Thread by @sheshapatangi1

According to Textbooks, He was a Freedom Fighter. Was he?
The true story of a Cannibal, Maulvi Syed Ahmed Barelvi & his death like a Rabid Dog.
Did you know, the concept of Jihad in Modern times had its roots in present day Rae Bareily and this Mauzvi believed his teachings,

in future will make modern Islamists in waging Jihad and attempting to create an Islamic state with strict enforcement of Shari'ah?
This Barelvi, was the first modern Islamic leader to lead a movement that was "religious, military and political," & to address the common people

and rulers with a call for Jihad.
Ahmad is widely regarded as the founder of the subcontinental Ahl-i Hadith (Jihad) movement and his teachings are highly influential amongst its members.
Born in Rae Bareli in 1786, Syed Ahmad received his initial education in his home town and

went to Lucknow and Delhi before joining the militia of Amir Khan.
Syed Ahmad Barelvi went on to become the most distinguished and devoted disciple of Abdul Aziz. Aziz was the son of Shah Waliullah, the hardcore Jihadist and traitor who invited Ahmad Shah Abdali to invade India.

Aziz declared that Hindustan became Dar-ul-Harb (country or zone of infidels) and “it was the duty of all mu’mins (Faithful) to either migrate to Dãr-ul-Islãm (Islamic country) or to fight the firangî (the British) for restoring the glory of Muslim rule.”
Aziz asked Barelvi to

join Amir Khan, to learn the art of warfare. This was the era of military campaigns in India during which nawabs and governors established their power by occupying territories. Syed Ahmad spent seven years in the service of Amir Khan, who only fought to loot and plunder.

In 1817, after the Third Anglo-Maratha War, Amir Khan allied with the East India Company agreeing to disband his men in return for a large stipend and recognition as a hereditary ruler. Amir Khan was recognized as a hereditary nawab, disbanded his forces and quietly settled down

to consolidating his little state. He became a faithful friend to the British, earning praise and consideration from successive pro-consuls. From Syed Ahmad's perspective, this was a financial cum spiritual disaster, because for him the British were Christian heretics.

Barelvi went to Aziz and Aziz sponsored Barelvi’s Mecca Trip,
Returning from Mecca, Barelvi decided that God had himself given him a mission: to get rid of all the non-Islamic dirt accumulated in the Muslim community in India. He was also convinced that he would establish an

Islamic State on the model prescribed by Muhammad and the first four Caliphs.
His target was the Sikh kingdom of Ranjit Singh, which was expanding further, close to Afghanistan. Barelvi intended to establish an Islamic bastion on the north-west frontier in the Peshawar valley.

When the action began, some Muslim nawabs, like his former employer Amir Khan, provided funds but did not join him for jihad. Around 8,000 holy-warriors who accompanied him were mostly clergymen or poor people who joined the militia were looking for employment.

The rulers of

The TONK, Gwalior and Rampur supported him with British consent because they were dependent on British forces and they knew well enough that the British would not stop them from aiding an enemy of a nation they would soon be at war with.
Arriving in Peshawar valley in late 1826,

Barelvi preached jihad amongst the local Pashtun tribes, demanding they renounce their tribal customs and adopt the Sharia.
The traditional khans were replaced by ulama (clerics) and a system of Islamic taxes was established to finance the jihad.
Only after this evangelist

campaign and sharia system were set up was jihad declared. He sent a message to Ranjit Singh to
"either become a Muslim, pay Jizyah or fight and remember that in case of war, Yaghistan supports the Indians".
The mujahideen received both ideological preaching & physical training

sessions. Syed organized wrestling, archery training and shooting competitions. The mujahideen also sang anthems. One such anthem have survived, known as "Risala Jihad", it goes as follows:
"War against the Infidel is incumbent on all Musalmans; make provisions for all things

He who from his heart gives one farthing to the cause,
shall hereafter receive seven hundredfold from God.
He who shall equip a warrior in this cause of God,
shall hereafter obtain a martyr's reward.
On 11 Jan 1827, allegiance was sworn on his hand and he was declared Caliph and

Imam.
Syed Ahmad’s claim of leadership (Caliphate) was viewed with suspicion in the Frontier region as well as in the clerical circles of North India. When the Friday sermon was read in his name, it became clear to the tribal chiefs that he wanted political power for himself.

According to Khadi Khan, a Pathan Sardar:
"it is the job of the Sardars to take care of the people, not a Maulvi who spends his life on donations. Maulvies are ill-equipped to run the affairs of a State”.
Syed Ahmad tried to explain that his aim was not this-worldly but to lead

a jihad against the infidels. In one of his letters, he writes:
"We thank and praise God, the real master and the true king, who bestowed upon his humble, recluse and helpless servant the title of Caliphate, first through occult gestures and revelations, in which there is no

room for doubt, and then by guiding the hearts of the believers towards me. This way God appointed me as the Imam (leader)"
Criticizing his opponents, Shah Ismail Dehlavi wrote:
"therefore, obedience to Syed Ahmad is obligatory on all Muslims. Whoever does not accept the

leadership of His Excellency or rejects it after accepting it, is an apostate & mischievous, and killing him is part of the jihad as is the killing of the disbelievers.

Therefore, the appropriate response to opponents is that of the sword & not the pen".
Regarding his Imamate

Syed Ahmad wrote to Nawab Wazir up-Dawla, the ruler of Tonk:
“believe me, the person who sincerely confesses to my position is special in the eyes of God, and the one who denies it is, of course sinful. My opponents who deny me of this position will be humiliated and disgraced”.

"After the conquest of Peshawar, Syed Ahmad launched a violent policy to enforce Sharia and announced the abolition of all tribal rituals, To enforce Sharia law, he appointed Imam Qutbuddin as an ombudsman.
Accompanied by 30 armed soldiers, Imam used to go to nearby villages

to beat up the people who had abandoned prayers. Beatings and flogging had become the norm. The punishment was carried out with extreme violence and people were even hanged on tree branches. Even among women, those who missed prayers were punished in the women’s quarters,

so people soon became fed up with these policies because these judges and ombudsmen started harassing people and imposed fines on them beyond their means"
Syed Ahmad's political and religious power created strong opposition against him in the frontier region &

CONTINUES....

and the locals started to revolt.
The decisive moments for Syed Ahmad came in 1830. The Pukhtuns rose against him and around two hundred Mujahidin were killed in Peshawar valley which compelled him to migrate and try his luck in Kashmir, his long-cherished dream.

On 6 May 1831, on the day of Jumu'ah 23 Zulqa'da 1246 AH, Syed Ahmad Barelvi's Mujahideen forces prepared for the final battle at Balakot.
Barelvi had around 800 Mujahideen’s and Sikh troops were numbered around 10000.
Barelvi looked upon Allah to his rescue and was at the

forefront of the Mujahideen forces.
Led by the indomitable general, Kunwar Sher Singh, the Sikh army stormed Syed Ahmad Barelvi’s hideout and crushed the “fierce” Mujahids like worms. It was all over in two hours. Syed Ahmad and his second in command were caught, beheaded,

and their body was burned and the ashes were scattered to the wind. There’s another story that
Barelvi’s body was never found as Sikhs threw his beheaded body in the river Kunhar which ran too fast.
Even after his death, the Jihad he wished for was continued by his missionaries

spreading across Afghanistan, Pakistan to Uttar Pradesh and Bengal.

End Of Thread

#VANDEMATARAM