Brief Biography of Imam Ahmad Rida Rehmatullah Alaih

Imam Ahmad Rida Rehmatullah Alaih was born in 1272 AH / 1856 AD in Bareilly, a flourishing city in northern India and in a family of scholars; his father Mawlānā Naqī Áli Khān Rehmatullah Alaih was a prominent Ahl as-Sunnah scholar of his time. He studied Islamic sciences mainly in the tutelage of his father, though a few other scholars have also been mentioned.

He Rehmatullah Alaih was a master of many sciences and particularly in Hanafī fiqh, he Rehmatullah Alaih was head and shoulders above all his contemporaries. Even his adversaries have acknowledged that he was peerless in this discipline. He has many ijāzahs or degrees of authorization in Hanafī fiqh, and by his own affirmation, the most important one is from the Muftī of Makkah, Shaykh Ábd ar-Raĥmān as-Sirāj ibn Ábdullāh as-Sirāj Rehmatullah Alaih. This chain of transmission reaches Imām Abū Hanifah Rehmatullah Alaih in twenty seven links and in further four to the Master of all creation, Muĥammad Rasoolullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.

He Rehmatullah Alaih has an authorization of ĥadīth transmission from the great Meccan scholar, Malik al-Úlamā, Sayyid Aĥmed Zaynī Daĥlān ash-Shāfiýī Rehmatullah Alaih. He Rehmatullah Alaih is widely known for his refutation of Wahābīs, other innovators and libertarian religion-reformers like Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khān, Abu’l Kalām Āzād and other) of the early 20th century.

He Rehmatullah Alaih took the Qādirī path and was initiated in that Sūfī order by Sayyid Abu’l Ĥusayn Nūrī of Mārahra Rehmatullah Alaih (a town in northern India).

He Rehmatullah Alaih was a great lover of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam as is evident in his writings and endeavors. He Rehmatullah Alaih was also a great poet who has to his credit abundant and sublime verse in Arabic, Persian and Urdu.

The anthology of his Urdu and Persian verse is presented in a slim volume with two parts and named: ‘Ĥadāyiq e Bakh’shish’ meaning ‘Gardens of Salvation’.

He Rehmatullah Alaih passed away in the year 1340 AH (1921 AD) at the age of 63.