Syed Ahmad Barelvi

Indian Muslim activist (1786–1831)

Syed Ahmad Barelvi, also known as Sayyid Ahmad Shahid, (1786–1831) was an Indian Islamic revivalist, scholar, and military commander from Raebareli, a part of the historical United Provinces of Agra and Oudh (now called Uttar Pradesh). He launched the Indian jihad movement that waged a decades long Islamic revolt against colonial rule across various provinces of British India. The epithet 'Barelvi' is derived from Raebareli, his place of origin. His ancestors migrated to India in the early 13th century. Abul Hasan Ali Hasani Nadwi wrote Seerat i Sayyid Ahmad Shaheed, the first historical biography of Syed Ahmad Barelvi.

Syed Ahmad Barelvi was born on 29 November 1786 in Raebareli, into a Syed family. His primary education was initiated in 1791, when he was aged four. As he turned 10, his father died and the familial responsibilities fell onto his shoulders, and this made him travel to Lucknow, at the age of 18 in search of some work. He however inclined to stay in the tutelage of Shah Abdul Aziz, an Islamic scholar, who was the son of revivalist reformer Shah Waliullah, in Delhi. Ahmad travelled to Delhi, and was subsequently allotted accommodation in the Akbarabadi Mosque. 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.

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. 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. In 1817, after the Third Anglo Maratha War, Amir Khan allied with the East India Company, the Governor General and Commander in Chief, the Marquess of Hastings, resolved to defeat the Pindaris whom they deemed a menace. The Treaty of Gwalior severed the link between them and Scindia. Moreover, the treaty required the latter to join forces with the East India Company to eliminate the Pindaris and Pathans. Bowing to the inevitable, Amir Khan came to terms with the English, agreeing to disband his men in return for a large stipend and recognition as a hereditary Nawab, who quietly settled down to consolidate his little state. Being against this treaty, Syed Ahmed left the military service, because for him the British were kuffar (Christian infidels). Now unemployed, Syed Ahmad returned to Delhi after his service and decided to emulate Amir Khan. Journalist Tariw Hasan writes that W. W. Hunter described Syed Ahmad "as a robber who took to religion to plunder for wealth". During this period in his life, Syed Ahmad became more mature and harmonized his military experiences with a zealous commitment to establish Sharia (Islamic law). Two family members of the theologian Shah Waliullah—Shah Ismail Dehlavi (1771–1831) and Maulvi Abdul Hai (died 1828)—became disciples of Syed Ahmad, an event that raised his mystic confidence. This endorsement only added to his reputation, and his popularity grew with adherents flocking to him by the thousands.

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. At the core of the reform movement initiated by Syed Ahmad was the advocacy of a puritanical interpretation of Tawhid (monotheism), similar to the Muwahhidun movement in Arabia. The movement fought against local practices and customs related to saint veneration and grave visits, which they regarded as bid'ah (religious innovations) and shirk (polytheism) that corrupted Islam. Syed Ahmad's reformist teachings were set down in two prominent treatises: Sirat'ul Mustaqim (The Straight Path) and Taqwiyatul Iman (Strengthening of the Faith), compiled by his acolyte Shah Muhammad Ismail. The two works stressed the centrality of Tawhid (monotheism), advocated that acts of worship—such as dua and sacrifices—belonged solely to God, and denounced all those practices and beliefs that were held in any way to compromise Tawhid. The followers of Syed Ahmad viewed three sources of threat to their beliefs: traditional Sufism, Shiism, and popular custom. Syed Ahmad urged Muslims to follow the path laid down by Muhammad (Tariqa i Muhammadiyah), abandon all superstitious activities in various Sufi orders, and called for a total reformation of Tasawwuf. Syed Ahmad reserved his sharpest condemnations for the moral degradation of Muslims and blamed the corrupt Sufis as the primary cause of Muslim decline. He called upon Muslims to strictly abide by the tenets of the Shariah (Islamic law) by following the Qur'an and the Sunnah. The most prominent feature of Syed Ahmad's teachings was his warning to avoid shirk (polytheism), bid'ah (religious innovations); and re assertion of Tawhid. Once he said to a group of his disciples: Brethren! the purpose of performing the bay'ah is that you should give up everything you do which is of the nature of polytheism or heresy, your making of ta'ziyahs, setting up banners, worshipping the tombs of Pirs and martyrs, making offerings to them and taking vows in their names. All this you should give up, and do not believe that your good and ill come from anyone except God; do not recognize anyone but Him as having the power to grant the fulfillment of your wishes. If you continue [in this way of polytheism and heresy], merely offering bay'ah will bring no benefit. 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. 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. In 1821, Syed Ahmad left for Hajj along with a group of devotees. He returned from Hajj in 1823,</blockquote>Syed Ahmad's opponents labeled him a Wahhabi (a follower of the puritan Sunni reform movement in Arabia), but he did not consider himself as such.

