Syed Ahmad Barelvi

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Syed Ahmad Barelvi, also known as Sayyid Ahmad Shahid,

His ancestors migrated to India in the early 13th century.[7] Abul Hasan Ali Hasani Nadwi wrote Seerat-i-Sayyid Ahmad Shaheed, the first historical biography of Syed Ahmad Barelvi.^[8]

Early life and education

Syed Ahmad Barelvi was born on 29 November 1786 in

Ahmad travelled to Delhi, and was subsequently allotted accommodation in the Akbarabadi Mosque.^[12] He stayed in the tutelage of Abdul Aziz for a few years, and returned to his hometown in the early 1808, or in the late 1807.^[13]

Later career and military service

After his tutelage under Shah Abdul Aziz from 1806 to 1811, Syed Ahmad began his career as a Pindari horse soldier in the militia of Amir Khan Pindari, a military expeditionary at the age of 25.^[14][15] This was an era where large numbers of North Indian Muslim horsemen from the Uttar Pradesh region were unemployed and saw a destruction of their livelihood due to the fall of Muslim rule, and a large number of those disaffected turned into plunderers known as the Pindari freebooters who fought merely for loot and plunder to establish power.^{[16][17][18][19]}

In 1817, after the

Syed Ahmad was the first major Islamic theologian on the subcontinent to realize the necessity of an Islamic movement that was simultaneously scholarly, military, and political to repel the British threat. He eagerly addressed the Muslim masses directly, not traditional leaders, in his call for a popular jihad against a Sikh rule in Punjab. His evangelism—based on networks of preachers, collectors, and judges—also addressed the common people and not the rulers' courts.^[25]

At the core of the

Syed Ahmad visited numerous towns of the North Indian plains between 1818 and 1821. He incited hundreds of missionaries to preach against Shia beliefs and practices. Syed Ahmad repeatedly destroyed tazias, an act that resulted in subsequent riots and chaos.^[29] Syed Ahmad called upon the Muslim masses to abandon practices related to Shia influence, such as the tazias which were replicas of the tombs of the martyrs of Karbala taken in procession during the mourning ceremony of Muharram. Shah Muhammad Ismail declared the act of breaking tazias as an obligation upon all believers and asserted that it was as virtuous as breaking idols. Syed Ahmad is reported to have organized the burning of thousands of tazias.^[30]

In 1821, Syed Ahmad left for

Upon return, Syed Ahmad regarded his immediate enemy to be the

The mujahideen were educated with both theological doctrines and physical training sessions. Syed Ahmad organized wrestling, archery training, and shooting competitions. The mujahideen also repeated several Islamic anthems. One such popular anthem has survived, known as "Risala Jihad".

Apart from the rebellious Pashtun chieftains, Syed Ahmad also faced strong opposition from Sufi clerical establishment. Throughout their armed activities during the 1820s and 1830s, mujahideen engaged in ideological and physical conflict with the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidis and various Sufi orders such as Qadiris and Chishtis.^[40] In March 1827, mujahideen suffered a serious defeat against the Sikhs during the battle of Shaidu, worsening the position of Syed Ahmad.

After the conquest of

In addition to his Islamic social agenda, Syed Ahmad also attempted to collect ushr (an Islamic tithe), amounting to 10% of crop yields. This policy was faced with fierce opposition from an alliance of local Pathan tribesmen, who briefly managed to occupy Peshawar. The alliance was defeated and the Islamic reformers finally re-captured Peshawar. Over several months during 1830, Sayyed Ahmad tried to reconcile between established power hierarchies. But before the end of 1830, another organized uprising occurred, and Syed Ahmad's soldiers in Peshawar and surrounding villages were murdered and the movement was forced to retreat to the hills. There, in the town of Balakot in 1831, Syed Ahmad was killed and beheaded by the Sikh Army.^[34]

Battle of Balakot

Main article:

Peshawar valley, which compelled him to migrate and try his luck in Kashmir, his long-cherished dream.^[42]

Regarding the expulsion of Syed Ahmad from Peshawar by Sultan Muhammad, Joseph Cunningham (1812-1851) writes:

