Death Anniversary of Muslim activist and founder of a revolutionary Islamic movement Syed Ahmad Barelvi observed on Monday.Syed Ahmad was born near Lucknow (India) in the small town of Rai Bareli in 1786.
For two years he studied under the son of Shah Wali Ullah learning the Quran and the Hadith. But Syed Ahmad was more a man of action than a scholar and in 1810 joined the forces of Amir Khan a Pathan military leader. It was this time that Syed Ahmad learned to use European weaponry. He showed himself to be so able that he was given command of a group of soldiers. However because of his piety he was also made responsible for leading the troops in prayer.
In 1817 Syed Ahmad returned to Delhi where his work became important in trying to restore Islam to its original purity. As a man of action Syed Ahmad was an ideal person to act as a leader to work against British power in India and to try to ensure that Muslim were ruled by fellow Muslims.
He believed that the freedom of Muslims could only come as a result of armed struggle against the foreign and non-Muslims forces which were oppressing them.
Syed Ahmad believed that there was a need to end the evils that had corrupted Islamic society. Consequently, even when he served as an army officer he surrounded himself with men of great piety who were prepared to reject worldly wealth and work for improving the moral and intellectual lives of Muslims. He died on May 6 in Lahore.