Origins Imam
Shah Waliullah Dehlawi (1703 – 1762 C.E) is considered as the intellectual fore-forefather of the
Ahl-i-Hadith. After his
Pilgrimage to
Mecca, Shah Waliullah Dehlawi spent 14 months in
Medina, studying ''
Qur'an, Hadith and works of the classical Hanbali theologian Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728 A.H/ 1328 C.E) under the hadith
scholar Muhammad Tahir al-Kurani, the son of Ibrahim al-Kurani. Upon return to India, he preached Tawhid and a return to the Sunnah, and claimed Ijtihad just like Ibn Taymiyya. Shah maintained that Ijtihad'' is essential for
Muslim scholars for all ages since cognizance of Divine injunctions related to the novel issues of each era is obligatory. He also opposed various rituals of saint veneration and customs at saint's tombs which he held to be idolatrous. Shah's campaigns against ''
bid'ah (religious innovations), emphasis on Ijtihad
as well as his political activities were immensely influenced by Ibn Taymiyya. His precepts for reviving an Islamic Caliphate modelled on the Khulafa al-Rashidun as elucidated in his treatises like Izalat al-Khifa
, Qurrat al-'Aynayn'', etc. echoed the doctrines propounded by Ibn Taymiyya during the 14th/7th century. After the death of his father,
Shah 'Abd al-Aziz continued the works of Shah Waliullah. He was a
Muhaddith who emphasized the importance of
Hadith with students all across the subcontinent. As a teacher, preacher and social religious-reformer, Shah 'Abd al-Aziz was closely monitoring the socio-political developments in the subcontinent.
British were gaining ascendancy in India by capturing power in
Bengal,
Bihar and
Orissa. In 1799, British defeated the
Kingdom of Mysore in the
Fourth Anglo-Mysore War. When the British armies entered
Delhi in 1803, the
Mughal Empire was turned into a
protectorate of
British East India Company, thus gaining political supremacy in the subcontinent. Upon this, Shah 'Abd al-Aziz declared a decisive
fatwa declaring India to be
Dar-al Harb (abode of war). This was the first significant
fatwa against colonial rule in the subcontinent that gave an indirect call to
South Asian Muslims to fight colonial occupation and liberate the country. This decisive
fatwa by Shah Waliullah's eldest son and successor, Shah 'Abd al Azeez, calling upon Muslims to strive to restore India back to
Islamic rule, would greatly inspire his student
Sayyid Ahmed Shahid and motivate him to plan for future
Jihad. After a brief period as a mercenary, Sayyid Ahmad would further pursue his religious studies and re-appeared as an eminent religious scholar and a visionary leader, gaining many disciples. He came to be widely identified as the inheritor of Shah Waliullah's mantle and numerous
Sunni Muslims volunteered to join his cause.
Indian Jihad Movement Under these circumstances the call to
Jihad against
British rule began becoming popular amongst the Muslim masses.
Shah Ismail Dehlvi, the nephew of Shah 'Abd al-Aziz and grandson of Shah Waliullah, would lead a
religious revivalist movement. In addition to being an excellent orator, he was also a soldier and military commander. Shah Muhammad Ishaq, the grandson of Shah 'Abd al-Aziz would continue his religious reform after Abdul Aziz's death in 1823. Maulana Abdul Haie, son-in-law of Shah 'Abd al-Aziz was also a reputed scholar. These three theologians prepared the spadework of
Tariqah-i-Muhammadiyya, the reform movement that would be known as the Indian "Wahhabi movement". During his last years, Shah 'Abd al-Aziz would give his cloak to Syed Ahmed Bareilly appointing him as his successor.
Sayyid Ahmed would campaign against the corruption of various
Sufi orders, and initiate his disciples into
Tariqah-i-Muhammadiya ("Muhammadiyya Order"). The disciples in this order were required to make a vow that they will strictly abide by
Sharia and would not follow anything not proven by ''Qur'an
and Hadith''. One of the prominent disciples of Sayyid Ahmed was Wilayat Ali Khan, a student of
Hajji Abdul Haq of
Benares; popularly known as the "
Nejdi Sheikh". Abdul Haq was an Islamic scholar who spent years studying in the remote Central Arabian Province of Nejd, the seat of the
Wahhabi movement. Upon his return, he preached many of its militant ideals and had already established Wahhabi doctrines in South Asia before Sayyid Ahmad's
Hajj in 1821. On 24 February 1828, one of the three leaders of Jihad, Maulvi Abdul Haei, the chief advisor to Syed Ahmed died as an old and ailing person. In his letters to Sikh ruler
Ranjit Singh, Syed Ahmed clarified that he did not seek a confrontation with
Sikhs, but only their help in defeating the British. Ranjit Singh, for his part, respected Syed Ahmed as a "courageous, bold and determined person". By 1830, many Pathan tribal chiefs rose against the Wahhabi
Mujahideen and committed massacres against the Wahhabi emigrants. Disillusioned by this, Syed Ahmed lost interest in the movement and made plans to migrate to Arabia. However, senior advisors such as Shah Ismail opposed the idea and sought to complete the objectives of the movement, despite the setbacks. On 17 April 1831, Syed Ahmed set out on his last journey for
Balakot with the aim to capture
Kashmir, accompanied by Shah Ismail. A Pashtun chieftain named Zabardast Khan who made a secret deal with the Sikh commander
Sher Singh withheld promised reinforcements. On 6 May 1831, an army of 10,000
Mujahideen faced a strong force of 12,000 Sikh soldiers led by Sher Singh. On that day Syed Ahmed, Shah Ismail and prominent leaders of the Wahhabi movement fell fighting in the battlefield. Sikh victory at Balakot arose jubilation in
Lahore. The defeat at Balakot made a devastating blow to the Wahhabi movement. After the death and defeats of both Sayyid Ahmed Shahid and Shah Ismail Dehlwi; many of his followers continued the Jihad movement across South Asia. Others became the followers of Shah Muhammad Ishaq (1778–1846 C.E), the grandson of Shah 'Abd al-Azeez and head of the
Madrasa Rahimiyya in Delhi. Some of the disciples of Shah Muhammad Ishaq would formally establish the
Ahl-i Hadith movement.
