Sher Misbahi refuting Maheshwari's poor research and Faizan Mustafa's ill-informed comments on AlaHazrat's alleged opposition against khilafat:
it appears in the "smokers corner" - so obviously it's meant to be ignored by the sane and sensible. do I smell a strong whiff of rancour and vindictiveness? that kahdim saab mobilized such a humongous sea of masses and gave the ruling devils and the paymasters of empty-headed idiots like himself sleepless nights? when he mentions ghamidi and israr ahmad as "giants" - he comes out as a charred soul pouring out hate in the garb of "intellectual criticism" - as usual.
ignorance is bliss. the hack writes as if he has read or 'studied' alahazrat to some extent - and it is obvious, that he has not gone beyond the wikipedia entry (which is often vandalised by deos/wahabis) and some brief sketches that turn up in a google search. much like the orientalists of yore, who wrote about the orient without having ever set foot out of their cities in europe. https://www.dawn.com/news/1631601
I have not been around long enough to form an informed opinion, nor am I well-read in this genre, but it appears to me that lately there's been a growing interest in the life of our Imam, not because the authors really appreciate his position vis a vis Islamic scholarship, spirituality and politico-social history - but rather because most of the "juicy" subjects have already been written upon and people are looking for "something new" to furnish dissertations on. I don't think much can be expected from these academic efforts which are half-hearted at best and clearly prejudical at worst (c.f. sher ali tareen).
Maheshwari guy is very poorly informed about the corpus of Barelwi scholarship and can be seen mouthing usual tripe about the school. At the end of the video, he has candidly acknowledged that he is not very well-versed with core issues and the book was a product of his passing interest in AlaHazrat's personality and legacy. The google preview of the book seems to portray clear admiration for the Imam. Faizan Mustafa appears to be deoband leaning and a confused sullah kulli. Probably a consequence of Aligarh education.
Syncretic Islam: Life and Times of Ahmad Raza Khan Barelvi https://www.bloomsbury.com/in/syncretic-islam-9789354350078/ Google preview here. As a hindu, Maheshwari appears to have a poor grasp of religious issues, and it clearly shows in his conversation about Barelwi-Deobandi divide. The book, however, is a glowing tribute to AlaHazrat's scholarship and contribution. Discussed here by Faizan-e-Mustafa (who I'm not sure is a Barelwi himself)
