Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi, (14 June 1856 CE or 10 Shawwal 1272 AH – 28 October 1921 CE or 25 Safar 1340 AH), popularly known as Aala Hazrat.
His father was Naqi Ali Khan, and his great-grandfather Shah Kazim Ali Khan was a noted Sunni scholar.
Ahmed’s mother named him Amman Miyān. Raza Khan used the appellation “Abdul Mustafa” (slave [or servant] of Mustafa) prior to signing his name in correspondence. He studied Islamic sciences and completed a traditional Dars-i-Nizami course under the supervision of his father Naqī Áli Khān, who was a legal scholar. He went on the Hajj with his father in 1878.
Beliefs
Ahmed Raza Khan’s beliefs regarding Muhammad include:
Muhammad, although human, possessed a Noor (Light) that predates creation. This contrasts with the Deobandi view that Muhammad was insan-e-kamil (“the complete man”), a respected but physically typical human.
He is haazir naazir (can be present in many places at the same time, as opposed to God, who is everywhere by definition).
God has granted him ilm-e-ghaib (the knowledge of the unseen). This belief and theory directly negates the Islaamic concept of “shirk” which attributes some qualities only to Almighty Allah, including the ‘i’lm-e-ghaib’ or knowledge of the unknown and unseen. Raza Khan writes:
We do not hold that anyone can equal the knowledge of Allah Most High, or possess it independently, nor do we assert that Allah’s giving of knowledge to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) is anything but a part. But what a patent and tremendous difference between one part [the Prophet’s] and another [anyone else’s]: like the difference between the sky and the earth, or rather even greater and more immense.
—Ahmed Raza Khan, al-Dawla al-Makkiyya (c00), 291.
God has made him mukhtaar kul (having the authority to do whatever he desires).
Quran and hadith studies
Ahmed Raza Khan translated the Quran into Urdu, which was first published in 1912 under the title of Kanz ul-Iman fi Tarjuma al-Qur’an. The original manuscript is preserved in the library of Idara Tahqiqat-i-Imam Ahmed Raza, Karachi, and an English translation of Kanzul Iman has also been published. Ahmed Raza Khan also wrote several books on the collection and compilation of hadiths.
Fatwas
Raza Khan’s main work was Fatawa Ridawiyya which runs in 30 volumes of over 1000 pages each. The Raza Foundation under the leadership of Abdul Qayyum Hazarwi revised the work, translating all the Persian and Arabic sentences in Urdu, and published it in 30 volumes, running across 90,000 pages.
Religious research
Raza Khan investigated numerous religious questions:
In 1915 he wrote a treatise describing 160 types of water which are acceptable for wudu (ablution), and 146 types of proscribed water.
He identified 181 acceptable and 130 unacceptable materials for tayammum (alternatives to water for ablution).
He was able to fill up the Naqsh-i-Murabba (a sixteen column quadrilateral) by 1152 methods.
He knew 800 names of Prophet Muhammad from books, and was able to gather 1400 more.
He analysed whether it was credible that Hussain ibn ‘Alī was able to travel from Mecca to Kerbala on 3rd Dhū al-Ḥijja and reach there on 2nd of Moharram. He investigated the types of horse, the loads they carried, the route of the caravan, the types of terrain, and other factors, and finally concluded that the caravan could feasibly have reached Kerbala by the 2nd.
Works in physics
Raza Khan opposed the belief in a heliocentric universe, instead stating that the sun and moon circulate around the Earth.
Works in economics
Raza through his book [which?] published in 1912, presented the following points for the economic development of Muslims:
Barring the affairs wherein government is involved, Muslims should decide all their disputes mutually so that millions of rupees, which are being spent over litigations, may be saved.
The affluent Muslims of Bombay (Mumbai), Calcutta, Rangoon, Madras and Hyderabad should open banks for other poor Muslims.