Shah Waliullah Dehlavi's Endeavour to Revive Islamic Faith and Practice in 18th Century India

By Grace Mubashir, New Age Islam 4 July 2022 Shah Waliullah Dehlavi Had A Strong Influence On All The Intellectual, Political, Cultural And Ideological Developments And Reform Activities That Took Place In India In The 19th And 20th Centuries Main Points: 1. Shah Waliullah Dehlavi provided the philosophical foundation of a complete Islamic movement 2. With the abandoning of Ijtihad, which accelerated Islamic thought, unnecessary and irrelevant arguments and debates heated up in the academic arena. 3. The political and social content of Shah Waliullah's renaissance project is stronger and clearer than that of Ghazali and Ibn Taymiyyah. ------ Shah Waliullah Dehlavi, who lived in India in the 18th century, is a unique social reformer and renaissance hero seen in the Islamic world after Imam Abdul Hamid al-Ghazali and Imam Ibn Taymiyyah. If Imam Ghazali and Taqi al-Deen Ahmad Ibn Taymiyyah's revival plans were mainly shaped by the ideological and religious deterioration and deviations of the Islamic society, then the political powerlessness of the Islamic world also played an important role in shaping the thoughts and actions of Shah Waliullah Dehlavi. Therefore, the political and social content of Shah Waliullah's renaissance project is stronger and clearer than that of Ghazali and Ibn Taymiyyah. He is also unique in basing his reform plans on historical analysis. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also Read: Why Shah Waliullah’s Thesis should be Repudiated by Indian Muslims ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Background Aurangzeb of the Mughal Empire was different from all the Muslim rulers who ruled India for more than eight centuries. His reign was an obvious influence and reflection of the religio-social revivalist activities of Mujaddid Alf-e-Saani Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi, who was known as the second-millennium reformer of India during the time of his predecessors. Although not free from the instincts of monarchy, his rule and life were to some extent based on Islamic principles and values. Aurangzeb's greatest achievement in the eyes of fundamentalists was to completely free the administration from the religious and cultural ‘decadence’ created by Akbar and set an example for the simple life taught by Islam with his own life. Naturally, social life was not without its influence. But unfortunately the Mughal rule began to disintegrate with the death of Aurangzeb due to his overemphasis on a conservative view and practice of religion in a country with an overwhelming majority of non-Muslims. His successors too were quite weak. They lost many parts of the Mughal Empire that Aurangzeb had built up in a power struggle between weaker successors. Provinces started declaring independence one by one. With the disintegration of the political power that united the Muslims, the Marathas and the Sikhs, who were gaining strength in the meantime, were in a position to attack Delhi at any time. As Muslim political power disintegrated and decayed, so did their moral life. Evils like vanity, hedonism, greed for money, selfishness and lack of faith spread widely in the society. Various superstitions and customs became prevalent in the society, which tarnished even monotheism. The field of Islamic scholarship was completely frozen and reduced to the study of peripheral issues. Qur'an and Sunnah were deliberately excluded from study. Sectarian bias was its natural outcome. With the abandoning of Ijtihad, which accelerated Islamic thought, unnecessary and irrelevant arguments and debates heated up in the academic arena. This fuelled partisanship and sectarianism that further fractured the fabric of Islamic society. Outside India, the situation in the Islamic world was not much different. Although the Ottoman Empire survived, Muslim political power was constantly challenged by the European Renaissance and the intellectual explosion that emerged in the 15th and 16th centuries and gained momentum in the 17th century. It was these conditions and degradations that the Islamic society was facing in all spheres of life that shaped the reformer Shah Waliullah in Delhi, the heartland of India. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also Read: Shah Waliullah’s Islamic Reformation in 18th Century India: Sufi or Wahhabi? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Birth Shah Waliullah was born in Delhi in 1114/1103, four years before Aurangzeb's death. Shah Waliullah traces his lineage to Musa al-Khalim, a member of the Prophet's family and the seventh Imam of the Shiites. His father, Shah Abdur Rahim, was a distinguished scholar of his time and the founder of Madrasah Rahimiyyah, a prestigious college of that time at the outskirts of Delhi. His father was his main teacher. He also stayed in Makkah for two years and learned from the prominent scholars there. He had a knowledge that surpassed all his contemporaries in all matters of formal and intellectual knowledge. Research insight and extraordinary life observation skills added to his acquired knowledge. He was disturbed by the decline of the Mughal Empire that he saw before his eyes and the religious and cultural decay that affected all spheres of social life. This led him to the realization that a massive revolution in the fields of thought and knowledge was necessary to bring about comprehensive social reform and regain the lost political power of Islamic society. He chose it as his field of action. Revival Activities The revival activities of Shah Waliullah had two main aspects. One of them was critical study. The second is creative activities. Critical Study: He finds the roots of the present crisis of Islamic society in Islamic history itself. Approaching Islamic history with a critical insight, he explained the characteristics of each historical period and pointed out the main problems and decays in them one by one. This historical study led him to the realization that the root cause of all the religious, moral and civil disturbances and decays faced by the Islamic society after the Khilafat al-Rashidin was the shift of the Islamic political system from the caliphate to the despotic monarchy and the blind imitation as against the spirit of Ijtihad dominated the intellectual arena. As Maulana Maududi observed, Shah Waliullah Dehlavi was the first to draw attention to the fundamental difference between Islamic history and Muslim history and make it part of his revivalist project. He points out the fundamental difference between the caliphate and the monarchy by highlighting a number of administrative values that were held with commitment during the caliphate, but which were lost during the monarchy. He analyses Islamic history in this way in his great work Izalatul Khafa anil Khulafa (Removal of