Maulana S Abul Hasan All Nadwi aviours w . Of Islamic p iril Wm, Vol. IV HAKIM-UL-ISLAM SHAH WALIULLAH SAVIOURS OF ISLAMIC SPIRIT VOLUME IV ( HAKIM-UL-ISLAM SHAH WALIULLAH ) by Syed Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi Academy of ISLAMIC RESEARCH & PUBLICATIONS P. O. Box 119, Nadwa, Lucknow (India) All Rights Reserved in favour o f: Academy of Islamic Research and Publications Tagore Marg, NadwatuI Ulama, P. O. Box No. 119, Lucknow—226 007 U. P. (lndia)> SERIES NO* 253 Ecfitiorr 2004 Printed a t: Kakori Offset Press, Lko. Ph. : 2229616 CONTENTS Page F orew ord ' I —Islam ic W orld in th e T w elfth C entury 5 Need for the study of Twelfth Century Conditions Iran’s social and cultural Impact on India — ^ Importance of Ottoman Caliphate ••• ® Political Situation of the World of Islam ... 9 Ottoman Caliphate in the Twelfth Century ... Hijaz ••• I* Yemen *2 Nadir Shah Ajshar ••• ^ Ahmad Shah ABdali of Afghanistan ••• ^ Religious and Intellectual Situation ... ^ Scholars of the Twelfth Century ••• Literary Taste and Spiritual atmosphere ... 18 Popularity df Speculative Sciences in Iran ... 19 Morals, Culture and Beliefs ••• 22 I I —Ind ia ••• 2^ Political Conditions ••• Achievements o f AurangziB ••• 2* Weak Descendants of AurangziB ••• 29 ShSh ‘Alam Bahadur Shah I ••• ^ Farrukh Siyar — -*2 Muhammad Shah ••• ^3 Shah ‘Alam II ••• ^6 Intellectual and Religious C onditions ... 37 ( ii ) Social and Moral Descendance ... 39 Unsound Creeds and Practices ... 40 III—Ancestors of Shah Waliullah ... 45 Forefathers of the Shah ... ib. Genealogical TaBle ... 46 Migration to India ... ib. In Rohtak ... 47 From Shams-ud-din Mufti to Shaikh Wajih-ud-din ... ib. Shaikh Wajih-ud-din Shahid ... 49 Shaikh Muhammad ofPhulate ... 51 Shaikh ABdul Raza Muhammad ... 52 Shah ‘ABdur Rahim ... 53 Education ... 55 Character and HaBit ... 58 Religious Zeal ... 59 Wives and children ... 60 Death ... ib. Shah Waliullah’s estimate of Shah ‘ABdur Rahim ... ib. Characteristics of AraB Immigrants ... 61 IV—A Biographical Sketch ... 69 Education ... 70 The SyllaBus followed By the Shah ... ib. Tutorship of Shah’s father ... 73 Marriage ... 74 Second Marriage ... ib Pilgrimage Voyage ... 75 Mentors of the Shah ... 76 Teaching of Hadith * ... 79 Shah ‘ABdul ‘Aziz’s Description of his Father ... 81 Death ... ib. V—Reformative Endeavour of Shah Waliullah ... 91 Scope of Shah’s Reformatory Work. ... ib. r iii ) Significance of Creed ... 92 Rejuvenation of Creed—Always Essential... 94 The Remedial Measures ... 98 SuBsequent Urdu Translations ... 103 Quranic Schooling ... 105 Al-Fauz al-KaBlr ... ib. Scrutiny of the Doctrine of Tauhid ... 108 Exact Discernment of Islamic Creed ... 114 VI—Propagation of Hadith and Coordinat­ ion of Hadith & fiqh ... 122 Significance of Hadith ... ib. Hadith : The Touchstone of Perfection ... ib. Evidence furnished By History ... 123 Science o f Hadith and the AraBs ... 126 Hadith in India ... 127 Shah IsABdul Haq Muhaddith Dehlavi ... 129 Need of a Mujaddid ... 130 Shah Waliullah’s estimate aBout Hadith ... 132 Neglect of Hadith Studies in India ... 133 Enthusiasm for Hadith ... 135 Writings of Shah Waliullah ... 136 The Moderate View ... 144 Practice of Muslims during the Earliest Era... 145 Legitimacy of Taqlid ... 147 Characteristics of Four Juristic Schools ... 149 Necessity of Ijtihad ... 151 VII—Exposition of the Rationale of Shariah and Hadith (Hujjat Allah al-Baligha) ... 155 A delicate Topic ... ]56 Earlier Writings ... 157 Introductory Topics ... 159 Importance and Effect of Deeds ... 160 SociaBility [gj Significance of the term . ... ib. Citizenship, its essence and varieties ... 162 Nature of Earn ings ... 163 ( i v ) Blessedness ... 164 Creed %nd Devotions ... 165 Community Affairs and the Prophet ... 166 Comprehensive Prophethood ... ib. Morality in Byzantine and Iranian Cultures ... 167 Some other Topics ... 169 The Place of Hadith ... ib. Duties and Devotions ... 170 ComprehensiBility of the Hujjat ... 173 Spirit of Piety and Self-Purification ... 174 Jihad ... 175 VIII—Right Guided Caliphate {Izalat-al-Khafa ‘an Khilafat-al-Kiiulfa') ... 181 Significance of Izalat al-Khafa ... ib. Correlation Between Hujjat Alalh and Izalat al-Khafa ... 182 Earlier Writings on the SuBject ... 184 Concept.of Khilafah in Islam ... 186 A Comprehensive Definition of Khilafah ... 188 Quranic Evidence in Favour of First Four Caliphs ... 189 Other Topics of Izalat al-Khafa ... 193 Woeful Developments following the Prophet’s Death ... 194 IX —Statesmanship of Shah Waliullah during the period of Political InstaBility... 199 Marathas ... ib. Sikhs ... 203 Jats ... 208 Condition in Delhi t ... 210 Nadir Shah’s Sack of Delhi ... 211 Equanimity of Shah Waliullah ... ib. Statesmanship of the Shah ... 213 Anxiety of the Shah ... 214 ( V ) Advice to Mughal Kings and Grandees ... 215 NawaB NajiB-ud-daula ... 219 Ahmad Shah ABdali ... 222 X—Reformatory Endeavours—A Distin­ ctive feature of the Shah 235 A word for each Section of Muslims ... 236 To the Muslim Rulers ... ib. To the NoBles and Grandees ... 238 TotheArmymen ... ib. To the Artisans and Craftsmen ... 