Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi

Ahmad Raza Khan Baraylawi (14 June 1856–28 October 1921), known reverentially as A'la Hazrat, (Grand Master), was an Islamic scholar, mufti, polymath, gnostic, poet from (undivided) India, he is considered as the founder of the Barelvi movement by his rivals.

Born in Bareilly, British India, Ahmad Raza Khan wrote on law, religion, philosophy and the sciences, and because he mastered many subjects in both rational and religious sciences he has been called a polymath by Francis Robinson, a leading Western historian and academic who specializes in the history of South Asia and Islam. As well as D. B. Hann. He himself states he mastered over 55 branches of knowledge which he also lists out.

He was an Islamic scholar who wrote extensively in defense of the status of Muhammad in Islam and popular Sufi practices. He himself says in a religious authorisation letter which he wrote to another scholar that the most beloved thing to him was the "defence of my Master, the Chief of Messengers ﷺ". He influenced millions of people, and today the Baraylawi movement has the largest following amongst any other movement within the Subcontinent. Ahmad Raza Khan is viewed as a Mujaddid, or reviver of Islam by his followers and by some of the leading scholars of Mecca and Medina.