| Full name | Shah Waliullah |
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| Born | 2 February 1703 |
| Died | 20 August 1762 (aged 59) |
| Era | Mughal Era |
| Region | Islamic Philosopher/Islamic Scholar |
| School | Sunni Islam, Hanafi, Madrasa Rahimiyya Sufi, |
| Notable ideas | Evolution of Islamic Philosophy |
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Shah Waliullah Muhaddith Dehlvi (February 21, 1703 – August 20, 1762) was an Islamic scholar and reformer. Although the nature of his reform seems to have been to object to the growing religious tolerance of his time. He was born during the reign of Aurangzeb. He worked for the revival of Muslim rule and intellectual learning in South Asia, during a time of waning Muslim power. He despised the divisions and deviations within Islam and its practice in India and hoped to "purify" the religion and unify all Indian Muslims under his "banner of truth". He is also thought to have anticipated a number of progressive, social, economic, and political ideas of the modern era such as social reform, equal rights, labour protection, welfare entitlement of all to food, clothing, housing, etc. Religious tolerance was not one of the ideas of the modern era that he promoted.
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Shah Waliullah is a descendent of the Quraish tribe of Arabia and his genealogy can be traced to the second khalifa of Islam, Umar on his paternal side. His father, Shah Abdur Rahim, named his son 'Qutbuddin Ahmad'. He was dubbed as 'Shah Waliullah' because waliullah means "friend of God" and he was a pious individual. He was from the Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah and was an adherent of Hanafi jurisprudence. His complete name was Shah Waliullah Qutbuddin Ahmad and he was born in Phulat, a town in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, India on February 21, 1703.
Shah Waliullah received his education at Madrasa Rahimiyya. His father was his teacher and source of spiritual guidance.He was a man of letters. He commenced his studies at the age of five and completed the recitation and memorization of the Qur'an by the age of seven. Thereafter, he commenced primary lessons in Persian and Arabic, which were completed in a year. Then, he studied the grammar and syntax of Persian and Arabic. He completed his studies in philosophy and theology at the age of fifteen and then commenced his studies in mantiq, fiqh, hadith, tibb, algebra, mathematics, kalaam, spirituality, mysticism, oratory and metaphysics under his father. Thereafter, he was inducted into the tradition of bay'at by his father and, by the age of seventeen, he was permitted to provide spiritual guidance to and reform his fellow Muslims. For 'permitted to provide spiritual guidance to and reform' read 'dictate.
On the death of his father when he was hardly seventeen years old, he became a mudarris (teacher) at Madrasa Rahimiyya. He held this position for twelve years. Then, in 1731, Shah Waliullah performed Hajj. He reached Makkah on May 21 and performed Hajj, after which he proceeded to Medina. There, he attended Shaikh Abu Tahir Muhammad bin Ibrahim Kurdi Madani's discourses on hadith. Shah Waliullah studied Sihah Sitta, Mu'atta Imam Malik, Masnad Da'armi, and Imam Muhammad's Al A'saar under him. Thereafter, he returned to Makkah, performed another Hajj, studied Al-Muwatta Imam Malik for a second time under Shaikh Wafadullah Maliki Makki, and attended the discourses of Shaikh Tajuddin Hanafi Qala'i Makki on Sihah Sitta. Then, he was permitted to teach all of the kitabs of hadith by Shaikh Tajuddin.
Thereafter, Shah Waliullah returned to India. His journey back to India lasted six months and he reached Delhi on January 1, 1733.
After he had performed second hajj, he returned to Delhi, he started his work in earnest. This was in a period when Muslims in India were passing through the most critical phase of their history and their entire social, political, economic and spiritual fabric was torn to pieces. On his arrival in Delhi, he started to train his pupils in diverse branches of Islam and entrusted them with the mission of enlightening people with the true nature of Islam. He embarked upon the task of authoring standard works on Islam and was able to complete a number of works on Islam.
Shah Waliullah rose to be an eminent scholar of Islamic studies. He was a prominent intellectual figure whose mission was to reform the Muslims he saw as misguided. His activities were not confined to spiritual and intellectual spheres only. He lived in troubled times and witnessed a number of rulers occupying the throne of Delhi. With his keen political insight, he observed the deterioration of Muslim rule in India and wrote to a number of political dignitaries to attempt to bolster the political life of Muslims in India. He established several branches of Madrasa Rahimiyya in Delhi in order to effectively disseminate his knowledge.
Shah Waliullah was a prolific writer as well. In the realm of Islam, he produced a number of memorable literary works and, within a period of thirty years, he wrote a total of fifty-one works of merit, twenty-eight in Arabic and twenty-three in Persian. Some of these are still unsurpassed in the domain of Islamic literature. His most valuable service to Islam was that he codified the vast store of Islam under separate heads. Both in thought and prediction, his works occupy an outstanding position.