Ambiguity about the Caliphate of the [Early] Caliphs). Izalatul Khafa Anil Khulafa is a work that has many similarities in content with the later work of Maulana Maududi, Khilafat and Mulookiyat or Monarchy. He points out the fundamental difference between the caliphate and the monarchy by highlighting a number of administrative values that were held with commitment during the caliphate, but were lost during the monarchy. He analyses Islamic history in this way in his great work Izalatul Khafa Anil Khulafa. The second evil, the abandonment of Ijtihad, and the universality of the delusion of imitation (Taqleed), is dealt with in almost all works besides Hujjatullah al-Baligha, Tafheemat Ilahiya, Budur al-Basighah, and Musafa. His criticism of the approach that promotes blind Mazhabi or sectarian bias without valuing the Qur'an and Sunnah is sharp. He analyses the historical stages and the reasons behind the development of Mazhabi bias in Islamic society considering Ijtihad as a sin and its doors closed. After historical criticism, he correctly assessed the period in which he lived and pointed out the decadences that affected all sections of society, including rulers, soldiers, bureaucrats, Sufis, scholars, and the general public, one by one, and submitted proposals for reforming them. Rulers who indulged in hedonism and indulged in decadence with no interest in establishing justice or the welfare of their subjects, soldiers who indulged in drinking alcohol, horse riding and armouring, oblivious to the basic duty of Jihad to uphold the Word of Allah, Sufis who invited the people to false visions and false rituals. He also severely criticized the scholars who ignored the Qur'an and the Sunnah and indulged in liturgical and theological disputes and were partial to their own Mazhab (sect) without learning or thinking about anything new, taking all the opinions of their ancestors as scriptures. He then called upon the general public to refrain from all the superstitions and customs that spread in the society that are not compatible with Tawheed (Oneness or unity of God). He opines that going to the tombs of Ajmer or Salar Masood hoping for help is more fatal than committing adultery or murder. Invoking the name of the ruler of his era, he warned that the reason for the spread of violence and vices in the society is the negligence of the state in implementing Sharia rulings. Therefore, he says at one place that he is ready and qualified to take the stage for Jihad himself if the situation and context are suitable to eliminate violence and injustice. Here we see a revolutionary reformer striving for social intervention. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also Read: Shah Waliullah Renewed Islam in Eighteenth Century India with Ideas That Were Progressive and Even Revolutionary For His Time ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Constructive Work The reformer aspect of Shah Waliullah Dehlavi is further revealed in the fact that his reform initiative was not limited to social criticism. He presented a complete and comprehensive reform project aimed at accelerating social change and advancing the times. This is what we call the constructive aspect of his revival. The first among them is the neutral and balanced view he presented on the subject of actions, without blind allegiance or hostility to any Mazhab. Like a complete Mujtahid, he studied in depth the foundations of all Mazahib and their method of jurisprudence and formed an absolutely independent and unbiased opinion. The opinion in question sometimes supports the Shafi'i Mazhab and sometimes it supports the Hanafi Mazhab. Opinions supporting the Maliki Mazhab and the Hanbali Mazhab were also not rare. But this support is only based on evidence. But there was no bias or animosity. He revived the study of hadith, which was stagnant not only in India but all over the world at that time. By introducing a balanced view of Karma and integrating Fiqh and hadith, he not only reminded us of the need for Ijtihad, but also set an example by doing it himself. He explains all the principles and methods of Ijtihad in detail. He presents this balanced view of Fiqh through his works Tafheemat Ilahiyyah and Al Insaf. Another fundamental contribution he made to the Islamic revival was that he tried to present the system of thought of Islam in a comprehensive and scientific manner, including faith, worship, morality, civilization and law. Maulana Syed Abul A'Ala Maududi has opined that he is far ahead of his predecessors in this regard. Because it is difficult to find this kind of presentation in any of their texts. He tried to introduce the order of Shariah, Ibadahs, injunctions, laws, etc., and clarify their interrelationships, their secrets and interests, and ensure the interaction between life and religion. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also Read: Contention And Reconciliation: Shah Waliullah On The Understanding Of Intellectual Disagreements ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contributions to Islamic Philosophy One of his original contributions was the attempt to develop an Islamic philosophy completely independent of the influence of Greek, Roman, Iranian and Indian philosophies. He tried to formulate a cosmological and social vision which was identified with and integrated with the ethical civil order of Islam. In the social philosophy presented by him, which is the foundation of morality, social manners, politics, justice, taxation, administration, military organization etc. are discussed in detail. It also sheds light on the factors that create chaos in the social order. Here too he bases his observations on the history of various societies. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also Read: Was Shah Waliullah Dehlvi Pioneer Of Socialism? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Influence Through his scholarly work, Shah Waliullah Dehlavi provided the philosophical foundation of a complete Islamic movement that embodied and represented Islam in its entirety and in life. Thus, although such a movement was not formed directly, within fifty years of his death such a movement was formed by his disciples. It was the Mujahid movement jointly led by Syed Ahmad Shaheed and Shah Islameel Shaheed which has been described as the first Islamic movement in India. After the suppression of this movement by the British, Shah Waliullah Dehlavi had a strong influence on all the intellectual, political, cultural and ideological developments and reform activities that took place in India in the 19th and 20th centuries. ------ A regular columnist for NewAgeIslam.com, Grace Mubashir is a journalism student at IIMC, Delhi URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-personalities/shah-waliullah-islamic-faith18th-century-india/d/127397 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism