Shah Wali’ullah: The Greatest Champion of Indian Muslims in the

Eighteenth Century:
Any historian writing on North India in the eighteenth century cannot overlook the enormous
role played by Shah Wali’ullah. Since the later course of Indian Muslim history, even up to
the present times was largely shaped by the thoughts of Shah Wali’ullah, some details of his
life and works deserve mention:
What follows is Qureshi’s assessment of Shah Wali’ullah’s role. Barbara, too, has mentioned
him often, as we will soon see.
“He was born in 1703. His father Abd-ur-Rahim, a scholar and a Sufi of renown in his
own right, who preferred to lead a life of retirement and, in spite of unrivalled
opportunities for being associated with the government of such an orthodox monarch
as Alamgir I, refrained from availing himself of them. He did however cooperate with
the emperor in the compilation of the well-known Al Fatawa -l-Alamgiriyah. He was
the founder of a college, Madrrasah-i-Rahmaniyah, where he himself lectured. Since
he was both theologian and Sufi, his effort was to remove the conflict between
theology and mysticism. This spirit of compromise he bequeathed to his son, Shah
Wali’ullah, who received his early education, both theological and mystical, under
him…. After having been engaged in teaching for 12 years in his father's college, he
left for Arabia to further his studies and to perform the pilgrimage. He studied at
Medinah for about 14 months; here he was greatly influenced by Shaikh Abu Tahir
bin Ibrahim, who was a competent and careful scholar. He was capable of taking
broad views of problems and tried to remove conflicts in differing views wherever this
could be achieved. He returned to Delhi on 9th July 1732.
“The anxiety about the future of the Muslim community in the subcontinent had
impressed itself so deeply upon Shah Wali’ullah’s mind that while at Medina he was
convinced through a mystic experience that it was his duty and destiny to save it.
However, his keen intellect must soon have realised that he was confronted with the
most complex problem. The decline of the empire was a result of the decay of the
social order; this in turn was the result of the moral collapse of the society, which
could not disentangle itself from selfish shortsightedness…. He felt that the first need
was to restore the community's sense of unity, which had been shattered as a result
of so many conflicts within its bosom.
“…Religious differences, however, were not the only cause of loosening the bonds
that had held the community together; there had crept into society economic and
social factors that were working in the same direction… There were differences in the
standards of living among the various classes of society even then, but authorities
saw to it that the minimum was assured to everyone. In the remoter areas and
settlements, the community feeling was strong enough to take care of the helpless
and the poor. The large sums of money spent by official and private charity were
intended to serve the same purpose. The mainstay of the community, however, can
never be charity. The economic position of the Muslims was assured by the
opportunities they had in the services of the state and in professions patronized by
the government and the rich. Anarchy threw the economic organization built up in the
course of the centuries into chaos and disorder. It bred parasites who fleeced the
people and gave them nothing in return….
“To add to the malady, the discipline of organized government having disappeared,
the nobles established their petty tyrannies over the areas that remained under their
control…. The Muslim peasant and craftsman suffered as much as his Hindu
counterpart; but when the oppressor and the oppressed both happened to be
Muslims, it broke the bonds of unity binding the Muslim community. The days were
gone when small communities spread over a vast area arose as one man when
challenged by an external danger. One no longer reads of organized resistance by
Muslim settlements against the Jats, the Sikhs or the Marathas. The Muslims had not
only lost their leaders; they had lost their integration. From a well-integrated
community, they had degenerated into a helpless crowd.
“If this disastrous course of events was to be stopped, it could not be done without
the creation of sound and devoted leadership at Delhi. Shah Wali’ullah thought of this
city for two reasons: Delhi was still looked upon as the principal city of Muslim India
and, it being the center of his own activities, he could exercise influence more directly
there. He, therefore, tried to arouse the emperor from his lethargy, but he failed.
Then he appealed to the nobility, who are incapable of listening to his sound advice.
Then in his despair he turned to Nizam ul Mulk Asaf Jah, because he seemed to be
the only one among the senior Mughal nobles who was imbued with right ideals and
had sufficient strength of character to rise above the surrounding corruption and
shortsightedness, but this veteran administrator withdrew to the Deccan. Shah
Wali’ullah’s pathetic appeal to him produced little effect, probably because, as an
experienced statesman and administrator, he knew better than the scholarly
philosopher that the court of Delhi was past reform and, therefore, he should try to
save at least the Deccan.
