| Indian Muslims in the nineteenth century lived in an era of great political, social, and economic change brought about by the onset of colonial rule. The north Indian $sp c$ulama (scholars of the Islamic sciences), interpreting the loss of political power by the Mughals to new, non-Muslim rulers from the perspective of their own tradition, ascribed the loss of power to moral weaknesses within their own community. Although their interpretations of the problems and the solutions these called for were various, they were alike in their criticism of Indian Muslim society as it obtained and the desire to reform it.;The attempt by the nineteenth-century $sp{rm c}$ulama to inculcate in individual Muslims a stricter adherence to the shari$sp{c}$a or Law--to bring about reform, or, in their terms, to engage in tajdid, renewal of the faith--was inspired in many instances by the example of the Prophet Muhammad. Seeing in him the perfect embodiment of obedience to the shari$sp{rm c}$a, they sought to follow the prophetic sunna or "way" in their own lives, and taught other Muslims to do likewise. Their efforts at reform resulted in the late nineteenth century in the opening by them of schools, the publication of tracts and journals, and the writing of fatawa or non-binding rulings on concrete problems raised by members of the community. Providing moral leadership in the absence of Muslim state power, the $sp{rm c}$ulama thus emerged as an important source of authority in Indian Muslim society.;The Ahl-e Sunnat wa Jama$sp{rm c}$at movement (styled "Barelwi" by opponents) arose toward the end of the century, in the wake of the Tariqa-e Muhammadiyya, the Deobandi movement, and that of the Ahl-e Hadis. Differing interpretatively from each of these, as also from the contemporaneous movements of the Nadwat al-$sp{rm c}$Ulama and the Ahmadiyya, about the significance to Muslims of the Prophet Muhammad, but also on other matters, the Ahl-e Sunnat wa Jama$sp{rm c}$at movement was nevertheless shaped by intellectual currents among the $sp{rm c}$ulama it opposed and by sufi movements of reform. This study examines the importance of the Prophet to the Ahl-e Sunnat and the ways in which its interpretation of the concept of sunna differed from that of other renewal movements of the time. Based on a close examination of the works of Maulana Ahmad Riza Khan Barelwi (1856-1921) and other relevant literature, this study should contribute to greater scholarly understanding of Islamic reform movements in South Asia and beyond. |
