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.
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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.
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Also Read: Why Shah Waliullah’s Thesis should be Repudiated by
Indian Muslims
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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.
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Also Read: Shah Waliullah’s Islamic Reformation in 18th Century
India: Sufi or Wahhabi?
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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.
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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.
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Also Read: Contention And Reconciliation: Shah Waliullah On The
Understanding Of Intellectual Disagreements
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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.
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Also Read: Was Shah Waliullah Dehlvi Pioneer Of Socialism?
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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.
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A
regular columnist for NewAgeIslam.com, Grace Mubashir is a journalism student
at IIMC, Delhi
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