Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi (14 June 1856 – October 1921), known reverentially as Ala Hazrat, was an Indian Islamic scholar, theologian, jurist, preacher, poet from Bareilly, British India, considered as the founder of the Barelvi movement and the Razvi branch of the Qadri Sufi order. He wrote on law, religion, philosophy and the sciences, and because he mastered many subjects in both rational and religious sciences, Francis Robinson, one of the leading Western scholars of South Asian Islam, considers him to be a polymath. He was a reformer who wrote extensively in defense of the Prophet Muhammad and popular Sufi practices. He influenced millions of people, and today the Barelvi movement has around 200 million followers in the region. Source: Wikipedia (en)