Barelvi movement

Barelvi (Urdu: بریلوی, /bəreːlviː/) is a term used for a movement of Sunni Islam originating in South Asia. The name derives from the north Indian town of Bareilly where its founder Ahmed Raza Khan (1856–1921) shaped the movement by his writings. 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 Ahle Sunnat wal Jama'at, a reference to their perception as forming an international majority movement.

Etymology

To its followers, the movement is known as Ahle Sunnat wal Jama'at ("People of the traditions [of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad] and the community"). This terminology is used to lay exclusive claim to be the only legitimate form of Sunni Islam, in opposition to the Deobandi, Ahl al-Hadith, Salafi and Nadwatul Ulama movements.

History

Barelvis are followers of the Mujaddid Imam Ahmad Rida Khan. Much of the Indian sub-continent adhere to his teachings, the movement began as a response to insults made against the Islamic Prophet Muhammad and aimed to preserve the teachings of the Ahlus Sunnah wal Jam'ah (the largest sect of Islam). There doctrine is in line with the Maturidi school of Aqida and is a part of the Suwad ul Azam. Imam Ahmad Rida Khan's most notable work, a fatwa of kufr against four individual's inclined toward the Deobandi movement was endorsed and signed by scholars worldwide. Though very much linked to Pakistan today, the movement's foundation predated Pakistan's nationhood; the movement was, essentially, founded as a defense of traditional Islam against unorthodox groups who began to spread confusion among the Muslims by condemning recommended practices such as the Prophet's Birthday.>

Presence

The magazine India Today estimates that the vast majority of Muslims in India adhere to the Barelvi movement, and The Heritage Foundation gives a similar assessment for the vast majority of Muslims in Pakistan. More than 35% of British mosques are administered by Barelvis as well. Many of these mosques have been usurped by Saudi-funded radical organizations.

Beliefs and practices

Like other Sunni Muslims, Barelvis base their beliefs on the Qur'an and Sunnah, and believe in monotheism and the prophethood of Muhammad. Barelvis follow the Ash'ari and Maturidi schools of aqidah, any one of the four school of fiqh, and the Qadri, Chishti, Naqshbandi or Suhrawardi Sufi orders.

Beliefs regarding Muhammad

Barelvis like other other Sunnis outside of the Indian sub-continent have several beliefs regarding Muhammad's nature, which distinguish them from Deobandis and Salafis who altered these key beliefs and caused controversy as a result

• He is noor o bashar: a human (bashar) and a light (noor).
• He is hazir ( is not restricted in being present in many places at the same time).
• He is nazir ( has the ability to witness all that goes on in the world).
• He has ilm-e-ghaib (knowledge of the unseen/unknown).
• He is mukhtaar kul (having the authority to do whatever he desires as granted to him by God).

• Ziyarat (visiting) the mazar (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 by Barelvis, but which opponents call “shrine-worshipping” and “grave-worshiping” and consider to be un-Islamic.

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Mosques

• North Manchester Jamia Mosque, UK
  North Manchester Jamia Mosque, UK
• 
  Largest Jama Masjid in England,Ghamkol Sharif
• 
  The Manchester Central Mosque
• 
  Makkah Masjid, Hyderabad,India
• 
  The Haji Ali Dargah Masjid, Mumbai
• 
  Jama Masjid, Fatehpur Sikri, India
• 
  Na Khoda Masjid, Calcutta, India
• 
  Islamic Center of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
• 
  Al-Rashid Mosque Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
• 
  Masjid-an-Noor, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
• 
  Salaheddin Islamic Centre, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada
• 
  Ottawa Mosque Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Relations with other movements

Support

The Barelwi movement formed as a defense of the traditional mystic practices of South Asia, which it sought to prove and support. The All India Ulema & Mashaikh Board, representing the movement as a whole, has demanded protection and reconstruction of shrines in Hijaz Mecca and Medina, destroyed in 1803 and 1804 by the Saudis, calls which have been echoed by most practitioners of Sufism in other parts of the Muslim world.

Opposition

The movement's founder Ahmad Raza Khan, along with other Barelwi religious figures, have issued Fatwās of apostasy against the founders of the Deobandi, Shia Islam and the Ahmadiyya Community. The conflict with the Deobandi movement, against which the Barelwi movement formed as a reaction, has been particularly heated and uncivil. Whiel both the Barelvi and Deobandi movements tend to prefer the Hanafi school of Islamic law and accept Sufism, their fundamental beliefs and way in practicing Sufism has kept them at odds. 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 subcontinent, 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. 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.

