Syncretic Islam

Traces the history of the most popular sect among Sunni Muslims in South AsiaDetails the impact of the Barelvi school of thought on the lives of Sunni MuslimsCharts out the relevance of the Barelvi movement in modern timeAnil Maheshwari served for about five decades in journalism and retired from the Hindustan Times as Special Correspondent. He was posted at Bareilly during 2000-2006, which gave him a better understanding of the Barelvi movement. Richa Singh is a research scholar at the University of Delhi.Syncretic Islam is a fascinating and brilliant study of the religious thought and career of one of the doyens of Muslim traditionalism in South Asia, Imam Ahmad Raza Khan Barelvi. An Islamic scholar, jurist and an Urdu poet, Ahmad Raza Khan was the founder of the Barelvi movement whose defining feature of thought is the active veneration of the Prophet as the most exalted of all beings. This work overviews and analyses the multiple facets constituting Ahmad Raza Khan's intellectual life and, in extension, the Barelvi school of thought in an eminently accessible manner. It is the story of a remarkable revivalist, born in the North Indian town of Bareilly during British India, who grew up to be hailed by his followers as the mujaddid, or reviver, of Islam in nineteenth-century India. A Pathan by descent, Hanafi by religious mores, Qadiri by disposition and Barelvi by nativity, Syncretic Islam captures the astounding contribution of Ahmad Raza Khan and attempts to explain his spiritual influence that still binds millions of people in the Indian subcontinent.Syncretic Islam is a befitting tribute to the most influential alim of his time, Al'a Hazrat Imam Ahmad Raza Khan, on the year of his death centenary in 2021.