Was Shah Waliullah Dehlvi Pioneer Of Socialism?
By
Saquib Salim, New Age Islam
27-06-2022
Shah Waliullah Dehlvi An Indian Scholar Of The
Quran, Hadith, Logic, And Philosophy Had Proposed Socio-Economic System Much
Before The Industrial Revolution Or The Birth Of Marx
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The book of Shah Walliullah Dehlvi
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The
political and economic discourse of the last two centuries has been dominated
by two diametrically opposite schools of thought, viz. Capitalism and
Socialism. All other forms of polity and economies can be explained as
by-products of one or the other. Socialism is an idea of the distribution of
wealth justifiably among the citizens by the state while capitalism advocates a
free market economy. It is not the place to divulge into nuances of these two
theories.
Often it is
believed that Karl Marx was the first one to propose the ideas of socialism in
the 19th century and his thoughts were developed after a reading of the
conditions of industrial workers in Europe. So, essentially socialism, as a
theory, can be assumed to be a result of the industrial revolution which
occurred in the latter half of the 18th century.
All these
scholarships on socialism, or communism, have overlooked the fact that an
Indian scholar had proposed a similar socio-economic system much before the
industrial revolution or the birth of Marx. Shah Waliullah Dehlvi was an Indian
scholar of the Quran, Hadith, logic, and philosophy, who lived in the 18th
century. He studied Indian culture and civilization closely to understand the
social, economic, and political interactions in the light of Islamic
scriptures.
Waliullah
wrote several books to propagate his political and social ideas. He called his
mission ‘Fakku Kulli Nizām’ (dissolving and revolutionizing every order), i.e.,
only political change was not enough rather revolutionizing every order of the
society was as important to bring justice to the society. In his book, written
in 1731, Ḥujjat Allāh al-Bāligha (Conclusive Arguments of God), Waliullah defined
a process of social evolution and argued that civilizations had gradually
evolved from primitive to caliphate through different stages. These arguments
have quite a lot in common with Marx, who more than a century later, wrote
about the need for a complete revolution and ideas of social evolution.
Maulana
Ubaidullah Sindhi, an important freedom fighter of India, visited the USSR and
studied Marxism to understand it. He concluded that the socio-economic system
proposed by Marx was completely in agreement with Waliullah's ideas. Sindhi
believed that Waliullah’s thoughts were superior and could be followed in
entirety as they provided solutions to more problems than Marx could suggest.
Waliullah
in his book, Ḥujjat Allāh al-Bāligha (Conclusive Arguments of God) explained the need
for a just economic system. Dr Muhammadullah Khalili Qasmi of Darul Uloom,
Deoband in his paper, Shah Waliullah: The Pioneer Thinker of the Modern World,
has explained the socio-economic principles presented by Waliullah. Gathering
from different chapters of Ḥujjat Allāh al-Bāligha, Qasmi explained:
“He (Shah
Waliullah) tried to develop a universal paradigm of the society so he laid down
the foundation of economic and social theory which is well balanced and
safeguards the economic and social interests of all the sections of humanity at
large.
The basic
cause of wealth is labour. Labourers and farmers are earning faculties. Mutual
assistance is the soul of civilization. Until a person is not working for the
nation and people, he/she has no share in the wealth of the country.
Gambling
and profligacy centres should be wiped out as they cannot develop the right
system of wealth distribution and cannot guarantee an increase in national wealth.
In this way, the wealth is accumulated by a minor fraction of society.
The
labourers, farmers, and those who do mental labour for the country and nation
deserve the wealth of the country the most. Their development and prosperity
are synonymous with the development and prosperity of the country. A system
that suppresses such faculties is bound to perish.
A society
that does not compensate labour or levies huge taxations on artisans and
farmers is the enemy of the nation and it should be terminated.
The consent
of a needy labourer is not counted until he is paid for his labour, which is
compulsory to pay on the principle of cooperation.
Any
production or revenue which is not based on the principle of mutual assistance
is illegal.
The work
time should be confined. The labourers should necessarily be given a time in
which they can provide themselves with moral and spiritual reformation and can
have an ability to think about their future.
Trade is a
major source of mutual assistance; therefore, it must be functioning based on
cooperation only. As it is not allowed for traders to affect the spirit of
cooperation by black marketing and undue competition, the government is also
prohibited to impede the progress and prosperity of trade by heavy taxation.
Any business
and trade that confines the circulation of wealth in any particular class of
people is dangerous for a country.
Such a
royal system that intervenes in the right circulation of wealth due to
extravagance and squandering deserves to be put to an end as quickly as
possible so that the sufferings of the people come to an end and they are given
equal rights.”
Waliullah
was not thinking about those living in palaces and changing crowns among
themselves. He was worried about the common Indian and India of his times. His
theory of society, economy, and politics was later identified as socialism but
his name remained at the margins. It is time that we remember this great
thinker who gave these socialist ideas much before the industrial revolution.
Source: Was Shah Waliullah Dehlvi Pioneer Of
Socialism?
URL: https://newageislam.com/books-documents/waliullah-dehlvi-socialism?/d/127341
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