The Barelvi's are a deviant sect founded by one Ahmad Rida Khan from Bareilly, India. Its founder was born in the year 1856 and died in the year 1921 CE. His father's name was Naqi Ali Khan and his grandfather's name was Rida Ali Khan (Tadhkira Ulama-e-Hind, vol.1, p. 1). The Barelvi, Ahmad Rida Khan was named as Amman Miyan by his mother while his father called him Ahmad Miyan. It was his grandfather who called him Ahmad Rida (see the book: Al-Bareilawi, p. 25 by Naseem al-Bastawi ). He liked none of these names and personally called himself Abdal Mustafa (see: Man huwa Ahmad Rida, by Shaja'at Ali al-Qadiri, p. 15). His most endeared followers used to call him: A'la Hadrat (His esteemed Highness)! They claim to be the only true Ahl-e-Sunnat wal Jamaat (Sunni) in the whole of the Indian subcontinent, and the representatives of the Hanafi Madhhab in jurisprudence (fiqh). In reality one can not fail to see the opposite on many occasions. This we hope to show with direct quotes and examples from their own works and how it is in direct contradistinction from the Madhhab they claim to follow.AHAMD RIDA KHAN'S HARSHNESS:The author of Hayat Ala hadrat (p. 211) known as: Zafar al-Din Bihari said: "He was hard hearted and callous to his opponents. He did not take any care required by the Sharia!"
The Barelvi was so harsh that even some of his followers left him. One of them was Muhammad Yasin, a founder and manager of a Madrasa called Isha'at al-Ulum. He separated himself from the Barelvi's after a while. Yasin's own father was involved with a Madrasa in Bareilly under the name of Misbah al-Tahdhib and he too severed himself away from the Barelvi's due to their callousness, insolence and declaring Muslim scholars as unbelievers - this is known as takfir (see Hayat ala hadrat, p. 211).Let us provide some independent confirmation from a non-Deobandi and non-Barelvi source, but from an Orientalist who wrote a few pages on the Barelvi-Deobandi conflict. The author, Barbara Daly Metcalf who visited Deoband several times, as well as other seats of learning in India during the years 1969-1970 said in her book: Islamic Revival in British India: Deoband, 1860-1900 (p. 312):"A number of attempts to found schools seem to have faltered (i.e. Barelvi one's). In 1872 Ahmad Riza's father founded a madrasah in Bareilly, the Misbahu't-Tahzib, but soon, with its name changed to the Misbahul-Ulum, it came under Deobandi control, supported by substantial traders and patronized by Maulana Muhammad Ahsan Nanawtawi. In 1894, another school was founded, the Isha'atul-Ulum, under the direction of Maulana Muhammad Yasin Panjabi, a former student at Deoband. In 1909, however, when Yasin attended the huge Deobandi convocation for former students, he began to drift away from belief in Ahmad Riza and back toward the Deobandi's."We will come back to one significant point surrounding Maulana Yasin's defection from the Barelvi in 1909; it concerns the book Husam al-Haramain published by Ahmad Rida Khan in 1906.AHMAD RIDA KHAN THE INFALLIBLE "PROPHET"!They made him free from error and like the Ambiya (May Allah's peace and blessings be upon them all)! One of them said: "The pen of Ahmad Rida and his tongue were immune from a slip, even from a point, although it is an established fact that every scholar has a slip."
(See Abdal Hakim Sharaf's, Yadi Ala hadrat, p. 32).Another Barelvi fanatic said: "The Barelvi did not utter even a word from his tongue repugnant to the Sharia. Allah has protected him from every lapse!!" (Intro to Fatawa Ridwiyya, 2/5, by Muhammad Asghar).Another individual by the name of Anwar Rida said in his book Majmuah maqalat al-Barelviya (p. 223): "Since his childhood Ahmad Rida has been protected from straying and error, and adherence to the straight path was ingrained in his nature!!"On page 271 he claimed further: "Allah protected his pen and tongue from error!" He went even further on p. 270 by saying: "Ala hadrat, the Barelvi, was in the hand of al-Ghawth al-Azam (Abdal Qadir al-Jilani) like a pen in the writers hand, and al-Ghawth al-Azam was in the hand of the Prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him) like a pen in the writer's hand, and the Prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him) does not speak of his own passion in the presence of Allah."BARELVI'S LOVE FOR RIDA KHAN WAS MORE THAN THEIR LOVE FOR THE GREAT SAHABA!!Hasnain Rida said in his book Wasaya al-Bareilawi (p. 24): "Our paying a visit to the Barelvi has lessened our eagerness to visit the Companions of the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam."The esteemed author of the Fatawa Rahimiyah (available in English under 3 volumes), Mufti Abdur Rahim Qadri al-Lajpuri said (1/59, Q. no. 24) about the Barelvi sect: "They do not cherish as much reverence in their hearts for the Holy Companions as they do for the founder of the Reza Khani sect, Maulana Ahmed Reza Khan. It is stated in their book, the Wasaya Sharif: 'The state of his abstinence and piety was such that I heard some Shaykhs saying that on seeing him (Reza Khan) the eagerness for visiting the tombs of the great Companions was diminished in their hearts!' (God protect us from such thought!). Such is their veneration of the great Companions!"
