The Wahabi movement in Patna

In the nineteenth century, a quiet network based in Patna collected money, recruited volunteers and sent them — along secret routes — to a base on India's northwest frontier. From there, the movement's fighters waged a long armed struggle, first against the Sikh kingdom of Punjab and then against the British. The British called it the Wahabi movement. Its followers called it the Tariqa-i-Muhammadiya — "the path of Muhammad". For BPSC, it is one of the most important nineteenth-century movements connected with Bihar.

Origins

• The movement was founded by Syed Ahmad of Rae Bareli (often called Syed Ahmad Barelvi, 1786–1831), who was influenced by the teachings of the Delhi scholar Shah Waliullah and his family.
• It aimed at religious reform — purifying Islamic practice of what it saw as un-Islamic customs — and at restoring what it considered a just political order.
• The name "Wahabi", used by British officials, linked it to the Arabian reform movement of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, though its roots were largely Indian.

Patna as the centre

• Syed Ahmad visited Patna and won followers there. Patna became the movement's headquarters in India.
• Its leaders in Patna included the brothers Wilayat Ali and Inayat Ali, and later Ahmadullah.
• The Patna centre organised:
  • collection of funds (zakat) from supporters across north and east India;
  • recruitment of volunteers;
  • communication through a network of agents;
  • sending men and money to the frontier.

The frontier war

• Syed Ahmad led a campaign against the Sikh kingdom of Ranjit Singh in the northwest. He was killed at the Battle of Balakot in 1831.
• The movement survived, and established a base at Sittana (and later elsewhere) in the tribal areas of the northwest frontier.
• After the annexation of Punjab by the British in 1849, the movement's hostility turned towards the British.
• The British launched several military campaigns against the frontier base, including the Ambela campaign (1863).

The trials

To break the network, the British conducted a series of conspiracy trials in the 1860s and early 1870s:

Sentences included death (often commuted) and transportation to the Andaman Islands; properties were confiscated.

Violence in the 1870s

• In 1871, Justice John Paxton Norman, acting Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, who had heard an appeal in a Wahabi case, was assassinated in Calcutta.
• In 1872, the Viceroy Lord Mayo was assassinated in the Andaman Islands by a convict, Sher Ali Afridi.

Decline

By the 1870s, the movement had been largely crushed through military action, trials, confiscations and surveillance. Its organised political activity faded, though its religious influence continued in various forms.

Assessment

Most historians see it as combining religious reform with political resistance — a significant, if limited, strand of early resistance to colonial rule.

Why it matters for Bihar

• It shows Patna's role as a centre of organisation and resistance in the nineteenth century.
• It is part of the story of Bihar's contribution to anti-colonial struggles between 1857 and the rise of the Congress.

Practice

Prelims-style:

1. Who founded the Tariqa-i-Muhammadiya movement?
2. Which city was the headquarters of the movement in India?
3. Name two Patna leaders of the movement.
4. Where was the movement's frontier base?
5. In which year was the Patna trial held?

Mains-style:

• "The Wahabi movement was both a religious reform movement and an anti-colonial struggle." Discuss.
• Examine the role of Patna in the Wahabi movement.