His work became important in trying to resumption of Islam to its original values of Syed Ahmad
Barelvi.

He is considered as a scholarly authority by Ahl-i Hadith and Deobandi movements.

Abul Hasan Ali Hasani Nadwi wrote Seerat-i-Sayyid Ahmad Shaheed, the first
historical biography of Syed Ahmad Barelvi
.

The reform movement was in full swing. The tongue of Shah Ismail, the pen of Maulvi Abdul Haiy and the
magnetic personality of Syed Ahmad, created a stir throughout Northern India. Their righteous life and
spiritual stature and noble mission brought many adherents within its fold. Syed Ahmad now headed a country-
wide organization. Many evils that had crept into the Muslim society were eradicated. Syed Ahmad himself
married a widow, which was considered a very obnoxious act, not only by Muslims in general but also by his
own family.

His journey through Allahabad, Benares, Ghazipur, Azimabad (Patna), Monghyr, Bhagalpur, Murshidabad,
terminating at Calcutta, was marked with unprecedented enthusiasm and reception. People came in large
numbers to have a glimpse of the great Reformer and many became his devoted followers.
War against sikh:
. Finally, on 
January 16, 1826, he left home on an arduous journey, never to return. He was accompanied by five to six
thousand companions, all prepared to die for delivering their brethren from the tyrannical Sikh rule. The party
left for North-Western India by a circuitous route and arrived at their destination at Naushehra after passing
through Tonk, Rajputana, Sind, Baluchistan, Qandahar, Kabul, Khyber Pass, and Peshawar. This long arduous
journey and the hardships of the way, the oppressive heat of Rajputana and Sind, the hazards of brigands, and
the difficult climbs of the barren hills of Baluchistan, did not diminish their crusading spirit. Wherever they
went, they were given a thundering ovation by the people, but the Muslim rulers of these areas were hesitant in
giving him active support and thus antagonizing the Sikhs who formed the most powerful state in Western
India.
Syed Ahmad arrived in Naushehra and made it his headquarters in  December 1826.
=
But jealousy and rivalry among the tribal chieftains and their irresistible lust for loot hindered Syed Ahmad
from accomplishing his mission. Despite the overwhelming superiority of the Sikh army which was disciplined
and led by experienced foreign soldiers and was equipped with the latest weapons of war,
the ‘mujahideen’ inflicted on them defeats in several encounters. At one stage Ranjit Singh even sued for
peace, but his terms were not acceptable to Syed Ahmad. He, therefore, adopted other tactics. He sowed
dissensions among the Pathan supporters of the Syed through bribery and intrigue. He made secret approaches
to some of the influential tribal chiefs supporting the Syed, including Yar Muhammad, the Chief of Peshawar,
asking them to withdraw their support on promise of concessions. He even warned them that the Syed’s
victory in the area would mean the domination of the Indian Muslims over the Pathans. Thus, a task that could
not be achieved by Sikh arms was accomplished through the treachery of Muslims themselves.
On the eve of the fateful battle at Saidu Sharif, fought in March 1827, the virtuous Syed was poisoned by the
servants of Yar Muhammad. But, the Syed ordered his men to take him to the battlefield. Accordingly, the next
morning he was carried to the battlefield in a subconscious state. The battle went on for four days, and despite
the enemy’s superiority in manpower and equipment, the Mujah ideen were in a commanding position. At
a time when victory was in sight, Yar Muhammad, along with his men, deserted the Muslim ranks. This caused
great confusion and consternation among the Muslims. Their victory turned into a rout in which several
thousand Muslims lost their lives.
This revealed the organizational weaknesses among the Mujahideen The top leaders of the force resolved to
enforce more rigid discipline among the rank and file, who were to be controlled by a central authority
responsible for enforcing the Shariat rule among them. Syed Ahmad was selected as Ameer-ulMomineen. The
treacheries and hostilities of some of the tribal chiefs led to several skirmishes with the Mujahideen, in which
Yar Muhammad Khan, the Chief of Peshawar, and Khadi Khan, the Chief of Hund, were killed. The
Mujahideen occupied Peshawar in 1830. But, instead of removing Sultan Khan, brother of the treacherous Yar
Muhammad Khan, the Syed retained him as the Governor of the city. He enforced the Shariat law throughout
the conquered territory. Maulvi Syed Mazhar Ali of Azimabad was appointed as Qazi of Peshawar.

