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Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi
Indian Islamic scholar (1856 – 1921) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Ahmad Raza Khan Baraylawi[a] (14 June 1856 – 28 October 1921), known reverentially as A'la Hazrat,[b] (Grand Master), was an Islamic scholar, mufti, polymath, gnostic, poet[3] from (undivided) India, he is considered as the founder of the Barelvi movement by his rivals.
Born in Bareilly, British India, Ahmad Raza Khan wrote on law, religion, philosophy and the sciences, and because he mastered many subjects in both rational and religious sciences he has been called a polymath by Francis Robinson, a leading Western historian and academic who specializes in the history of South Asia and Islam.[4] As well as D. B. Hann. He himself states he mastered over 55 branches of knowledge which he also lists out.[5]
He was an Islamic scholar who wrote extensively in defense of the status of Muhammad in Islam and popular Sufi practices. He himself says in a religious authorisation letter which he wrote to another scholar that the most beloved thing to him was the "defence of my Master, the Chief of Messengers ﷺ".[6] He influenced millions of people, and today the Baraylawi movement has the largest following amongst any other movement within the Subcontinent. Ahmad Raza Khan is viewed as a Mujaddid, or reviver of Islam by his followers and by some of the leading scholars of Mecca and Medina.[7]
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Biography
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Family background
Khan was born on 10 Shawwal 1272 Hijri corresponds to 14 June 1856[8] to an Indian Muslim family in the Mohallah of Jasoli in Bareilly district, North-Western Provinces, British India.
The family belonged to the Barech tribe of Pashtuns, his ancestor Muhammad Saeedullah Khan, a warrior who accompanied Nader Shah, having migrated from Kandahar (current-day Afghanistan) to Lahore (current-day Pakistan) while the family later settled down in Bareilly.[9]
His father, Naqi Ali Khan, was an Islamic scholar.[10][11][12] Who was an accomplished jurist and theologian as attested to by Ahmad Raza himself.[13]
The name corresponding to the year of his birth was al-Mukhtar. His birth name was Muhammad.[14] Khan used the appellation "Abd-ul-Mustafa" ("servant of the chosen one") prior to signing his name in correspondence.[15]
Teachers
According to Hayat-e-Aala Hazrat written by Malik Zafaruddin Bihari, some of his famous teachers included:[16][17]
- Syed Shah Aale Rasul Marehrawi (d.1879)
- Naqi Ali Khan (d. 1880)
- Ahmad Zayni Dahlan Makki (d. 1881)
- Abdul Rahman Siraj Makki (d. 1883)
- Hussain bin Saleh (d. 1884)
- Abul Hussain Ahmad Al-Nuri (d. 1906)
- Abdul Ali Rampuri (d. 1885)
Spiritual order
In the year 1294 A.H. (1877), at the age of 22 years, Ahmad Raza became the Mureed (disciple) of Shah Aale Rasool Marehrawi. His Murshid bestowed him with Khilafat in several Sufi Silsilas. Some Islamic scholars received permission from him to work under his guidance.[18][19] His Murshid (spiritual master) proudly said as mentioned in the introduction of one of his works, "If on the day of reckoning, Allāh asks me, ‘O offspring of the Prophet ﷺ What have you brought from the world?’ I will present Imām Aḥmad Riḍā."[20]
Baraylawi movement
Imam Ahmad Raza wrote extensively in defense of his views, countered Wahhabism and the Deobandi movement, and by his writing and activity became the founder of the Baraylawi movement.[21] The movement has spread across the globe with followers in Pakistan, India, South Africa[22] and Bangladesh.[23] The movement now has over 200 million followers globally.[22] However, the more accurate number would be close to 500-600 million followers if the numbers from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh are added. The movement was largely a rural phenomenon when began but is currently popular among urban, educated Pakistanis and Indians as well as the South Asian diaspora throughout the world.[24]
The efforts of Ahmad Raza Khan and his associate scholars to establish a movement to counter the Deobandi and Ahl-i Hadith movements resulted to in the institutionalization of diverse Sufi movements and their allies in various parts of the world.[25]
Jamat Raza E Mustafa
Ahmad Raza Khan founded an organization Jamat Raza E Mustafa, on 17 December 1920 with the aim of progress, unity and religious education of the Ahl-E-Sunnat wal Jamat.[26]
Death
Ahmad Raza Khan died on 28 October 1921 (25 Safar 1340 AH) at the age of 65.[27] He is buried in Bareilly Sharif Dargah. Urs-e-Razavi is a 3 day long annual event commemorating his death anniversary.