Establishment of Ahl-i Hadith (1832–1890), one of the founders of
Ahl-i Hadith movement was influenced by Yemeni scholar
Al-Shawkani In the mid-nineteenth century, an Islamic religious reform movement was started in Northern India that continued the
Tariqah-i-Muhammadiyya movement. It rejected everything introduced into
Islam after ''
Qur'an, Sunnah, Hadith'' and the early eras. This was led by
Nawab Siddiq Hasan Khan of
Bhopal (1832–1890) whose father became a Sunni convert under the influence of Shah 'Abd al-Aziz (1746–1824) and
Syed Nazir Husain (1805–1902) who was a student of Muhaddith Shah Muhammad Ishaq (1782–1846), the grandson of Shah 'Abd al-Aziz and his
Khalifa (successor). With the aim of restoring Islamic unity and strengthening Muslim faith, they called for a return to original sources of religion, ''"Qur'an and Hadith"
and eradicate what they perceived as bid'ah (innovations), shirk'' (polytheism), heresies and superstitions. Siddiq Hasan's father Sayyid Awlad Hasan was a strong supporter of
Sayyid Ahmad Shahid and had accompanied him to
Afghanistan in
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to participate in his famous
Jihad movement. Another major source of influence on Khan was the "
Najdi
Sheikh" 'Abd al-Haqq Benarasi who had returned from
Yemen and became the first scholar to teach the doctrines of Yemeni theologian
Al-Shawkani in South Asia. Benarasi was Khan's Hadith master in Delhi; teaching him doctrines such as rejection of
shirk, ''bid'ah
, Taqlid
, etc. and became influential in laying the doctrinal foundations of the later Ahl-i Hadith
. Alongside the Yemeni reformers, the teachings of Shāh Muḥammad Ismāʿīl Dehlvi (1779–1832 C.E) also became highly important in Ahl-i Hadith'' circles. Shah Muhammad's ground-breaking theological works like
Taqwiyat al-īmān (Strengthening of the Faith),
al-Ṣirāṭ al-Mustaqīm (The Straight Path),
Yak Rūzī (One Dayer), etc. elucidated the core doctrines of the
Ahl-i Hadith movement. All these works called upon the believers to uphold the principle of
Tawhid (montheism), and condemned various practices associated with
saint-venerations, visitations to tombs,
Sufi rituals, etc. as
shirk (polytheism). Throughout the 19th century,
Ahl-i Hadith scholars were persecuted under various pretexts during the "Wahhabi trails" (of 1850s–1870s). Eventually the leaders of the movement sought pragmatic accommodation with the
British Raj in order to stop the repression campaign against Wahhabis. Upon the petition of
Ahl-i-Hadith scholar
Muhammad Hussain Batalvi to the
British Indian Administration, the government of India issued a notification in 1886, stopping the use of the term "Wahhabi" in official correspondence. In a victory to reform movement, the government conceded to referring the community as "
Ahl-i Hadith".
University of Paris political scientist
Antoine Sfeir has referred to the movement as having an elitist character which perhaps contributes to their status as a minority in South Asia.
Folk Islam and Sufism, commonly popular with the poor and working class in the region, are anathema to
Ahl-i Hadith beliefs and practices. This attitude toward Sufism has brought the movement into conflict with the rival
Barelvi movement even more so than the Barelvis perennial rivals, the
Deobandis. In the 1920s, the Ahl-i Hadith opened a center for their movement in
Srinagar. Followers of the
Hanafi school of law, forming the majority of Muslims in
Jammu and Kashmir, socially boycotted and physically attacked
Ahl-i Hadith followers, eventually declaring such followers to be
apostates and banning them from praying in mainstream mosques. From the 1930s the group also began to be active in the political realm of
Pakistan, with
Ehsan Elahi Zaheer leading the movement into a full foray in the 1970s, eventually gaining the movement a network of mosques and Islamic schools. ==Tenets==