures

Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi
Shah Waliullah
Haji Imdadullah Muhajir Makki
Meher Ali Shah

Mufti Amjad Ali Aazmi
Hamid Raza Khan

Organizations

Jamaat Ahle Sunnat, Pakistan
Sunni Tehreek, Pakistan
Sunni Ittehad Council, Pakistan
Dawat-e-Islami, International
World Islamic Mission, International
Sunni Dawat-e-Islami, International

Institutions

Al Jamiatul Ashrafia · Manzar-e-Islam
Al-Jame-atul-Islamia · Jamiatur Raza

Notable Scholars

Sarfraz Ahmed Naeemi, Pakistan
Ilyas Qadri, Pakistan
Muhammad Muslehuddin Siddiqui, Pakistan
Allama Arshadul Qaudri, India

Literature & Media

Kanzul Iman, translation of the Qur'an
Madani Channel

Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi (Urdu: احمد رضاخان بریلوی‎, Hindi: अहमद रज़ा खान, Born: 14 june 1856 AD or 10 Shawwal 1272 AH in Muhallah Jasoli Bareilly, UP[2] __Died: 28 October 1921 AD or 25 Safar 1340 AH in Bareilly, UP[3]), known as Aala Hazrat, was a Hanafi Sunni who founded the Barelvi movement of South Asia.[4][5][6] Raza Khan wrote on numerous topics, including law, religion, philosophy and the sciences. He wrote numerous works on the Islamic Prophet Muhammad.[5]

Early life

His father was Naqi Ali Khan, his grand father was Raza Ali Khan and his great-grandfather Shah Kazim Ali Khan.[7] His ancestors were Pashtuns from Kandahar.[8]

Ahmad was born on 14 June 1856 in Jasuli, one of the areas of Bareilly Sharif, united India. His birth name is Mohammad however his grandfather called him Ahmad Raza and his mother named him Amman Miyān. He became famous with the name which was kept by his grandfather.[9] Khan used the appellation "Abdul Mustafa" (slave [or servant] of Mustafa) prior to signing his name in correspondence.[10]

Beliefs

Ahmed Raza Khan's beliefs regarding Muhammad include:

Raza Khan wrote:

"We do not hold that anyone can equal the knowledge of Allah Most High, or possess it independently, nor do we assert that Allah’s giving of knowledge to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) is anything but a part. But what a patent and tremendous difference between one part [the Prophet’s] and another [anyone else’s]: like the difference between the sky and the earth, or rather even greater and more immense."
—Ahmed Raza Khan, al-Dawla al-Makkiyya (c00), 291.

Opposition to other sects

Ahmed Raza himself painstakingly developed refutations of Ahmadis, Deobandis, the Ahl-e-Hadith and Wahhabis.[15]

Ahmadis

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian claimed to be the Mahdi (messiah) awaited by Muslims, as well as a Ummati Nabi, a subordinate prophet to the Holy Prophet who brings no new Sharia but restores instead restore Islam to its pure form.[16] These claims proved to be extremely controversial among many Muslims, and Ahmed Raza branded Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as a heretic and apostate and called him and his followers (Ahmadis) Kuffar.[17]

Deobandis

When Ahmed Raza visited Mecca and Medina for pilgrimage in 1905, he prepared a draft document entitled Al Motamad Al Mustanad ("The Reliable Proofs") for presentation to the scholars of Mecca and Medina. Ahmed Raza Khan collected opinions of the ulama of the Hejaz and compiled them in an Arabic language compendium with the title, Husam al Harmain ("The Sword of Two Sanctuaries"), a work containing 34 verdicts from 33 ulama (20 Meccan and 13 Medinese). In that work, which was to inspire a reciprocal series of fatwas between Barelvis and Deobandis lasting to the present, Ahmad Raza denounced as kuffar the Deobandi leaders Ashraf Ali Thanwi, Rashid Ahmad Gangohi, and Muhammad Qasim Nanotwi.[18]

Political quietism

Unlike most other Muslim leaders in the region at the time, Khan and his movement opposed the Indian independence movement due to its leadership under Mahatma Gandhi, who was not a Muslim.[19]

