Background:

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After the death of last Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb’s in 1707 the authority of the Mughal
emperors moving towards decline. Aurangzeb’s ruled according to Islamic teaching and
Muslims were happy with his government. On the other hand, other religious groups got anger
and provoked with Islamic teaching. Muslims who had been strong and powerful during the
reign of Aurangzeb but after his death started to disintegrate. Shah Waliullah was born shortly
before the end of Aurangzeb. Shah Waliullah grew up at a time when Muslims felt increasingly
threat and helpless. He belonged to a deeply religious family and his father had been a religious
advisor in the Mughal court. During his stayed in Arabia, he believed that he had been blessed
with a vision of the Holy Prophet(peace be upon him). He tried to organize and gave spiritual
leadership to Muslims in subcontinent.

SHAH WALIULLAH EARLY LIFE

 He was born on 21 February 1703 during the tenure of Great Mughal Emperor

Aurangzeb Alamgir.
 His real name was Qutub-ud-Din, but he became famous with the name of Shah
Wali Ullah’s because of his piety.
 The name of his father was Shah Abdul Rahim, who laid the foundation
of Madrassa Rahimia in Delhi.
 After the death of his father in 1718, Shah Wali Ullah began to teaching at the
Madrassa.
 In 1724 he visited Arabia and performed Haj and to further studies.
 He got knowledge from famous scholar Sheikh Abu Tahir bin Ibrahim, before
returning to Delhi.
 He returned to Delhi in 1732.

Shah Wali-Ullah Beliefs.

1. During his stay in Arabia, he deeply thought about the fundamental problems of the
Muslims in the Mughal Empire
2. No doubt, Mughal Empire was towards decline and there was no unity among Muslims.
3. Muslims were facing various kinds of attacks on the religion Islam.
4. He was determined that reform could not come from the weak leadership of Delhi.
5. This could come from within the Muslim community itself.
6. Muslims had no proper knowledge about Quran and Islam in general and it was
important that Quranic teaching become accessible to the people.
7. Muslim community was divided into sectarian groups such as Shias and Sunni.
 8. Shah Wali Ullah wanted them to unite on the fundamental principles of Islam and put
aside their difference, believing that this would create a more united community.
9. It was necessary to comply the moral and spiritual principles of Islam in order to create
good society.
10. Un-Islamic Principles were not acceptable in any area of society, either in politics,
economics or in daily life of individual Muslims.

CONTRIBUTION OF SHAH WALIULLAH.

 FOLLOWING ARE THE CONTRIBUTION OF SHAH WALILLUAH FOR THE MUSLIMS

OF SUBCONTINENT.
 Shah Waliullah worked hard to ensure that he was a torch bearer for the Muslims.
 Shah Waliullah had deep knowledge in Quran, Hadith, Fiqah and Tasawuf this made
him a knowledgeable scholar at an early age.
 He emphasized that Quranic teaching is vital for Muslims to revive in the subcontinent.
 Shah Waliullah translated Quran from Arabic to Persian in 1737.
 At that time few Muslims could spoke Arabic and so the Quran had not been widely
studied previously.
 With new translation large number of people started to understand.
 Ulema of that time highly criticized Shah Wali Ullah, but his work proved very popular.
 His two sons, Shah Abdul Qadir and Shah Rafi translated the Quran into Urdu which
meant that many more people could study it.
 Shah Waliullah wrote fifty-one books in Persian and Arabic.
 The most famous book written by shah Waliullah were Hujjatullah-ul-Baligha and
Izalat-Akhfa.
 Shah Waliullah also wrote detail account of the first four Caliphs of Islam in such a way
that was acceptable to both Shias and Sunnis.
 He hoped it would reduce the division between both sect.
 One of the most important contribution of shah Wali-Ullah to the Muslim community was
his organisation of opposition to the Marathas.
 Marathas were constant threat to Mughal Empire and planning to over-run the Mughal
Empire from the south side.
 Shah Waliullah realized that Muslims had to united to stop this persistent threat.
 The second threat was from the Sikhs who were attacking from the North side.
 He wrote to all the Muslim nobles to save the Mughal Empire.
 Ahmad Shah Abdali of Persia intervened after invitation of Shah Wali Ullah.
 Ahmad Shah joined local forces with local Muslims leaders and defeated the Marathas
at the Battle of Panipat in 1761.
 This victory was temporary because Muslim leaders did not gain strength.

Letter From shah Wali-Ullah to Ahmad Shah Abdali.

This letter was written by Shah Waliullah to Ahmad shah Abdali Muslims were facing
Poverty and Misery. “The Muslims community is in pitiable condition. All control of the
machinery of government is in the hands of Hindus, because they are the only people
who are capable and industrious. Wealth and prosperity are concentrated in their
hands; while the share of Muslims is nothing but poverty and misery”.

Importance of Shah Wali-Ullah in Pakistan History.

 Shah Waliullah was considered one of the first Muslim influential thinkers who defined
the decline of Mughal Empire. Shah Waliullah also considered one of the founder of
Pakistan two nation history.
 Shah Waliullah also defined the vulnerable position of the Muslims due to a neglect of
the principles of Islam.
 To stop the status of decline there had to be spiritual and moral regeneration.
 Madrassa Rahimiya continued to play a vital role in teaching of Islamic principles and
research in Islamic thoughts.
 Shah Waliullah writing in Persian made Islamic teaching easily available to every one.
 He firm believed that, Muslims could only prosperous if they properly followed the
Islamic customs and did not indulge in social evils such as liquor and merry making .
(https://www.britannica.com/biography/Shah-Wali-Allah)
 Shah Waliullah provided new vision for all Muslims to lead a good life, which should be
based on the belief that anti-social attitudes incurred the displeasure of God.
 Shah Waliullah reiterated that revival could take place if there was an acceptance that
sectarian division was to stop.
 Shah Waliullah did endeavor to bridge the gap among the different Muslim sects and to
unite the community.
 Shah Waliullah did this by organizing Muslims against Marathas by emphasising the
importance of Jihad.
 His influenced continued after his death.
 Shah Waliullah writing ,translation and Madrassa Rahimiya also flourished as his sons
carried forward his work and teaching.

hah Waliullah
.

RELIGIOUS SERVICES TO HALT RELIGIOUS DEGENERATION

Alien Practices Corrupting Islamic Culture

Shah was a reformer possessing a balanced and fair minded approach towards religion.
He made an exhaustive endeavor in order to eradicate the menace of un-Islamic rituals
that were corrupting the culture of Muslim society. The absurd practices of Hindu
community were being merged in the sound and simple lives of the Muslims. Perhaps, it
was the legacy of Akbar’s notorious Deen-e-Elahi and his deep rooted affection with the
Hindus. In order to cope this misadventure, Wali took the path of preaching with the
power of his writings. He wrote 51 important books for the general guidance of the
Muslims and infusing the spirit of true religion again in them. ‘Taffhimat-e-Elahi’ and
‘Hujjyulla-al-Baligha’ are the books worth mentioning in this regard.

