Barelvi movement (South Asian Sunni)
South Asian Sunni movement founded by Ahmed Raza Khan (1880s) emphasising Sufi devotion to the Prophet. Doctrinal opponent of Deobandi tradition.
CLCI radar
BITE breakdown
0 — devotional Sunni movement; mostly mainstream low-control.
Profile facts
In context
The Barelvi movement is the largest Sunni tradition in Pakistan and major in India and Bangladesh. Emphasises Mawlid celebrations, intercession through saints, and devotion to the Prophet. Mostly low-control mainstream tradition; specific high-control sub-currents exist (e.g. Tehreek-e-Labbaik politics).
Recovery resources
- ICSA (International Cultic Studies Association) — General referral and cult-aware therapist directory.
- INFORM (Information Network on Religious Movements) — LSE-founded UK research-based information service covering new religious movements.
- Freedom of Mind Resource Center — Steven Hassan's organisation; BITE-model resources and family-side exit guidance.
See the full curated list at /resources.
This profile is in progress — history, deeper BITE evidence and survivor voices are still being added. Contributions welcome via GitHub.
Timeline
- 1880sAhmed Raza Khan founds Barelvi movement
Sources
- Usha Sanyal academic work on Ahmed Raza Khan search ↗
We cite sources by name and outlet rather than fabricating links. Where a source includes its own URL, the open ↗ link opens it directly; otherwise search ↗ runs a Google Scholar query for the cited title — useful for verifying academic sources. For news outlets, search the outlet's own archive.
Change history
Substantive edits logged per the score-updates policy.
- 2026-05-29Phase 1 Batch J: per-group recovery resources applied via programmatic palette (closest-fit by category + subCategory + score). Palette: Mainstream-comparator lighter.
- 2026-05-20Source-density flags derived from existing free-text sources[]: academic sources. Heuristic auto-flag; subsequent editorial pass will populate structuredSources[] with reliability tiers.
- 2026-05-20Score band scheme migrated from 4 bands to 5 (Minimal 0–5 / Low 6–12 / Moderate 13–20 / High 21–30 / Extreme 31–40). No CLCI value changed; the new Minimal band was carved out of the bottom of the previous Low band.
Relevant hubs
Curated entry points on CLCI Hub for situations connected to this group.
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