A True Voice

admirers as a leading Muslim religious scholar of India of his times. Maulana Mir Mahbub Ali (1866-1911), his companion and disciple, later began to differ with Sayyed Ahmad Barelvi when Sayyed Ahmad Barelvi declared an armed jihad against the Sikh rulers of Punjab. Sayyed Ahmad Barelvi declared armed jihad based on divine illumination or inspiration (kashf). When Maulana Mir Mahbub Ali learned of this, he remarked, “Sayyed Sahab, the basis of jihad is consultation.” In other words, he suggested that the decision to launch armed jihad ought to be taken based on consultation among those responsible for such a serious decision, rather than based on someone’s kashf or dream. After this, the men in Sayyed Ahmad Barelvi’s camp turned into inveterate opponents of Mir Mahbub Ali. Sayyed Ahmad Barelvi’s response to Mir Mahbub Ali’s comment was to say, “Your obedience ought to be [in the form of] silently listening—maintaining such silence as that of the mountain that stands before me.” Mir Mahbub Ali did not accept Sayyed Ahmad Barelvi’s orders, so he left him and decided to return to his homeland. At this, Sayyed Ahmad Barelvi declared, “He who leaves me and heads back to his homeland shall lose his faith (iman).” (Maulana Ismail Dehlvi aur