“The only element in the politics of North India that could inspire some hope was the
Rohillas. They… had for centuries found employment under the Muslim sovereigns of
the subcontinent and had even wrested power from the Turks to establish their own
empire; …their good points were that they were brave fighters and had not lost their
vigour and simple habits. They had not yet become tainted with the corruption of
Delhi. They were staunch Muslims and class distinctions had still not corroded their
society…. These qualities seem to mark them out as the future leaders of Indian
Islam. It is, therefore, not surprising that Shah Wali’ullah should have thought of
using them for the resurgence of Muslim political power at Delhi.
“The Rohillas, however, had serious shortcomings which barred their way to
leadership. They were not numerous enough to deal with such a formidable task and
their resources were not adequate. They had brought with them traditions of too
much independence, which prevented united action even in a crisis. They were
extremely intolerant and had sectarian differences; even minor deviations from their
conception of orthodoxy, were looked upon by them as heresy; this was a serious
matter in an area where sectarian differences had played such havoc; it bred
traditions of hostility with the new Shi’a state of Oudh which ultimately resulted in the
destruction of their political power. Shah Wali’ullah could not have been unaware of
these deficiencies; the Rohillas’ sectarianism ran counter to his endeavor to bring
about some understanding among the different sects; yet he had no choice. The
Rohillas were the only possibility in that situation and the deliverance of the Muslims
from the tyranny of marauders would brook no delay. There was yet another reason
why Shah Wali’ullah’s mind turned towards the Rohillas. It had now become obvious
that it was futile to think of strengthening the Mughal Empire without some help from
outside. The only Muslim power in a position to give some help was the new state
founded by Ahmed Shah Abdali in Afghanistan. Shah Wali’ullah could hope for
cooperation between Ahmed Shah Abdali and the Rohillas. They had made a
success of their administration and, by affording protection to their Hindu peasantry
and traders, had brought prosperity to their territories; it was not beyond hope that
they might mature and adopt a conciliatory attitude toward the other sects of Islam.
The Rohilla chief through whom Shah Wali’ullah sought to implement his short term
mission of curbing the forces of anarchy, was Najib-ud-dawlah.
“….He had already come under the influence of Shah Wali’ullah, for whom he had
great respect and with whom he kept up an intimate correspondence and whose
advice he invariably accepted. Shah Wali’ullah’s hope that Najib would prove to be a
conscientious Muslim and make every effort to gain respite for the Muslims from the
depredations to which they had been subjected by the Marathas, the Jats and the
Sikhs, and would cooperate with Ahmed Shah Abdali, found justification in the
actions of Najib who has won praise from Muslim as well as non-Muslim authorities
for his statesmanship and farsighted policies. Shah Wali’ullah also corresponded with
Ahmed Shah Abdali to whom he related the suffering of the Muslims and pointed out
his duties as a Muslim monarch to strive to save them from the clutches of their
tormentors. Ultimately Najib-ud-dawla was able to organize an alliance of the Muslim
powers of Northern India against the Marathas under the leadership of the capable
Afghan monarch, which resulted in the great victory of Panipat in 1761 where the
Marathas were crushed to an extent that they took long to recover their strength ....
The triumph of Muslim arms at Panipat was the culmination of Shah Wali’ullah’s
political efforts so far as his short-term program was concerned, because he died in
the following year.
“….If Ahmed Shah Abdali had not shown the consideration for the old Mughal dynasty
which led to his abandonment of India, perhaps the history of the subcontinent might
have taken a different course for some time ... All hope was lost after his withdrawal and
the Mughal court sank deeper and deeper into the mire of its sloth and inefficiency. Shah
Wali’ullah’s political effort succeeded in winning only a short-lived respite for the Muslims
from the rapacity of the anarchic elements.
“It is, however, in thinking of the basic causes of the decline of the Muslims and trying
to find remedies for these evils that the real greatness of Shah Wali’ullah lies. It is his
thought which has found for him an enduring niche in the history of Islam…. Shah
Wali’ullah thought that the fundamental cause of the moral decline of the Muslims of
the subcontinent was their ignorance of Islam itself. The basic teachings of Islam are
contained in the Quran, the authority of which has been recognized by all Muslims.
