Australian Religion Studies Review 69

Review A.rticle S~A.A. Rizvi: Sufi and Scholar An appreciation of his work on the occasion of his retirement from the faculty of the Australian National University

Dr. S.A.A. Rizvi, a fellow of the Australian Movements in AligarhMuslim University Academy of the Humanities, a former in 1949. Since then it has been a rich and Head of the History Department of rewarding career of teaching and Jammu and University, , a scholarship. Even in his early career of Secretary of the History of the Freedom teaching he must have impressed his Movement Committee, Government of colleagues and senior scholars. Dr. Zakir Uttar Pradesh, India, a Research Associate Hussain, the President of India, noticed and later a Fellow in the School of Oriental his talent and picked him for the over all and African Studies, London, a historian supervision and writing of the History of par excellence of Medieval and Modem the Freedom Movement of Uttar Pradesh. , has recently retired from the RememberingDr. Rizvi as a young scholar Australian National University, Canberra. and teacher, Dr. Zakir Hussain, when a He was a Reader in South Asian History Vice-Chancellor in Aligarh Muslim in the Faculty of Asian Civilisation. Dr. University, paid his tribute in these words: Rizvi has an impressive and enviable "I came to look upon him as one of the record of publication and scholarly most promising young academicians it attainment. He is a leading authority on was my privilege to be associated with as Indian, particularly Medieval, Islam. The a Vice-Chancellor." late Professor'A.L. Basham once wrote: "I Since 1949 Dr. Rizvi's involvement in believe that Dr. Rizvi has an unrivalled teaching, research and writing has been knowledge of the sources of medieval phenomenal. His works include some India." There is little controversy about books in Medieval Indian History in the this statement. Hindi language (thirteen volumes) and Dr. Rizvi was born in the h!storical city source material of the Freedom Struggle in ,of Jaunpur, India in 1921. His ancestors Uttar Pradesh 1857-59 (eight volumes) again . came with the invading army of Nadir in Hindi. He has recently been judged Shah from to India in 1738 and settled among the ten best writers in Hindi. down in Oudh (present Uttar Pradesh) and entered into the services of the Work in Australia :.Nawabs of Oudh. They must have done Dr. Rizvi came to Australia in the begin­ :.. quite well under the Nawabs. In ning of 1966 and till his retirement in j:.recognition of their services they were December 1986 he had been relentlessly ~:granted land around Lucknow, the capital and continuously working on the subjects ';.. of Oudh. Dr. Rizvi grew up in Jaunpur of Islam, and the intellectual his­ ~~:which is renowned for its pre-Mughal tory of in India and Iran. Even ~!magnificent Islamic architecture and high after his retirement his work has not t:cultural attainments. Jaunpur was once stopped. After his magnum opus, A Socio­ '~known as the Shiraz of India. Intellectual History of the Isna Ashari Shi'is in ,~.", .. ' Dr. Rizvi received his tertiary educa­ India (2 volumes 1986), he is now working fition in the Mughal historical city of Agra, on Islamic Proselytization in India and .;:renownedI fQr the Taj Mahal and other Aurangzeb Alamgir: A Reappraisal. Dr. Rizvi's lifetime research on the themes of t'.:'.tl...... r ...chitectural wonders. He obtained his ~~asters, Ph.D. and D.Litt. degrees from Islamic history and religion has given rich ~gra University. He started his teaching dividends to his readers. In the last twelve !. <;:areer as a lecturer in Islamic Religious years or so he has published a number of 70 Volume One, Number 1