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Books
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Imam Ahmad Raza Khan wrote several hundred books in Arabic, Persian, and Urdu, including the thirty-volume fatwa compilation Fatawa Razawiyya, and Kanz ul-Iman (Translation & Explanation of the Qur'an). Several of his books have been translated into European and South Asian languages.[28][29] His students and researchers suggest he wrote 1000+ books,[30] ranging from large volumes to small booklets.
From the 1000+ works he wrote, 679 are known.[31]
He wrote on a multitude of subjects, ranging from secular subjects to religious, an example of his mastery over secular subjects is found within his work (on science and physics), "Fauze Mubeen Dar Radde Harkate Zameen", using the Holy Qur'an as its guideline and using philosophical, scinerific, austronmical and mathematical arguements he provides more than 100 arguments that the earth is not rotating but is stationary. In his arguments he has also discussed at length why he believed some of the Newton's arguments were false.[32]
Kanz ul-Iman (translation of the Qur'an)
Kanz ul-Iman (Urdu and Arabic: کنزالایمان) is a 1910 Urdu paraphrase translation of the Qur'an by Khan. It is associated with the Hanafi jurisprudence within Sunni Islam,[28] and is a widely read version of the translation in the Indian Subcontinent. It has been translated into English, Hindi, Bengali, Dutch, Turkish, Sindhi, Gujarati, and Pashto, and also recently translated into Gojri language by Mufti Nazir Ahmed Qadri.[29]
Husam ul-Haramain
Husam ul-Haramain or Husam al-Harmain Ala Munhir Kufr wal-Mayn (The Sword of the Haramayn at the throat of disbelief and falsehood) 1906, is a treatise which declared infidels the founders of the Deobandi, Ahl-i Hadith and Ahmadiyya movements on the basis that they did not have the proper veneration of Muhammad and finality of prophethood in their writings.[33][34][35] In defense of his verdict he obtained confirmatory signatures from 268 scholars in South Asia, and some from scholars in Mecca and Medina.[citation needed] The treatise is published in Arabic, Urdu, English, Turkish and Hindi.[36]
Fatawa Razawiyya
Fatawa Razawiyya or the full name Al-Ataya Al Nabawiyyah Fil Fatawa Al Razawiyya (translates to, Verdicts of Imam Ahmed Raza by the blessings of the Prophet) is the main fatwa (Islamic verdicts on various issues) book of his movement.[37][38] It has been published in 30 volumes and in approx. 22,000 pages. It contains solutions to daily problems from religion to business and from war to marriage.[39][40]
He reached judgments with regard to certain practices and faith in his book Fatawa-i Razawiyya, including:[41][42]
- Islamic Law is the ultimate law and following it is obligatory for all Muslims;
- To refrain from misguidance is essential;
- It is impermissible to imitate the Kuffar, to associate with the deviants, and to participate in their festivals.
Hadaiq-e-Bakhshish
He wrote na'at (devotional poetry in praise of Muhammad) and always discussed him in the present tense.[43] His main book of poetry is Hadaiq-e-Bakhshish.[44]
His poems, which deal for the most part with the qualities of Muhammad, often have a simplicity and directness.[45]
His Urdu couplets, entitled Mustafa Jaane Rahmat pe Lakhon Salaam (Hundreds of Thousands of Salutations upon Mustafa, the Paragon of Mercy), are recited in mosques globally. They contain praise of Muhammad, his physical appearance (verses 33 to 80), his life and times, praise of his family and companions, praise of the Awliya and Salihin (the saints and the pious).[46][47]
Al Dawlatul Makkiya Bil Madatul Ghaibiya
In 1323 Hijri (1905), Ahmad Raza went for his second Haj. Allamah Shaikh Saleh Kamal a Alim of Makkatul Mukarrama, he presented five questions to Ahmad Raza on behalf of the Ulema of Makkatul Mukarrama, this question was asked by Makkatul Mukarrama Wahhabi Ulema regarding Knowledge of the knowledge of Unseen (Ilm-e-Ghaib). At that time Ahmed Raza was suffering from a high fever, despite the illness he tried to answer all the questions, he answered in such detail that the answer took the form of a book, and this book was named Al Dawlatul Makkiya Bil Madatul Ghaibiya.[48]
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Religious views
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Ahmad Raza Khan saw an intellectual and moral decline of Muslims in British India.[49] 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.[50]
Imam Ahmed Raza Khan supported Tawassul, Mawlid,[22][51][52] Prophet Muhammad's awareness of complete knowledge of the unseen, and other practices which were opposed by Wahhabis/Salafis and Deobandis.[43][53][54]
Prophet Muhammad
In this contrast to the beliefs of the Wahhabis and Deobandis, Ahmad Raza Khan supported the following beliefs:
- Muhammad is a human being made of nur (light), he found support for this in the Hadith of Jaabir which was relied upon by others such as Ahmad Sirhindi. This contrasts with the Deobandi view that Muhammad was Al-Insān al-Kāmil (perfect person), but still a regular human.[55][56]
- Muhammad is Haazir aur Naazir (present and witnessing) which means that Muhammad views and witnesses the actions of his people whilst being present and alive in his grave.[57]
This concept was interpreted by Shah Abdul Aziz in Tafsir-e-Azizi in these words: The prophet is observing everybody, knows their good and bad deeds, and knows the strength of faith (Iman) of every individual Muslim and what has hindered his spiritual progress.[58]
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 Barelvi, al-Dawla al-Makkiyya (c00), 291.