An emphasis upon the teachings of the Qur’an would, therefore, tend to reduce
sectarian differences and create feelings of solidarity, because the differences are
mostly a matter of interpretation. Hence it was necessary to popularize the Qur’an
itself. Not many knew Arabic sufficiently well to understand the Qur’an; the average
Muslim derived his knowledge of Islam from the teachings of the jurists, theologians
and sufis. However valuable these might be, they could not replace direct knowledge
of the Qur’an itself. Shah Wali’ullah, therefore, translated it into Persian, a language
which was then widely understood by the educated classes and even today has such
a strong affinity with Urdu. This was a bold step because before this no handy
translation had existed in Persian; …Shah Wali’ullah produced translation and
introduced the fashion of interlinear composition of the Arabic text and the
translation. As Muslims did read the Qur’an in Arabic, even though they did not
understand the meaning, such an arrangement would gradually give the constant
readers some understanding of the Arabic text as well. If it is remembered that some
Muslim peoples resisted the translation of the Qur’an into any language right up to
the 20th century, it would become clear that Shah Wali’ullah had taken a
revolutionary step; It is, therefore, not surprising that it was opposed in some circles
at that time, but so great was his reputation that the translation succeeded and was
later followed by translations into Urdu.
“The worst fissure in the body of Indian Islam at this time had been caused by
hostility between Shi’as and Sunnis; it was in the effort to smooth over these
differences that the real greatness of Shah Wali’ullah in the field of conciliation of
different points of view is demonstrated. There were many Sunnis in those days who
believed that the Shi’as were not Muslims at all. He boldly stood up against such
opinions and laid it down that the Shi’ah were not outside the pale of Islam. This
tradition of tolerance was so well established by him that his son, Shah Abdul-Aziz,
was accused of Shia leanings by some extremists for following in his footsteps.
There can be little doubt that Shah Wali’ullah succeeded through his writings in
laying the foundations of understanding and tolerance among the various sects of
Islam in the subcontinent which, in spite of occasional setbacks, has since
maintained traditions of sectarian tolerance.
“The establishment of good relations between different sects of Islam was the
remedy for only one symptom; there had grown up differences because of economic
and political maladjustments as well. Shah Wali’ullah made a deep study of these
maladies and reached the conclusion that society was suffering from a lack of
equilibrium…. The imbalance between the functions and the performance of the
different organs had brought about such a deterioration in its working that there was
little relationship left between production and consumption. He castigated everyone
who was a burden either upon the public funds or upon the public economy; he
rightly laid great emphasis upon the economic well-being of the peasantry and the
craftsman, because this was the basis of a sound economy in those days; at the
same time he did not want them to be impervious to moral considerations. To be
good members of society, they also had to cultivate habits of hard work , honesty,
and efficiency. He considered it of the greatest importance that everyone should do
productive work to earn his livelihood; he laid the utmost emphasis upon the principle
of ‘adl and tawa’zun, justice and equilibrium, without which society cannot endure.
“The principle of ‘adl,” he explained, ”is the very life of all political and social
organization; freedom, government and good life all depend upon it. The
maintenance of tawa’zun or equilibrium is, according to him, mainly dependent upon
healthy economic conditions.
“The health of an economy can be secured only by a proper distribution of wealth.
Shah Wali’ullah laid great emphasis on the necessity of removing all forms of
economic injustice and tyranny, because when a group is reduced to a level where it
must work like animals to earn a livelihood, it loses its social virtues. Similarly, when
some people give themselves up to the accumulation of means of pleasure and
enjoyment and become addicted to extravagance, they injure the economic well-
being of society. Productive work which is devoted to the satisfaction of the valid
needs of society is the basis of economic health…. because until the mind is free
from economic worries, it cannot devote itself to higher pursuits.
“It is obvious that Shah Wali’ullah believed that spiritual progress was not attainable
by a society that was starved for the essential needs of life. The highest achievement
of social progress, according to Shah Wali’ullah, is the establishment of a society
where such aggression becomes impossible and the conflict among polities is
eliminated. He believed that Islam embodies within its teachings those natural
principles that sustain beneficial social organization and work for its progress.
