Barelvi

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Barelvi (Urdu: بَریلوِی‎, Barēlwī, Urdu pronunciation: [bəreːlʋi]) is a term used for the movement following the Sunni Hanafi school of jurisprudence, originating in Bareilly with over 200 million followers in South Asia.^[1] The name derives from the north Indian town of Bareilly, the hometown of its founder and main leader Ahmed Raza Khan (1856–1921).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Although Barelvi is the commonly used term in the media and academia, the followers of the movement often prefer to be known by the title of Ahlus-Sunnah wa’l-Jama’ah, (Urdu: اہل سنت والجماعت‎) or as Sunnis, a reference to their perception as forming an international majority movement.^[7]

The movement emphasizes personal devotion to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a synthesis of Sharia with Sufi practices such as veneration of saints.^[8][9] Because of this, they are often called Sufi, although they have little in common with the Sufism of classical Islamic mystics.^[10] The movement later identified as Barelvis to differentiate itself from the Deobandi movement, which was influenced by the Wahhabi movement in Arabia.^[10][11]

Etymology

The movement is the Ahlus-Sunnah wa’l-Jama’ah "People of the traditions [of Muhammad] and the community" and they refer to themselves as Sunnis. This terminology is used to lay exclusive claim to be the only legitimate form of Sunni Islam in South Asia, in opposition to the Deobandi, Ahl-i Hadith, Salafis and Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama followers.^[7][11][12]

History

The Barelvi movement actually part of Ahlus-Sunnah wa’l-Jama’ah but became known as Barelvi due to their respective leader Ahmad Raza Khan^{[13][14][10][15]} who, due to the need of true form of Islam, established Islamic schools in 1904 with the Manzar-e-Islam.^[11][16] The Barelvi movement formed as a defense of the traditional mystic practices of South Asia, which it sought to prove and support.^[17]

Although the Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama was founded in 1893 to reconcile South Asia's Muslim sectarian differences, the Barelvis eventually withdrew their support from the council and criticized its efforts due to their heretical and radical beliefs counter to the Islamic values.^[18]

In contrast with the Deobandi movement, the Barelvis showed unequivocal support for the Movement for Pakistan. In the aftermath of the 1948 Partition, they formed an association to represent the movement in Pakistan, called Jamiyyat-u Ulam-i Pakistan (JUP). Like ulema of the Deobandi and Ahl-i Hadith movements, Barelvi ulema have advocated application of sharia law across the country.^[19]

As a reaction to the anti-Islam film Innocence of Muslims, a conglomerate of forty Barelvi parties called for a boycott of Western goods, while at the same time condemning violence which had taken place in protest against the film.^[20]

Presence

India Today estimates that the vast majority of Muslims in India adhere to the Barelvi movement,^[21] and The Heritage Foundation, Time and The Washington Post give similar assessments for the vast majority of Muslims in Pakistan.^{[22][23][24][25]} Political scientist Rohan Bedi estimates that 60% of Pakistani Muslims are Barelvis.^[26]

The majority of Pakistani and Kashmir origin Britons in the United Kingdom are descended from Barelvi-majority areas.^[7] The Barelvi movement in Pakistan has received funding from Barelvis in the UK, in part as a reaction to rival movements in Pakistan also receiving funding from abroad.^[27] According to an editorial in the English-language Pakistani newspaper The Daily Times, many of these mosques have been however usurped by Saudi-funded radical organizations.^[28]