Derailed Religious Scholars Indulged in Sharpening Sects

Second, the strange innovations being made in the religion by the mullahs divided in
various sects and interested in polishing their own workshops were annoying for Wali.
The debate of ‘Sufi and Wali’ derailed the Muslims from the original path. Even in here,
Shah preferred to teach the Muslims what their religion is actually about. In order to
assuage the differences among them he wrote a renowned book, ‘Al Bayan Fi Sabab al
Ikhtilaf’.

Wahdat-ul-Shuhood
Not only was this but the idea of ‘Wahdat-ul-Wajood’, nothing less than an attack to root
out Islamic principles from India. The propagation of amounting the creator and the
creation as one was in fact favorably advocating the Hindu practice of worshiping idols.
Wali stood against this idea and presented the factual idea of ‘Wahdat ul Shuhood’. He
solemnly rejected the assumption of equalizing the creation and the creator. He
asserted in the oneness of Allah Almighty as the creator of the whole universe.

Translation of Holy Quran in Lingua Franca of the Muslims

Persian, the lingua franca of the Muslims of Sub-Continent was utilized by Wali in order
to translate the Holy Quran. This was his effort to bring the Muslims to learn what
actually Quran has told and what they were doing. Learning Quran in their own
language.

In nutshell, his religious preaching was a magnificent step to secure the coming
posterities from being prey to the Hindu culture, to make the Muslims stick to what
Quran reveals upon them and to prohibit the religious scholars from bringing the laymen
to plunge into the architectured sects.

POLITICAL SERVICES TO PREVENT POLITICAL ANNIHILATION

Dream of a Separate Homeland Solely for Muslims

Though, Wali is known for his role in religious filed but it cannot fog his active
participation in securing the political future of the Muslims amid the anticipated fall of
Muslim rule in India. After having assessed the priorities of rulers of the time, Shah
could see the clashes of civilizations in India in the coming years. And it happened;
Hindus and the Muslims fought in every field of life in the years which later colored the
pages of future history.

Smelling these fears, Shah proposed the idea of a separate homeland for the Muslims
irrespective of its size but what mattered him the most was its need in order to provide
an Islamic environment to the Muslims free from Hindu interference. Thus, it can be
safely assumed that Shah was one of the early founders of two nation theory, the
rationale which led to the creation of Pakistan.

Shah’s Formula for Dashing Down the Anticipated Threats to Muslim Rule in India
Shah was the reformer who dared to point out the three major threats to the Muslims of
Sub-Continent and his prediction proved to be right in the years to come. According to
him; ‘Jatts of Delhi and Agra, Marhattas of the Southern India and Sikhs of the Punjab’
were one to have unsheathed their swords against the Muslims. In order to avert this
imminent attack on the fragile politics of the Muslims, he wrote to the Muslim big shots
of time like Ahmad Shah Abdali and Nawab Sujjah-ud-Daulah inciting them to wage
holy wars against the enemies of Muslim rule in India. His letters worked and the power
of Marhattas prepared to root out Muslim rule was dashed to the ground of Pani Patt in
the history’s third ferocious combat there in 1761. Thus, Shah being circumspect played
a wise political move to protect the Muslim political rule for India. Even after this
success, the custom of waging holy wars against the enemies of Muslims was kept alive
by Syed Ahmad Shaheed and his comrades.

n the 18th century, Islam in the Sub-continent was faced with menacing problems.
Sectarian conflict, low moral tone of the society, poor understanding of the Holy Quran, and
general ignorance of Islam were just some of the issues which gave rise to fear that political
collapse would be accompanied by religious disintegration. This did not happen; rather an
era of religious regeneration was inaugurated, which was due more than anything else to
the activities of one man, Shah Wali Ullah.

Shah Wali Ullah belonged to a religious family. He was educated at Madrasa-i-Rahimiyah

by his father Shah Abdul Rahim. After finishing his education, he went for pilgrimage and
higher studies to Saudi Arabia. At this time, Muslims in India were divided into Hanfia, Sufi,
Shia, Sunni and Mullah sects. While in Hijaz, he decided to launch a campaign to
popularize Islamic values amongst the Muslims and to present Islam in a rational manner.
On his return to the Sub-continent, he started working towards the achievement of these
goals.

Shah Wali Ullah’s singular and most important act was his translation of the Holy Quran into
simple Persian, the language of the land, so that people of the Sub-continent could
understand and follow it. He studied the writings of each school-of-thought to understand
their point of view, then wrote comprehensive volumes about what is fair and just in light of
the teachings of Islam. He worked out a system of thought, beliefs, and values, on which all
but the extremists could agree. He thus provided a spiritual basis for national cohesion.

Shah Wali Ullah trained students in different branches of Islamic knowledge and entrusted
them with the teaching of students. He recommended the application of Ijtihad against blind
Taqlid. He also interpreted Quran and Hadith according to the context of the times.

Shah Wali Ullah directed his teachings towards reorienting the Muslim society with the
concepts of basic social justice, removing social inequalities, and balancing the iniquitous
distribution of wealth. He established several branches of his school at Delhi for effective
dissemination of his ideas. In his book “Hujjat-ullah-il-Balighah”, he pinpointed the causes of
chaos and disintegration of Muslim society. These were:

 Pressure on public treasury, the emoluments given to various people who render no service to
the state.
 Heavy taxation on peasants, merchants, and workers, with the result that tax evasion was
rampant. According to Shah Wali Ullah, a state can prosper only if there were light and
reasonable taxes.
He wrote open letters to:

 Mughal rulers, to give up their corrupt and inefficient practices.

 Soldiers, to inculcate within them the spirit of Jihad.
 Artisans, workers, and peasants, to remind them that the economic prosperity of the state
depended on their labors.
 The Emperor, asking him to teach a lesson to the Jats threatening the Mughal Empire. He also
wrote and advised him not to give jagirs (land) to mansabdars who were not loyal to the state.
 Masses, to be conscious of their duties and not to indulge in the accumulation of wealth.
Shah Wali Ullah tried to reconcile the basic differences amongst the different sections of the
Muslims and considered the government as an essential means and agency for
regeneration of the community. He wrote to Ahmad Shah Abdali; “…give up the life of ease.
Draw the sword and do not to sheath it till the distinction is established between true faith
and infidelity…”.

His efforts resulted in the defeat of the Marhattas at the hands of Ahmad Shah Abdali and
Najib-ud-Daula, in the third battle of Panipat in 1761.

