Muslim Socio-Religious Reform in India!
The Muslim socio-religious reform movements wanted to motivate the Muslims towards following the Islamic ideals in the real sense.
Prominent among these movements were the Ahmaddiya movement, the Faraizi movement, the Tariqah- i-Muhammadiyah movement and the Aligarh movement.
The Ahmadiyya movement, started by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in Punjab, wanted to create a community that would be the upholder of true Islam. The Mirza proclaimed a mission as the restorer and Mahdi (guide). He spoke against the influence of Christian missionaries in the region.
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The Faraizi movement founded by Haji Shariatuallah in the nineteenth century implemented and imposed the mandatory religious duties in Islam. It called for a return to faraiz or the obligatory duties of Islam. It emphasised that Muslims should attend daily prayers, fast during Ramadan, pay zakat and perform the Haji pilgrimage.
It was against worship at shrines of Islamic saints and rituals such as some of those performed at the birth of a child and the wailing by Shias on occasions like the Muharram. The prominent leaders of the movement included Dudu Miyan and Naya Miyan.
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Founded by Sayyid Ahmad Barelwi, the Tariqah-i- Muhammadiyah movement was an armed movement to create a proper Islamic state. The movement called for the removal of some customs and rituals of Roman, Persian and Hindu origin.
Sayyid Ahmad Khan’s Aligarh movement believed that the Muslims should be educated in such a way that they should serve the community and work as honest-and public-spirited leaders with the English government of the day and protect the interests of Muslims. The educational movement wanted to create an administrative elite class that would govern in cooperation with the British rather than focus on the Ulama.