We seek refuge in Allah from such crass beliefs. The real Sunni masses love all the Sahaba more than any scholar or Wali after them all. If one was to peruse through the Barelvi literature one can not fail to notice how they contradict not just the Madhhab they claim to follow in jurisprudence (fiqh) but also contradict the way of the Sahaba on a number of occasions. We hope to prove and elaborate on this later if Allah wills.ONE OF HIS TEACHERS WAS THE QADIYANI'S OWN BROTHER!The Barelvi was once a student of Mirza Ghulam Qadir Baig - the brother of the British agent and kafir, Ghulam Ahmad Qadiyani (see Al-Bastawi's book: al-Bareilawi, p. 36).HIS DISRESPECT IN USING THE NAME AND QUALITIES OF ALLAHU TA'ALA WHEN ATTACKING SOMEONE:He attacked the Deobandi's by saying in nonsensical and unscholarly language: "A woman is capable of committing fornication. Then according to the opinion of your leader and teacher, it is necessary that your God too should be capable of committing fornication - otherwise the prostitutes of the brothers of the Deobandi's would laugh at Him and say: 'How do you claim for Godhead? You are not capable of doing which even we can do?' This naturally implies that your God must possess a female sexual organ - otherwise where will be the sexual intercourse?" (Subhan al-Subbuh. P. 142). May Allah save us from this sort of heinous and unscholarly language that is far from the ways of the rightly guided Sunni path, and its terminology in talking about Allahu ta'ala - even when attacking someone.
DECLARATION THAT THERE WAS NO JIHAD IN INDIA AGIANST THE BRITISH Just like the Qadiyani unbelievers, the leader of this innovatory sect, Ahmad Rida Khan declared that in the time of British Imperialism in India, there was no Jihad against them! This led to his opponents to consider him to be a supporter of the British and some went to the level of accusing him to be funded by the British, just like the Qadiyani religion which emanated at the same time that Ahmad Rida Khan started his outbursts against all his major opponents from various parts of India.
Ahmad Rida Khan said in his al-Mahajjat al-Mu'tamana (p. 208): "Jihad is not obligatory for us, the Muslims of India, on the basis of the Qur'an. He who holds that it is obligatory is an opponent to the Muslims and intends to harm them!"Look to these words and see how it contradicts the brave decision by thousands of Ulama who fought along with ordinary Muslims against the British and their treacherous servants in India, in the year 1857 CE. This is well known as the Mutiny of 1857 - and thousands of Ulama were slaughtered by the kuffar. See how Rida Khan is at variance with these martyrs of Islam.He also said in his book: Dawam al-Aish (p. 46): "Jihad and fighting are not binding on the Muslims of India!"In fact one of his followers who wrote the introduction to the last named book (p. 18) admitted that: "The Muslims harboured a bad faith about him."Hasan Nizami in an article called Kitabi Dunya (p. 2) when referring to the introduction to Dawam al-Aish (p. 18) said about Ahmad Rida Khan: "Most of his novices and followers separated from him for their disagreement with him on the Khilafat Movement."HIS EXAGGERATED LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT TO HIS FOLLOWERSHe exaggerated to the extent that he made a statement that his followers should strictly abide to his doctrines and ideologies, to the extent of that which we expect Prophet's to make to their own Nations! His statements have been collated by a Barelvi by the name of Hasnain Rida in a book entitled: Wasaya Sharif. Rida Khan said to his followers as recorded in the Wasaya (p. 10):"Hold fast to my faith and doctrine which is apparent from my works. Hold fast to it and remain honest to it, for it is the most significant duty among the duties."Does this not mean that following the views of the Barelvi are more important than the judgements deduced from the sources of Islamic Law by the Imams of the Hanafi Madhhab he claimed to belong to? A number of his views explicitly contradict the Hanafi Madhhab as we will show later if Allah wills. He expects his followers to make taqleed of him and his works!He also said: "I do not know how long I shall live among you. You are the naive sheep of Mustafa (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) and the wolves have encompassed you from all sides. They want to lead you astray and create schism and dissent among you. They wish to carry you to the hell-fire. So