Criticism

See also

References

  1. ↑ Hayat-e-Aala Hadhrat, vol.1 p.1
  2. ↑ http://www.raza.org.za/the_mujaddid_imam_ahmed_raza_childhood.html
  3. ↑ http://www.raza.org.za/the_mujaddid_imam_ahmed_raza_demise.html
  4. ↑ See:Ala Hazrat denied and condemned Taziah,Qawwali,tawaf of mazar,sada except Allah SWT,women visit at Mazar and Fatiha.
    • Illustrated Dictionary of the Muslim World (2011), p. 113. Marshall Cavendish, ISBN 9780761479291
    • Globalisation, Religion & Development (2011), p. 53. Farhang Morady and İsmail Şiriner (eds.). London: International Journal of Politics and Economics.
    • Rowena Robinson (2005) Tremors of Violence: Muslim Survivors of Ethnic Strife in Western India, p. 191. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, ISBN 0761934081
    • Roshen Dalal (2010) The Religions of India: A Concise Guide to Nine Major Faiths, p. 51. Revised edition. City of Westminster: Penguin Books, ISBN 9780143415176
    • Barbara D. Metcalf (2009) Islam in South Asia in Practice, p. 342. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
    • The Columbia World Dictionary of Islamism (2007), p. 92. Oliver Roy and Antoine Sfeir (eds.), New York: Columbia University Press.
    • Gregory C. Doxlowski and Usha Sanyal (Oct–Dec 1999). "Devotional Islam and Politics in British India: Ahmad Riza Khan Barelwi and His Movement, 1870–1920". Journal of the American Oriental Society 119 (4): 707–709. doi:10.2307/604866. JSTOR 604866.
    • Elizabeth Sirriyeh (1999) Sufis and Anti-Sufis: The Defense, Rethinking and Rejection of Sufism in the Modern World, p. 49. London: Routledge, ISBN 0-7007-1058-2.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Usha Sanyal (1998). "Generational Changes in the Leadership of the Ahl-e Sunnat Movement in North India during the Twentieth Century". Modern Asian Studies 32 (3): 635. doi:10.1017/S0026749X98003059.
  6. ↑ Ali Riaz (2008) Faithful Education: Madrassahs in South Asia, p. 75. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, ISBN 9780813543451
  7. ↑ Usha Sanyal (1996). Devotional Islam and politics in British India: Ahmad Riza Khan Barelwi and his movement, 1870–1920. Oxford University Press. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-19-563699-4.
  8. ↑ Usha Sanyal, Ahmad Riza Khan Barelwi: In the Path of the Prophet, Oneworld Publications (2012), p. 52
  9. ↑ Ala Hadhrat by Bastawi, p. 25
  10. ↑ Man huwa Ahmed Rida by Shaja'at Ali al-Qadri, p.15
  11. ↑ Islamic Beliefs, Practices, and Cultures. Marshall Cavendish. 1 September 2010. pp. 145–. ISBN 978-0-7614-7926-0. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
  12. ↑ Pakistan perspectives, Volume 7. Pakistan Study Centre, University of Karachi, 2002
  13. ↑ Akbar S. Ahmed (1999) Islam today: a short introduction to the Muslim world. I.B. Tauris Publishers, ISBN 978-1-86064-257-9
  14. ↑ N. C. Asthana & A.Nirmal (2009) Urban Terrorism : Myths And Realities. Publisher Pointer Publishers, ISBN 978-81-7132-598-6, p. 67
  15. ↑ http://www.hudson.org/research/9848-the-assertion-of-barelvi-extremism
  16. ↑ http://www.reviewofreligions.org/1599/my%E2%80%88claim-to-promised-messiahship/
  17. ↑ Zahid Aziz, Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam (2008) A survey of the Lahore Ahmadiyya movement: history, beliefs, aims and work. A.a.i.i.l. (u.k.), ISBN 978-1-906109-03-5. p. 43
  18. ↑ http://books.google.com/books?id=6w7JVOlDIokC&pg=PA282&dq=Khan++deobandi+husam&hl=en&sa=X&ei=h3LgUb-DDaj84AOOq4G4Ag&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Khan%20%20deobandi%20husam&f=false
  19. ↑ R. Upadhyay, Barelvis and Deobandhis: "Birds of the Same Feather". Eurasia Review, courtesy of the South Asia Analysis Group. 28 January 2011.
  20. ↑ M. Naeem Qureshi. Pan-Islam in British Indian politics: a study of the Khilafat Movement, 1918–1924. BRILL, 1999. ISBN 978-90-04-11371-8. p. 179

Further reading

External links