Celebrating the Birth of the Prophet in British India: a Study of Aḥmad Rażā Khān Barelwī's Writings on the Mawlid

In 19th century British India, the celebration of the birth of the Prophet or mawlid became a contested ritual amongst the Muslim scholars. One such scholar Aḥmad Rażā Khān, founder of the Barelwī movement and a Sufi shaykh of the Qādiriyya fraternity, advocated strongly for its permissibility. It was his understanding of the ritual that ultimately became a core differentiating factor between more than 200 million adherents of the Barelwī movement and the rest of the Muslims in the Indian subcontinent. Accordingly, this thesis examines the manner in which the mawlid (popularly known as mīlād in the Indian subcontinent) was conducted in 19th/20th century British India, including the type of practices undertaken as part of it, and the key debates amongst the scholars (ʿulamāʾ) at that time regarding the ritual. Situating Aḥmad Rażā’s views in the context of these debates, and in the backdrop of the political and communal environment of the time, the thesis examines his thought on the legal status of the mawlid celebration and associated practices (such as the qiyām), and their significance for him. It also explores how he positioned his views within the broader Islamic tradition. Specifically, in addition to permissibility of the ritual and associated practices, the research focused on: conditions for the organizers of the ritual and for the person reciting the mawlid, involvement of Hindus, normative status of food consumption and the ontological presence of the Prophet at the ritual. Although Sajjad (2018) has reviewed certain mawlid fatwas from Aḥmad Rażā in the context of Barelwī-Deobandī polemics, this paper bases its conclusions on a detailed qualitative and to a certain extent, quantitative analysis of his complete mawlid fatwas and treatises.His fatwas, treatises and related juristic publications have recently been gathered into a 30-volume compendium published from Pakistan. This version of the Fatāwā Riḍwiyya is the main source of the study whose results have been presented here.