Ahmed Rida Khan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This article needs copyediting (checking for proper English spelling, grammar, usage, etc.).

Imam Aĥmed Riđā Khān al-Barelwī (1856–1921) was a prominent Muslim Alim from Bareilly, a city in Northern India during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was a follower of Hanafi. Fiqh (The school of Islamic Fiqh, founded by Abu Hanifah, was one of four schools that enjoyed massive and general scholarly acceptance.) Imam Aĥmed Riđā was also poet and writer, authoring nearly 1,000 books and monographs of varying lengths in Arabic, Persian and Urdu.

1 Life history
2 His works
3 British Empire, Khilafat, and jihad
4 Secularism
5 Difference with other groups
6 His students
7 See also
8 External links

[edit]

Life history

Imam Aĥmed Riđā was born in 1272 AH (1856 CE) into a family of Alims; his father Mawlānā Naqī Áli Khān was an Alim of his time. He studied Islamic sciences mainly under the tutelage of his father. Ahmed Rida undertook the traditional dars-e nizami course under his father's supervision and thereafter was largely self-taught. he did not proceed to take a formal course at a dar al-ulum.

An important landmark in Ahmed Riza's early life was the assumption of responsibility from his father for writing fatawa in 1869, when he was fourteen.

Aĥmed Riđā studied many sciences and, particularly in Hanafi; fiqh. He had many degrees of authorization in Hanafi; fiqh, and by his own affirmation, the most important one is from the Mufti of Makkah, Shaykh Ábd ar-Raĥmān as-Sirāj ibn Ábdullāh as-Sirāj. This chain of transmission is claimed to reach back to Abu Hanifah.

He is known for his attacks on Wahabis, other deviant Muslims and libertarian religion-reformers like Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan, Abu'l Kalām Āzād and others of the early 20th century.

Aĥmed Riđā took the Qadiri path and was initiated in that Sufi order by Sayyid Abu’l Ĥusayn Nūrī of Mārahra (a town in northern India). He used to dedicate many tracts to the love of the Muhammad, as is evident in his writings and endeavors.

In 1904 he founded a school, the Madrasa Manzar al-Islam. The position of chief administrator of this school was later to become a hereditary one within the Riza family for the next four generations.

He died in 1340 AH (1921 CE) at the age of 63.

[edit]

His works

Imam Aĥmed Riđā is the author of nearly 1,000 books and monographs of varying lengths, and also poetry, in Arabic, Persian and Urdu. Amongst the most well-known are the following:

Kanz ul Iman Fi Tarjamatu'l Qu'ran (The Treasure of Faith: A translation of the Koran): This is his Urdu translation of the Koran. It combines fluency of language with Koranic exegesis and is an explanatory translation, as opposed to a literal one.
Ĥadāyiq e Bakh’shish (Gardens of Salvation): This is his slim two-volume anthology of Urdu and Persian poetry, eulogizing the Prophet Muhammad (May Allah bless him and give him peace).
Al- Átāyā an-Nabawiyyah fi’l Fatāwā ar-RiĎawiyyah (also known as Fatāwa ar-RiDawiyyah or Fatāwā Razwiyah): His magnum opus, this is a collection of books, monographs and edicts on all aspects of Hanafī fiqh. The latest edition runs into 24 large volumes.
Al-Dawlatul Makkiyah (The Meccan Treasure): This is amongst his masterpieces and was written in a few days. It discusses, in great detail, the Prophet's Knowledge of the Unseen ( 'ilm al ghayb), one of the contentious issues between Ahlus Sunnah and their opponents, notably the literalist Wahabi school.

[edit]

British Empire, Khilafat, and jihad

From the period of the Crimean War to 1878, Britain encouraged a pro-Turkish policy for Muslim India. Ahmad Rida Khan's stance followed this line. In one of his famous works, Tahzib Al-Akhlaq, he is on record as praising the reforms in the Ottoman Dominions.

He rejected the spiritual jurisdiction of the Ottoman Khilafah based on the accepted classical Sunni position that the caliph must be from Quraysh, the tribe of the Prophet to which the Ottomans did not belong. He held the view that the real Khilafah had ended with the first four Caliphs Khulafa al-Rashidun and protested the ban imposed by Sultan Abd Al-Hamid II against discussions on this subject, which was entirely in accordance with Sunni traditonal thought. Imam Ahmed Rida Khan rejected the jihad against the British occupation of India since in his view British India was not Dar-al-Harb (an abode of war) (a view shared by Ashraf Ali Thanawi) and refused to cooperate with Hindus and other Muslims who used various other means of protest against the British Empire which were against the Shariah in his vew. His stance was based on the principal that one must not cooperate with people of innovation in doctrine [ahl ul bida'] and thus disobey the Shariah for political gain; hence it was a principled stance. Personally, it appears he did not accept the jurisdiction of the British-an indication of this was his habit of affixing postage stamps with the head of the Queen upside down and his refusal to attend British court hearings.

However When the Non-Cooperation Movement was launched in 1920 by an alliance of the Khilafat movement and Gandhi, Ahmed Rida remained at best aloof. He objected to collaboration with Hindus in preference to collaboration with 'People of the Book', the British, based on sound Islamic legal edicts of the past.

Imam Ahmed Rida Khan and his disciple were the main initiator of Movement of Pakistan. His sons Mawlana Hamid Rida Khan, Grand Mufti Mustafa Rida Khan and student Mawlana Sayyid Naeemuddin Muradabadi organized Sunni Conferences and supported idea about seperate state of Muslims along with other prominent Muslim religious personalities of the period such as Pir Sayyid Jama'at Ali Shah Naqshbandi (d. 1951)

[edit]

Secularism

During the period of the Indian Khilafat Movement, Gandhi was advised that he should meet with Ahmed Rida Khan. When he was told that the Gandhi wished to meet and speak to him, he said:

"What would he speak about? Religion or worldly affairs? If it is worldly affairs, what can I partake in, for I have abstained from the world and have no interest in it." (Al Mizaan, p. 335)

[edit]

Difference with other groups

In 1906, Ahmed Riza wrote a fatwa accusing leading figures at Deoband - including Rashid Ahmed Gangohi, Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi and Ashraf Ali Thanvi - of being leaders of heresy and kafir because of their deviant belief and faith written in their books. They were also termed wahabis. The Deobandi's countered Ahmed Riza's fatwa with one of their own, testifying that the Deobandis were apparentlyHanafi sunnis, just like Ahmed Rida. An interesting aspect is the role and influence of different sufi orders: the Barelwis's allegiance to the Qadiri order;. The Tablighi Jamaat, the da'wa movement affiliated with Deoband and founded by Muhammad Ilays (1885 - 1944).

[edit]