239 To the Descendants of Saints ... 240 To the Religious Scholars ... ib. To the Pietists and Sermonisers ... 242 To the Muslim Masses ... ib. Social Thought of the Shah ... 245 XI—Sons, Disciples and Eminent Contem­ poraries of Shah Waliullah ... 249 Worthy Sons and Successors ... ih. A Happy Coincidence ... 250 Shah ‘ABdul ‘Aziz ... 251 Propagation of the Shah’s Mission ... 256 Popularisation of the Quranic Teachings ... 257 Promotion of Study of Hadith ... 259 Confutation of Shi’ism ... 262 Opposition to the British Rule ... 265 Training of future Leaders ... 269 Saiyid Ahmad Shahid ... ib. Maulana ‘ABdul Hai Budhanawi and Maulana Muhammad Ismail Shahid ... 271 Maulana Shah Muhammad Ishaq and Shah Muhammad Y aquB ... 273 Other Disciples ... 274 Shah Rafi-ud-din ... 275 Shah ‘ABdul Qadir ... 277 Shah Muhammad ‘Ashiq Phulti ... 278 I VI ; Khwaja Muhammad Amin Kashmiri ... 279 Shah ABu Sa'eed Hasan! Rae Barelvi ... 280 Shaikh ‘ABdul WahhaB—A Contemporary Reformer ... 282 XII—Writings of Shah Waliullah ... 289 BiBliography ... 305 Index FOREWORD Praise Belongs to Allah, the Lord ofthe worlds, and Blessirigs and peace Be on the foremost among messengers and the last of the Prophets, Muhammad, and his progeny and the companions all, and those who followed them sincerely and summoned (the people) to his message, to the Day pf Judgement. Having finished the present volume of the Saviours o f Islamic Spirit which takes the heroic story of religious and intellectual endeavour to Shah Waliullah of Delhi and his successors and deputies, the writer of these lines finds himself on Bended knees, glorifying the Lord from the core of his heart. When the work on first volume of this series was started in Muharram 1372 A.H. (SeptemBer 1952) Beginning the story with the Biographical accounts of Imam Hasan Basri and Caliph ‘Umar b. ‘ABdul ‘Aziz, with the help of some sketchy notes jotted down for delivering a few lectures on the suBject, it was difficult to visualize that the narration thus started would cover, step By step, the endeayours and struggles of all the reformers and savants of Islam in different lands from the Beginning of the Islamic era to the twelfth century, and ultimately reach the stage requiring portrayal of the live$ of two great revivalists, Mujaddid Alf Thani and Shah Waliullah Dehlawi. That this feat has been accomplished despite uncertainty of the span of life, vicissitudes 2 SAVIOURS OF ISLAMIC SPIRIT like ill-health and Bereavements, heavy engagements, inconstancy and indecision and inaBility to read or write anything for fourteen years, it was nothing But the grace of God which caused it to Be carried out successfully. The author can only offer his thanks to the Lord for this Blessing By reciting the Quranic verse : “My Lord, inspire me to render thanks for Thy favours. Thou hast Blessed me and my father and mother, and to Be righteous well-pleasing to Thee; and do Thou admit me. through Thy mercy, amongst Thy righteous servants.” (27-19) And also repeat what the holy Prophet is reported to have said : “Praise Be to Allah whose might and glory disposes one to righteous deeds.” This volume virtually completes the story of revivalist endeavour in so far as it narrates the reformative efforts of the twelfth century A. H. whose salutary effects can still Be seen, at least in the l'ndo-Pak suB-continent, in the form of educational and religious institutions, reformative movements and literary creations designed to Bring aBout an Islamic reawakening. The author cannot therefore Be accused of any overstatement if he claims that with the series he wrote under the title of Siiat Saiyid Ahmad Shahid1 in 1939 he has now Brought to completion, at least in so far as this suB-continent is concerned, this narrative upto the thirteenth or rather to the fourteenth century for he has already compiled the Biographies of quite a few scholars and savants of the last century (of which that of Maulana Mohammad Ilyas deserves to Be mentioned here). In this manner the sixth and even a part of the seventh volume of this series has already Been written by the author. It is now for other researchers and 1. This work has since Been revi-ed and Brought out in two volumes by the Academy of Islamic Research and PuBlications, which should be deemed as the suB.-equent part of this series. For English version see 'Saiyid Ahmad ShM d—'His Life and Mission' By Mohiuddin Ahmad also puBlished By the Academy. FOREWORD 3 scholars to shed light on the achievements of reformers and revivalists of the thirteenth century in the remaining part of the Islamic world which is also essential for an appraisal of their intellectual and religious contriButions. Reformist endeavour is a continuing process, not limited to any particular age or place. Attempts will continue to Be made to renew the Bases of faith, to purify it of all accretions and deviations during the course of time, to spread and develop the Islamic disciplines and to fight the profane, irreligious thoughts and practices till the time Islam of rather the world exists.