Sultan Khan, Governor of Peshawar, who had been pardoned, was secretly planning to avenge the death of his
brother, Yar Muhammad Khan. He organized the mass killing of Mujahideen. One night, when the latter were
offering their prayers, they were killed by hired assassins. The flower of Muslim chivalry and learning in the
subcontinent perished in one night by the conspiracy of a brother Muslim and by the hands of Muslims
themselves. This caused great dismay and grief in the Syed’s camp. All that had been won was lost in a single
night.

Syed Ahmad and his followers, being greatly disappointed with the treachery and hostility of the people
inhabiting the Peshawar area, decided to go northward and concentrate their efforts against the Sikhs in Hazara
and Kashmir. Arriving at Balakot, a small town in the Kaghan valley, surrounded on three sides by high
mountains, he set up his Headquarters there, considering it safe for the Mujahideen.

Here, too, the local Muslims spied for the Sikhs and led them through a secret route in close proximity to the
Mujahideen’s camps. Here was fought the last decisive battle at the beginning of May 1831. The Sikh army far
superior in numbers and arms won the day. More than six thousand Muslims perished on the battlefield. The
leader of the movement, Syed Ahmad, along with his chief lieutenant, Shah Ismail, died fighting till the end.

Contribution:

The marriage of widows had begun to be considered obnoxious among Muslims like those of Hindus. Syed
Ahmad himself married a widow quite contrary to his family traditions. Lavish expenditures on the occasion of
marriage, birth, and death, was condemned by him. He denounced tomb-worship, a practice which was a
negation of the Islamic doctrine of monotheism. He did not like the Sufis, who led a life of meditation and
abhorred social contacts. Instead of making life worth living, such Sufis had preferred to withdraw from it.

Syed Ahmad was himself a Sufi, but not in conformity with its common concept. Instead of passing life of
renunciation, he passed a life of action. His insistence on Jihad distinguished him from an average Sufi, who
usually believes in a life of meditation and inactivity. He laid greater emphasis on the importance of following
the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet. According to him, one cannot attain a high spiritual status without strictly
following the Shariat. He, therefore, accepted the teaching of ‘Mujaddid-Alif Sani’ in preference to those of
Muhiyuddin Ibn-i-Arabi.

Syed Ahmad Shaheed was an idealist, a dreamer of dreams. With his simple straightforward manners, he
raised a group of fanatical devouts who were ready to sacrifice their lives for Islam. Among his notable
disciples were Shah Ismail Shaheed, Maulvi Abdul Haiy, Maulvi Wilyat Ali Azimabadi, and Maulvi Karamat
Ali Jaunpuri. The last-named had the distinction of being the greatest Muslim reformer and missionary in
Bengal.

Syed Ahmad Shaheed possessed a magnetic personality. Whoever came into contact with him, became his
devoted follower. He was the spiritual guide of more than four million followers, among whom were some of
the well-known scholars, religious leaders, and Sufis of the time.
He was the first popular political leader of the subcontinent, who created a political organization for
furthering his noble mission.

The initial force of a few hundred men led by syed ahmed could not reach the area directly from
Delhi for obvious reasons & so had to proceed through the long & difficult route through rajasthan,
sindh & Balochistan until they reached Kabul. A part from the obvious need to avoid the sikh forces
at this stage. Syed ahmed also collected support & troops along the way. In 1826 he established his
headquater to naushera & sent a massage to ranjit singh either accept islam or get ready for war.
Ranit singh used degrading remarks against islam & the muslims. The 1st battle against Sikhs was
fought in 1826 in okara & 2nd battle at Hazro both won by the muslims. The end of 1830 captured
Peshawar by the forces of jihad. This success encouraged other pathan tribes to join syed ahmed
jihad movement & the number of people reached up to 80,000. SASB wanted a jihad to restore the
muslim faith.

What were the reasons for the failure of jihad movement?

Why did Syed Ahmed Barelvi have such a major influence on the revival of Islam in the
subcontinent?
Syed Ahmed had a great influence in the revival of Islam. He was the First person to
fight against the foreign power and rule and the first example in Indian history to free
Muslims from the tyranny of foreign rule. Syed Ahmed’s efforts were an inspiration to all
Muslims in defending their religion and culture.

”.

, unfortunately his rule in Peshawar could not last for more than few months because
internal uprising started in Peshawar which shattered his power and he had to take
refuge in the hills of Balakot.  Where he had to fight the Sikh army and he received
martyrdom in 1831 in Balakot.