Shah Wali Ullah was responsible for awakening in the community the desire to win back its
moral fervor and maintain its purity. To rescue a community’s conscience, belief and faith
from destruction was no small achievement. Even after his death in 1762, his sons and
followers carried on his work. Many future Islamic leaders and thinkers were inspired by his
example.

Shah Walliullah was a great Muslim reformist of 18th century in India. He was a brilliant thinker
and scholar with critical insight of political scenario of that time.  He worked for the betterment
and true education of Muslims on right Islamic norms.  At that time in the Muslims after ruing
India magnificently were going to lose power. The decline of Muslim rule in India had already
begun and Muslims were being exploited at every facet of life. In order to bring Muslims of India
on right path and help them Shah Walliullah worked really hard. He was born on 21st February
1703 in Delhi and he died in 1762. His father was a famous religious personality at that time his
name was Abdur Rahim he was a famous educationist who was running a Madrasah called
Madrasah –i-Rahimiyah.  Shah Walliullah got his early education under his well educated father
who taught him well and he was also enrolled in Naqshbandiyya Sufi order to enrich his spiritual
insight. Soon he got permission to teach at father’s Madrasah, where he continued teaching for
next 12 years. In 1730 he got a chance to go to Mecca where he performed pilgrimage and got
lucky to get education from the leading Muslim scholars of that time. It was a time when a new
thought got roots in his mind that the position and predicament of Muslims at home was
overwhelming. That it was a time for Muslims of India to adopt true spirit of Islam, this is
because of their religious decline Muslims of India were facing decline in social, political, and
economic aspects as well. So he decided to take a lead and started working to show Muslims
actual spirit of Islam in rational manner. He contributed literary fields as well like; in 1738 he
translated Quran into Persian despite of opposition he faced by orthodox Ulemma. He worked to
bring together Shiites and Sunnis and Ulemma and Sufis. He proposed ways like Ijtihad in Islam
and denounced blind Taqlid. He believed in grooming of Muslims as a society and educated
them to live up as a society in which economic and social justice would prevail. He educated
Muslims of India to emancipate Muslim society from economic injustices and social biases. He
wrote almost 50 books on various subjects he trained a group of Ulemma to spread the true
knowledge of Islam. He opened many branches of his school in Delhi to spread his school of
thought. His versatility was his main asset; he worked on every prospected field which could
raise the standard of Muslims as a nation or individual entity. He laid the foundations of all
political, religious, and intellectual movements which would initiate in Indian sub-continent by
Muslims in future. He was an authentic theologian and scholar of Islam; he had great
understanding of Quran and Hadith. He also gave many economic theories which gave reasons
which became the cause of decline of Muslims.  Politically Shah Walliullah was a vibrant
personality.  He ran an indigenous political movement of its kind in India. He tried to unite
Muslims as a single entity. His main political agenda was a retain Mughal Empire; he became
the cause to invite Ahmad Shah Abdali to India in order to fight Marathas who were undermining
Mughal rule at that time. Thought his efforts to maintain Muslim rule in India did not capitalize
but it would provide an insight for future political, intellectual and religious movements in India

A great civilization must have the resilience to renew itself from within. It is what
distinguishes a civilization from a mere dynasty. Islamic civilization has demonstrated
time and again its innate capacity for renewal after every disaster. The death of
Prophet Mohammed was the first great trial of the Islamic community. That challenge
was successfully met, although the price for that success was the civil wars (656-670)
that hardened Shi’a-Sunni differences. The second major challenge was that of ideas
from Greece and India. The Islamic world internalized these ideas, developed them,
and after a period of tumult brought on by Mu’tazilite ideas (8 th and 9th centuries)
remolded them within its own ethos. The result was the emergence of Asharite
doctrines and a more spiritual Islam, embodied in tasawwuf that dominated Islamic
thinking for a thousand years. The challenge of Greek and Indian ideas ended with the
eloquent defense of Al Ghazzali (1111). The third test came with the Mongol
devastation of the 13th century (1219-1301). Islam overcame that challenge through its
inner resilience embodied in tasawwuf. The conquerors were themselves converted
and became the standard bearers of Islamic faith. The fourth challenge came from
Europe (1600-1900). It was a total challenge embracing political, economic, cultural
and ideational spheres. As western civilization became global (1945 onwards), that
challenge also became global, and its reach included not just the Islamic civilization
but also other non-European civilizations of China, India, Japan and Africa. It
continues to this day, although its thrust has shifted from religion to economics.
Reform, as a collective effort to return to the purity of faith, is a recurrent theme in
Islamic history. Since the decisive moment when the Prophet passed away, Muslims
have struggled to shape their destiny in the mold of the Sunnah (example) of the
Prophet. This perpetual struggle has produced some of the most influential personages
in the history of the Muslim peoples.
After the Battle of Plassey (1757), the tide of global affairs had turned decidedly in
favor of Europe. Although it would take more than a hundred years to supplant and
colonize much of Asia and Africa, the relative weakness of the Muslim world was
obvious to perceptive minds. Some scholars felt that this weakness was the result of
deviation from the path of the Prophet. First there was Shah Waliullah of Delhi (d.
1763) who followed in the long lineage of scholars in the subcontinent and had a
decisive impact on the political military events in South Asia. Then came Shaykh
Abdul Wahhab of Najd (circa 1760). His reformist thrust was terse, shorn of the
embellishments that had accrued to religion in the Ottoman Empire. The third
influential personage was Shaykh Uthman Dan Fuduye of Nigeria. Shaykh Dan
Fuduye belonged to the Qadariya movement and his approach, in contrast to that of
Shaykh Abdul Wahhab, was decidedly Sufic and activist.