“Shah Wali’ullah did believe in the love and mercy of God; he was a Sufi himself but
he wanted the Muslims to realize that their religion laid great emphasis upon those
virtues as well that would enable them to lead a well ordered and beneficial social
life, because man could not find his fullest fulfillment without belonging to a healthy
and well-integrated society. Knowledge, however, does not always give such fervor
as translates belief into action. This was the reason why Shah Wali’ullah continued
the tradition of combining theological education with mystic training. This was not an
innovation…. Shah Wali’ullah felt inspired by his mystic experiences to make his
Herculean efforts for the regeneration of Muslim society in the subcontinent. He,
however, was not unaware of the dangers inherent in unbalanced mysticism; he
warned the community against following spurious mystics.
“Shah Wali’ullah was of the opinion that too much rigidity and strictness defeat their
purpose; If religion was not to be discarded as impracticable and its ideals forsaken
as impossible of achievement, it was necessary to interpret its injunctions with
leniency. He, therefore, castigated those theologians who discarded the more lenient
interpretation in favor of the more difficult. This attitude was in keeping with his
general preference for moderation and compromise. Indeed most of his views were
the result of his constant endeavor to shun extremism of every kind and bring about
compromise in place of conflict.
“He did not want the Muslims to become a part of the general milieu of the
subcontinent.; He wanted them to keep alive their relations with the rest of the
Muslim world so that the springs of their inspiration and ideals might ever remain
located in Islam and the traditions of the world community developed by it.
“Shah Wali’ullah considered political authority indispensable for the health of a
community; he could not shut his eyes to the disasters that confronted his people
after the decline of their political power. It is true that he did not succeed in stemming
the tide of political decline. But he aroused those urges in the community which
gradually enabled it to win back some of its moral fervor and to maintain the purity of
its doctrine. The rescue of the community’s conscience, its beliefs, and its faith in its
moral purpose from the debris of the eighteenth century was no mean achievement
in itself. Shah Wali’ullah, however, achieved even more; through his works he made
lasting contributions to so many fields of Muslim thought.
Barbara on Shah Wali’ullah:
Barbara Metcalf, in her book on Islamic Revival in British India, makes the following
observations on Shah Wali’ullah:
”Shah Wali’ullah hoped for the restoration of stable Muslim rule in which the ‘ulama
would play an important role. Unlike them, he explicitly analysed the basis of the
arrangement between ruler and ‘ulama and argued the necessity of their
complementary functions and the need for proper balance between the two. The
importance of appropriate political leadership was as self-evident to him as was the
importance of religious leadership”.
“Troubled by the disorder he saw around him, perhaps even sensing that he was at the end
of an age, he sought to stem the tide of decline by consolidating and clarifying the entire
body of the Islamic tradition. Knowledge of the truth would bring Muslims to religious
obedience that would end the divisions and deviations he so greatly deplored. He felt himself
uniquely endowed by divine gifts for a task, as he understood it, never before attempted. His
Hujjatu’llah’ul-Balighah is a monument to his efforts to elucidate and enshrine the glorious
intellectual tradition of the faith.”
Unlike the earlier Indian scholars, Barbara points out, Shah Wali’ullah’s work was
characterized by an insistence on the necessity of the study of hadis, a study that had been
peripheral for most of the ‘ulama. She acknowledges that Shah Wali’ullah’s work and the
work of his family in this field “place the seal on India's reputation in hadis and decisively set
the emphasis for many ‘ulama who were to follow”.
A unique feature of Shah Wali’ullah’s writings, that attracted interest both in his time and
after, was his attitude toward the Shi'a. But he was not notably successful in persuading
Shi’a or Sunni to accept this view or to be reconciled because of it.
Barbara adds, “The Sunnis at least remember his personality as tolerant and generous in
spirit”. Further, she states, “he also exemplified the ideal pattern of religious leader by being
both saint and ‘alim.
“His work was a celebration of Islam, for he held that every injunction of the faith was of
profit and value to man, invariably conducive to some worldly or spiritual interest. He exulted
in his foreordained role of clarifying and systematizing the faith for he believed himself to be
a fatih, the inaugurator of a new era”
As also pointed out by Qureshi, Barbara further adds, “A fundamental orientation of his work,
however, had been the hope that Muslim political leadership would be restored, with the
‘ulama carrying on their collaborative role of teaching and advising the ruler of the state.
At the time of Shah Wali’ullah’s death in 1762, a pattern had been set for the activity of the
‘ulama: The historic role of preserving the cultural heritage of the community in times of
political uncertainty. There was then a new self-consciousness about the role and
responsibility of the ‘ulama.