Ahl-i Hadith

In the mid-nineteenth century an Islamic religious reform movement was started in Northern India that rejected everything introduced into Islam after the Quran, Sunnah and Hadith.[5] Syed Nazeer Husain from Delhi and Siddiq Hasan Khan of Bhopal drew primarily on the work of hadith scholars from Yemen in the early years of the movement, reintroducing the field into the Indian subcontinent. Their strong emphasis on education and book publishing has often attracted members of the social elite both in South Asia and overseas;[14] University of Paris political scientist Antoine Sfeir has referred to the movement as having an elitist character which perhaps contributes to their status as a minority in South Asia.[15] Folk Islam and Sufism, commonly popular with the poor and working class in the region, are anathema to Ahl-i Hadith beliefs and practices. This attitude toward Sufism has brought the movement into conflict with the rival Barelvi movement even more so than the Barelvis perennial rivals, the Deobandis.[16]

In the 1920s, the Ahl-i Hadith opened a center for their movement in Srinagar. Followers of the Hanafi school of law, forming the majority of Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir, socially boycotted and physically attacked Ahl-i Hadith followers, eventually declaring such followers to be apostates and banning them from praying in mainstream mosques.[17] From the 1930s the group also began dabbling in the political realm of Pakistan, with Ehsan Elahi Zaheer leading the movement into a full foray in the 1970s, eventually gaining the movement a network of mosques and Islamic schools.[15] Following other South Asian Islamic movements, the Ahl-i Hadith now also administer schools and mosques in the English-speaking world. In the modern era, the movement draws both inspiration and financial support from Saudi Arabia,[18] now being favoured over the rival Deobandi movement as a counterbalance to Iranian influence.[19]

Part of a series on: Salafi movement
Sab'u Masajid, Saudi Arabia
Ideology and influences Ahl al-Hadith Ibn Taymiyyah Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya Al-Sindhi Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab
Founders and key figures Muhammad Abduh Rashid Rida Syed Nazeer Husain Siddiq Hasan Khan Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz Ibn al Uthaymeen Nasiruddin Albani Muqbil bin Hadi al-Wadi'i List of Salafi scholars
Notable universities Umm al-Qura University Islamic University of Madinah
Related ideologies Islamism Islamic fundamentalism Madkhalism Qutbism Sahwa movement Salafi jihadism Wahhabism (Hazimism) Ahl-i Hadith movement
Associated organizations Al-Nour Party Authenticity Party People Party Takfir wal-Higra al-Qaida
Politics portal  Islam portal

Its adherents oppose taqlid. They believe that they are not bound by taqlid, but consider themselves free to seek guidance in matters of religious faith and practices from the authentic hadith which, together with the Qur'an, are in their view the principal worthy guide for Muslim. They reject the use of kalam in theology.

Due to their reliance on the Qur'an and Hadith only and their rejection of analogical reason in Islamic law, the modern-day Ahl-i Hadith are often compared to the older Zahirite school of Islamic law,[20][21] with which the Ahl-i Hadith consciously identify themselves.[13]

While their educational programs tend to include a diverse array of Muslim academic texts, few adherents of the movement ascribe themselves to one school of Muslim jurisprudence, placing a greater emphasis on personal responsibility to derive judgments and ritual practice.[14] While the movement's figureheads have ascribed to the Zahirite legal school, with a great number of them preferring the works of Yemeni scholar Shawkani, the generality of the movement is described as respecting all Sunni schools of Islamic law while preferring to take directly from the Qur'an, prophetic tradition and consensus of the early generations of Muslims.[14] While the movement has been compared to Salafist movement in Arab nations and been branded as Wahhabist by the opposing Barelwi movement,[15] the Ahl-i Hadith remain similar to yet distinct from Salafists.[22]

