[5] He was an active member in the jihad proclaimed by Sayyid Ahmad of Raebareli with the support of Pashtun tribes against the Sikh Empire, which ruled northwest India with their base in Punjab in the early half of the 19th century.

"[8] Professor of history at the University of California; Barbara D. Metcalf writes: Sayyid Ahmad's reformist teachings were set down in two works that, when printed on the new lithographic press of the day, soon achieved wide circulation.

The two works stressed above all the centrality of tawhid, the transcendent unity of God, and denounced all those practices and beliefs that were held in any way to compromise that most fundamental of Islamic tenets.

[7] Shah Ismail broke with the popular Indian Hanafi tradition, but subsequently became convinced that he could not set up his ideal society so long as the company rule held sway over the subcontinent.

Shah Ismail joined the cause of Sayyid Ahmad, who had moved to the Pashtun areas bordering Afghanistan (today’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) with his followers to lead an armed Jihad against the British.

So the leadership of the jihad movement concluded that they should move to an area with less control of the British and with large majority of Muslim population - North-West Frontier region - which is now known as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan.

[11] The opponents of the mujahideen of Sayyid Ahmad and Shah Ismail labelled them as "Wahhabis", associating them with the Muwahhideen reformers who had risen to prominence in the Arabia.

The Tariqah-yi-Muhammadi movement coupled their emphasis on the direct consultation of Scriptural texts with an aggressive campaign against shirk (polytheism) and bidat (heretical innovations), attacking practices they asserted that Indian Muslims had adopted from Hindus or Shias.

While the rest of the Indian clergy had commonly differentiated between bidat-i-hasanah and bidat-i-sayyia (good and bad innovations), the Tariqah-i Muhammadiyya criticised all forms of bidat, insisting that the Prophet’s own life and practices were the best guide for Muslims.

Following the teachings of the Mujahidin commander Sayyid Ahmad, Shah Ismail Dehlvi advocated the purging of numerous practices and rituals such as istigatha (asking needs) to the dead, wearing tawiz (amulets), making vows, etc.

Equating these practices to idol worship of Hindus and excommunicating those who practised them, Shah Ismail declared in his treatise Taqwiyat al-Iman:"It is customary for many people, in the time of difficulty, to invoke the spirits of pir, apostles, imams, martyrs and angels, and fairies, and to beg them to fulfil their wishes.

And for the life protection of their children some keep a lock of hair on their heads, and others make them wear a woven thread around their necks and clothe them in the name of some saints.

Since Syed Ahmad’s campaign was based on Islamic concept of jihad, his spokesman, Shah Ismail Dehlavi, tries to create desire for the war by saying: "as far as the special benefits are concerned that go to the faithful Martyrs, the Muslim Mujahideen, the ruling Sultans and the brave men of the battle field, don’t need to be elaborated here".

[14] 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.

[7]Regarding his Imamate, Syed Ahmad wrote to Nawab Wazir ud-Dawla, the ruler of Tonk: "believe me, the person who sincerely confesses to my position is special in the eyes of God, and the one who denies it is, of course sinful.

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.

[7] In addition to the stated social agenda, Sayyid Ahmad also attempted to collect the Islamic tithe (usher) of ten per cent of crop yields.

[14][21] Ismail Dehlvi was killed on 6 May 1831 during a fierce battle at Balakot against the army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1780 – 1839), the ruler of the Sikh empire that governed the region at that time.

Shah Ismail's doctrines on Tawhid (monotheism) and fervent condemnations of various practices he regarded as shirk (polytheism), denunciations of celebrations like Mawlid as bid'ah (religious innovation); along with his emphasis on the requirement to directly return to scriptural sources without imitating a madhab (legal school) would deeply influence the Ahl-i Hadith.

Although the Islamic state of the Mujahidin was later destroyed by the Sikh Empire, Shah's followers continued to spread his teachings travelling across the Indian subcontinent; and described themselves as Ahl-i Hadith.