Although they lived in the second half of the 18 th century, these three reformers faced
different challenges. Shah Waliullah lived at a time when rampant corruption had
destroyed the Moghul Empire. He attempted to restore the glory of Muslim
civilization in India. Shaykh Abdul Wahhab desired to bring back the simplicity of
religion that existed in early Islam. Both Shah Waliullah and Shaykh Abdul Wahhab
were dealing with local situations wherein Islamic civilization was past its zenith, and
decay had set in. In contrast Shehu Uthman Dan Fuduye faced a society wherein
Islam was spreading among the masses and the purity of faith was compromised by
the retention of old animist practices of the people. The first two, Shah Waliullah and
Shaykh Wahhab, waged a rear-guard action to arrest the decline of old societies. The
last one, Shehu Uthman was in the forefront of a revolution to create a new one.
Among the thinkers who have influenced the course of Islamic history in the India-
Pakistan subcontinent, the names of Shaykh Ahmed Sirhindi, Shah Waliullah of
Delhi, and Muhammed Iqbal of Lahore stand out. History is propelled by ideas. These
three were the giants who provided the ideas for men of action like the Moghul
Emperor Aurangzeb, Shaykh Syed Ahmed Shahid of Punjab, and Muhammed Ali
Jinnah, the architect of Pakistan. The triumphs and tribulations, the achievements and
failures, the hopes and disappointments, the joy and the sorrow, of the great Islamic
community in the subcontinent, which today stands at well over 400 million, can be
traced back to the work of these stalwarts. Shaykh Ahmed Sirhindi was the
intellectual force behind the triumph of the orthodox wing of Indian Islam under
Aurangzeb over the Sufic Islam championed by Dara Shikoh. In choosing orthodoxy
over the reforms instituted by Emperor Akbar (d. 1604), Muslims in the subcontinent
selected an historical course, which would make accommodation with the largely non-
Muslim Indian milieu more difficult. The political initiatives of Shah Waliullah
resulted in the third Battle of Panipat (1761). It contained Maratha influence to areas
east of Lahore, created a political vacuum in central Punjab, and contributed to Sikh
ascendancy under Ranjit Singh. Lastly, the concept of Pakistan was first proposed by
Muhammed Iqbal (1931). It was later adopted by the All India Muslim League (1940)
and carried to fruition by Muhammed Ali Jinnah.

Rare among Islamic scholars, Shah Waliullah combined in himself a mastery

of kalam and tasawwuf, the two streams of thought that have been the primary
modulators of Islamic history over the last thousand years. In his encyclopedic
knowledge and the breath of his vision he was without peers. Aware that sectarian
differences in Fiqh and madhab were tearing the community apart, he attempted a
synthesis of Hanafi and Shafi’i schools of jurisprudence based on the central themes
of adl (justice) and ihsan (good deeds towards fellow humans). In this respect alone,
he stands tall among a handful of great scholars who mastered different schools of
Fiqh and sought to synthesize them. It was Shah Waliullah’s successors who laid the
foundation of the Fiqh that is practiced in India and Pakistan today. The Shah was
aware that independent thought was muzzled among learned men, that the spirit of
ijtihad was asleep, and Muslims had long accepted taqlid (to follow, to emulate, to
copy) as the governing principle of religious life. In his incisive analysis of Islamic
history, he traced the origin and development of taqlid. He held that ijtihad was
essential if Muslims were to confront the acute problems of the age. (ijtihad is a
rigorous and independent application of the Shariah by a competent scholar who
analyzes and offers solutions to the paramount issues of the age). With this
conviction, he set out to transform the entire spectrum of Muslim life, including its
religious, social, political, and military aspects. His major works include Mussafa,
Izalah, Hujjah, Buddor e Bazigah, Tafheemat e Ilahiyah, Musawwa and Musaffa. In
his writings, he attacked theological rigidity along sectarian lines, excessive
argumentation and disagreements among scholars, social diseases such as drinking,
prostitution and gambling, corrupt social customs such as lavish marriages,
extravagant banquets and prevention of widow marriages, excessive attachment to
esoteric doctrines and shifting the focus of worship from God to grave worship,
corruption of the ruling circles including excessive taxation, armed oppression of
peasants, drinking and debauchery. To combat the rampant corruption prevalent in the
land, Shah Waliullah presented a vision of Islam as a complete way of life based on
the Qur’anic injunction to enjoin what is good, forbid what is evil, and believing in
God. He sought to infuse in the society rectitude based on the example of the Prophet
and the early Companions. It is for the breadth of his scholarly reach, his incisive
analysis of the evils of the age, and his attempts at a reconstruction of Islamic life in
the subcontinent, that the Shah earned the title of Mujaddid.
Shah Waliullah was the first in the subcontinent to translate the Qur’an into the
Persian language that was widely spoken among the learned circles in India at that
time. It was his initiative, and his example, that later inspired translations of the
Qur’an into Urdu and other Indian languages. His sons were the first to translate the
Qur’an into Urdu. He trained a large number of scholars and teachers whose influence
in northern India and Pakistan was felt throughout the 19 th century. His son Shah
Abdul Aziz was a principal figure in the religious life of Delhi in the waning years of
the Moghul Empire. His grandson Shah Ismail Shahid fought for a just political order
in the Punjab. His followers Sayyid Ahmed and Shah Ismail founded an Islamic
movement in northwest India in the first half of the 19 th century. In modern times, his
influence inspired the voluminous works of Maulana Maudoodi of India and Pakistan,
and the Jamaat e Islami movement.
It was in the political military sphere that Shah Waliullah’s presence was immediately
felt. Comparing kingship to pre-Islamic governments, the Shah called for the re-
establishment of the Caliphate after the example of Khulfa e Rashidoon. He was a
prime mover in the political military events of the age.
The India of Shah Waliullah was in an advanced stage of social and political
disintegration. There was chaos in the court of Delhi. After Nadir Shah ransacked
Delhi (1739) and withdrew, the Moghul Emperor Mohammed Shah tried to hold the
empire together. Muhammed Shah died in 1748, and his son Ahmed Shah (1748-
1754) became the Emperor. Ahmed Shah appointed Safdar Jung as his grand vizier,
but Safdar was more interested in settling scores with his personal enemies than in the
administration of the state. The Emperor then favored Ghaziuddin, a grandson of
Nizam ul Mulk, the Subedar of Deccan. Safdar Jung rebelled. Ghaziuddin forged an
alliance with the Marathas in Poona, and marched north to Delhi with a contingent of
20,000 Maratha cavalry. Safdar Jung was defeated, but now real power in Delhi had
passed on to the Marathas. When Ahmed Shah died in 1754, Alamgir II ascended the
throne. He was a mere puppet in the hands of the Marathas who continued their
relentless advance in the Punjab. With central Punjab under their control, the
Marathas became the dominant power in the subcontinent, except for the territories
controlled by the British and the armed state of Mysore under Hyder Ali and his son
Tippu. Ghaziuddin himself killed Alamgir II in 1759, and the disintegration of the
Empire accelerated.
It is against this background of chaos that one has to look at the life and work of Shah
Waliullah of Delhi. In 1758, the Maratha armies occupied Lahore and evicted Timur,
son of Ahmed Shah Abdali of Kabul. The Punjab is where the vast Islamic world
meets up with the subcontinental Hindu culture. At this juncture, Shah Waliullah of
Delhi wrote to Ahmed Shah Abdali, inviting him to enter Punjab and stop the
Marathas. Three years later, in 1761, Ahmed Shah crossed the Indus and took Lahore.
A large Maratha army advanced from Delhi and met him on the plains of Panipat. The
decisive battle, commonly known as the Third Battle of Panipat, was fought on June
14, 1761. In the desperate clash of arms, over 150,000 Indian soldiers perished, and
the Afghans were victorious.

