SYED AHMED SHAHEED BARALVI
Syed Ahmed was born on November 29, 1786, in Rai Bareilly, small town near Lucknow. In 1806, he moved to Delhi where he got his early education by learning holy Quran and Hadith. He was inspired by the services of Shah Waliullah and became disciple of his son Shah Abdul Aziz. He was man of action rather than a scholar. So, in 1806, he joined the force of Nawab Amir Khan, ruler of Tonk, where he learnt the fight tactics and war strategies. Syed Ahmed left Amir Khan when he refused to fight against British, when they captured Tonk. Tonk was declared as the “Dar-ul-harb” by Shah Abdul Aziz. He moved to Dehli and in 1806, he took pledge on the hand of Shah Abdul Aziz and came into the fold of Naqusbandia, Qadriya and Chistiya Sufi order.
He wrote a book “Sirat-i-Mustaqim” on the assistance of his two disciple; Shah Ismial Shaheed and Mulanna Abdul Haye, in which he explained the philosophy, doctrines and the reforms of Shah Waliullah.
CAUSES OF BEHIND THE PREPARATION OF JEHAD:
Syed Ahmed was a man of action. His purpose was not only confined of preaching only but to take some practical steps. The Muslims of India were restricted to definite actions, as the supremacy of the British rulers and the Sikh dominance in Punjab. Here Muslims had no right of freedom. The Mosques and shrines were turned into temples and call for prayer (Azan) was forbidden and religious practices of Muslims were interrupted frequently.
During his visit to Rampur, some Afghan people complained to him about the wide-scale persecution of the Muslims by the Sikh regime. He decided to declare war against Sikh after returning from Haj. Then, in 1821, he left for Makkah for Haj.
OBJECTIVES OF THE JEHAD MOVEMENT:
 To preach unicity of Allah Almighty.
 To revive the teachings of Islam and prepare Muslims to pass their lives simply according to the teaching of Islam.
 To protect the Muslims against such acts and ideas which are contrary to Islamic values.
 To protect the Muslims from the worship of other things except Allah.
 To preach Jehad because it was not possible to get freedom from evil force without armed struggle.
DECLARATION OF WAR/ JEHAD:
After returning from Saudi Arabia in 1823 he declared a jehad against Sikh. He believed that if Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhuwa were liberated from th Sikh domination, Muslims would regain the old position. Then, he started Jehad movement from Punjab and in 1823, he established headquarter in Nowshera. He sent a message to Ranjit Singh, the ruler of Sikh, to embrace Islam or ready to face the mujahidden. He chose the second and the war was started between mujahidden and sikh. The sikh faced the defeat. This was the first victory of the Muslims. The second war was fought in Hazro, which was too a great success for the mujahidden.
After two great success, many Muslims and Pathan’s chiefs joined the jehad movement like Sardar Yar Mohammad Khan and Pir hakaman Khan, which extended the mujahidden upto 80,000.
Later of, Yar Mohammad Khan and his brother Sultan Mohammad Khan, who was set free after the success capture of Peshawar by Syed Ahmed, were bribed by the Sikh to betray Syed Ahmed. Yar Mohammad’s servant, however, gave poison to Syed Ahmed but he survived. This disloyalty dishearten him and make him to move for Balakot. Here he make a new headquarter and started his movement. In Mazaffarabad, tough fight was fought between the mujahidden and the sikh. The mujahidden fought bravely but Syed Ahmed and his companions were martyredom 16th May 1831.
The Mujahidden were defeated but a flame of freedom in a sub-continent was moved on. The jehad movement was carried on by Willayat Ali in Patna, which, later on, fought with British when they captured Punjab and became ended after several war like this for independence.