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Definition
Aḥmad Raẓā Khān Barelvi (1856–1921) was a Sunni scholar in north India who wrote extensively in defense of the Prophet Muhammad and became the leader of a movement called “Ahl-i Sunnat wa Jamàat” or “Barelvi.”
Family History in Historical Context
Aḥmad Raẓā Khān was a Sunni Muslim scholar of the Hanafi school, born in Bareilly, Rohilkhand, in 1856. His life thus coincided with the onset of British colonial rule in India. Barring two pilgrimages (hajj) to Mecca and short visits to other parts of India, he spent his entire lifetime in Bareilly. Yet his influence spread far beyond his hometown, both as a legal scholar and as leader of a movement that is today popularly known as “Barelvi.”
Indian Muslim scholars (the ʿulamā) of the late nineteenth century were deeply troubled by the loss of power by the Mughals to the new Christian rulers, the British, and sought to understand its causes and take steps to reverse the Muslim decline. Being religious...
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Sanyal, U. (2018). Ahmad Raza Khan Barelvi. In: Kassam, Z.R., Greenberg, Y.K., Bagli, J. (eds) Islam, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism. Encyclopedia of Indian Religions. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1267-3_1951
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