According to several national Urdu newspapers of April 2, Maulana Asjad Raza Khan, son and successor of the late Mufti Akhtar Raza Khan Azhari Miyan, has been appointed ‘Qāzi Al-Quzzāt’ (Supreme Islamic judge) of India. With a consensus of 67 Barelwi ulema and Muftis (clergy and jurists), this decision was made during a recently concluded 16th annual Shariah conclave called “Fiqhi Seminar” in which every year Barelwi theologians present their jurisprudence perspectives on current issues and then sign a written statement confirming their collective opinion or consensus, called ‘Ijma’a‘. For example, Maulana Asjad Raza Khan, who was previously the Shahr Qāzi (city judge), is now literally the Grand Mufti of India for the Barelwi followers of Islam. The vice president of Jamaat Raza-e-Mustafa, the main organization affiliated with Dargah Aala Hazrat, applauded this decision, saying: “A unanimous decision of 67 scholars has rightly appointed Mufti Asjad Raza as the ‘Qāzi Al-Quzzāt’ (Chief Justice of India). The Sunni Barelvi ulema will now have to consult Mufti Asjad Raza in important Sharia matters.”
In India, the title of “Grand Mufti” or Mufti-e-Azam is granted to the one who has the highest authority to issue Fatwas or authoritative legal opinions on Islamic affairs. But a deeper reflection on this new appointment of the Grand Mufti reveals a rivalry between sects within the circle of Barelwi clergy. In fact, the Sunni Shafi’ī clerics in South India who subscribe to the Barelwi doctrines have for some time developed sharp disagreements on various theoretical issues with the Hanafi Barelwis in the northern part. And this closing party has resulted in the appointment of two ‘Grand Muftis’ for Barelwi Muslims in the same country at the same time.
Just a month ago, South India’s Barelwi cleric and Sunni leader, Sheikh Abu Bakr
Musliyar (Kanthapuram AP Abu Bakr) was appointed the Grand Mufti of India at the Gharib Nawāz peace conference in Ramlila Maidan, New Delhi. This appointment took place in an anti-terror Islamic conference organized under the banner of the country’s leading Barelwi organizations, including All India Tanzeem Ulema-e-Islam, as reported in detail in New Age Islam.
[Kanchipuram A. P. Aboobacker Musliyar known as Sheikh Abu-Bakr Ahmad (born A. P. Aboobacker in Kanchipuram on March 22, 1939) is the Grand Mufti of India and the social worker. He is also the Chancellor of the Jamia Markaz, Chairman of the Siraj Daily and Secretary General of the All India Sunni Jamiyyathul Ulama, (the Indian Muslim Scholars Association)].
According to the press release of Markaz-us-Saqafa Sunniyya, the largest Sunni institution founded by Sheikh Abu Bakr Musliyar in Kerala, the exalted title of ‘Mufti-eAzam’ or Grand Mufti was granted by Musliyar to none other than Maulana Mannan Raza Khan, grandson of A’ala Hazrat with tremendous support from several Barelwi leaders, including Seyyed Ameen Miyan Barkāti, founder of Aligarh Al- Barakāh Institute, Seyyed Babar Ashraf, founder-president of Sufi Voice of India, Mufti Ashfaq Hussain Qādri, national president of All India Tanzeem Ulema-e-Islam, among others.
Sources 06 April 2019 by Ghulām Rasool Dehlvi: newageislam.com/radical-islamism-and-jihad/all-india-tanzeem-ulama-e-islam-issuesa-fresh-fatwa-on-terrorism-emanating-from-pakistan/d/117858
newageislam.com/islam-and-politics/new-age-islam-special-correspondent/appointment-oftwo-‘grand-muftis’-in-india-at-the-same-time-reeks-of-an-internal-conflict-and-rivalry-withinthe-indian-muslim-to-barelwi-leadership/d/118247
Click Tv. India