Ahmad Riza Khan Barelwi

This book examines the life and thought of Ahmad Riza Khan (1856 - 1921), the legendary leader of the 20th-century Ahl-e Sunnat movement, who represented a strong tendency in South Asian Islam which is sufi, ritualistic, intercessionary, and hierarchical in its social construction. Khan's vision of what it meant to be a good Muslim in his time and day was centered around devotion to the Prophet Muhammad and to following the prophetic sunna as he interpreted it. His movement continues to attract a large following in South Asia and wherever South Asian Muslims have migrated.

Usha Sanyal is Adjunct Lecturer at Queens University of Charlotte, North Carolina. Works include: Devotional Islam and Politics in British India: Ahmad Riza Khan and his Movement, 1870 - 1920 (OUP, 1999).