Barelvi demographics were more than 200 million around the world in the year 2000.
India Imam Ahle Sunnat
India Today estimated that over two-thirds of Muslims in India adhere to the Sufi-oriented Ahle Sunnat (Barelvi) movement. ====
Bareilly Sharif Dargah==== Markaz-e-Ahle Sunnah at Dargah Ala Hazrat is one of the main centers of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat movement in south Asia. Millions of people turned to seek guidance in Islamic matters towards this center of Islamic learning. Bareilly city has been the heart-throb of Sunni Muslims since 1870 when revered Islamic Scholar
Ala Hazrat Imam Ahmed Raza Khan established Fatwa committee under the guidance of his father
Naqi Ali Khan. Later, his son Maulana Hamid Raza Khan and Mufti Azam-e-Hind
Mustafa Raza Khan continued Fatwa work.
Stand against the forced sterilization actions of the government In the mid-70s, during
The Emergency (India), on the advice of
Sanjay Gandhi, son of Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi, the Indian government tried to force men to undergo vasectomies (Nasbandi). Huge but unconfirmed numbers of young men were forcibly sterilized. Government officials, and even school teachers, were ordered to induce a predetermined number of males to endure vasectomies or Nasbandi, as they were called. Indian Muslims were finding it difficult to oppose this harsh government action because at the time, it was the emergency and the powers were totally in the hands of Prime Minister Mufti-e-Azam Mustafa Raza Khan. At that time, he acted without pressure and passed a verdict in which he banned vasectomies, declaring them un-Islamic. He published his judicial verdict and circulated it all over India, giving Muslims a sigh of relief but triggering tension between Muslims and the Indian government. The government unsuccessfully tried to get the Fatwa withdrawn and within two years, Indira Gandhi lost the
Parliamentary elections.
Shah Bano Case Movement Indian Supreme Court in case of
Mohd. Ahmed Khan v. Shah Bano Begum delivered a judgment favouring maintenance given to an aggrieved divorced Muslim woman. Maulana
Obaidullah Khan Azmi, Allama
Yaseen Akhtar Misbahi and some other Sunni leaders started movement against the judgment. In 1985, Misbahi was elected as the vice president of the
All India Muslim Personal Law Board, where he advocated for the protection of Shariat. They led various mass protests in various parts of the country specially in Mumbai. Speeches of
Obaidullah Khan Azmi were widely circulated and he had become a most sought after speaker for anti-Shah Bano case meetings in
Mumbai.
Mumbai police filed case against the Maulana and expelled him from Mumbai declaring his speeches inflammatory. Then, the government under pressure enacted a law with given the right to maintenance for the period of
iddat after the divorce, and shifting the onus of maintaining her to her relatives or the
Waqf Board.
Scholars, Organizations and Institutions Shahi Imam of
Fatehpuri Mosque, Delhi At present chief of dargah Ala Hazrat
Subhan Raza Khan, chief Qazi
Asjad Raza Khan,
Ziaul Mustafa Razvi Qadri,
Muhammad Madni Ashraf Ashrafi Al-Jilani, Syed
Ameen Mian Qaudri of Barkatiya Sufi chain, Shaikh
Aboobacker Ahmad of
All India Sunni Jamiatul Ulma,
Sayyid Ibraheem Khaleel Al Bukhari,
Abdul Rashid Dawoodi and Mufti
Mukarram Ahmad of Royal Mosque
Fatehpuri Masjid Delhi are some of the influential Sunni leaders of India. Bareilly based All India
Jama'at Raza-e-Mustafa,
Raza Academy, Mumbai and Kerala based
All India Sunni Jamiyyathul Ulama are influential bodies.
Idara-e-Shariah(Shara'ai Council) is highest body in Bihar, Jharkhand and Orrissa.