significant works on Islam in moving away from Islam and not and Iran. These works are distinctive, adhering to the true faith. They were authoritative and readable. It is not easy to trying to find the reasons for their decline discuss all his works in this short review. I in the realm of religion. Return to true have selected some of his recent works Islam was the only solution for their which have been published since 1978. salvation. Shah 'ullah was a member Not discussed is his The Wonder that was of four leading Sufi orders which India, Vol III. just published as a sequel to mellowed his orthodoxy. His solution was Professor A.L. Basham's classic, The to revitalise the Islamic Society; create a Wonder That Was India. Muslim Society true to the spirit of the Rizvi's commitment to Islam, Sufism early Caliphate. But being a shrewd and Shi'ism is not only a scholarly pursuit. observer of the Indian political scene he It is his conviction too. His personal beliefs was also aware that such dreams could and ideas are reflected in his writings. not be translated into reality. In order to This is not to say that he loses objectivity restore some resemblance of authority to in putting across his ideas to his readers. Muslim power in India and to counter the He remains clinical and scientific in his rise of Maratha power, he invited Ahmad approach and treatment of his themes. Shah Abdcili to rescue and enforce Personally he leads a life of a Sufi, Islamic law in India - with disastrous completely oblivious of his surroundings, results. engrossed in his religion, research and Shah Wali' ullah' s life long mission was work. to bridge the gap between the Muslim groups. A solution had to be found that On Shah Wali'ullah and his son Shah was both Islamic as well as Indian. To find Abd'al Aziz answers to all these problems he started to The intellectual and religious history of preach, write and enter into dialogue with the Muslims in modem India could not be other scholars and Sufis. In the course of understood without understanding the these activities he produced a large life and times of Shah Wali'ullah. The number of very significant works. Dr. death of Aurangzeb, the last great em­ Rizvi has cited 41 books written by Shah peror of the , in 1707 saw Wali'ullah and innumerable letters written the beginning of the end of the Mughal to his disciples and friends all over India empire. The ascendency of the British, on matters of religion, Sufism and the particularly after the battle of Plassey in state of . Mter his death his 1757 created a sense of complete~rus­ work was carried on by his three sons. tration, pessimism and defeat among the Shah Abd'al Aziz (1746-1824), his more Muslims of India. Shah Wali'ullah, who illustrious son, saw further erosion of was born 21 February 1703, and died in Muslim culture and traditions in India. 1762, five years after the battle of Plassey, The debate over whether in India the saw and experienced the trauma of the British role was a dar ul Islam (An abode of decline and fall of the Muslim power in Islam) or dar ul harb (An abode of War) India. For many it was a baffling took a more intensive tum. The Muslims experience and the answer at that time were divided in their views about was not easy to find. Shah Wali'ullah was modernity and orthodoxy. The times of a person of great vitality and scholarship. Shah Abd'al Aziz saw Muslim power and He was a Sufi and one who was concerned social norms going through crisis after and worried about the downfall of crisis. The defeat and death of the last Muslim power. He along with other great Muslim military leader, Tipu Sultan Muslim scholars and intellectuals were in Seringapatam (1799), increased convinced that the main reason for such a activities of Christian missionaries, the set back was the degeneration of Muslims, fear of losing the Islami~ Educational Australian Religion Studies Review 71

system and Islamic (Shariah) courts were some time the most authentic and rich matters of great concern to Muslims. Shah source of the period and will remain Abd'al Aziz issued a fatwa (decree) in 1803 valuable in understanding the crisis, proclaiming India to be a dar ul harb, the conflict and ideals of Muslim society of land of enemy. As British power increased India of that time. Its exhaustive and solidified, the Ulema agreed more and bibliography and indexes would be of more with Shah Abd'al Aziz. further help for future scholars working However, another group of liberal on the same period. Islamic leaders and intellectuals were willing to accept western education and On Sufism ideas. This group particularly became Rizvi's earlier book A in more influential after the rebellion of 1857 India Vol I, 1978 and a second volume under the leadership of Sayyid Ahmad published in 1983 will probably remain a Khan. standard source book on Dr. Rizvi's Shah Wali'ullah and His for some time. Though there are a number

Times and Shah Abd'al Aziz: Puritanism L of significant books on Indian Sufism, in­ Sectarian Polemics and Jihad are studies of cluding Annemarie Schimmel's Mystical great distinction of the intellectual and Dimensions of Islam, Rizvi's work is ex­ religious history of Indian Muslims in the haustive and its encyclopaedic nature 18th and early 19th Centuries: the period makes it indeed separate from other which determined the intellectual and works. political future and attitude of Muslims in The first volume takes the reader up to the Indian subcontinent. India saw the 1600 AD as Rizvi traces the history of emergence of an alien political power, and early Sufism in India and its impact on also encountered the challenges of new Indian society. Chisti,Suharwardi and ideas and thoughts from the west - Firdausi (orders) have been dis­ including evangelical Christianity. Indian cussed in great depth and the interaction society, both Hindu and Muslim, felt the of Hindu mystical tradition with that of pressure of this challenge but reacted Islamic ideas is narrated and analysed differently. The Muslirris partjcularly were with understanding and care. The second going through a psychological trauma volume takes the discussion further and because of political and religious crises in includes , and further their society. Not only India, but the analysis of Chisti orders. There are whole Islamic world was feeling the chapters on the "Sufi conception of pressure of "advancing Christianity" and Kingship and Government" and "the Sufi the helplessness of Islamic political power Response to ." Though some to check this advance. Wahab chapters seem unusually long, they do not . (1703-1787), a contemporary of Shah hamper the narration of the theme. Sufism Wali'ullah was another example. is a complex subject and controversy Dr. Rizvi has given an exhaustive, about some views and conclusions will authentic and balanced account of this remain. What makes the work unique time in these books. Not only the person­ among the books on similar subjects is it alities but the events and issues of the time comprehensive nature, meticulous re­ have been analysed with great depth of search based on primary sources of understanding. He has captured the mood Arabic, Persian, Urdu and Hindi and a of the time in these books. Shah Abd'al careful presentation of facts. The book has Azi~'s controversial book Tuhfa-i Ithna made a significant contribution to an Ashariyya, has also been discussed understanding of the interaction of Hindu exhaustively in Chapter V and Rizvi gives and Muslim communities of Sufi ; the Shii refutation of it in the following preaching. ;.:.chapter. These two books will remain for 72 Volume One, Number 1