Infidels
Raza Khan was emphatic in opposing the Hindu influences on Muslim identity. To differentiate between a Muslim and a Infidel he emphatically said:[59]
Presented with a choice of giving water to a thirsty infidel or to a dog, a believer should make the offering to dog.
— Ayesha Jalal, Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi, Partisans of Allah: Jihad in South Asia p.147
Permissibility of currency notes
In 1905, Khan, on the request of contemporaries from Hijaz, wrote a verdict on the permissibility of using paper as a form of currency, entitled Kifl-ul-Faqeehil fehim Fe Ahkam-e-Kirtas Drahim.[60]
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Sectarian views
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Ahmadis
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian claimed to be the Messiah, Prophet, and Mahdi awaited by some Muslims as well as a Nabi Ummati, a subordinate prophet to Muhammad who came to restore Islam to the pristine form as practiced by Muhammad and early Sahaba.[61][62] Khan declared Mirza Ghulam Ahmad a heretic and apostate and called him and his followers disbelievers (kuffar).[63]
Deobandis
The theological difference with the Deobandi school began when Shah Isma'il Dehlawi, a major figure head in the Deobandi movement, wrote a book entitled "Taqwiyatul Imaan", the scholars at point in time refuted this book, likening it to the "Kitab At-Tawheed" of Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab Najdi. Isma'il and his followers wrote counter refutations but in doing so they wrote works which would later also be labelled as containing blasphemies by the opposition. The theological difference hence is a back and forth between the two parties based on the books of deobandi founders and Ahmad Raza Khan played an important role in this later on as he gathered fatwas against these founders.
Ahmad Raza Khan Baraylawi objected in writing to some of the following beliefs of Deobandi scholars.
- He opposed the belief of a founder of the Deobandi movement, Rashid Ahmad Gangohi, who stated that God has the ability to lie.[64] This doctrine is called Imkan-i Kizb.[65][64] Gangohi also supported the doctrine that God has the ability to make additional prophets after Muhammad (Imkan-i Nazir) and other prophets equal to Muhammad, a doctrine which was opposed by Ahmad Raza Khan Barelvi.[65][64]
- He opposed the doctrine that Muhammad has not got extensive knowledge of the unseen (Ilm e Ghaib).[64][65]
When Ahmad Raza Khan visited Mecca and Medina for pilgrimage in 1905, he prepared a draft document entitled Al Motamad Al Mustanad ("The Reliable Proofs"). In this work, Ahmad Raza branded Deobandi leaders such as Ashraf Ali Thanwi, Rashid Ahmad Gangohi, and 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, Hussam al Haramayn ("The Sword of Two Sanctuaries"), a work containing 34 verdicts from 33 major scholars (20 Meccan and 13 Medinese).[66] However, Deobandis claim the evidence provided to the scholars in Arabia were fabricated and that Ahmed Raza Khans takfir of them was unjust,[65] and this initiated a reciprocal series of fatwas between Baraylawis and Deobandis which has lasted to the present.[66]
Shia
Ahmad Raza Khan wrote various books against the beliefs and faith of Shia Muslims and declared various practices of Shia as kufr.[67] He considered most Shiites of his day apostates because, he believed, they repudiated necessities of religion.[68][69]
Wahhabi Movement
Ahmad Raza Khan declared Wahhabis as disbelievers (kuffar) and collected many fatwas of various scholars against the Wahhabi 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, Ahmad Raza Khan's followers remain opposed to the Wahhabi movement and their beliefs.[70]
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Political views
Unlike other Muslim leaders in the region at the time, Ahmad Raza Khan and his movement opposed the Indian independence movement due to its leadership under Mahatma Gandhi, who was not a Muslim.[71]
Imam Ahmad Raza 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 the non-Muslim rule to collect interest from commercial transactions and had no desire to fight Jihad or perform Hijra.[72] Therefore, he opposed labeling British India to be Dar al-Harb ("abode of war"), 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 Al Ubaidi Suhrawardy.[73]
The Muslim League mobilized the Muslim masses to campaign for Pakistan,[74] and many of Khan's followers played a significant and active role in the Pakistan Movement at educational and political fronts.[18]