All India Ulema and Mashaikh Board and
All India Tanzeem Ulama-e-Islam also works among Sunnis. The
Grand Mufti of India is the senior and influential religious authority of the Islamic Community of India. The incumbent is Shafi Sunni scholar
Sheikh Abubakr Ahmad, general secretary of
All India Sunni Jamiyyathul Ulama, who was conferred the title in February 2019 at the Ghareeb Nawaz Peace Conference held at
Ramlila Maidan, New Delhi, organised by the
All India Tanzeem Ulama-e-Islam. , Hyderabad For Islamic missionary activities,
Sunni Dawate Islami (SDI) is an important Islamic preaching movement in India. It is working in at least 20 countries around the world. Muhammad
Shakir Ali Noori founded the movement in
Mumbai. It has a large network of (Dawah workers) preachers in India and in other countries. Sunni Dawat-e-Islami has established many modern and religious educational institutions around India and some in other parts of the world. It holds an annual conference
International Sunni Ijtema in Mumbai, which is said to be attended by between 150,000 Followers of Sunni Dawate Islami wear white turbans.
Al Jamiatul Ashrafia is considered the main institution of learning in northern India and it is attended by thousands of students who come from different parts of the country.
Pakistan president of
Tanzeem ul Madaris Ahle Sunnat and
Jamia Naeemia Lahore with Hanif Tayyab Sufism has strong links to South Asia dating back to the eighth and ninth centuries and preaches religious tolerance, encourages spiritual over ritualistic practicing of Islam, and encourages diversity. The Ahle Sunnat Barelvi movement has originated from South Asian Sufism itself. The religious and political leaders of this movement were followers of Sufism and lead the masses in to revivalist Sunni movement.
Time and
The Washington Post gave assessments that vast majority of Muslims in Pakistan follow Ahle Sunnat Barelvi movement. Political scientist Rohan Bedi estimated that 60% of Pakistani Muslims follow this movement. The movement form a majority in the most populous state
Punjab,
Sindh and
Azad Kashmir regions of Pakistan. In the aftermath of the 1948
Partition, they formed an association to represent the movement in Pakistan, called
Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP). The ulema have advocated application of
sharia law across the country. They are largest Muslim sect in Pakistan and have several organizations and parties which are
Dawat e Islami International,
Tanzeem ul Madaris Ahle Sunnat,
Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan,
Sunni Tehreek (ST),
Jamaat Ahle Sunnat,
Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT),
Sunni Ittehad Council,
Tehreek Labaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLYR) and
Majlis-e-Tahaffuz-e-Khatme Nabuwwat are some of the leading organisations of Pakistani Sunni Muslims.
Jamia Nizamia Ghousia,
Jamia Naeemia Lahore and
Dar-ul-Madinah Schools are some of the leading seminaries of this movement.
Finality of Prophethood movement In 1950, scholars of Ahle Sunnat Barelvi movement initiated a sub-movement named, '
Majlis-e-Tahaffuz-e-Khatme Nabuwwat' the history of which can be traced back to the 1880s when
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of
Qadian proclaimed himself to be a prophet in Islam. This proclamation of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was against the tenets of Islam and created a schism in the Muslim community. Therefore, with the aim to protect the belief in the finality of
prophethood of
Muhammad based on their concept of
Khatam an-Nabiyyin. The movement launched countrywide campaigns and protests to declare Ahmadis as non-Muslims.
Mohammad Abdul Ghafoor Hazarvi Zafar Ali Khan,
Abdul Hamid Qadri Badayuni,
Khwaja Qamar ul Din Sialvi,
Syed Faiz-ul Hassan Shah,
Ahmad Saeed Kazmi,
Abdul Sattar Khan Niazi, Pir of Manki Sharif
Amin ul-Hasanat,
Muhammad Karam Shah al-Azhari, Sardar Ahmad Qadri and Muhammad Hussain Naeemi were the leaders of the movement. Scholars of various schools of thought under the leadership of
Shah Ahmad Noorani Siddiqui, who was president of
Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan initiated a successful campaign against the
Ahmadis and compelled the National Assembly to declare Ahmadis as non-Muslims. And such a clause was inserted in the 1973
Constitution of Pakistan by
Second Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan. After meeting the first agenda, Khatme-Nabuwat started the next phase of their campaign – to bar Ahmadis from using the title of Muslim. The then president General
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq passed an ordinance in 1984 amending the
Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) commonly known as
Ordinance XX. Sunni leaders
Shaikh ul Quran Allama Ghulam Ali Okarvi,
Muhammad Shafee Okarvi,
Syed Shujaat Ali Qadri,
Iftikharul Hasan Shah and
Khalid Hasan Shah were the main leaders of this sub-movement.
Madarsa Network in Pakistan Tanzeem-ul-Madaris Ahl-e-Sunnat ASJ education board is the central organisation to register Ahle Sunnat Barelvi Madarsas. The board follows Sunni Barelvi ideology and is opponent of the Wahabi doctrine. As per Islam online, around 10,000 madrassas are managed by Tanzeem-ul-Madaris Pakistan. Tahzibul Akhbar in its report on the educational services of Religious institutions has estimated that Tanzeem has 3000 institutions in Khyber Pakhtunwa and 1000 in the area of Hazara. Muhammad Ramzan, in his report on Madarsas has stated that Tanzeem has most has maximum 5584 Madarsas in Punjab state in comparison to others. 'In Lahore 336, Sheikhupura 336, Gujranwala 633, Rawalpindi 387, Faisalabad 675, Sargodha 461, Multan 944, Sahiwal 458, D.G.Khan 605, Bahawalpur 749 madarsa are affiliated with the Tanzeem'. According to Rizwan, 'the Madarsas of Tanzeem are rarely involved in militancy which is maximum in Deobandis. In population, Barelvis or traditional Sunnis outnumber all other sects combined. They are about 53.4% of total population of the province'.
Stand on blasphemy laws The movement has opposed any change in the Pakistani blasphemy laws. They have always uphold the blasphemy as highest crime and endorsed the strict punishment for blasphemers.
Punjab governor Salman Taseer was assassinated on 4 January 2011 by
Mumtaz Qadri, a member of the Barelvi group
Dawat-e-Islami, due to Taseer's opposition to Pakistan's
blasphemy laws. Over five hundred scholars supported Qadri and a boycott of Taseer's funeral.
Persecution They have been targeted and killed by radical Deobandi groups in Pakistan such as the
TTP,
SSP,
LeJ, etc. Suicide attacks, vandalism and destruction of sites considered holy to those in the Sunni Barelvi movement have been perpetrated by Deobandi extremist groups. This includes attacks, destruction and vandalism of Sufi
Data Darbar in Lahore,
Abdullah Shah Ghazi's tomb in Karachi, Khal Magasi in Balochistan, and
Rahman Baba's tomb in Peshawar. The
Milade Mustafa Welfare Society has asserted that the Religious Affairs Department of DHA interferes with Human Resources
to ensure that Deobandi Imams are selected for mosques in their housing complex. The conflict came to a head in May 2001, when sectarian riots broke out after the assassination of
Sunni Tehreek leader Saleem Qadri. In April 2006 in
Karachi, a
bomb attack on a Barelvi gathering celebrating Muhammad's birthday killed 57 people, including several Sunni Tehreek leaders. Militants believed to be affiliated with the Taliban and
Sipah-e-Sahaba attacked Barelvis celebrating
Mawlid in
Faisalabad and
Dera Ismail Khan on 27 February 2010, sparking tensions between the groups. In 2021, the
Pakistani government officially banned the
Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan and is severely cracking down on Sunni Muslim political voices of the Barelvi movement. Deobandi political parties like
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F), however, are still freely operating and even supported by elements within the Pakistani government.
Bangladesh Barelvis form a sizeable portion of the
Hanafi communities in Bangladesh. It identifies under the banner of Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jama'at (ASWJ) along with other
Sufi groups which have strong bases in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet such as the
Maizbhandaria, and this serves as a central organization for the Barelvi ulema in Bangladesh. A majority of Bangladeshi Muslims perceive Sufis as a source of spiritual wisdom and guidance and their
Khanqahs and
Dargahs as nerve centers of Muslim society and large number of Bangladeshi Muslims identify themselves with a Sufi order, almost half of whom adhere to the
Chishti order that became popular during the
Mughal times, although the earliest Sufis in
Bengal, such as
Shah Jalal, belonged to the
Suhrawardiyya order, whose global center is still
Maner Sharif in Bihar. During the
Sultanate period, Sufis emerged and formed
khanqahs and
dargahs that served as the nerve center of local communities. Beside Bangladesh, WSM is active in various European and Gulf countries.
Bangladesh Islami Front and its students wing
Bangladesh Islami Chattra Sena have worked to protect the faith and belief of Sunni Sufis in the country and took stands against Deobandi
Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh and
Khelafat Majlish.
Jamia Ahmadiyya Sunnia Kamil Madrasa is a notable institution following ideology of Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat or Maslak-e-Aala Hazrat.
United Kingdom According to Irfan Al Alawi, 'The Sufism influenced Ahle Sunnat Barelvi in United Kingdom immigrated to Britain earlier than the Deobandis, established the main mosques in Britain. They integrated into UK society and are considered law abiding.' moderate majority, peaceful and pious. In 2011, the Ahle Sunnat Barelvi movement had most of the British mosques. The majority of people in the United Kingdom of Pakistani and
Kashmir origin are descended from immigrants from Sunni Barelvi-majority areas. The majority of Birmingham Muslims are adherent to the Ahle Sunnat barelvi movement. The movement in Pakistan has received funding from their counterparts in the UK, in part as a reaction to rival movements in Pakistan also receiving funding from abroad. According to an editorial in the English-language Pakistani newspaper
The Daily Times, many of these mosques have been however usurped by Saudi-funded radical organizations. The Ahle Sunnat Barelvi movement formed
British Muslim Forum (BMF) and the
Sufi Muslim Council (SMC) in 2005 and 2006, respectively to represent themselves at the national level. In 2017, the movement had around 538 mosques in the United Kingdom along with their fellow Sufi organisations which are second largest in terms of number. Pir Maroof Shah Qadri has built a number of mosques in Bradford.
Allama Arshadul Qaudri along with Peer Maroof Qadri established
World Islamic Mission (WIM) in 1973 at Makkah and became the leader of WIM in England. He worked in the United Kingdom to strengthen the movement of Ahle Sunna wal Jam'aat. Qadri through this movement shaped spirituality based Islam in Europe. Sufi Abdullah a Sunni Sufi scholar, also established a strong Ahle Sunnat foundation in the Bradford. In Bradford, Azmi help established Islamic Missionary College (IMC) Bradford. In Manchester he established,
North Manchester Jamia Mosque and in Birmingham,
Ghamkol Shariff Masjid. His continuous Dawah work helped Southerland Mosque become of Sunni Barelvi. International Sunni organization
Dawat-e-Islami has at least 38 Centers in the United Kingdom. Muhammad Imdad Hussain Pirzada, a leading scholar of Islam and commentator of Quran, has established Darul Uloom
Jamia Al-Karam in 1985, an Islamic institute which has produced over 400 British Islamic scholars. He is also president of
Muslim Charity and
British Muslim Forum.
South Africa The Ahle Sunnat movement has presence in various cities and town of South Africa where they have build network of Madarsas and Mosques. In South Africa debate with Tablighi Jama'at was called as Sunni-Tablighi controversy. The movement is represented by Sunni Jamiatul Ulema (SJU) which was founded in 1979. It was established to address the various social, welfare, educational and spiritual needs of the community and to preserve and to promote the teachings of the Ahle Sunnah wal Jamaah. The
Imam Ahmed Raza Academy is a seminary and non-governmental organisation and a publishing house based in Durban, South Africa. It was established on 5 July 1986 by Sheikh Abdul Hadi Al-Qaadiri Barakaati, a graduate of Darul Uloom
Manzar-e-Islam, Bareilly Shareef, India. The objective is to propagate Islam in South Africa. Darul Uloom Aleemiyah Razvia was established in 1983 and on 12 January '1990, Mufti Muhammad Akbar Hazarvi established
Darul Uloom Pretoria. Darul Uloom Qadaria Ghareeb Nawaz (New Castle) is one of the leading Madarsa of the mission which was founded in 1997 at uMnambithi (formerly Ladysmith) by Maulana Syed Muhammad Aleemuddin. Jamia Imam Ahmed Raza Ahsanul Barkaat was established in 2007. All these institutions have focused more on defending Sufi beliefs from Deobandis. Debates and Munazaras are common features of these institutions The Sunni community celebrates Mawlid un Nabi and observes anniversaries of Sufis in association with various Sufi orders. In Mauritius, the movement forms majority population.
