Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi


Ahmed Raza Khan, commonly known as Ahmed Rida Khan in Arabic, or simply as "Ala-Hazrat", was an Islamic scholar, jurist, theologian, ascetic, Sufi, Urdu poet, and reformer in British India, and the founder of the Barelvi movement. Raza Khan wrote on law, religion, philosophy and the sciences.

Life

Early life and family

Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi's father, Naqi Ali Khan, was the son of Raza Ali Khan. Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi belonged to the Barech tribe of Pushtuns. The Barech formed a tribal grouping among the Rohilla Pushtuns of North India who founded the state of Rohilkhand. Khan's ancestors migrated from Qandahar during the Mughal rule and settled in Lahore.
Khan was born on 14 June 1856 in Mohallah Jasoli, Bareilly, the North-Western Provinces. The name corresponding to the year of his birth was "Al Mukhtaar". His birth name was Muhammad. Khan used the appellation "Abdul Mustafa" prior to signing his name in correspondence.
At the age of four he completed the recitation of the Quran. At the age of 13, he completed his Islamic Education as well as reached puberty after which he began issuing Fatwas.
Khan saw an intellectual and moral decline of Muslims in British India. His movement was a mass movement, defending popular Sufism, which grew in response to the influence of the Deobandi movement in South Asia and the Wahhabi movement elsewhere.
Today the movement is spread across the globe with followers in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Turkey, Afghanistan, Iraq, Sri Lanka, South Africa, United States, and UK among other countries. The movement now has over 200 million followers. The movement was largely a rural phenomenon when begun, but is currently popular among urban, educated Pakistanis and Indians as well as South Asian diaspora throughout the world.
Many religious schools, organizations and research institutions teach Khan's ideas, which emphasize the primacy of Islamic law over adherence to Sufi practices and personal devotion to the prophet Muhammad.

Death

Khan died on 28 October 1921 at the age of 65, in his home at Bareilly. He was buried in the Dargah-e-Ala Hazrat which marks the site for the annual commemoration of his death. 24 October 2019 marked the 101th anniversary.

His teachers

According to Masud Ahmad, Khan’s teachers were:
In the year 1294 A.H., at the age of 22 years, Imam Ahmed Raza became the Mureed of Imam-ul-Asfiya, Shah Aale Rasool Marehrawi. His Murshid bestowed him with Khilafat in the several Sufi Silsilas. Number of Islamic scholars received permission from him to work under his guidance.

Works

Khan wrote books in Arabic, Persian and Urdu, including the thirty-volume fatwa compilation Fatawa Razaviyya, and Kanzul Iman. Several of his books have been translated into European and South Asian languages.

Kanzul Iman (translation of the Qur'an)

Kanzul Iman is a 1910 Urdu paraphrase translation of the Qur'an by Khan. It is not associated with the Hanafi jurisprudence within Sunni Islam, and is a widely read version of translation in the Indian Subcontinent.
It has been translated into English, Hindi, Bengali, Dutch, Turkish, Sindhi, Gujarati and Pashto.

Husamul Haramain

Husamul Haramain or Husam al Harmain Ala Munhir kufr wal myvan 1906, is a treatise which declared infidels the founders of the Deobandi, Ahle Hadith and Ahmadiyya movements on the basis that they did not have the proper veneration of the Prophet Muhammad and finality of Prophethood in their writings. In defense of his verdict he obtained confirmatory signatures from 268 traditional Sunni scholars in South Asia, and some from scholars in Mecca and Medina. The treatise is published in Arabic, Urdu, English, Turkish and Hindi.

Fatawa Razawiyyah

Fatawa-e-Razvia or Fatawa-e-Radaviyyah is the main fatwa book of his movement. It has been published in 30 volumes and in approx. 22,000 pages. It contains solution to daily problems from religion to business and from war to marriage.

