Hazrat Shah Wali Ullah

Shah Wali Ullah, whose real name was Qutub-Uddin born to Shah Abdul Rahim in 1703. His father was a renowned scholar of his time and used to run a madrassa (Religious school) in his hometown in Delhi. Shah Sahib started getting his religious education from his father at very early age and at the age of seventeen he had learned Quran, Hadith, and Fiqh with absolute authority. He started teaching at Madrassa Rahimiya after the death of his father in 1719. In 1730 he went to perform Haj-e-Baitullah and to further improve his Islamic learning. He returned back to Delhi in 1733 and upon his return to Delhi, he took charge of his father’s Madrassa.

He did not remain confined to his Madrassa only rather his started thinking about the dire conditions that Muslims were facing and how to deal with that situation. That decline was not only limited to religion and religious thoughts but Muslims were declining also in political and economic terms. As an ardent supporter of the implementation of Sharia law in all matters of daily life including governance of the state, he came up with a true message of Islam to take on the hurdles being faced by the Muslims. His services can broadly be classified into three categories; Religious, Political and Social services.

In religious terms, his biggest service to the Indian Muslim was the translation of Quran from the Arabic language to the Persian language. Though he was first criticized for this. But later on, all of the critics followed him in pursuit of seeking guidance. His phenomenal work of translating Quran into the local language proved to be a trendsetter followed by his sons when they translated Quran into the Urdu language to make it easier to understand.

He strongly criticized Blind Taqlid and advised Muslim scholars to prefer Quran and hadith as a source of true guidance. He is also considered to be a reformer in terms of the views that he had regarding Ijtihad, asked scholars to be open as much as they can if they want to move ahead with modern times. He was also a staunch supporter of sectarian harmony and even wrote books regarding Khulafa-e-Rashidun which were acceptable to both Shias and Sunnis.

Talking about his political services he raised voice for the unity of Muslims and wrote to the elite class and soldiers to awake the spirit of Jihad in them. He advised Muslims to shun their sectarian differences and to unite against the Marathas, Sikhs, and Jats. He even invited Ahmad Shah Abdali to Hindustan when he saw that no Indian Muslim leader can take the initiative against the rising power of Marathas. Ahmad Shah Abdali along with Nawab of Oudh, Nawab Shuja ud dula, inflicted a crushing defeat on Marthas and broke their backbone.

Though Shah Sahib was a strong supporter of Muslim unity. But at the same time, he was a prominent opponent of Wahdat ul Shahood.

His social services are also inconceivable. He wrote a book called  “Khujat Ullah hul Baligha” in which he mentioned the causes of degradation in the true spirit of Islam in Hindustan and taught Muslims never to consider yourself a Hindustani in religious sense because Hindus will try to absorb Islam in the subcontinent culture thus polluting the true image of Islam and  Islamic brotherhood. He also gave the reasons for the decline of Mughal Empire and proposed many reforms to regain power but never happened.

He passed away in 1762 but his message was carried forward by people coming after him and in those people, Iqbal and Jinnah finally achieved what could not be achieved without a proper roadmap.