Muhammad Abdul Aleem Siddiqi established the movement in Mauritius.
World Islamic Mission (WIM), Halqa-e-Qadria Ishaat-e-Islam and Sunni Razvi Society founded by
Muhammad Ibrahim Siddiqui in 1967 and
Jummah Mosque (Mauritius) (1852) at Port Louis are some of the notable centers of the movement.
Europe, United States and Canada , Netherlands established by
World Islamic Mission In United States and Canada, the movement has found a strong following among Muslims of South Asian and in some cities it has significant presence. Two notable madrasas are Al-Noor Masjid in Houston, Texas and Dar al-Ulum Azizia, in Dallas. Allama
Shah Ahmad Noorani Siddiqi,
Arshadul Qaudri, Maulana Shahid Raza OBE and Allama
Qamaruzzaman Azmi did the missionary work under the banner of
World Islamic Mission (WIM) in various parts of Europe including Netherland and in Norway. In Netherland, the Surinamese community has 25 mosques which are affiliated to the World Islamic Mission and have a Hanafi Barelvi orientation. Prominent centers of the mission in Netherland are
Jamia Taibah Mosque Amsterdam, Netherlands, Jamia Anwaar-e-Qoeba Masjid, Utrecht, Madinatul Islam College, The Haugue, Masjid Anwar-e-Madina, Eindhoven, Masjid Gulzar-e-Madina, Zwolle, Masjid Al firdaus, Lelystad, Al Madina Masjid, Den Haag, Netherlands.
World Islamic Mission (WIM) established Central Jamaat-e Ahl-e Sunnat mosque, a congregation and mosque of the
Pakistani community in
Oslo,
Norway with 6,000 members, making it the largest mosque in the Norway. Within
Sunni Islam, the mosque is affiliated with
Sufism In Norway, the WIM established another large mosque named, Jam-e-Mosque in Oslo, Norway in 1980. The mosque in Åkebergveien is the headquarters of World Islamic Mission, one of the biggest Muslim congregations in Norway. It is second largest mosque in Norway. Central Jam-e-Mosque was the first purpose-built mosque in Norway. The Sunni missionary organization
Dawat-e-Islami (D.I) established twelve centers in
Greece and seven in Spain which are being used as mosque and madrasas. In
Athens, D.I has established four centers.
Sri Lanka Muslims generally follow Sufi traditions in Sri Lanka. The
Shadhili tariqa, locally referred to as the Shazuliya, has its headquarters in Ummu Zavaya in M.J.M. Laffir Mawatha, Colombo. It was supported by the Al-Fassi family in the 1870s, and is the most prevalent Sufi order among the Sri Lankan Muslims followed by the
Qadiriyya order. In the pre-independence period, the two largest Sri Lankan Sufi orders were associated with rival Muslim gem-trading families and ethnic associations in the Western coastal region, with the
Qadiriyya order being allied with N.D.H. Abdul Gaffoor and the All Ceylon Muslim League, and the Shazuliya (Shadhili) order supporting M. Macan Markar and the All Ceylon Moors Association. Sri Lankan Moors also share with their co-religionists across South Asia a devotion to Sufi saints (
awliya) and an engagement with local chapters of Sufi orders (
tariqa). The two most popular Sufi saints are
Abdul Qadir Gilani and
Shahul Hamid. Sunni scholar
Muhammad Abdul Aleem Siddiqi built the Hanafi Masjid in Colombo for Sri Lankan Muslims. Sri Lankan Sufi Sunnis identify with organisations such as Hubbul Awliya (Love of the Saint) and Muslims across the island loosely identify themselves as
Ahlus Sunnah wal-Jama'ah (traditional Muslims) which is used synonymously in the South Asian context with the Barelvi movement. ==Relations with other Muslim movements==