This event has elicited controversy among Indian historians as to the “foreign”
orientation of Shah Waliullah. The controversy has been accentuated by the current
India-Pakistan dialectic. Those who support the Pakistani position praise the Shah for
stopping the Marathas east of Lahore. In India, on the other hand, the Shah is taken to
task for inviting a “foreign invader” to Indian soil. Some have gone so far as to
portray the Third Battle of Panipat as a Hindu-Muslim clash. None of these positions
is supported by historical facts. First, in the context of the times, Lahore and Kabul
were not “foreign territories”. They were part of Moghul territories that had been
taken by Nadir Shah as late as 1738. The factions headed by the Afghans, Pathans,
Moghuls, Rajputs and Marathas were all “internal” to Hindustan. Secondly, it is
incorrect to portray the Maratha armies as “Hindu”. Of the five Maratha army corps
that fought at Panipat, one was led by a Muslim general who spearheaded the very
first charge, and was a casualty of the war. Thousands of Muslims fought on the
Indian side believing that the Marathas were safe-keepers of the Moghul throne. It
would be more correct to portray the Maratha armies as “Indian”. Conversely, Ahmed
Shah Abdali was interested primarily in taking revenge for the eviction of his son
from Lahore, and not in the affairs of Hindustan. This is confirmed by the fact that he
retired to Kabul after the Battle of Panipat and did not advance towards Delhi. Given
the contest for Lahore, a test of arms between the Afghans and the Marathas was
inevitable, and would have taken place with or without the correspondence of Shah
Waliullah. Maratha influence in the Delhi-Agra areas did not decrease as a result of
the Afghan invasion. In 1785, the Moghul Emperor Shah Alam invited Sindhia of
Gwalior to become the divan and reorganize the empire. Maratha power in the Delhi-
Agra area decreased and disappeared not because of the Third Battle of Panipat, but
because the Marathas were defeated by the Rajputs in 1787. Lastly, in historical
hindsight, the Maratha-Afghan contest comes across only as a footnote to the broad
and sustained advance of the British upon the subcontinent, which was taking place
about the same time.

Shah Waliullah passed away in 1763, leaving behind a scholarly legacy that has
seldom been surpassed. If there is any critique of his work, it has to be that he
overlooked the British challenge to Islamic civilization. Even as the Shah was
involved in the internal disputes between the Afghans and the Marathas, the shadow
of European domination was extending inland from the Indian Ocean. The Battle of
Plassey (1757) gave the East India Company control of all the territories from
Allahabad to Calcutta. Shah Waliullah must have been aware of the oppressive
policies of the Company, and of the economic collapse of Bengal and Bihar under
British jurisdiction. Yet, one does not find awareness in his writings about the rising
challenge of the West to a static and disintegrating India. Indeed, the great Islamic
reformers of the 18th century had their vision directed inward, and were focused more
on internal reform than external threat. The task of placing Islam in the context of a
world-domineering Western civilization was left to scholars of a later age. Shah
Waliullah offered no fresh guidance as to how to live with people of other faiths
except to reiterate the practices of an earlier age based on a compartmentalized
division between “Dar ul Islam” and “Dar ul Harab”.
Shah Waliullah Dehlavi

Indian religious leader Shah Waliullah Dehlavi (1703-1762)

was an influential Islamic reformer who sought to
regenerate Muslim society in Asia. A prolific writer, he
produced 51 important Islamic texts.
Through his writings and his teachings, as well as the life he
led, Shah Waliullah Dehlavi inspired subsequent generations of
Islamic followers who carried on his reformation mission after
his death. Today people consider his writings to represent his
most important achievement, especially his translation of the
Holy Quran into a popular language, which made that religious
text more accessible to a greater number of people.
Shah Waliullah Dehlavi was born on February 21, 1703, in the
town of Phulat in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, India, as the
reign of Aurangzeb, the Mughal emperor of India, was nearing
its end. (Four years later, Aurangzeb died.) He was born as
Qutb-ud-Din, but he would come to be better known as Shah
Waliullah, an appellation that indicated his inherent goodness
and spirituality.
His grandfather, Sheikh Wajihuddin, was a highranking military
officer in the army of Shah Jahan, who sided with Prince
Aurangzeb in the war of succession. His father, Shah Abdur
Rahim, was a Sufi and an illustrious scholar who helped
compile the Fataawa-i-Alamgiri, the huge written work of Islamic
law. He taught at the Madrassa-iRahimiya, a theological
college, or seminary, that he helped establish. The institution
would become an important part of the religious emancipation
of Muslim India, as it provided a starting point for later religious
reformers.
Precocious Scholar

Shah Waliullah received his basic education from his

grandfather, but his father later provided him with his academic
and spiritual education. When he was only five years old, Shah
Waliullah was introduced to Islamic education. Two years later
he could recite the Holy Quran. Obviously, he was a precocious
scholar. He was only ten years old when he was able to read
from the Interpretation by Ja'mi, an acclaimed grammar book.
Around this time he also gained knowledge of Tafseer, Hadith,
spiritualism, mysticism, metaphysics, logic, and Ilm-ul-Kalam.
Once introduced to Persian and Arabic languages, he was able
to complete his lessons in one year. After that he concentrated
on grammar and syntax. On top of all that, he studied medicine.
After his father died, Shah Waliullah, who was then 17 years
old, became an educator at the Madrassa-i-Rahimiya. He
taught there for 12 years, providing guidance to fellow Muslims
on their spirituality and reformation. A deeply devout person,
Shah Waliullah adhered to the Islamic custom of offering prayer
five times a day. The Madrassa-iRahimiya would become the
center of the Islamic Renaissance in the Indian subcontinent, as
it attracted scholars from all parts of the country. After their
training, they carried the seminary's teaching throughout the
region.
Experienced Vision in Arabia

In 1730 Shah Waliullah went on to pursue higher studies in

Arabia. He studied at Makkah and Madina, two renowned
educational institutions, where he developed a reputation as a
brilliant scholar. In all, he studied for 14 years in Madina, where
he received his Sanad in Hadith (the oral traditions related to
the teachings and the life of the Holy Prophet Muhammad). At
the time, he also became aware that the Marathas (invading
warriors from the Maratha Empire) staged continuous attacks
within India, where they looted the wealth of the Muslims.
According to accounts, while he was in Arabia, Shah Waliullah
received a vision of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, who
commanded that he work to organize and then emancipate the
Muslim community in India. Apparently in response to this
vision, Shah Waliullah returned to Delhi on July 9, 1732, where
he began what he considered to be his life's mission.
Became a Muslim Leader