Reform movement
Syed Ahmad was the first major Islamic theologian in the subcontinent to realize the necessity of
an Islamic movement that was simultaneously scholarly, military, and political to repel the
British threat. He eagerly addressed the Muslim masses directly, not traditional leaders, in his
call for a popular jihad against a Sikh rule in Punjab. His evangelism —based on networks of
preachers, collectors, and judges— also addressed the common people and not the rulers' courts.
At the core of the reform movement initiated by Syed Ahmad was the advocacy of a puritanical
interpretation of Tawhid (monotheism), similar to the Muwahhidun movement in Arabia. The
movement fought against local practices and customs related to saint veneration and grave visits,
which they regarded as bid'ah (religious innovations) and shirk (polytheism) that corrupted
Islam. Syed Ahmad's reformist teachings were set down in two prominent treatises Sirat'ul
Mustaqim (the Straight Path) and Taqwiyatul-Iman (strengthening of the faith), compiled by his
acolyte Shah Muhammad Ismail. The two works stressed the centrality of tawhid, advocated that
acts of Worship such as dua, sacrifices, etc. belonged solely to God, and denounced all those
practices and beliefs that were held in any way to compromise Tawhid. The followers of Syed
Ahmad viewed three sources of threat to their beliefs: traditional Sufism, Shiism, and popular
custom.
Syed Ahmad urged Muslims to follow the path laid down by Prophet Muhammad (Tariqa -i
Muhammadiyah), abandon all superstitious activities in various Sufi orders and called for a total
reformation of Tasawwuf. Syed Ahmad reserved his sharpest condemnations for the moral
degradation of Muslims and blamed the corrupt Sufis as the primary cause of Muslim decline.
He called upon Muslims to strictly abide by the tenets of the shariah (Islamic law) by following
the Qur'an and the Sunnah. The most prominent feature of Syed Ahmad's teachings was his
warning to avoid shirk (polytheism), bid'ah (religious innovations); and re-assertion
of Tawhid (monotheism). Once he said to a group of his disciples:
"Brethren! the purpose of performing the bay'ah is that you should give up everything
you do which is of the nature of polytheism or heresy, your making of ta'ziyahs, setting
up banners, worshipping the tombs of Pirs and martyrs, making offerings to them and
taking vows in their names. All this you should give up, and do not believe that your good
and ill come from anyone except God; do not recognize anyone but Him as having the
power to grant the fulfillment of your wishes. If you continue [in this way of polytheism
and heresy], merely offering bay'ah will bring no benefit."
Syed Ahmad visited numerous towns of the North Indian plains between 1818 to 1821. He
incited hundreds of missionaries to preach against Shia beliefs and practices. Syed Ahmad
repeatedly destroyed tazias, an act that resulted in subsequent riots and chaos. Syed Ahmad
called upon the Muslim masses to abandon practices related to Shi'i influence, such as the tazias
which were replicas of the tombs of the martyrs of Karbala taken in procession during the
mourning ceremony of Muharram. Shah Muhammad Ismail declared the act of breaking Taziyas
as an obligation upon all believers and asserted that it was as virtuous as breaking idols. Syed
Ahmad is reported to have organized the burning of thousands of taziyas.
In 1821, Syed Ahmad left for Hajj along with a group of devotees. He returned from Haj in
1823, and once again visited different parts of India. For Syed Ahmad and the followers of
the Faraizi movement, India was "Dar ul Harb" ( the Land of War) and therefore Jihad was
obligatory for all Muslims. In his book, Sirat-e-Mustaqeem, Shah Ismail Dehlvi wrote:
"A large part of present-day India has become “Dar-ul-Harab”. Compare the situation
with the heavenly blessings of India two and three hundred years ago".
Syed Ahmad’s opponents labeled him a “Wahhabi,” a follower of the puritan Sunni reform
movement in Arabia, but he did not consider himself as such

Jihad Movement and Islamic

State
. 
It goes as follows:
War against the Infidel is incumbent on all Musalmans;
make provisions for all things.
He who from his heart gives one farthing to the cause,
shall hereafter receive seven hundredfold from God.
He who shall equip a warrior in this cause of God,
shall hereafter obtain a martyr's reward;
His children dread not the trouble of the grave,
nor the last trump, not the Day of Judgement.
Cease to be crowded; join the divine leader, and smite the Infidel.
I give thanks to God that a great leader has been born,
in the thirteenth of the Hijra".

After the conquest of Peshawar by the Mujahidin, Syed Ahmad pushed for aggressive
and violent policies to enforce Sharia and announced the abolition of all tribal rituals that
he regarded as bid'ah (religious innovations). He abolished various practices such as:
the bride being paid a regular price for marriage, the widowed of the deceased Muslims
being divided among his heirs, practise of more than four marriages, denial of
inheritance to women, clan wars being considered like jihad and its plunder being
considered as booty. After the conquest of Peshawar, Sayyid Ahmad instituted various
policies that strictly implemented shariat (Islamic law). These included: i) those who give
half of the agreed money to the brides can take them. ii) The young girls who are
eligible for marriage should be married immediately. iii) Flogging people who didnt pray.
In addition to his Islamic social agenda, Syed Ahmad also attempted to collect the
Islamic tithe (usher) of ten per cent of crop yields. This policy was faced with fierce
opposition from an alliance of local Pathan tribesmen, who briefly managed to occupy
Peshawar. The alliance was defeated and the Islamic reformers finally re-captured
Peshawar. Over several months during 1830, Sayyed Ahmad tried to re-concile
between established power hierarchies. But. He was beheaded
.
after Sher Singh left the area

Legacy
Sayyid Ahmad is widely regarded as the founder of the subcontinental Ahl-i Hadith movement
and his teachings are highly influential amongst its members. Other major group that carries his
legacy is the Deobandi school of thought. Syed Ahmad is thought by at least one scholar
(Edward Mortimer), to have anticipated modern Islamists in waging Jihad and attempting to
create an Islamic state with strict enforcement of Shari'ah (Islamic law), and by at least one other
(Olivier Roy), to be the first modern Islamic leader to lead a movement that was "religious,
military and political," and to address the common people and rulers with a call
for Jihad. The Mujahidin were unprecedented for their tactics of popular mobilization aimed at
swiftly achieving the objectives of social reformation through military means, combined with
fierce hostility towards non-Muslim powers such as the British Empire and the Sikhs. Sayyid
Ahmad was committed to expand his Islamic Imarat to the whole of South Asia and authored
tracts calling upon Indian Muslims to join the cause of Jihad.
Sayyid Ahmad attained the exemplar status of Shahid (martyr), one of the highest honours in
Islam, and would inspire generations of Militant Islamist ideologues and Jihadi activists
throughout the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. His calls for a return to the pristine Islam of
the Salaf, purifying Islamic culture of Western and Shi'i influences through armed Jihad, etc.
became major hallmarks of South Asian and Central Asian militant Islamist movements like the
Taliban. Al-Qaeda's ideology was greatly inspired by Sayyid Ahmad's Jihad movement, which
was waged from Eastern Afghanistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkwa. Influenced by Sayyid Ahmad,
contemporary Jihadists compare American hegemony to the 19th century British rule to justify
their campaigns.
The Jihad movement of Sayyid Ahmad made a great impact on Islamic scholarly tradition of
South Asia and would deeply divide many clerics and theologians. Some intellectuals and
scholars criticised the militant aspects of his reform programme, especially its sectarian violence
against other self-professed Muslims whom the Mujahidin declared as heretics or apostates.
Scholars like Wahiduddin Khan asserted that Sayyid Ahmad's Jihad was illegitimate, since it was
self-declared and not waged by a Muslim ruler. Meanwhile, South Asian Islamists eagerly
embraced Sayyid Ahmad's teachings and popularised his writings that sought the militant
restoration of an Islamic state. All major organisations that wage militant Jihad in Pakistan,
Afghanistan and Kashmir, etc. uses the rhetoric and legacy of Sayyid Ahmad's Mujahidin to
shore up support from the conservative base. Hafiz Saeed's Lashkar-e-Taiba and Masood
Azhar's Jaish-e-Muhammad, are two major militant Islamist organisations inspired by Sayyid
Ahmad that wages Jihad against India in Kashmir. Other organisations include Harkat ul
Mujahidin, a Jihadist group in Pakistan

Conclusion:

Syed Ahmad Shaheed possessed a magnetic personality. Whoever came into contact with him,
became his devoted follower. He was the spiritual guide of more than four million followers, among
whom were some of the well-known scholars, religious leaders, and Sufis of the time

Syed Ahmad Shaheed was a great reformer, subscribing to the Shah Waliullah School. He kept aloft the candle
of religious reformation lit by Shah Waliullah. Though he was not an accomplished scholar like his spiritual
teacher Shah Abdul Aziz and his spiritual disciples Shah Ismail Shaheed and Maulvi Abdul Haiy, yet he was a
man of action and his simple life and purity of heart inspired awe and respect among his followers. Whoever
came into contact with him, was greatly influenced by his magnetic personality. He showed great zeal in
denouncing all innovations in Islam, of which the most hated were those associated with the name and Divinity
of Almighty God. In his Sirat-ul-Mushtaqim he classified such innovations into three categories: those which
have sprung through association with corrupt Sufis, those of heretical origin and those which have come
through Hindu influences. He exhorted the Muslims not to follow anyone except the Quran and the Hadis.