![]() The Ahmadiyya movement is considered one of the most influential and important Muslim socio-religious movements in India. The movement was started by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in Punjab. He was a well educated and literate person and he started to proclaim a mission as Masih Maw'ud (promised Messiah), restorer and Mahdi (guide). He also claimed that he was endowed with the powers of prophethood. The main targets of the Ahmadiyya movement were a few well-known Sunni Ulama of the Deoband and the Ahl-i Hadith movements that were increasingly influential among Sunnis in the region. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad also strongly spoke against the increasing influence of the Christian missionaries in Punjab and its surrounding areas. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and his followers described them as a distinct religious community. They also claimed themselves to be the only upholders of 'true Islam'. ![]() Tariqah-i-Muhammadiyah movement was one of the major Muslim socio-religious movements in India. This movement was founded by Sayyid Ahmad Barelwi, who was born in Rai Bareilly on 29th November 1786. He took bai at (the initiation by a religious preceptor) from Shah Abdul Aziz at Delhi in 1806 and became one of his religious disciples. He was also initiated to three Sufi orders at the same time. Ahmad Barelwi always had the dream of creating an Islamic state that would follow a purified form of Islam and also reestablish the religion to its proper position of political and cultural supremacy. He preached his own vision of a purified and restored Islam. He also called for the removal of erroneous innovations, all elements of polytheism and idolatry and rejected all the customs and rituals from the Indian, Roman and Persian civilisations. The Tariqah-i-Muhammadiyah movement was an armed movement that was started with the dream of creating a proper Islamic state. Sayyid Ahmad Barelwi and his companions started their struggle from April, 1824 and they collected funds and recruits for the campaign. They reached Peshwar in November, 1826 and began fighting with the Sikhs from the tribal lands of the Yusufzai. However, they could not continue the war for long and though they seized the city of Peshwar in 1830, they were forced to abandon it very soon. The movement faltered when Sayyid Ahmad Barelwi and many of his followers were killed at the battle of Balakot in 1831. Though, there were a few attempts to fulfill the dream of Sayyid Ahmad Barelwi after his death, the attempts could never be succeeded. ![]() Sayyid Ahmad Khan believed that the dilemma of the Muslims in India laid in an education that disseminated elements of English knowledge within the Islamic context. Aiming at solving this dilemma, he planned to open an educational institution that would educate the Muslims properly. He established the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College of Aligarh in June, 1875 and soon, the contribution of Aligarh to the educated Muslim elite took on an increased significance. The main objective of Sayyid Ahmad Khan behind founding the institution was to prepare the Muslims to serve the Quam and also to supply educated, honest, public-spirited leaders able to work with the English government and to protect the Muslim community. The Aligarh movement was actually an educational movement with a view to purify Islam and it marked a sharp break with previous attempts to purify Islam and return it to its past glory. The vision of the movement was to create an administrative elite class that would govern in cooperation with the British rather than focus its attention on the Ulama. The aims and objectives of the Muslim socio-religious movements were different from each other. While, some of the movements were aimed at purifying the religion, there were a few that tried to establish an Islamic state that would follow a sanctified form of Islam and also reestablish the religion to its proper position. |
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