Beliefs and practices

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Barelvi
Central figures Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi Peer Jamaat Ali Shah Hamid Raza Khan Mustafa Raza Khan Qadri Maulana Abdul Hamid Qadri Badayuni Muhammad Karam Shah al-Azhari Mohammad Abdul Ghafoor Hazarvi Ahmad Saeed Kazmi Shah Turab ul Haq
History/Movement All India Sunni Conference Tehreek-e-Khatme Nabuwwat Shaheed Ganj Mosque Movement against Shuddhi Shah Bano Movement
Notable Scholars Past Khwaja Qamar ul Din Sialvi Shah Ahmad Noorani Abdul Sattar Khan Niazi Arshadul Qaudri Shamsul-hasan Shams Barelvi Sarfraz Ahmed Naeemi Sahibzada Haji Muhammad Fazal Karim Nurul Islam Farooqi Present Qamaruzzaman Azmi Ameen Mian Qaudri Syed Shujaat Ali Qadri Muhammad Arshad Misbahi Hamid Saeed Kazmi Yaseen Akhtar Misbahi Muhammad Ilyas Qadri Muhammad Saeed Noori Akhtar Raza Khan
Institutions India Jamiatur Raza Bareilly Manzar-e-Islam Bareilly Al-Jame-atul-Islamia Mau Jamia-tul-Madina Global (five hundred branches) Jamia Markazu Ssaquafathi Ssunniyya Kerala Jamia Nizamia Hyderabad Pakistan Jamia Nizamia Ghousia Jamia Naeemia Lahore Jamia Amjadia Rizvia Dar-ul-Madinah Schools United Kingdom Jamia Al-Karam Al-Mustafa Islamic Cultural Centre Ireland
Literature and Notable Works Kanzul Iman Fatawa-e-Razvia Bahar-e-Shariat Husamul Haramain Manaqib-al-Jaleela
Organizations Dawat e Islami World Islamic Mission Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan Jamaat Ahle Sunnat Sunni Tehreek Sunni Ittehad Council Majlis-e-Tahaffuz-e-Khatme Nabuwwat Tanzeem ul Madaris Raza Academy Dargah-e-Ala Hazrat
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Like other Sunni Muslims, Barelvis base their beliefs on the Quran and Sunnah and believe in monotheism and the prophethood of Muhammad. Barelvis follow the Maturidi school of Islamic theology and the Hanafi madhhab of fiqh in addition to choosing from the Qadiri, Chishti or Suhrawardi tariqas.

Beliefs regarding Muhammad

Barelvis have several beliefs regarding Muhammad's nature that distinguish them from Deobandi, Salafi and Shi'i groups in South Asia:

• He is a human being but created from light.^[29]
• He is present in many places at the same time.^[30]
• He is still witnessing all that goes on in the world.^[30]
• He has knowledge of that which is unknown, including the future.^[31]

Practices

• Public celebration of Muhammad's birthday.^[32][33]
• Veneration of dead and living saints. This consists of the intervention of an ascending, linked and unbroken chain of holy personages claimed to reach ultimately to Muhammad, who Barelvis believe intercede on their behalf with God.^[9][34][35]
• Visiting the tombs of Muhammad, his companions and of pious Muslims, an act the Barelvis claim is supported by the Quran, Sunnah and acts of the companions, but which some opponents call "shrine-worshipping" and Grave worshiping and consider to be un-Islamic.^{[36][37][38][39]}
• Use of devotional music (Sfeir 2007, p. 339)^[40][41][42] and dhikr.^[43]
• Leaving the beard to grow for men; the movement views a man who trims his beard to less than a fist-length as a sinner, and shaving the beard is considered abominable.^[44]

Mosques

• 
  North Manchester Jamia Mosque, UK
• 
  The Manchester Central Mosque

Relations with other movements

Having formed as a reaction against the reformist Deobandi movement, relations between the two groups have often been strained. Ahmad Raza Khan, the founder of Barelvis, went as far as to declare all Deobandis infidels and apostates.^[45]

Although conflict has occurred, relations with other Muslim movements in South Asia have not always been hostile. In mid-2012, leaders of both the Barelvi and Ahl al-Hadith movements in the Kashmir Valley denied that there was any animosity between the two sects in the region. Saying that Kashmiris can ill afford sectarian strife after two decades of bloodbath.^[46]

According to New Delhi analyst Sushant Sareen, in contrast to the substantial Saudi funds received by the Pakistani Deobandi and Ahle Hadith movements, the country's Barelvi movement has received almost no foreign funding. He says this is one reason no Barelvi jihadist group has grown large enough to get involved in Pakistan's Islamist and sectarian politics.^[47]

Conflicts with the Deobandi

The conflict with the Deobandi movement has been particularly heated and uncivil.^[48] While both the Barelvi and Deobandi movements tend to prefer the Hanafi madhhab^[49] and accept Sufism, their fundamental beliefs and way in practicing Sufism has kept them at odds.^[7] Commenting on this, historian Usha Sanyal, in her research entitled Devotional Islam and Politics in British India: Ahmad Raza Khan Barelwi and His Movement, 1870–1920, stated:

Not only did Ahmad Raza Khan obtain confirmatory signatures from other scholars in the South Asia, he managed to get agreement from a number of prominent ulama in Mecca. That occurred in the first years of the twentieth century—long before the Al-Saud and their Wahhabi allies got control of the Haramayn.^[50] The feat was, nevertheless, stunning. The antipathy of the Deobandis toward the Ahl-i Sunnah on the emotional level becomes more comprehensible when Ahmad Riza's fatwa receives a full explication.^[51]

Historically, relations between the Barelvi movement and the British administration of India have been better than those of other Islamic movements.^[7] R. Upadhyay and Rajesh T. Krishnamachari of the India-based South Asia Analysis Group (SAAG) have denied that a simple comparison exists between Barelvism and Deobandism on any scale of tolerance or moderation.^[52][53] According to the same SAAG analysis, the "Deobandi-Barelvi rivalry is also known to be rooted to their ethnic rivalry."^[52]

Conflicts with the Taliban

The Barelvi movement has taken a stance against the various Taliban movements in South Asia, organising rallies and protests in India and Pakistan, condemning what they perceive as unjustified sectarian violence.^[54] The Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), an amalgamation of eight Sunni organizations, launched the Save Pakistan Movement to stem the process of Talibanisation. Terming the Taliban a product of global anti-Islam conspiracies, the leaders of SIC charged the Taliban with playing into the hands of the United States to divide Muslims and bring a bad name to Islam.^[55]

Supporting this movement, the Pakistan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, said: "The Sunni Tehreek has decided to activate itself against Talibanisation in the country. A national consensus against terrorism is emerging across the country."^[56]

In 2009 another prominent Islamic scholar and mufti, or jurisconsult, of the movement, the late Sarfraz Ahmed Naeemi, issued a fatwa denouncing suicide bombings,^[57] as well as criticizing Taliban leader Sufi Muhammad by saying he "should wear bangles if he is hiding like a woman". Naeemi added: "Those who commit suicide attacks for attaining paradise will go to hell, as they kill many innocent people". Naeemi would himself be killed by a suicide bomber.^[58]

Sectarian violence

Analysts and journalists have produced conflicting opinions about the underlying nature of the Barelvi movement, with some describing the group as moderate and peaceful,^[59] while others describe it as being effected by intolerance and radicalism in ways similar to other Islamic movements in the region.^{[52][25][60][61][62][63]}

In the 1990s and 2000s, sporadic violence resulted from disputes between the Barelvi and Deobandi movements over control of Pakistani mosques,^[64] with the conflict coming to a head in May 2001 when sectarian riots broke out after the assassination of Sunni Tehreek leader Saleem Qadri.^[65] In April 2006 in Karachi, a bomb attack on a Barelvi gathering in celebration of Muhammad's birthday killed at least 57 people, including several central leaders of the Sunni Tehreek.^[66][67] In April 2007, Sunni Tehreek activists attempted forcibly to gain control of a mosque in Karachi, opening fire on the mosque and those inside, killing one person and injuring three others.^[68] On 27 February 2010, militants believed to be affiliated with the Taliban and Sipah-e-Sahaba attacked Barelvis celebrating mawlid in Faisalabad and Dera Ismail Khan, again sparking tensions among the rival sects.^[69]

Stand on Blasphemy Law

On 4 January 2011, the governor of Punjab, Salmaan Taseer, was assassinated by a member of the Barelvi group Dawat-e-Islami, Mumtaz Qadri, due to Taseer's opposition to the blasphemy law.^[62][70] Over five hundred scholars of the Barelvi movement voiced support for the crime and urged a boycott of Taseer's funeral.^{[52][25][61][63][71]} According to Time, Sunni Tehreek rewarded the assassin's family^[72][73] and threatened Taseer's family,^[62][74] while another Barelvi group abducted Taseer's son, Shahbaz Taseer.^[75] Supporters attempted to prevent police from bringing the perpetrator to an anti-terrorism court, blocking the way and cheering on the assassin.^[76] In 2014 a Sunni mosque was built in Islamabad named after Mumtaz Qadri, whose worshippers are Barelvis; as of 2014, the mosque was so popular that it started raising funds to double its capacity.^[77]

