The Most Influential Branch of Islam You’ve Never Heard Of: Barelwism

Founded in north India in the late nineteenth century, the Barelwi (or Barelvi) movement has since gained more than 200 million followers across India, Pakistan, and the South Asian diaspora from Southeast Asia to Africa, Europe, and the United States. Yet even its name remains unfamiliar, let alone its doctrines. So, in this episode, we’ll explore the development of Barelwi teachings through the life of its founder and namesake: Ahmed Raza Khan Barelwi (1856-1921). What distinguished him from the more famous Muslim reformers of the modern era was his support for many traditional Sufi teachings, as well as for devotional practices centered around the figure of the Prophet Muhammad and the shrines of Sufi saints. But in a period of increasing inter-Muslim polemics, such positions brought criticism. And this in turn forced Ahmed Raza and his followers to defend their positions in increasingly assertive terms, paving the way for the Barelwi-Deobandi tensions that continue to shape South Asian Islam today. Nile Green talks to Usha Sanyal, author of Ahmed Riza Khan Barelwi: In the Path of the Prophet (Oneworld, 2005).