Hadaikh-e-Bakhshish

He wrote devotional poetry in praise of the Prophet Muhammad and always discussed him in the present tense. His main book of poetry is Hadaikh-e-Bakhshish.
His poems, which deal for the most part with the qualities of the Prophet, often have a simplicity and directness. They reportedly created a favorable climate for na'at writing.
His Urdu couplets, entitled Mustafa jaane rahmat pe lakhon salaam, are read in movements mosques. They contain praise of the Prophet, his physical appearance, his life and times, praise of his family and companions, praise of the awliya and saleheen.

Other notable works

His other works include:
Khan supported Tawassul, Mawlid, the prophet Muhammad's awareness of some unseen things, and other Sufi practices which were opposed by Wahhabis and Deobandis.
In this context he supported the following beliefs:
This concept was interpreted by Shah Abdul Aziz in Tafsir Azizi in these words: The Prophet is observing everybody, knows their good and bad deeds, and knows the strength of faith of every individual Muslim and what has hindered his spiritual progress.
He reached judgments with regard to certain practices and faith in his book Fatawa-e-Razvia, including:
In 1905, Khan, on the request of contemporaries from Hijaz, wrote a verdict on the permissibility of using paper as form of currency, entitled Kifl-ul-Faqeehil fehim Fe Ahkam-e-Kirtas Drahim.

Ahmadiyyah

of Qadian claimed to be the Promised Messiah and Mahdi awaited by some Muslims as well as a Ummati Nabi, a subordinate prophet to Muhammad who came to restore Islam to the Pristine form as practiced by Muhammad and early Sahaba. Khan declared Mirza Ghulam Ahmad a heretic and apostate and called him and his followers as disbelievers or kuffar.

Deobandis

The theological difference with Deobandi school begun when Imam Ahmed Raza Khan Qadri objected in writing to some of the following beliefs of Deobandi scholars.
When Imam Ahmed Raza Khan visited Mecca and Medina for pilgrimage in 1905, he prepared a draft document entitled Al Motamad Al Mustanad. In this work, Ahmad Raza branded Deobandi leaders such as Ashraf Ali Thanwi, Rashid Ahmad Gangohi, and Muhammad Qasim Nanotwi and those who followed them as kuffar. Khan collected scholarly opinions in the Hejaz and compiled them in an Arabic language compendium with the title, Husam al Harmain, a work containing 34 verdicts from 33 ulama. This work initiated a reciprocal series of fatwas between Barelvis and Deobandis lasting to the present.

Shia

Khan wrote various books against beliefs and faith of Shia Muslims and declared various practices of Shia as kufr. Most Shiites of his day were apostates because, he believed, they repudiated necessities of religion.

Wahabi Movement

Khan declared Wahabis as kuffār and collected many fatwas of various scholars against the Wahabbi movement founded by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, who was predominant in the Arabian peninsula, just as he had done with the Ahmadis and Deobandis. Until this day, Khan's followers remain opposed to the Wahabi and their beliefs.

Political views

Unlike 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.
Khan declared that India was Dar al-Islam and that Muslims enjoyed religious freedom there. According to him, those arguing the contrary merely wanted to take advantage of the provisions allowing Muslims living under non-Muslim rule to collect interest from commercial transactions and had no desire to fight Jihad or perform Hijra. Therefore, he opposed labeling British India to be Dar al-Harb, which meant that waging holy war against and migrating from India were inadmissible as they would cause disaster to the community. This view of Khan's was similar to other reformers Syed Ahmed Khan and Ubaidullah Ubaidi Suharwardy.
The Muslim League mobilized the Muslim masses to campaign for Pakistan, and many of Khan's followers played a significant and active role in the Pakistan Movement at educational and political fronts.

Legacy

Recognition

Khan had two son and five daughters. His sons Hamid Raza Khan and Mustafa Raza Khan Qadri are celebrated scholars of Islam. Hamid Raza Khan was his appointed successor. After him Mustafa Raza Khan succeeded his father, who then appointed Akhtar Raza Khan as his successor. His son, Mufti Asjad Raza Khan now succeeds him as the spiritual leader.
He had many disciples and successors, including 30 in the Indian subcontinent and 35 elsewhere.
Following scholars are his notable Successor.