Although the Nadwatul Ulema council was founded in 1893 to reconcile the Indian Subcontinent's Muslim sectarian differences, the Barelwis eventually withdrew their support of the council and criticized its efforts.

Opposition to the Taliban

The Barelvi movement has taken a stance against Taliban movements in South Asia, organising rallies and protests in India and Pakistan, condemning what they perceive as unjustified sectarian violence. 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 SUC charged the Taliban with playing into the hands of the United States to divide Muslims and bring a bad name to Islam.

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.

Sectarian violence

In the 1990s and 2000s, sporadic violence resulted from disputes over control of Pakistani mosques between the Barelvi and Deobandi movements, with the conflict coming to a head in May 2001 when sectarian riots broke out after the assassination of Sunni Tehreek leader Saleem Qadri. 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. 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. On February 27, 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.

Notable scholars

Early scholars

• Mustafa Raza Khan
• Hamid Raza Khan
• Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi
• Abdul Aleem Siddiqi
• Abdullah Shah Naqshbandi
• Ahmad Noorani Siddiqi — Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan and World Islamic Mission
• Muhammad Shafee Okarvi - founder of Jamaat Ahle Sunnat

• Abdul Wahab Siddiqi
• Muhammad Karam Shah al-Azhari, Federal Shariat Court of Pakistan
• Syed Shujaat Ali Qadri
• Shamsul-hasan Shams Barelvi
• Arshadul Qaudri — Jamia Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya
• Sarfraz Ahmed Naeemi

Present scholars

• Akhtar Raza Khan — Grand Mufti of India
• Muhammad Madani Miya Ashrafi al-Jilani
• Qamaruzzaman Azmi
• Muhammad Imdad Hussain Pirzada —President of Muslim Charity, Mufassir and Shaykh in Chishti Sufi Order
• Muhammad Ilyas Qadri — Dawat-e-Islami
• Turab-ul-Haq Qadri

• Syed Waheed Ashraf
• Ameen Mian Qaudri — Barkatiya Silsila
• Ahmad Saeed Kazmi
• Aboobacker Ahmad, All India Sunni Jamiatul Ulma
• Mukarram Ahmad — Fatehpuri Masjid Delhi

Notable organizations

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

• Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan
• Minhaj-ul-Quran
• Jamaat Ahle Sunnat
• Dawat-e-Islami
• Sunni Tehreek
• Saylani Welfare Tust

In the United Kingdom:

• Muslim Charity
• British Muslim Forum
• World Islamic Mission

In the United States:

• Noor Academy
• CSMSNA

In India:

• All India Ulema & Mashaikh Board, an apex body of Sunni Muslims
• Raza Academy, Mumbai
• Sunni Dawat-e-Islami, Islamic preaching movement
• Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama
• Muslim Students' Organization of India, New Delhi
• Sunni Students Federation, India

South Africa:

• Imam Ahmad Raza Academy, South Africa

Main institutions

• Al Jamiatul Ashrafia, Uttar Pradesh, India
• Jamia Nizamia, Hyderabad, India
• Jami'a Nooriyya Arabic College,Kerala,India
• Markazu Saqafathi Sunniya largest Sunni Institution in Kerala,India
• Al-Jame-atul-Islamia, India

• Manzar-e-Islam, Bareilly, India
• Jamia Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, New Delhi
• Jamia Al-Karam, United Kingdom

See also

• Kanzul Iman, an English/Urdu Quran translation by Ahmad Raza Khan
• Zujajat al-Masabih, hadith collection
• Bahar-e-Shariat, Complete Islamic Jurisprudence of Hanafi School

References

• Riaz, Ali (2008). Faithful Education: Madrassahs in South Asia. Rutgers University Press.
• 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. (eds.). Sufism in the West. Routledge. pp. 142–157.
• Jones, Kenneth W. (1989). Socio-Religious Reform Movements in British India, Part 3. Vol. 1. Cambridge University Press.
• Malik, Jamal, ed. (2008). Madrasas in South Asia: Teaching terror?. Routledge.
• Sanyal, Usha (2008). "Ahl-i Sunnat Madrasas: the Madrasa Manzar-i Islam, Bareilly, and Jamia Ashrafiyya, Mubarakpur". In Malik, Jamal (ed.). 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. (eds.). Islamic Thought in the Twentieth Century. I.B. Tauris. pp. 104–127. ISBN 1-85043-751-3.

External links

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