In pursuing this mission, Shah Waliullah faced a formidable

task. At the time, Muslim India was in chaos socially, politically,
economically and spiritually. But Shah Waliullah identified the
causes of the problems and indicated appropriate remedies. He
was critical of the non-Islamic customs that had become
integrated into Muslim society, mostly as a result of the Muslim
society's exposure to Hinduism. Specifically, he denounced
extravagant marriage ceremonies and festivals. Also, he
determined the causes of the economic erosion in the Muslim
society and proposed appropriate changes, including greater
distribution of wealth, a concept that predated the economic
theories of Karl Marx, the nineteenthcentury philosopher and
economist who denigrated capitalism and became known as the
father of communism.
But the larger, underlying problem, Shah Waliullah believed,
was a lack of knowledge on the part of Muslims about Islam and
the Holy Quran. This ignorance, he felt, was the source for all of
the troubles that the Muslims endured.
Once settled in Delhi, Shah Waliullah began teaching students
in the many varied branches of Islamic learning, as well as
preparing them to be missionaries who would go out and reveal
to the masses the true nature of Islam. Further, to help promote
Islamic teachings and make the Holy Quran more
comprehensible to laypeople, he translated the Quran into
Persian, which was the common language at the time. He also
tried to help settle the differences that separated Muslims into
various sectarian groups. In this way, he rose to become a
great leader as well as a scholar, and his followers recognized
in him certain saintly qualities. His ambitions were great yet
selfless, and he saw his own mission as engineering the revival
of Islam in India. A humble man, Shah Waliullah sought no
personal reward but only greater glory for his fellow Muslims.
Besides being a deeply spiritual and noted academic, Shah
Waliullah was also politically astute. He helped create a united
Muslim front to oppose the rising Marhatta power, which
threatened the already deteriorating Muslim influence in the
northern part of India. To forestall the eradication of Muslim
power, he prevailed upon the national leaders of the time,
including Ahmad Shah Abdali, Nizam ul Mulk, and
Najibuddaula. In particular, he wrote to Ahmad Shah Abdali,
asking him to help the Muslims of India defeat the Marhattas, as
well as their constant threat to the declining Mughal Empire. As
a result of the plea, Ahmad Shah Abdali appeared on the
battlefield of Panipat in 1761 and, with his army, halted the
Marhatta ambitions to control the Indian subcontinent. Shah
Waliullah's letter to Ahmad Shah Abdali is now regarded as one
of the most important historical documents related to the
eighteenth century, as Shah Waliullah perceptively described
the grave political circumstances in India as well as the
numerous dangers the Muslim society faced from all sides.
Shah Waliullah not only had a keen grasp of regional and
national politics; he also clearly understood the profound impact
of economics. Based on what he saw, he promoted the concept
of socio-economic equilibrium, and he deplored the
accumulation of wealth, viewing it essentially as the proverbial
root of all evil in the world. Further, he advocated a social
order that embraced Islamic principles of equality, fraternity,
and brotherhood.
Prolific Writer

As his letter to Ahmad Shah Abdali suggests, Shah Waliullah

exerted a great deal of influence through his use of the written
word. A prolific writer, he assumed a lifetime task of producing
standard works on Islamic learning. Within a period of 30 years,
he wrote 51 books (23 in Arabic and 28 in Persian). Today,
some of his works are still regarded as being unmatched in the
entire sphere of Islamic literature.
Scholars tend to classify Shah Waliullah's written works into six
categories: those works that deal with the Holy Quran (which
includes his Persian translations), those that deal with Hadith,
works related to “Fiqh” (or Islamic jurisprudence), works based
on mysticism, works dealing with Muslim philosophy and Ilm-i-
Kalam, and, finally, the writings that focused on the Shia-Sunni
division that had become quite acute during his time.
His most famous works include Fath ur Rahmaan Fee
Tarjumatul Qura'an, a translation of the Holy Quran in Persian,
and Al Fauzul Kabeer Fee Usool at Tafseer, a booklet written in
the Persian language that communicates the core of the Holy
Quran and its rules for interpretation. It also reviewed
interpretations of the Holy Quran made by other scholars.
Many regard his most renowned work to be the Hujjatullah-il-
Balighah, a two-volume manuscript penned in Arabic that
detailed jurisprudence for the Hadith, as well as aspects of
Islam shared in all Muslim countries. It is still taught in
seminaries. The Studying Islam Web site quoted Shah
Waliullah in his introduction to this work: “Some people think
that there is no usefulness involved in the injunctions of Islamic
law and that in actions and rewards as prescribed by God there
is no beneficial purpose. They think that the commandments of
Islamic law are similar to a master ordering his servant to lift a
stone or touch a tree in order to test his obedience and that in
this there is no purpose except to impose a test so that if the
servant obeys, he is rewarded, and if he disobeys, he is
punished. This view is completely incorrect. The traditions of the
Holy Prophet (sws) and consensus of opinion of those ages,
contradict this view.
One chapter in the work described the evils of capitalism, which
Shah Waliullah believed led to the fall of the Roman and
Sassanid empires. Many of his theories relating to economics
and socialism are now deemed revolutionary, and he is
considered to be a forerunner to Marx. Shah Waliullah criticized
the exploitation of the poor and saw it as a fomenter of bloody
revolution, which he deplored. Revolution, he felt, should be of
a peaceful and intellectual nature, and he believed that an
intellectual revolution needed to precede any lasting form of
political change. In Izaalat-ul-Khifaa, another of his best-known
works, Shah Waliullah fully described the idea of the political
revolution that he envisioned.
Shah Waliullah's ideas and values no doubt came in response
to the time in which he was born, which has been described as
an era of decadence. His ideal vision for the Muslim society was
one where all individuals enjoyed complete freedom and rulers
based their decisions on the Holy Quran. He was critical of the
idle rich, such as the Mughal rulers and India's nobility. The
Studying Islam Web site further quoted him writing about this
element of society: “Oh Amirs! Do you not fear God? (How is it
that) you have so completely thrown yourself into the pursuit of
momentary pleasures and have neglected those people who
have been committed to your care! The result is that the strong
are devouring the (weak) people.”
Influence Lasted Beyond Death

After a lifetime devoted to teaching and writing about Islam,

Shah Waliullah died on August 20, 1762. The Muslim leader
and reformer was 59 years old. He was buried in “Munhadiyan,”
a famous graveyard in India, next to his father. After his death,
his son, Shah Abdul Aziz, along with his followers and
generations of successors, continued his mission to regenerate
the Muslim faith.
Today, he is still highly respected by Muslims throughout Asia.
His teachings and tradition live on with the Deoband and Barelvi
movements. Later, Shah Abdul Aziz, following in his father's
footsteps, translated the Holy Quran into Urdu, the language of
the Muslim masses in India. Meanwhile, Shah Waliullah's
influence continues to be felt in many religious, social, and
political matters

Movement of Shah Wali ullah:

            Shah Waliullah’s name was Qutubuddin but due to his spiritual
virtues, he was called Walliullah. He was born in a village near Delhi on
21st February 1703. His father, Shah Abdui Rahim, was a well-known
scholar and a religious leader. At the early age of 15. Shah Waliullah
mastered the major branches of Islamic learning. He succeeded his father
as the Shaikh of the Madrassah when he was just 17.