keep away from them, especially the Deobandi's!" (Al-Bastawi in his al-Bareilawi, p. 105).HE ASKED ALL HIS FOLLOWERS TO EAT SUMTUOS DISHES AND DONATE THE REWARD TO HIS POOR SOUL AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE!One of the most unusual and strange requests that he made to his followers is that he in direct opposition to the Prophet's (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) Sunnah, and the method of all the Sahaba and the vast majority of the scholars of Ahl-al-Sunnah wa'l Jama'ah declared:"After my death if possible present (sura) Fatiha to me twice or thrice in a week and offer the following dishes: ICED RICE PUDDING, EVEN IF IT IS MADE FROM THE MILK OF THE BUFFALO, BIRYANI RICE DISH OF THE BUKHARAN TYPE, KEBABS, KOFTA, TABAQ, CREAM, BEANS, SAMOSA, APPLE JUICE, POMEGRANATE JUICE, A BOTTLE OF WATER AND ICED MILK. IF IT IS POSSIBLE, YOU MAY PRESENT THIS OFFERING EVERYDAY, EVEN A DISH OF THEM - OTHERWISE AS YOU LIKE."Just reading these words brings an emotion of laughter to the soul. They call this Isale-e-Sawab: Donating rewards to a deceased soul. But where in Islam does this strange and hilarious method emanate from? Great scholars have explained the Fiqh of Isale-e-Sawab and its correct methodology, but see how the Barelvi's exaggerate. What kind of Muslim would make such a last request? We have never heard any one from the early Muslim generations make such a dastardly request and also expect people to eat and spend on extravagant dishes - just for the soul of some individual! May Allah save us from extravagance and contradiction of the Shariah.
AHMAD RIDA KHAN'S SELF-PRAISING ARROGANCE AND HIS FOLLOWERSAgain he raised his rank to a great Prophet by saying about himself: "I am the monarch of the domain of speech. The people should accept whatever I say." (Quoted by Anwar Rida al-Barelvi in Hadaiqi Bakhshish, which is a collection of the Barelvi's poems, p. 319).In his Sharh al-Huquq (p. 8) Rida Khan said about himself: "My breast is the bag of learning. Whenever I was asked about anything I replied to it immediately - be it concerned with any Science."He said with respect to Shaykh Abdal Qadir al-Jilani: "I am the dog of Ghawth-i-Azam, and his necklace is in my neck." (Poem in Hadaiqi Bakshish)He asked Shaykh Abdal Qadir for direct help in the following words: "O Helper, all the saints of the world go around the Noble House of Allah, but the Ka'ba itself goes around your exalted gate.." (Poem in Hadaiqi Bakhshish)Hasnain Rida al-Barelvi went so far as to claim that: "No versatile scholar like him is found in the last two centuries!" (Wasaya al-Bareilawi, p. 24).Ayyub Ali al-Barelvi said about Rida Khan with great exaggeration which some wouldn't hesitate to declare as Shirk the following in his Nafkhatal-Ruh (p. 5):"He is the fulfiller of needs, remover of the calamities, obviator of difficulties, supplier of the water of Kawthar, the master of the grave, resurrection and congregation. He is the helper, the Pole of the Saints, the Successor of Mustafa (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam), the Khidr of the se of guidance, the donator and the sustainer." May Allah save us from their lies!Another claimed in the introduction to the fourth volume of Fatawa Ridwiyya: "He was the Abu Hanifah of his time!"By Allah, there were many great scholars in India and around the world who were far more superior in knowledge and etiquette's than the Barelvi. If we were to name just two from India who were within two centuries of Rida Khan it would be enough to see how these people exaggerate. First we may mention the name of Shah Waliullah al-Dehlawi (d. 1763 CE ) and secondly Shaykh Abdal Hayy al-Laknawi (d. 1304 AH), who was highly praised by non-Indian Hanafi scholars like Shaykh Muhammad Zahid al-Kawthari (d. 1371 AH ) and Shaykh Abdal Fattah Abu Ghuddah (d. 1997). These scholars were all far more knowledgeable than Ahmad Rida Khan.
CALLING ON OTHER THAN ALLAH FOR DIRECT HELP - AND HOW IT CONTRADICTS THE HANAFI MADHHABAhmad Rida Khan said: "The order of the Helpers of the people (ghawth) and of those who are called for help begins from Ali, ending at al-Hasan al-Askari, the eleventh Imam of the Shia." (See the Malfuzat of the Barelvi).He said in al-Amn wal-ala (p. 12-13): "Ali removes calamity and obliterates misery from him who recites the well known Saifi supplication, 7 or 3 times, or only once. This supplication is as follows: <
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