Decoding Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi’s Political Jurisprudence

Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi was the founder of a major intellectual school within the Maturidi Hanafi denomination in the Indian Subcontinent. The school is known as the Barelvi School, having more followers than its rivals in India. It has even spread to Africa and Europe. However, apartment from Ahmed Raza Khan’s beliefs, which distinguish him from the rival school of Deobandi, his political positions are very controversial. Some people believe that he was an agent of the British colonists, and others take his positions as signs of his foresight. This article studies his most important political fatwas, which can be viewed as Ahmed Raza Khan’s political jurisprudence, trying to decode the real grounds on which such fatwas were issued. We tackle five main fatwas issued by Ahmed Raza Khan on the land of Islam and the land of disbelief, non-cooperation (tark muwalat), caliphate movement, Indian National Congress, and two-nation theory. We show that Ahmed Raza’s positions on all of these issues were contrary to those of the majority of Muslims in the Indian subcontinent. It seems that his political positions were more influenced by rivalries with Deobandis (leaders of political movements in India at the time) than being rooted in his jurisprudential thoughts.