ABSTRACT
The Ahl-i Sunnat or Barelwi movement began in the 1880s under the leadership of Maulana Ahmad Raza Khan Barelwi (1856-1921), who spent his lifetime writing fatwas from his hometown of Bareilly, in west Uttar Pradesh (U.P.). Ahmad Raza’s family was of Pathan ancestry and belonged to the class of the ashraf or elite. They made their livelihood through the ownership of land and assets in Bareilly and neighbouring villages, as well as land holdings in east U.P. Like most other North Indian ulama, Ahmad Raza was a Sunni Hanafi scholar. He was educated entirely at home. Since the years of his youth coincided with the turbulence of the post-1857 period, including the British occupation of Muslim mosques, his family may have decided to keep him at home rather than sending him to a madrasa. The sources are silent on the issue, even though there were well-known madrasas in towns such as Rampur, close to Bareilly.