            Soon after the death of EmperorAurangzeb Alamgir in March 1707,

a wave of religious and moral degradation swept the Muslims of the
subcontinent. Shah Waliuulah very minutely analyzed the factors for the
downfall and concluded that it was due to the increasing influence of the
non-Muslims. The Military strength of the Muslims had collapsed and they
were at the mercy of the tribal of JATS and MARATHAS. Waliullah realized
that if Muslims did not abide by Islam, they would gradually lose their rank.
In these circumstances. He planned to revive Islamic teachings and values
in the subcontinent.

            Shah Waliullah wrote letters to the then Mughal Emperor, the

Nizam of Hyderabad Deccan. Rohilla Sardar Hafizul Mulk and Najibuddula.
He warned them about the declining state of the Muslim society in the
subcontinent. He also wrote to the ruler of Afghanistan, Ahmed Shah
Abdali to save the Muslims of India from the atrocities of Marathas.
Thereupon, Ahmed Shah Abdali, in 1761, inflicted a crushing defeat on the
Marathas at the third battle of Panipat, from which the Marathas never
recovered.
 Shah Waliullah’s meritorious work was the Persian translation of the Holy
Quran. This helped the people in understanding the Holy Quran. Later, it
was translated into Urdu by his sons and others. He also wrote books on
Hadith, Islamic Jurisprudence (Fiqh) and Tafseer (Exegesis). The most
popular among these is his famous work Hujjat-ul-La-Hul-Baligha. The
message of this work is that Islam is the universal religion. It guarantees
progress and prosperity for the whole mankind. Shah Waliullah died on
10th August 1762. His son and successor Shah Abdul Aziz continued his
mission at Madrassah Rahimiya in Delhi.

ackground
Shah Waliullah was born in 1703. This period is marked as persistent decline and deterioration all over
in the Muslim society. The people had no peace of mind and no safety of life. Loot and plunder, feuds
and fighting had spread everywhere. Disintegration of the Mughal Empire had set in and the Muslims
were split among themselves. Consequently, they suffered much at the hands of the Sikhs, Jats and
Marhatas.

When Aurangzeb Alamgir died, Shah Waliullah was only four years old. No less than ten rulers
ascended the throne one after the other during his lifetime. None of them was competent enough to
stem the tide of decline. The attack of Nadir Shah ruined Delhi and made it vulnerable for more
attacks.

Economic Background of Shah Waliullah’s time

Political decline had made the country virtually bankrupt, exploitation of the rich, life of luxury and
ease, Jagirdari system, heavy taxes and political anarchy collapsed the country economically. Middle
class, that has always been bone of a country, had been extinct virtually.

For an improved and reformed economy, Shah Waliullah thought it necessary that the basic
necessities of life should be provided to the people. That state would be considered a welfare state
where this is done.

Corrupt Government
“A corrupt government, which neglects satisfying the basic needs of life, ‘says Shah Waliullah’, should
and must be overthrown by every hook and crook. If it is allowed to continue, its corruption will
spread like a cancer first in some members of the administration, which, if it is not cut out from its
very root, will go on spreading till the whole body will disintegrate”.

Religious Conditions
The luxury of Akbar and Shah Jehan period led the so-called Ulema to discuss dogmatic intricacies in
terms of reasons. As they failed to furnish the religious grounds to the rational one, they started
propagating against the very teachings of Islam. No research and investigation was made by the
learned in the affairs of religion as to solve the problems emerging from time to time. Sufis were
hollow, and had no knowledge of the Holy Qur’an and the Traditions.

Differences of Shiites and Sunnies

Shah Sahib made a very serious effort to iron out the differences of Shiites and Sunnies. Shah Sahib
rendered meritorious services for the good of the Muslim community. He appealed the Muslim
community persistently to turn to the Quran. He made them clear that the Holy Quran has stood the
test of times and could solve all their problems. He decided to translate the Holy Quran into Persian.
Even Fatwas were issued against him. He advised Muslim to study the Holy Quran with the help of
Hadith.

Jihad
It is for this reason that he emphasises the necessity of the continuation of Jihad, he generally meant
revolution (Inqilab). He strongly recommends the retention of the spirit of Jihad for all times to come.
So long as this spirit, he says, was present in the Muslim, they remained victorious and were
honoured everywhere, but no sooner it disappeared from them, they were humiliated and hated
wherever they were. He tells that in the existing times, the Muslims should in no way neglect the
sacred duty of Jihad as such neglect in turn amounts to the loss of abundant good.

Economic Reforms
He Presented some of the economic principles for governing a state:
1.Economic prosperity depends upon the hard worker of its  labourers. These labourers are the
backbone of our economy.
2. He advised Mughals to be conscious of their duties and not to indulge in the accumulation of wealth.
3. He underlined the importance of Economic Equality.
4.He said that such economic system is dangerous for the development of country where labourers,
artisans and peasants failed to get their basic rights.

As a Social Reformer
Shah Waliullah directed the his teachings towards reorienting the Muslim society with the concepts of
basic social justicse, removing socilal inequaliliteis and balancing the distribution of wealth. In his
book, Hujjat-ullah-il-Balighah, he pinpointed the causes of chaos and disintegration of Muslim society.
Following are the reasons:
1. Pressure on public treasury, the emoluments given to various people who render no service to the
state.
2. Heavy taxation on peasants, merchants and workers with the result that tax evasion was rampant.
3. He also requested Mughal rulers to stop their corrupt activities and advised not to give lands to
those who were not loyal to the state.

Political Movements
Finding no other way to get out of this critical situation, he wrote a letter to Ahmad Shah Abdali to
attack India. Ahmad Shah Abdali made an all-out attack on India in 1174 H /1760-61 A.D. The battle
took place in the plains of Panipat. The Marhatas, despite their great military might, suffered a
crushing defeat. They could not rise for some time to come. This was a golden opportunity for the
Muslims to avail of, but against all expectations they remained where they were.

“The most monumental task he performed was to translate the

Quran from Arabic to Persian which was the language spoken
by the Muslims at that time in India.”
Unity of Muslims
In this connection, he says, it is the duty of the entire Muslim nationals wherever they are to come
nearer to each other, close their ranks, and participate jointly in the various fields of life as far as it is
practicable. This had been his anxiety and his aim in life. He has spoken much on this topic under the
heading IRTIFAQAT (socio-economics) in his Huj’atullah-ul-Balaghah in particular.