On Iran ideal of Khomeini. A verse in the A book of topical interest and importance Qur'an says: is his Iran: Royalty, Religion and Revolutions. How should ye not fight for the cause The book was published in 1980, soon of Allah and of the feeble (m us tad' afin) after Iran's Islamic revolution. Iran is the among men and of the women and the only country where Shiism is a State children who are crying: Our Lord! Bring religion, and this gives a new dimension us forth from out this town of which peo­ to its politics and society. In the Ithna (or ple are oppressors! Oh, give us from thy Isna) Ashari Shi'i Islam, the martyrdom of presence some protecting friends! Oh, give Imam Hussain, the grandson of Prophet us from thy presence some defender! , plays an important part. His Qur'an IV: 75 death and the tragedy of Karbala is ever It was a revolution to protect Iranians present in the minds of Shi'i Muslims. To from the oppression of the Shah and his emulate his example, to sacrifice life for SAV AK. To be sure, the revolution be­ the right cause against all odds, to came sour because of Iraq's attack on Iran. establish a just Islamic society are the The changes which were promised did not ideals of a Shi'i Muslim. The twelfth eventuate because of war. But that is Imam, who is in occultation, will return another story!! and redeem the oppressed from their Dr. Rizvi's book on Iran: Royalty, miseries. In the absence of the Imam, the Religion and Revolution will be of immense mujtahid is the guide and spiritual leader help to the students of modern Iran to of the Muslim community. The temporal understand its religion, its revolution, the ruler of the Shi'i community must submit role of Ulema, the and the bazaar. to the authoritative guidance of a mujtahid. This reader would like to have seen some The mujtahid is usually chosen for his of his sections elaborated a bit further. A learning, piety and unblemished character section "Modern Leadership" stimulates - sometimes known as mujtahid masum a the curiosity of the reader but there is little term that signifies "a man pure in man­ beyond a brief discussion of Ali Shariati. ners who has acquired all the sciences to The book nonetheless remains extremely such a perfect degree that he can respond useful for an understanding of Iran's immediately and without prompting to all history and the roots of the revolution and questions that are posed to him on religion its impact on Islamic as well as other and civil law." (Quoted from Voyages de Third World Countries. Monsieur Le Chevalier Chardin en Perse, Vol. II (Amsterdam 1711) pp. 206-8, in Nikkie On the Isna Ashari Shi'is in India R. Keddie, Scholars, Saints and Sufis,'1972 Dr. Rizvi's commitment to Islam, Sufism p.222). Thus the relation between the and Shiism is also reflected in his works. Ulema, the mosque and the bazaar is very His magnum opus, A Socia-Intellectual important in Iranian Society. Rizvi has History of the Isna Ashari Shi'is in India in unravelled in this book all the complexi­ two volumes .(1986) is a significant ties of Shi'i Islam and Iranian society in a example of this. The book is a labour of lucid and interesting way. He has tried to love and devotion and a commitment to explain the reasons for the Islamic serious scholarship. Based on primary revolution in Iran, highlighting its Arabic, Persian and Urdu sources, and a indigenous roots. It was a revolution critical appraisal of previous works, the embedded in the Islamic ethos, values, book gives an in-depth picture of Isna and tradition - a total rejection of Ashari Shi'is in India. Dr. Rizvi's Shi'i Western ideas of revolution. A revolution background and his commitment to its for mustad'fin (the weak and oppressed) causes have not coloured his scholarship. It which has its roots in the Qur'an was the remains an objective study of the subject. Australian Religion Studies Review. 73