Part of a series on: Islamism
Fundamentals Islam History Culture Economics Politics Secularism
Ideologies Islamism Qutbism Salafi movement International propagation Shia Islamism Islamic fundamentalism
Concepts Apostasy in Islam Takfir Caliphate Islamic democracy Islamic socialism Islamic state Islamic monarchy Islamic republic Islamization (of knowledge) Jihad Islamic terrorism Jihadism Pan-Islamism Political Islam aspects Post-Islamism Sharia Shura Two-nation theory Ummah
Influences Anti-communism Anti-imperialism Anti-Zionism Islamic Golden Age Islamic revival
Movements Scholastic Barelvi Dawat-e-Islami Ahl-i Hadith Deobandi Madkhalism Nurcu Sahwa movement Wahhabism International propagation Political Hizb ut-Tahrir Iranian Revolution Jamaat-e-Islami Millî Görüş Muslim Brotherhood Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan List of Islamic political parties Militant Militant Islamism based in MENA region South Asia Southeast Asia Sub-Saharan Africa
Key texts Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam (Iqbal 1930s) Principles of State and Government (Asad 1961) Ma'alim fi al-Tariq ("Milestones") (Qutb 1965) Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist ("Velayat-e faqih") (Khomeini 1970)
Heads of state Ali Khamenei Omar al-Bashir Muammar Gaddafi Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Ruhollah Khomeini Mohamed Morsi Mohammed Omar House of Saud House of Thani Zia-ul-Haq
Key ideologues Muhammad Abduh Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī Qazi Hussain Ahmad Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani Muhammad Asad Hassan al-Banna Rached Ghannouchi Safwat Hegazi Muhammad Iqbal Ali Khamenei Ruhollah Khomeini Necip Fazıl Kısakürek Abul A'la Maududi Taqi al-Din al-Nabhani Yusuf al-Qaradawi Sayyid Qutb Tariq Ramadan Ata Abu Rashta Rashid Rida Navvab Safavi Ali Shariati Haji Shariatullah Hassan Al-Turabi Ahmed Yassin Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab
Criticism of Islamism Criticism of Islamism Criticism of Islam Liberal and reform movements within Islam in Europe in North America Khaled Abu al-Fadl Farag Foda Abdelwahab Meddeb Maryam Namazie Maajid Nawaaz Olivier Roy Bassam Tibi
Related topics Islam and modernity Modernism Islam and other religions Islamophobia
Islam portal  Politics portal

Like other Islamic movements, the Ahl-i Hadith are distinguished by certain common features and beliefs. The men tend to have a particular style of untrimmed beard often considered a visual indicator. In regard to ritual acts of Muslim worship, the movement's practices are noticeably different from the Hanafi legal school which predominates in South Asia; the men hold their hands above the navel when lined up for congregational prayer, raise them to the level of their heads before bowing, and say "amen" out loud after the prayer leader.[14]

While the organization Lashkar-e-Taiba has recruited followers of the Ahl-i Hadith movement in the past, the organization's views on jihad are thought to alienate the mainstream of the movement.[23]

According to one source (Yoginder Sikand), "from the 1970s onwards", as Ahl-i Hadith began to access to funds from Saudi Arabia, it began to be "transformed" and doctrinal differences with ‘Wahhabis’ began to disappear "so much so that the Ahl-i Hadith came to present itself as a carbon copy of Saudi-style ‘Wahhabism’, with nothing to distinguish itself from it and upholding this form of Islam as normative."[24]

Leading proponents of the movement joined forces against the opposition they faced from established ulama (religious scholars) and in 1906 formed the All India Ahl-i-Hadis Conference.[25] The Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadees was respresented in the All India Azad Muslim Conference, which opposed the partition of India.[26] One member organization of the All India Ahl-i-Hadis Conference is the Anjuman-i-Hadith, formed by students of Sayyid Miyan Nadhir Husain and divided into Bengal and Assam wings. After the 1947 separation of India and Pakistan, the Pakistani Ahle-Hadith center was based in and around Karachi.[27]

In 1930 Ahl-i Hadith was founded as a small political party in India.[15] In Pakistan, the movement formed a political party, Jamiat Ahle Hadith, which unlike similar Islamic groups opposed government involvement in affairs of sharia law.[28] Their leader, Ehsan Elahi Zaheer, was assassinated in 1987. The Ahl-i Hadith oppose Shi'ism.[5]

During the rule of the British Raj, no accurate census was ever taken of the movement's exact number of followers.[16] They control roughly 40 mosques in Maharashtra and 75 in Kerala. Latest data informs that about 1,000 Ahle-hadith mosques have opened up in Kashmir (The New Arthashastra, A Security Strategy For India). In the United Kingdom, the Ahl-i Hadith movement maintains 42 centers and boasts a membership which was estimated at 5,000 during the 1990s and 9,000 during the 2000s.[29] Although the movement has been present in the UK since the 1960s, it has not been the subject of extensive academic research and sources on the movement are extremely limited and rare.[29]

• Outline of Islam
• Glossary of Islam
• Index of Islam-related articles
• Salafi movement
• Jamiat Ahle Hadith: A religious-political party in Pakistan
• Shirk (Islam)
• Bid‘ah
• Wahhabism

• Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadees Hind
• Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadees Pakistan
• Al-Markazul Islami As-Salafi
• Ahlehadeeth Andolon Bangladesh