The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought

Barelwis

The Barelwi movement represents the devotional tradition of Sufi-related Sunni scholars and schools from South Asia, which has expanded to many countries hosting Muslim migrants from the region. It derived from the legacy of the religious scholar Ahmad Raza Khan Barelwi (1856–1921) in the town of Bareilly in North India. He gathered guardians of Sufi shrines (pīrs) and Muslim theologians (mawlānā) of devotional Islam around the turn of the 20th century to counter the critique of their beliefs and practice by puritan reformist scholars of the Deobandi tradition, which emanated from the Islamic school of Deoband (1866), not far from Bareilly. Their doctrinal differences were small, as both followed orthodox adherence (taqlīd) to the Hanafi school of law. But the Barelwis held on to Sufi-influenced rituals, such as the expression of special praise for the Prophet, public celebrations of his birthday (mawlid), and the worship of saints and their shrines with their associated powers of intercession, based on their reading of the Qur’an and the hadith (i.e., the prophetic traditions). The Barelwis are also linked to some of the Sufi brotherhoods (tarīqa), mostly branches of the Qadiri and the Naqshbandi orders. Their cultural style has been exuberant, and their politics were often marked by loyalty to the ruling powers during the colonial period and afterward to the independent states of South Asia. Unlike the Deobandis, they fully supported the Pakistan movement for the partition of British India.

The Barelwi network significantly expanded and emulated the Deobandi institutions with which they saw themselves in strong competition. In 1900, they created an umbrella group of theologians, the Jama‘at-e Ahl-e Sunnat—that is, the party of the people following the traditions of the Prophet and his Companions (sunna), showing that they regard themselves as the only true Sunnis. From there they appropriated the label “Sunni” as their trademark designation in South Asian Islam. In 1920, they created the All-India Sunni Conference (AISC) to champion their religious and political interests during the late colonial era. The Barelwis formalized their system of religious education by establishing a large number of new madrasas and dār-ul-‘ulūms. In Pakistan, they formed their own Board of Religious Education (Tanzim-ul-Madaris), working on parallel lines with the Deobandis. Across South Asia their relative influence among the Muslim population was estimated as being roughly on par with the Deobandis.

The Barelwis developed close links with the ruling families and political culture of Pakistan. They established their own political party, the Jam‘iat-e ‘Ulama’-e Pakistan (JUP, Party of Religious Scholars of Pakistan), which emerged in 1948 out of the AISC. Since the 1990s, Barelwi leaders in Pakistan increasingly cooperated with the Deobandis in public life. To push back sectarianism, they joined forces in 1995 in the National Reconciliation Council (Milli Yakjehti Council), led by the late Barelwi leader Maulana Shah Ahmad Noorani (1926–2003). He initiated a formal alliance of religious parties in Pakistan in 2001, the Muttahida Majlis-e-‘Amal (MMA). During the Afghan war in the 1990s, the Barelwis also became part of the emerging mujahidin culture in Pakistan. Their own religious militias participated in the conflicts of Kashmir and Afghanistan. Barelwi representatives also sat on the coordinating body of the Afghan Jihad Council. Since the 1980s, militant sectarian groups confronted Deobandi radicals in deadly strife over the control of mosques and “un-Islamic” rituals and behavior. Sectarian beliefs were as influential among the Barelwis as among Deobandis. They denounced all dissenting sects as un-Islamic and joined forces against groups such as the Ahmadis, whom they saw as heretical. Arshad-ul-Qadri (1925–2002) was one of the most prominent Barelwi polemicists.

To compete with the rising influence of the Deobandi-dominated missionary movement of the Tablighi Jama‘at (Preaching Movement), the Barelwis created the Da‘wat-e Islami (Islamic Mission) in 1981, with affiliated groups in India under the name of the Sunni Da‘wat-i Islami (Sunni Islamic Mission). The Barelwi doctrine also influenced followers of modern groups such as the political-educational movement of the Minhaj-ul-Qur’an (Quranic Path) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM, United National Movement). The World Islamic Mission, based in Britain, is the oldest international Barelwi platform. The global Barelwi and related Sufi network serves the wider Pakistani diaspora and other South Asian migrant communities around the globe, although the Barelwi groups do not commonly attract followers beyond the limitations of their ethnic South Asian descent.

See also Deobandis; India; Pakistan