The petty Muhammadan chiefs generally, with whom self-interest overcame influence and faith, were averse to the domination of the Indian adventurer, and the imprudence of Saiyid Ahmad gave umbrage to his Usufzai adherents. He had levied from the peasants a tithe of their goods, and this measure caused little or no dissatisfaction, for it agreed with their notion of the rights of a religious teacher; but his decree that all the young women of marriageable age should be at once wedded interfered with the profits of Afghan parents, proverbially avaricious, and who usually disposed of their daughters to the wealthiest bridegrooms. But when Saiyid Ahmad was accused, perhaps unjustly, of assigning the maidens one by one to his needy Indian followers, his motives were impugned, and the discontent was loud. Early in November 1830, he was constrained to relinquish Peshawar to Sultan Muhammad at a fixed tribute, and he proceeded to the left bank of the Indus to give battle to the Sikhs. The Saiyid depended chiefly on the few 'Ghazis' who had followed his fortunes throughout, and on the insurrectionary spirit of the Muzalfarabad and other chiefs, for his Usufzai adherents had greatly decreased. The hill 'khans' were soon brought under subjection by the efforts of Sher Singh and the governor of Kashmir; yet Ahmad continued active, and, in a desultory warfare amid rugged mountains, success for a time attended him; but, during a cessation of the frequent conflicts, he was surprised, early in May 1831, at a place called Balakot, and fallen upon and slain. The Usufzais at once expelled his deputies, the 'Ghazis' dispersed in disguise, and the family of the Saiyid hastened to Hindustan to find an honourable asylum with their friend the Nawab of Tonk. ^[43]

On 6 May 1831, on the day of Jumu'ah 23 Zulqa'da 1246 AH, Syed Ahmad Barelvi's mujahideen forces prepared for the final battle at

Mansehra district. An ill-equipped army of mujahideen faced a significantly larger number of soldiers led by the Sikh commander Sher Singh. On that day, Syed Ahmed, Shah Ismail, and prominent leaders of the Islamic movement fell fighting in the battlefield. Sikh victory at Balakot arose jubilation in Lahore. The defeat at Balakot was a devastating blow to the movement.^[44]

Legacy

Syed Ahmad is widely regarded as the founder of the

Olivier Roy considers Syed Ahmad to be the first modern Islamic leader to lead a movement that was "religious, military and political" and to address the common people and rulers with a call for jihad.^[25] The mujahideen were unprecedented for their tactics of popular mobilization aimed at swiftly achieving the objectives of social reformation through military means, combined with fierce hostility towards non-Muslim powers such as the British Empire and the Sikhs. Syed Ahmad was committed to expand his emirate to the whole of South Asia and authored tracts calling upon Indian Muslims to join the cause of jihad.^[48]

Syed Ahmad attained the exemplar status of

ideology was greatly inspired by Syed Ahmad's jihad movement, which was waged from Eastern Afghanistan and Khyber Pakhtunkwa. Influenced by Syed Ahmad, contemporary Jihadists compare American hegemony to the 19th century British rule to justify their campaigns.^[49]

The jihad movement of Syed Ahmad made a great impact on Islamic scholarly tradition of South Asia and would deeply divide many clerics and theologians. Some intellectuals and scholars criticised the militant aspects of his reform programme, especially its sectarian violence against other self-professed Muslims whom the mujahideen declared as heretics or

militant Islamist organisations inspired by Syed Ahmad that wage jihad against India in Kashmir. Other organisations include Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, a Jihadist group in Pakistan.^[50]

