The Wahhabi movement (Tariqah-i-Muhammadiyah) in India, which aimed to purify Islam and later fought against the Sikhs and the British, was started by:

The Wahhabi movement in India, also known as the "Tariqah-i-Muhammadiyah" ("Path of Muhammad"), was started by Sayyid Ahmad of Rae Bareli (Sayyid Ahmad Barelvi, 1786-1831).

About the movement:

• It was inspired by the teachings of Shah Waliullah, an 18th-century Islamic scholar of Delhi, and his son Shah Abdul Aziz.
• It aimed to purify Islam by removing practices and customs that had been borrowed from other religions or that were not found in the Quran and the traditions of the Prophet.
• It called for a return to the pure Islam of the Prophet's time.
• It was called "Wahhabi" by its opponents, because its ideas were similar to those of the Arabian reformer Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, though the Indian movement developed independently.

Sayyid Ahmad's activities:

• He travelled widely in India, preaching his ideas, and gathered many followers.
• He declared jihad against the Sikh kingdom of Punjab, which ruled over many Muslims in the north-west.
• He set up a base in the North-West Frontier region.
• He was killed in the Battle of Balakot (1831), fighting against the Sikh army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

After his death:

• His followers continued the movement, with its centre at Patna.
• After the British annexed Punjab (1849), the movement turned against British rule.
• The Wahhabis set up a network across India to collect money and recruits, and had a base at Sittana on the North-West Frontier.
• The British carried out military campaigns against them, and conducted a series of trials (the Wahhabi trials, 1860s-1870s) against their leaders.
• The movement was suppressed by the 1870s.

Significance:

It was one of the important anti-British movements of the 19th century.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Sayyid Ahmad Khan led the Aligarh movement; Mirza Ghulam Ahmad founded the Ahmadiyya movement; Haji Shariatullah founded the Faraizi movement.