Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi
Born in Bareilly, British India, Khan wrote on law, religion, philosophy and the sciences, and because he mastered many subjects in both rational and religious sciences he has been called a polymath by Francis Robinson, a leading Western historian and academic who specializes in the history of South Asia and Islam.
Khan was born on 10 Shawwal 1272 Hijri corresponds to 14 June 1856[4] to an Indian Muslim family in the Mohallah of Jasoli in Bareilly district, North-Western Provinces, British India.
[16] The movement was largely a rural phenomenon when began but is currently popular among urban, educated Pakistanis and Indians as well as the South Asian diaspora throughout the world.
Imam Ahmed Raza Khan wrote several hundred books in Arabic, Persian, and Urdu, including the thirty-volume fatwa compilation Fatawa Razawiyya, and Kanz ul-Iman (Translation & Explanation of the Qur'an).
In one of his famous books, Fauze Mubeen Dar Radde Harkate Zameen, using the Holy Qur'an as its guideline, he provided more than 100 arguments that the earth is not rotating but is stationary.
[23] Husam ul-Haramain or Husam al-Harmain Ala Munhir Kufr wal-Mayn (The Sword of the Haramayn at the throat of disbelief and falsehood) 1906, is a treatise which declared infidels the founders of the Deobandi, Ahl-i Hadith and Ahmadiyya movements on the basis that they did not have the proper veneration of Muhammad and finality of prophethood in their writings.
[31][32] He reached judgments with regard to certain practices and faith in his book Fatawa-i Razawiyya, including:[33][34] He wrote na'at (devotional poetry in praise of Muhammad) and always discussed him in the present tense.
[42] Imam Ahmed Raza Khan supported Tawassul, Mawlid,[16][43][44] Prophet Muhammad's awareness of complete knowledge of the unseen, and other practices which were opposed by Wahhabis/Salafis and Deobandis.
[35][45][46] In this contrast to the beliefs of the Wahhabis and Deobandis, Ahmed Raza Khan supported the following beliefs: This concept was interpreted by Shah Abdul Aziz in Tafsir-e-Azizi in these words: The prophet is observing everybody, knows their good and bad deeds, and knows the strength of faith (Iman) of every individual Muslim and what has hindered his spiritual progress.
To differentiate between a Muslim and a Infidel he emphatically said:[51] Presented with a choice of giving water to a thirsty infidel or to a dog, a believer should make the offering to dog.In 1905, Khan, on the request of contemporaries from Hijaz, wrote a verdict on the permissibility of using paper as a form of currency, entitled Kifl-ul-Faqeehil fehim Fe Ahkam-e-Kirtas Drahim.
Khan collected scholarly opinions in the Hejaz and compiled them in an Arabic language compendium with the title, Hussam al Harmain ("The Sword of Two Sanctuaries"), a work containing 34 verdicts from 33 ulama (20 Meccan and 13 Medinese).
[63] Imam Ahmed Raza Khan declared that India was Dar al-Islam and that Muslims enjoyed religious freedom there.
According to him, those arguing the contrary merely wanted to take advantage of the provisions allowing Muslims living under the non-Muslim rule to collect interest from commercial transactions and had no desire to fight Jihad or perform Hijra.
[13] Many religious schools, organizations, and research institutions teach Khan's ideas, which emphasize the primacy of Islamic law along with the adherence to Sufi practices and personal devotion to Muhammad.
[77] The following scholars are his notable successors:[78] There are thousands of madrassas and Islamic seminaries dedicated to his school of thought across the Indian Subcontinent.