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Legacy
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Many religious schools, organizations, and research institutions teach Ahmad Raza Khan's ideas, which emphasize the primacy of Islamic law along with the adherence to Sufi practices and personal devotion to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.[75]
Recognition
- On 21 June 2010, Muhammad al-Yaqoubi, a cleric and Sufi from Syria, declared on Takbeer TV's program Sunni Talk that the Mujaddid of the Indian subcontinent was Ahmad Raza Khan Barelvi, and said that a follower of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah can be identified by his love of Imam Ahmad Raza Khan and that those outside the Ahlus Sunnah are identified by their attacks on him.[76]
- Allama Muhammad Iqbal (1877–1938), a poet, Sufi, and philosopher, said: "I have carefully studied the decrees of Ahmed Raza and thereby formed this opinion; and his Fatawa bear testimony to his acumen, intellectual caliber, the quality of his creative thinking, his excellent jurisdiction and his ocean-like Islamic knowledge. Once Imam Ahmad Raza forms an opinion he stays firm on it; he expresses his opinion after a sober reflection. Therefore, the need never arises to withdraw any of his religious decrees and judgments.[77] In another place he says, "Such a genius and intelligent jurist did not emerge."[78]
- Prof. Sir Ziauddin Ahmad, who was the head of the department of Mathematics at Aligarh Muslim University, was once unable to find solutions to some mathematic algorithms, even after he took help from the mathematicians abroad. He decided to visit Germany for the solution but at the request of his friend Sayyed Suleman Ashraf who was a professor of Islamic Studies at Aligarh Muslim University and also the mureed (disciple) of Ahmad Raza, Ziauddin visited Ahmad Raza on a special visit to get answers to his difficult questions, and under the guidance of Ahmad Raza he finally succeeded in getting solutions.[79][80]
- Justice Naeemud'deen, Supreme Court of Pakistan: "Maulana Ahmad Raza's grand personality, a representation of our most esteemed ancestors, is history-making, and a history uni-central in his self. ... You may estimate his high status from the fact that he spent all his life in expressing the praise of the great and auspicious Holy Prophet (صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم), in defending his veneration, in delivering speeches regarding his unique conduct, and in promoting and spreading the Law of Shariah which was revealed upon him for the entire humanity of all times. His renowned name is 'Muhammad' (صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم), the Prophet of Almighty Allah. ... The valuable books written by an encyclopedic scholar like Ahmad Raza, in my view, are the lamps of light that will keep enlightened and radiant the hearts and minds of the men of knowledge and insight for a long time."[81]
Societal influence
- Ala Hazrat Express is an express train belonging to Indian Railways that runs between Bareilly and Bhuj in India.[82]
- The Indian government issued a commemorative postal stamp in honor of Ahmad Raza Khan on 31 December 1995.[83]
- Aala Hazrat Haj House Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh
- Aala Hazrat Hospital Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh
- Ala Hazrat Terminal, Bareilly Airport, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh
- Raza Academy
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Spiritual successors
Imam Ahmad Raza Khan had two sons 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.[84] He had many disciples and successors, including 30 in the Indian subcontinent and 35 elsewhere.[85] The following scholars are his notable successors:[86]
- Hamid Raza Khan (d. 1875/1943)
- Mustafa Raza Khan (d. 1892/1981)
- Amjad Ali Aazmi (d. 1882/1948)
- Muhammad Abdul Aleem Siddiqi
- Naeem-ud-Deen Muradabadi
- Zafaruddin Bihari (d. 1886/1962)[87]
- Abul Muhamid al-Ashrafi al-Jilani (d. 1894/1961)[88]
- Hashmat Ali Khan (d. 1901/1960)[89]
- Maulana Ziauddin Madani (d. 1877/1981)
Educational influence
There are thousands of madrassas and Islamic seminaries dedicated to his school of thought across the Indian Subcontinent.
- Al Jamiatul Ashrafia is the main educational institute and learning center that provides Islam education.
- Raza Academy publishing house in Mumbai
- Imam Ahmed Raza Academy Durban, South Africa
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See also
Notes
References
Bibliography
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