Question

syed ahmad barelvi aims and objectives as a Muslim

Answer 1

Syed Ahmad Rai Barelvi (1700-1850) is considered one of the early Muslim freedom fighters of India and a great reviver and thinker of Islam in the Indian subcontinent. He is popularly known among the Indo-Pak Islamic clergy and ulema as a “shaheed” (a martyr of Islam) who led the Mujahideen movement in India.

But it is interesting to note that a number of Indian Islamic scholars have recently noted that Maulvi Syed Ahmad 'Shaheed' Rai Barelvi was not a freedom fighter. He was actually the chief exponent of Wahhabism in India, an adherent and fervent advocate of puritanical fundamentalism and physical jihadism in place of spiritual jihad against the baser instincts and carnal desires (jihad al-nafs). Interestingly, in the beginning, he was inspired by Sufi orders and silsilahs like Naqshbandiyah, Chishtiyah and Qadriyah. But after he met the Wahhabi patrons in Saudi Arabia during his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1821, he became fascinated by Wahhabism and turned into a puritanical fundamentalist and a jihadist cleric.