References

1. ^ Hedayetullah, Muhammad (1968). Sayyid Ahmad: a Study of the Religious Reform Movement of Sayyid Ahmad of Ra'e Bareli. Montreal, Canada: Mcgill University. pp. 113, 115, 158. second feature of 'tarÎqah~i Muhammadiyah' is its insistence on t he right of ijtihad (independent reasoning ) and rejection of taqlid.. Sayyid Ahmad condemned the muqallidin and urged the Muslims to turn to the authority of the Qur'an and the Sunnah for guidance... he rejected all authority of the four orthodox schools of Muslim jurisprudence , which meant , positively, that he declared himself a ghayr muqallid(non-conformist).
2. ^
   ISBN 978-0-8223-5304-1. Sayyid Ahmad Shahid{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
   )
3. ^ Adamec 2009, p. 54.
4. ^ Jalal 2009, pp. 307–308.
5. ISBN 9780674039070
   .
6. ^ Ahmad, M. (1975). Saiyid Ahmad barevali: His Life and Mission (No. 93). Lucknow: Academy of Islamic Research and Publications. Page 27.
7. ^ Altaf Qadir 2014, p. 28.
8. hdl:10603/60854
   .
9. ^ Nishat 2015, p. 25.
10. ^ Nishat 2015, p. 26.
11. ^ Nishat 2015, p. 28.
12. ^ Nishat 2015, p. 29.
13. ^ Nishat 2015, p. 31.
14. ^ Altaf Qadir 2014, p. 29.
15. ISBN 9789351505402
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16. ^ Defence Journal:Volumes 4-5. 2001. p. 66.
17. ISBN 9788170623311
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18. ^ Calcutta Review 1956. University of Calcutta. 1956. p. 38.
19. ISBN 9780521084888
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20. ^ Bashir, Aamir (2013). Shari'at and Tariqat: A Study of the Deobandi Understanding and Practice of Tasawwuf. Dar al-Sa'adah Publication.
21. ISBN 9788129108470
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22. ISBN 0195660498
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23. ^ Altaf Qadir 2014, p. xiv.
24. doi:10.1111/j.1478-1913.1962.tb02616.x
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25. ^
    ISBN 9780521397001
    . Retrieved 16 August 2018.
26. ^ B. Metcalf, "Islamic Revival in British India: Deoband, 1860–1900", pp. 56 - 57, Princeton University Press (1982).
27. ^ Hedayetullah, Muhammad (1968). Sayyid Ahmad: a Study of the Religious Reform Movement of Sayyid Ahmad of Rae Bareli. Montreal, Canada: Mcgill University. pp. 113, 115, 134.
28. ^ Hedayetullah, Muhammad (1968). Sayyid Ahmad: a Study of the Religious Reform Movement of Sayyid Ahmad of Rae Bareli. Montreal, Canada: Mcgill University. p. 134.
29. ^ Andreas Rieck, "The Shia's of Pakistan", p. 16, Oxford University Press (2016).
30. ^ B. Metcalf, "Islamic Revival in British India: Deoband, 1860–1900", p. 58, Princeton University Press (1982). "The second group of abuses Syed Ahmad held were those that originated from Shi’i influence. He particularly urged Muslims to give up the keeping of ta’ziyahs. [...] Syed Ahmad himself is said, no doubt with considerable exaggeration, to have torn down thousands of imambaras, the building that house the taziyahs".
31. ^ ^{a b c d} Dr. Mubarak Ali, "Almiyah-e-Tarikh", Chapter 11, pp.107-121, Fiction House, Lahore (2012).
32. ISBN 978-1-4381-2696-8
    .
33. ^ Altaf Qadir 2014, p. 57.
34. ^ ^{a b} Wahhabi movement in India. Qeyamuddin Ahmad, (1994, p.50). open library
35. ^ Jūrj al-Maqdisī, Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb · (1965). Arabic and Islamic Studies in Honor of Hamilton A. R. Gibb. Brill Archive. p. 96.
36. ^ Altaf Qadir 2014, p. 63.
37. ^ Charles Allen, "God's Terrorists: The Wahhabi Cult and the Hidden Roots of Modern Jihad", p. 86, Abacus (2006).
38. ^ Altaf Qadir 2014, p. 62.
39. ^ Altaf Qadir 2014, p. 66.
40. ISBN 9780674269378
    .
41. ^ Riaz, Ismat (2013). Understanding History. Karachi, Pakistan: Oxford University Press. p. 77.
42. ^ Altaf Qadir 2014.
43. ISBN 978-1-108-06456-9
    .
44. ^ Naqvi, A.Q. (2001). The Salafis (History of the Ahle Hadees Movement in India). New Delhi: Al-Kitab International. pp. 132–139, 148.
45. ISBN 0-674-29140-9
    . ..Sayyid Barelvi, founder of the Ahl-i Hadith movement.
46. ^ B. Metcalf, "Islamic Revival in British India: Deoband, 1860–1900", p. 50-60, Princeton University Press (1982).
47. ^ Mortimer, Edward, Faith and Power, (1982), p.68-70
48. ^ Altaf Qadir 2014, p. 184–186.
49. ASIN B004LJQ8O8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
50. ^ Altaf Qadir 2014, p. 184–191.

Bibliography

• Altaf Qadir (2014). Sayyid Ahmad Barailvi: His Movement and Legacy from the Pukhtun Perspective. SAGE Publishing India.
  ISBN 978-93-5150-486-3. Archived
• Nishat, Shah Ibadur Rahman (April 2015). سید احمد شہید: شخصیت، تحریک اور اثرات [Syed Ahmed Shaheed: Personality, Movement and Impact] (in Urdu) (1st ed.). Raebareli: Syed Ahmad Shaheed Academy.
• Adamec, Ludwig W. (2009), Historical Dictionary of Islam, Scarecrow Press,
  ISBN 978-0-8108-6303-3
• Jalal, Ayesha (2009), "The Martyrs of Balakot", Partisans of Allah: Jihad in South Asia, Harvard University Press, pp. 58–113,
  ISBN 978-0-674-03907-0

External links

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