His works can be classified into six categories. The first deals with the Qur'an. It includes his translation of the Qur'an into Persian. According to him, the object of studying the Qur'an is to reform human nature and correct wrong beliefs and injurious actions. The second category deals with hadith, in which he has left behind several works such as commentaries on Al-Muwatta Imam Malik in both Arabic and Persian. Shah Waliullah also wrote a number of works and pamphlets on hadith. The third category deals with fiqh or Islamic jurisprudence, which includes lnsaaf fi Bayaan-e-Sahoobul Ikhtilaf, a brief yet informative history of Islamic jurisprudence over the five centuries before his life. The fourth category deals with mysticism. The fifth category pertains to his works on Muslim philosophy and kalaam. He also wrote a pamphlet on the principles of ijtihad (independent interpretation) and taqlid (conformity). In his principles of ijtihad, he clarifies whether it is obligatory for a Muslim to adhere to one of the four schools of Islamic jurisprudence or whether he can exercise his own judgment. Shah Waliullah's greatest work is Hujjatullahil Baligha, which deals with such aspects of Islam that are common among all of the Muslim countries. The sixth category deals with his works on the problems between Shias and Sunnis. His theories pertaining to economics and socialism are of revolutionary nature. The miserable condition of Indian Muslims inspired him to improve their character, raise their morale, and inculcate a feeling of selflessness and love for their fellows in them. He overhauled the educational system and separated faith from unlawful invented traditions and unnecessary and unwanted suspicions regarding Islam. He presented what he considered pure and pristine Islam to people.(1976)
The biographers of Shah Waliullah state that the number of his published literary works are above fifty. Shah Waliullah was a prolific writer who wrote extensively on several Islamic topics. His literary masterpieces are as follows:
1. Fathur Rahman fi Tarjumatul Qur’an: A translation of the Qur'an into Persian. A collection of 40 ahadith which are brief yet of inclusive character.
2. Al Faudhul Kabir fi Usoolut Tafsir: A booklet in Persian that follows his Persian translation of the Qur'an. It contains the nucleus of the Qur'an, the rules of interpretation, and interpretations of the Qur'an by various eminent scholars.
3. Hujjatullahil Baligha: Shah Waliullah's greatest literary work. Its title is derived from the Qur'an (Suratul An'aam:149). It is a two-volume Arabic manuscript and elaborates about the jurisprudence from the hadith and necessities of the Shari’a.
A partial list of the rest of his works is as follows:
'Tuhftatul Muwahidin' & al Balagh al Mubin are full text forgeries in the name of Shah Waliyullah Dehlavi. Prof.J.N. Jalbani wrote that he had gone through this book and understood that , though this book bears some resemblance to the style of Shah Waliyullahi Dehlawi,it is a clear case of attribution. [Life of shah .p 41] http://www.amazon.com/Life-Shah-Wali-Allah-Jalbani/dp/8171513700. http://www.amazon.com/Muslim-Shrines-India-Character-Significance/dp/0195664272
Shah Waliullah discussed the four basic principles of economics; the production of wealth, the consumption of wealth, the distribution of wealth and the exchange of wealth.
The whole nation participates in the production of wealth, so the wealth should be distributed throughout the whole nation. He established the principles for distribution of wealth among the people as well as the value of a fair method for wealth consumption. This economic system would be successful in establishing the principles of these four branches.
The first principle is that people living in specific geographic boundaries have the right over the resources of that area. That economic system in which all the people are equal provides that no single person or specific class can control the resources unilaterally. He has narrated Hazrat Abu Bakkar Siddique in Aizaalatul Khifa “Equality is better in economics than giving priority to one group over another.
The second principle is that every individual should have the right to limited personal property ownership since the abilities of every individual is different. Not that the whole nation should have same clothing, food and houses.
The third principle is that any practice which concentrates wealth in certain hands will not be tolerated and the system will oppose it.
The fourth principle is that such a balance should be maintained so that society may develop as a whole.
Shah Waliullah proposed the creation of a party on such principles which would end the outmoded system and would build a new system which ensures the development of society as a whole.
Shah Waliullah had a son and 5 daughters from his first wife. His second wife bore him four sons: Shah Abdul Aziz Muhaddis Dehlvi, Shah Rafiuddin, Shah Abdul Qadir, and Shah Abdul Ghani.
On August 20, 1762, Shah Waliullah died and was buried in the graveyard of Munhadian, beside his father.
Religion and Thought of Shah Wali Allah Dihlawi, 1703-1762, by J. M. S. Baljon
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