Imām Aĥmed RiĎā Khān al-Barelwī was born in 1272 AH / 1856 AD in Bareilly, a flourishing city in northern India and in a family of scholars; his father Mawlānā Naqī Áli Khān was a prominent Ahl as-Sunnah scholar of his time. He studied Islamic sciences mainly in the tutelage of his father, though a few other scholars have also been mentioned. He was a master of many sciences and particularly in Hanafī fiqh , he was head and shoulders above all his contemporaries. Even his adversaries have acknowledged that he was peerless in this discipline.

He has many ijāzahs or degrees of authorization in Hanafī fiqh, and by his own affirmation, the most important one is from the Muftī of Makkah, Shaykh Ábd ar-Raĥmān as-Sirāj ibn Ábdullāh as-Sirāj. This chain of transmission reaches Imām Abū ĥanifah in twenty seven links and in further four to the Master of all creation, Muĥammad RasūlAllāh šallAllāhu álayhi wa sallam.

He has an authorization of ĥadīth transmission from the great Meccan scholar, Malik al-úlamā, Sayyid Aĥmed Zaynī Daĥlān ash-Shāfiýī. He is widely known for his refutation of Wahābīs, other innovators and libertarian religion-reformers like Abu’l Kalam āzād etc) of the early 20th century.

He took the Qādirī path and was initiated in that Sūfī order by Sayyid Abu’l Ĥusayn Nûrī of Mārahra (a town in northern India). He was a great lover of the Prophet šallAllāhu álayhi wa sallam as is evident in his writings and endeavors. He was also a great poet who has to his credit abundant and sublime verse in Arabic, Persian and Urdu. The anthology of his Urdu and Persian verse is presented in a slim volume with two parts and named: ‘Ĥadāyiq e Bakh’shish’ meaning ‘Gardens of Salvation’.

He died in the year, 1340 AH / 1921 AD. Raĥimahullāh wa RaĎiya ánhu.