Ahl-i Hadith

This article is about the modern South Asian movement. For the early Islamic movement and theological school, see Ahl al-Hadith.

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Ahl-i-Hadith or Ahl-e-Hadith (Urdu: اہلِ حدیث, people of hadith) is a Salafi reform movement that emerged in North India in the mid-nineteenth century from the teachings of Sayyid Ahmad Shahid, Syed Nazeer Husain and Nawab Siddiq Hasan Khan.[1][2][3][4] It is an offshoot of the 19th-century Indian Tariqah-i-Muhammadiya movement tied to the 18th-century traditions of Shah Waliullah Dehlawi and the Wahhabi movement.[5] The adherents of the movement described themselves variously as "Muwahideen" and as "Ahl e-Hadith."[6]

Initially coterminous with the so-called (Indian) "Wahhabis", the movement emerged as a distinct group around 1864, having claimed the appellation of "Ahl-i Hadith" to highlight its commitment to the body of ḥadīth—statements attributed to Muhammad, validated through chains of transmission—and its political quietism.[7] The movement was noteworthy for its robust opposition to practices associated with the veneration of saints, which they regarded as a breach of the doctrine of Tawḥīd (Islamic monotheism).[8] Its adherents profess to hold the same views as those of the early Ahl al-Hadith school.[9] They reject taqlid (following legal precedent) and favour ijtihad (independent legal reasoning) based on the scriptures.[3] Today, the terms "Salafi" and "Ahl-i Hadith" are often used interchangeably, the movement shares doctrinal tendencies with the Hanbali school prevalent in the Arabian Peninsula, and many of its members have identified themselves with the Zahiri school of thought.[10] Some believe it possesses some notable distinctions from the mainly Arab Salafis.[11][12][13]

Holding considerable influence amongst the urban Islamic intellectual circles of South Asia, the Ahl-i Hadith consolidated themselves into the All India Ahl-i-Hadith Conference in 1906[14][15] and, in Pakistan, formed a political wing in the Jamiat Ahle Hadith in 1986.[16] The movement has drawn support and funding from Saudi Arabia.[17]

  1. ^ Daniel W. Brown, Rethinking Tradition in Modern Islamic Thought: Vol. 5 of Cambridge Middle East Studies, p. 27. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. ISBN 9780521653947 "In India rejection of taqlīd and preoccupation with hadīth became focused in a single reformist sect, the Ahl-i-Hadīth, which drew directly on the tradition of Shâh Wali Allāh and al-Shawkänī. Almost all of the group's early and influential representatives had direct connections with the line of Shāh Walī Allāh and especially with the Indian mujāhidin movement, led by Sayyid Ahmad Barēlvī, which carried to an extreme the purificationist tendencies within Shāh Waī Allāh's school."
  2. ^ M. Naeem Qureshi, Pan-Islam in British Indian Politics, p. 458. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 1999. ISBN 9004113711
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference ODI2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Meijer, Roel (2014). "Salafism In Pakistan: The Ahl-e Hadith Movement". Global Salafism: Islam's New Religious Movement. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-19-933343-1. The Jama'at Ahl-e Hadith, an elitist politico religious movement aimed at islah (reform), has its origins in the early 1870s. Like other Sunni reform movements, it claims to continue the tradition of Shah Waliullah Dehlavi (1703–1762) whom it regards as the first modern Ahl-e Hadith member and draws on ideas of Syed Ahmed Barelvi (Ahmed Shaheed) (1786–1831), follower of Shah Abdul Aziz (1746–1824), the son of Shah Waliullah, and the Yemenite qadi Mohammad ibn Ali al Shawkani (1775–1839).
  5. ^ L. Esposito, John (2003). The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. New York, New York: Oxford University Press. p. 10. ISBN 0-19-512558-4.
  6. ^ Muhammad Afzal Upal; Carole M. Cusack (2021). Handbook of Islamic Sects and Movements. Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. p. 639. ISBN 978-90-04-42525-5. "They called themselves variously as Muwahideen (that is, unitarians, the term preferred by Nawab Siddiq Hasan Khan), and Ahl e-Ḥadīth (that is, the Followers of the Prophet's Words, the term preferred by.. Syed Nazir Hussain).
  7. ^ Dietrich Reetz (2006). Islam in the Public Sphere: Religious Groups in India, 1900–1947. Oxford University Press. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-19-566810-0.
  8. ^ Muhammad Afzal Upal; Carole M. Cusack (2021). Handbook of Islamic Sects and Movements. Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. p. 521. ISBN 978-90-04-42525-5.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference referenceworks.brillonline.com was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Brown, Daniel W. (1999). Rethinking Tradition in Modern Islamic Thought. Cambridge University Press. pp. 29–32. ISBN 978-0-521-65394-7. Ahl-i-Hadith [...] consciously identified themselves with Zahiri doctrine.
  11. ^ Dilip Hiro, Apocalyptic Realm: Jihadists in South Asia, p. 15. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012. ISBN 9780300173789
  12. ^ Muneer Goolam Fareed, Legal reform in the Muslim world, p. 172. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1994.
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference dan32 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference auto1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Mohsin, K. M. (2001). "The Ahl-i-Hadis Movement in Bangladesh". In Ahmed, Rafiuddin (ed.). Religion, Identity & Politics: Essays on Bangladesh. Colorado Springs, CO: International Academic Publishers. p. 180. ISBN 978-1-58868-080-8.
  16. ^ Ali, Bizaa Zeynab (2010). "The Religious and Political Dynamics of Jamiat Ahle-Hadith in Pakistan". Columbia Academic Commons. doi:10.7916/D8VH5X2X. S2CID 154070897. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  17. ^ Cite error: The named reference auto was invoked but never defined (see the help page).