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Ahmad Riza Khan Barelwi (1856-1921) was a reformist Indian Muslim scholar, prominent among the leaders of Islamic renewal in British India. He played a key role in debates about the spiritual life of the Muslim community and the true path for the Muslims to follow to preserve their faith and moral integrity under British rule in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is remembered with great reverence by members of the movement of Ahl-i Sunna wa Jama[ayin ]a, which he founded to support the close adherence of Indian Muslims to the Prophet's practice. The movement is better known in popular terminology among outsiders as Barelwi after the founder and his hometown of Bareilly.
In this short biography Usha Sanyal offers an engaging portrait of one of the most influential South Asian Muslims of modern times. In so doing, she makes accessible to a wider readership, and in an updated form, the benefits of her previous valuable research presented in Devotional...