Shah Waliullah’s Work

The most monumental task he performed was to translate the Quran from Arabic to Persian which was
the language spoken by the Muslims at that time in India. Apart from the Holy Quran, Shah Waliullah
also wrote “Hujatul Baligdh”. This book explains how Islam was found suitable for all races, cultures
and people of the world. “Al Fauzul Kabeer Fee Usool at Tafseer,” a booklet in Persian that follows his
Persian translation of the Qur'an. It contains the nucleus of the Qur'an, the rules for interpretation,
and interpretations of the Qur'an.

Impact on Muslim Society

Shah Waliullah was responsible for awakening in the community, the desire to win back its moral
fervor and to maintain its purity. To rescue a community’s conscience, belief and faith from
destruction was not small achievement. His teachings created new awareness in the minds of Muslims
of the Sub-continent. He was realist in his political thinking. He had a clear vision of society, religion,
ethics, morals and politics. He presented such modern and golden principles of economics and politics
that are still in use. Shah Waliullah tried to synthesize the two streans of liberalism anf religious
extremism of Akbar and Mujadid Alf Sani simultaneously. After his death in 1762, Shah Waliullah’s
work continued both by the members of his family and by his close followers, the chief of whom was
his son, Shah Abdul Aziz.

The global currents of reformism inspired the political leadership of Aurangzeb

Alamghir to reorganize and reorder the Mughal Empire along modern lines in
the latter part of the 17th century. The bureaucratic make-up was revamped,
the economic policies were revisited, military was streamlined, religious
hierarchy was rearranged, and fresh intellectual endeavors were undertaken
to develop a common juridical architecture. To this end, scores of scholars
were invited from Mecca, Medina, and India to the royal court. Under the
auspices of Aurangzeb, a committee of these scholars was instituted with a
task to prepare a manual of legal codes for the juridical arbitrations. The
digest of legal codes was later on designated as the “Fatawa-e-Alamghiri”.

Shah Abdur Raheem was one of the prestigious members of the committee.
Articulating his dissent on a wide range of legal postulates, Shah Abdur
Raheem voluntarily distanced himself from the committee. Aurangzeb
Alamghir personally entreated him to show up, and offered him an entitlement
to a vast swath of estate. Adamant on his refusal, Shah Abdur Raheem
established a college of law in Delhi and called it “Madrasa-e-Rahimiya”. The
college was founded with an aim to prepare a class of scholars who would
master the “rational sciences” and the “traditional sciences” of Islam. After the
death of Shah Abdur Raheem, his eldest son Shah Wali-ullah rose to the
occasion and continued his legacy.

Qutbuddin Shah Wali-ullah Muhadith Dehlevi was a lone genius of his age
and time. He mastered at an early age the rational sciences(called Aqli ulum)
of logical syllogism, Iranian gnosticism, dialectics, Greek philosophy, Iranian
illumination, speculative reasoning, and arithmetic, and the traditional
sciences(called Deeni ulum) of Quranic exegesis, scriptural hermeneutics,
Hadith literature, legal formalism, mysticism, and textual genealogy. His
eclecticism aimed at demonstrating affinity between the schools of Hanafite
and Shafite rites, amongst the different orders of mystical strands, and
amongst the guilds of Aasharism, Maturidism, and Mutalizism.

He insisted on the need to trace the common denominators that characterize

the intellectual landscape of speculative Sufism and scriptural Salafism. His
informed ecumenicalism rested on the urgency to wed the philosophic vision
of Shii Islam to the rationalist project of Sunni Islam. His originality expressed
itself in his theories on natural laws, governance models, aesthetics, ontology,
and social evolution. Shah Wali-ullah also expressed his own commitment to
the mystical guilds. He himself was a Sufi of high calibre and had acquired a
rank of excellence in his expression of devotion to it. Apart from his own his
participation in the organization of the piety-minded community of scholars in
the India, he acted as an intellectual arbitrator to reconcile the two apparently
opposing theories of Islamic mystical tradition-- the two being the Unity of
Being and the Unity of Witness. He arrested the widening chasm that was
ripping apart the fabric of Islamic mysticism and declared in one of his letters
a complete harmony between these two theories; the difference being that of
a nuanced interpretation. Thus, an impending rivalry came to an end with both
of the theories falling in line with the normative set of doctrines attributable to
the early Islamic scholarship or traceable to the practices and the religious
consciousness of early Islamic community.
In his calculus of Islamic thought, the scriptural content of the Quran and the
righteous conduct of the Prophet and his earlier companions are the
touchstone that establishes the validity of any intellectual pursuit. Emanates
from this proposition the urge for the repudiation of any form of knowledge
that lacks the credentials in need for the Islamic authentication. Lies in it the
dynamism of his thought-apparatus, for Wali-ullah prepares legitimate ground
even for the strains of knowledge acquired from a multitude of means through
tracking its origins back to a divine nature. In other words, any shade of
knowledge or a form of reality acquired after a thorough investigation of its
substance can embody the constituents of quasi-Islam, for every being in all
its manifestations is a direct descent from the actual being of God. Thus, only
the corrosion and the corruption that contributed to its defilement requires a
redressal for its return back to the pristine nature.
Muhammad Iqbal admitted in one of his correspondences that Shah Wali-
ullah was the first Muslim scholar of our modern intellectual history to have
conceptualized the idea of modernity. Jonathan AC. Brown in his tome
“Misquoting Muhammad”, Charles Khurzman in “Liberal Islam”, Anthony Black
in “History of Islamic Political Thought”, and Ahmad Dallal in “Islam without
Europe” contended that Shah Wali-ullah emerged as the first Muslim
Philosopher to have laid the foundations of modernism in the Islamic World.
His interpretive system of reasoning continued to inform the discourse on
modernism and modernity.

Shah Wali-ullah emerged as the precursor to all the intellectual movements of

India in the 19th century. His traditionalist legacy expressed itself in Deoband,
Ahl-e-Hadith, Berelvi movements. Similarly his conciliatory tendencies were
continued in Nadwa-tul-ulama, Jamaat-e-Islami, and Farahi School. His
project of his modernism was carried ahead by the Aligarh University and the
philosophical school of Dr Fazlur Rehman. His authority was invoked by every
reformist, his oeuvre was tapped into by every intellectual, his legalism was
pressed into service by every legalist, and his comprehensive vision was
summoned into use by every modernist.
The rigor of his intellectual work was on par with the scholarship of Kant,
Hegel, and Nietzsche. The modern intellectual canvas of Muslim India is
defined by the noetic ingenuity of Shah Wali-ullah: the lone genius of the 18th
century. The currents of modern Islamic discourse in India trace their pedigree
back to Shah Wali-ullah of Delhi. In the words of Aziz Ahmad, “Shah Wali-
ullah is a bridge to modernity in India”