However, during the same period, a number of Barelvi scholars condemned the assassination.^[78][79]

Criticism

Some commentators see the Barelvi movement as a radical movement which does not accept the views of the Deoband Ulama, the Ahl al-Hadith and some others.^[80]

Notable scholars

Early scholars

Present scholars

Notable organizations

In Pakistan, prominent Sunni Barelvi religious and political organizations include:

• Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan
• Sunni Ittehad Council
• Jamaat Ahle Sunnat
• Dawat-e-Islami
• Sunni Tehreek

In India:

• Raza Academy

Main institutions

• Manzar-e-Islam, Bareilly, India
• Al Jamiatul Ashrafia, Uttar Pradesh, India
• Jamiatur Raza, Bareilly
• Manzar-e-Islam, Bareilly
• Al Jamiatul Ashrafia, Azamgarh
• Al-Jame-atul-Islamia, Mau
• Jamia Markazu Ssaquafathi Ssunniyya, Kerala
• Jamia Nizamia, Hyderabad
• Pakistan
• Jamia Naeemia Lahore
• Jamia Amjadia Rizvia Karachi
• Jamia Nizamia Ghousia Wazirabad,
• Jamia-tul-Madina
• United Kingdom
• Jamia Al-Karam
• Al-Mustafa Islamic Cultural Centre Ireland

Quran translation

• Kanzul Iman, an English/Urdu Quran translation by Ahmad Raza Khan

See also

• Islam in India
• Islam in Pakistan
• Islamic schools and branches
• Nahdlatul Ulama, an Indonesian traditionalist movement formed in reaction to Wahabbism

Notes

References

• Riaz, Ali (2008). Faithful Education: Madrassahs in South Asia. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-4345-1. 
• Geaves, Ron (2006). "Learning the lessons from the neo-revivalist and Wahhabi movements: the counterattack of the new Sufi movements in the UK". In Malik, Jamal; Hinnells, John R. Sufism in the West. Routledge. pp. 142–157. 
• Jones, Kenneth W. (1989). Socio-Religious Reform Movements in British India, Part 3. 1. Cambridge University Press. 
• Malik, Jamal, ed. (2008). Madrasas in South Asia: Teaching terror?. Routledge. 
• Roy, Olivier; Sfeir, Antoine (2007). The Columbia World Dictionary of Islamism. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-14640-1. 
• Sanyal, Usha (2008). "Ahl-i Sunnat Madrasas: the Madrasa Manzar-i Islam, Bareilly, and Jamia Ashrafiyya, Mubarakpur". In Malik, Jamal. Madrasas in South Asia: Teaching terror?. Routledge. pp. 23–44. 
• Sanyal, Usha (2005). Ahmed Riza Khan Barelwi: In the Path of the Prophet. Makers of the Muslim World. Oxford: Oneworld. 
• Sirriyeh, Elizabeth (1999). Sufis and Anti-Sufis: The Defense, Rethinking and Rejection of Sufism in the Modern World. Routledge. ISBN 0-7007-1058-2. 
• Sirriyeh, Elizabeth (2004). "Sufi Thought and its Reconstruction". In Taji-Farouki, Suha; Nafi, Basheer M. Islamic Thought in the Twentieth Century. I.B. Tauris. pp. 104–127. ISBN 1-85043-751-3. 

External links

• Islamic Academy
• Ahlesunnat Network Pakistan
• Dawat-e-Islami
• Sunni Dawate Islami Of India
• Sunni.org.uk

Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi
Major works	Manzar-e-Islam Kanzul Iman Fatawa-e-Razvia Husamul Haramain
Family	Hamid Raza Khan Mustafa Raza Khan Qadri Akhtar Raza Khan Subhan Raza Khan Tauqeer Raza Khan
Legacy	Ala Hazrat Express Al Jamiatul Ashrafia Al-Jame-atul-Islamia Jamiatur Raza Imam Ahmed Raza Research Institute, Karachi Imam Ahmed Raza Academy, South Africa Al-Raza Islamic Educational and welfare Trust Raza Academy
Related topics	Dargah-e-Ala Hazrat Barelvi Usha Sanyal Dawat-e-Islami