.It is difficult to say exactly when the household names of educated Muslim Shi'i Muslims came to India. There is some families in India. In the field of intellectual evidence of Zaydiyyas and Ismailiyyas awakening and acceptance of modem settlements in Sind, and Delhi as ideas the contributions of Shi'is is great early as ninth or tenth centuries A.D. The and this has very aptly been dealt with in Isna Ashari Shi'is seem to have migrated his chapter, "The Shi'is and Modernism". to India in and about the late thirteenth For an understanding of the growth of and the fourteenth Centuries A.D. Shi'ism and the contribution of Shi'is in Dr. Rizvi devotes a long chapter to the intellectual life of India, Dr. Rizvi's tracing the history and origin of early book will renlain indispensable to the Shi'ism. Not all the information is new, students of Islam and Shi'ism for some and a shorter version of the chapter would time. have been appropriate. But for a person In this brief review of Dr. Rizvi's work, being introduced to the subject this is I have confined myself to his writings quite informative. The next two chapters since 1978. His latest work The Wonder that deal with "Shi'ism in Northern India" and was India, Vol II was not available to me. "Shi'ism in the Deccan" (south), and a Neither has it been possible to discuss his long chapter on the work and contribution significant works which form part of The of Shi'i intellectual Qazi Nuru'llah Cambridge History of Islam Vol II, The Shustari, who migrated to India from Iran Cultural History of India (Oxford), and his in 1587, during the reign of great Mughal close to 50 journal articles on Islamic emperor (1542-1605). He was history, culture and religion which have introduced to the emperor and was been published in the last twenty years or appointed the chief Qazi (Judge) of so. Lahore. He was a scholar of some vigour Dr. Rizvi is one of those rare individ­ .. and wrote a number of books on Islamic uals whose life is devoted to scholarship religion and traditions. He was an expert and learning without caring for fame and . in the traditional sciences (naqli maqal) wealth. (The royalty and profit of most of . and, as Dr. Rizvi has rightly commented, his books go to various charitable in­ was in fact an expert in both manqul stitutions and orphanages of India.) He E·.,.&_._&tional) and maqul (the rational) leads the life of a Sufi, and though retired, iF,sCle111Ces. He also wrote on mathematics, he still works untiringly, and helps his Ibjl~alnnlar, rhetoric and theories of poetic former students in their research and . This sketch is a help to an teachings. l~~tmdlen,talndllng of the intellectual and IKmeliQjOtlS discourses of the time between Selected recent works of S.A.A. Rizvi Iilil.\ ....:h;';'" and Sunnis in India. His Shi'i bias discussed in this review: . discovered in the time of the emperor A History of Sufism in India Vol I, Delhi, lah,lngir (1605-1627) and his enemies 1978. .~log~~ed him to death in 1610. A History of Sufism in India Vol II, Delhi, second volume, which expands on 1983. themes of the first and takes us to Shah Wali Ullah and His Times, nnE~te€~nth century, gives us further in­ Canberra: Ma'rifat Publishing House, into the growth of Shi'is ideas and 1980. ts. "Shi'is contributions to philos­ Shah Abd'al Aziz: Puritanism, Sectarian science and literature in India" have Polemics and Jihad, Canberra: Ma'rifat a comprehensive and lucid Publishing House, 1982. rA!:lIf'n-.·"'~~:Shi'is response to modernism Iran: Royalty, Religion and Revolution, India is also a subject of considerable Canberra: Ma'rifat Publishing House, . Names like Ameer Ali, 1980. .and Maulana Siraj Hussain are the 74 Volume One, Number 1

A Socio-Intellectual History of the Isna Hamid Algar, The Roots of the Islamic Ashari Shiis in India, Vol I & II, Canberra: Revolution, London: Open Press, 1983. Ma'rifat Publishing House, 1986. Contributions to Asian Studies, Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1973. Other Works Consulted Aziz Ahmad, Islamic Survey: Islam in Annemarie Schimmel, Mystical India: An Intellectual History, Edinburgh, Dimensions of Islam, Chapel Hill, N.C.: 1969 University of North Carolina, 1975. - Abul K.M. Farooque Nicki R. Keddie (ed), Scholars, Saints South Australia College and Sufis: Muslim Religious Institutions since of Advanced Education 1500, Berkeley: University of California Sturt Campus Press, 1972.