Upon return, Syed Ahmad regarded his immediate enemy to be the Sikh Empire ruled by Ranjit Singh, which was expanding, close to Afghanistan. Syed Ahmad intended to establish a strong Islamic state on the North West Frontier region in the Peshawar valley, as a strategic base for the future invasion of India. Syed Ahmad called upon the local Pashtun and Hazarewal tribes to wage jihad, and demanded that they renounce their tribal customs and adopt the Sharia. The traditional khans were replaced by Traditional ulama (Islamic scholars) and a system of Islamic taxes was established to finance the jihad. Soon after this evangelist campaign and the establishment of the Sharia system, jihad was declared. On 21 December 1826, Syed Ahmad and his 1,500 followers clashed with 4,000 Sikh troops in the battle of Akora Khattak and obtained a significant victory. On 11 January 1827, allegiance was sworn on his hand and he was declared Caliph and Imam. Syed Ahmad's claim to Khilafah was viewed with suspicion in the Frontier region as well as in the clerical circles of North India. When the Jumu'ah (Friday prayer) sermon was read in his name, symbolising his claim to power, the tribal chiefs became wary. According to prominent Pathan Sardars like Khadi Khan, Maulvis were ill equipped to run the affairs of a state. 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 Peshawar by the mujahideen, Syed Ahmad announced the abolition of all tribal rituals that he regarded as bid'ah (religious innovations). He abolished various practices such as: the bride being paid a regular price for marriage; the widowed of the deceased Muslims being divided among his heirs; practice of more than four marriages; denial of inheritance to women; clan wars being considered like jihad and its plunder being considered as booty. He also pushed for aggressive and violent policies to enforce Sharia. These included: allowing brides as long as half of the agreed money was given; young girls eligible for marriage should be married immediately; flogging people who didn't pray. many Pukhtun leaders rose against him and around two hundred mujahideen were killed in the Peshawar valley, which compelled him to migrate and try his luck in Kashmir, his long cherished dream. 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. 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 Balakot Maidan in the mountainous valley of 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.

Syed Ahmad is widely regarded as the founder of the subcontinental Ahl i Hadith movement and his teachings are highly influential amongst its members. Another major group that carries his legacy is the Deobandi school of thought. Scholar Edward Mortimer believes Syed Ahmad anticipated modern Islamists in waging jihad and attempting to create an Islamic state with strict enforcement of Sharia. Scholar 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. 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 apostates. Scholars like Wahiduddin Khan asserted that Syed Ahmad's jihad was illegitimate, since it was self declared and not waged by a Muslim ruler. Meanwhile, South Asian Islamists eagerly embraced Syed Ahmad's teachings and popularised his writings that sought the militant restoration of an Islamic state. All major organisations that wage militant jihad in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Kashmir use the rhetoric and legacy of Syed Ahmad's mujahideen to shore up support from the conservative base. Hafiz Saeed's Lashkar e Taiba and Masood Azhar's Jaish e Muhammad are two major 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.