Pakistan History

Notes

Sir Walid Fulara

Muslim Reformers
Shah Waliullah (1703-1762):
Who:
• Lifespan: 1703-1762
• His real name was Qutb-ud-Din Ahmed
o He was given the title Shah Waliullah due to his piety
• His family was extremely religious and pious:
o His father, Shah Abdul Rahim, was in Aurangzeb’s court and was involved in
the writing of the Fatwa-e-Alamgiri. He also founded the Madrassa Rahimiya
o His mother, Tallal Arshad, was a renowned Muslim scholar
• After the death of his father, he started teaching at the Madrassa in 1718
• In 1724, he went to Arabia for Hajj
o He stayed there for 8 years as he was studying under Shaikh Abhu Tahir
• He wrote 51 books on Islam, the most famous being Hujjat Allah al-Baligha and
Izalat-Ahkfa

Motivations and Beliefs:

• He recognized the threat posed to the Mughal Empire by Marathas and other non-
Muslim invadors/rebellers and the need for foreign aid to combat this
 o His reaction to this is seen in the letters he wrote to Ahmed Shah Abdali
• Muslims were unable to understand the Quran and, by extension, Islam and its
practices
o This led to the decline of Muslims and their culture, which he tried to combat
by making the Quran publically accessible
• Islam was divided by sect, partially due to the large influence of biased scholars in
the absence of the Quran.
o Instead of dividing them into sects, Muslims should instead focus only on the
basic tents of Islam for unity, he believed
o His efforts to promote unity can be seen in his books, which provided a
definition of Islam and the Rashidun Caliphates
• All political, social, and economic behaviour should be based on Islamic principles of
social and economic justice. However, it was not - Muslims had instead indulged in
immoral social evils, disregarding their religion
o This can be seen in his promotion of social justice and appreciation of
labourers
• He was the first one to promote the belief that, in order to correct society, first, the
populace must correct their own morals for meaningful social change
o In his opinion, that would automatically lead to the correction of the
emperors

Contributions:
Translation of the Quran:
• He translated the Quran into Persian
o His sons later translated it into Urdu
• Due to this, it was now accessible to the whole population whereas earlier only
educated scholars who knew Arabic could read it
o Thus, everyone could know of the basic commandments and implement
them into their everyday lives

As a Social Figure:
Muslims were in a shattered state and needed someone to unify them. He was that leader
• He wrote 51 books (23 in Arabic and the rest in Persian) interpreting Islam
o This was done in an attempt to provide a unifying interpretation of Islam and
the caliphs to oppose sectarianism and unite the populace
▪ The unanimously acceptable definition of Caliphs was provided in his
book Izalat al-Khafa' an Khilafat al-Khulafa
• He ensured that he was a role model for Muslims by deepening his knowledge of the
Quran, Hadith, Fiqah, and Tasawut from a young age
• He promoted:
o Social justice and equity (adal and tawazan). especially for peasants
o Appreciation of craftsmen for their contribution to the economy
▪ In order to protect ehm and labourers from poverty, he promoted
better wages and the distribution of wealth (true comrade)
Opposition to Marathas:
• He rallied forces against the Marathas to protect Muslim sovereignty
o He wrote to all Muslim nobles
o He persuaded Ahmed Shah Abdali, the ruler of Afghanistan, to intervene
• Due to this, the Marathas were defeated at the Battle of Panipat

Importance:
Accessibility:
• He made Islamic works accessible to a large chunk of the population by translating
the Quran into Persian
o Thus, this helped eradicate the non-Muslim policies as Muslims had direct
access to the book which affirmed or denied them
• His books also provided the common people an interpretation of Islam and its
principles

Inspiration for the Future:

• He left behind institution and books which spread his message even after death:
o The 52 books he wrote
o The Madrassa Rahimya, which became a central institute of Islamic
knowledge and taught people such as Syed Ahmed Shaheed Barelvi

Identification of Problems:
• He realized and promoted the rhetoric that the Mughal empire was declining due to
a neglect of Islam
o This could be seen in the administrative deficiencies caused by carefree rulers
and the ambitious populace who exploited others to take advantage of this
• He realized how sectarianism was destroying the unity of Muslims and took steps to
provide a central interpretation of Islam

Promotion and Protection of Unity:

• He worked to oppose sectarianism, writing books providing interpretations of the
caliphs what were acceptable to all
• He united the community against the Marathas by emphasizing the importance of
Jihad
o This prevented the collapse of the Mughal Empire to this opposing force

Syed Ahmed Shaheed Barelvi (1786-1831):

Who:
• He was born in Rai Bareli in 1786
o He died in 1831 during the Battle of Balakot
• He moved to Delhi in 1806, where he enrolled in the Madrassa Rahimya
o Here, he studied under Shah Waliullah’s sons for two years
• In 1811, he joined Amir Khan’s forces, where he learned to use European weaponry
 • In 1821, he left for Hajj

The Jihad Movement:

• At the time, Punjab and NWF were ruled by Ranjit Singh.
o As Muslims were oppressed there and Azaan was banned, India was declared
Dar-ul-Harb
o These very places were toured to enlist Mujahideen
• In 1826, he established his headquarters near Peshawar (at Nowshera) and sent an
ultimatum to Ranjit Singh, which was ignored.
o Due to this, in the same year, he defeated Ranjit Singh in Ankora
• In 1827, he was made the Imam of his army
o This was done in order to unite his army and combat the Sikh saying that the
army was un-Islamic
• In 1830, he fought his second battle at Hazro (and won), following which he captured
Peshawar
o He then declared Peshawar an Islamic state and started taking Zakat
• While preparing to attack Attock, he encountered 35,000 Sikhs near Akora
o While battling them, one of his generals, Yar Muhammad Khan, betrayed
him, due to which he had to move his headquarters to Panjtrar
• Due to campaigns by Yar Muhammad against him, he moved his capital to Balakot to
avoid Muslim infighting
o There, he was betrayed by local leaders, who showed the Sikh forces a path
through the mountains
o This led to the Battle of Balakot (1831), during which Barelvi and 600
mujahideen perished

Reasons for Failure of the Jihad Movement:

• The army had a lack of funds, weapons, training, and experience
o This was made worse by the fact that most soldiers were farmers, scholars,
artisans, or blacksmiths with no military background
• Lack of unity:
o His army was extremely diverse, due to which there was a lot of infighting
o This was made worse by the Sikh attempts to instigate them by suggesting
that they were un-Islamic
• The ‘Islamic’ System he implemented dissatisfied the populace who lived under it:
o Under it, Zakat and Ushr were spent on the movement instead of the poor
o Harsh and unnecessary punishments were implemented on little crimes
• The two betrayals he faced caused military defeats

Motivations and Beliefs:

• The freedom of Muslims could only come as a result of armed struggle against the
foreign and non-Muslim forces who were oppressing them
o His Jihad is proof of this
 • People should reject the quest of worldly wealth and instead unite for the cause of
improving the moral and intellectual lives of Muslims in the face of non-Muslim
oppression
o In order to do this, he gathered an army of 80,000 from various cultural
backgrounds
• Once Muslims were free from foreign rule, Islam and its followers could be
rejuvenated and purified of the non-Muslim beliefs that had crept into it
o This can be seen in his liberation of some areas of Punjab and NWFP from the
tyrannous Ranjit Singh

Importance:
• He promoted unity by gathering a force for a common cause
o This willingness of scholars to die for this cause also inspired those who were
not able to join it
• He freed oppressed Muslim states
o The defeat of Ranjit Singh in the Battle of Ankora in 1826 is an example of
this
• His movement was unprecedented - it was the first time Muslim forces in India had
ever attempted to free themselves for foreign oppressors
o Due to this, it was an inspiration for all Muslims and is even viewed by some
as the predecessor of the Pakistan Movement
• It was an inspiration for future movements also because of how pure it was - it was
not led in order to give a particular person power but rather to provide religious and
social freedom to everyone

Haji Shariat Ullah (1781-1840):

Who:
• He was born in 1781 in Faridpur in East Bengal
• His family was poor, with his father being a farmer
• In 1799, he went to Arabia on pilgrimage, where he stayed for 19 years
• He started the Faraizi movement

The Faraizi Movement:

• Seeing the low position of Muslims in the subcontinent and the oppression by Hindu
landlords, the Faraizi movement was started for the reasons listed below
o It focused on the most depressed section of Muslims in India - the farmers
and artisans
o The people who joined his movement were known as Farauz
• People were told:
o To discard un-Islamic practices and traditions
o Fulfill the tenets of Islam to their fullest
o Not to sing and dance at wedding ceremonies
o Seek forgiveness from Allah
• Due to its popularity, the Hindu landlords got alarmed
 o They drove him out of Bengal and imprisoned him ni Nawabganj
o He died in 1940

Motivations and Beliefs:

• He recognized that Muslims had strayed from Islam due to the entrance of non-
Muslim traditions and superstitions
o These needed to be purged in order to return to fulfil one's faraiz properly
o It is important to pray for past sins and follow other basic commandments
o In order to revive Islam, emphasis was placed on praying for sins and learning
from them, leading a righteous life free of past mistakes in the future
o He believed that the low position of Muslims and the economic oppression
by Hindu landlords was due to the lack of Islam from their everyday lives
• He wanted to restore the lost pride of Muslims by politically reviving them
o While once, the Mughal empire and the status of Muslims had stood tall and
proud, they were now hardly able or willing to follow their basic
commandments
• He wanted to free Muslims from Hindu and British zamindars
o They were economically subjugated farmers who hardy had any rights

Importance:
• He united the Bengali people, increasing their political strength
o Now that they were aware of their rights, they could fight for their social and
political status more effectively
• He encouraged Muslims at a time when they were demoralized and downtrodden
• He brought about a spiritual revival in East Bengali Islam
o Impure practices were removed

Minor Characters:
Mian Mohsin-ud-Din Ahmed (1819-1860):
• He was Haji Shariatullah’s son
• He continued to work on the position of Muslims in East Bengal by:
o Dividing the area into circles which had their own Khalifas who were
responsible for the social and spiritual welfare of the people
o He, alongside the peasants, opposed the Hindu and British landlords’
excessive taxes
o When his opposition to taxes faced backlash, he took an even harsher line by
threatening Jihad

Titu Mir (1782-1831):

• His real name was Syed Mir Nisar Ali
• In 1822, he went on pilgrimage to Makkah
• When he returned in 1827, he decided to become a Bengali freedom fighter against
the oppression of the Hindu and British landlords
 • He lead the Tariqah-i-Muhammadiya, a religious reform movement
• He declared himself king and gathered at least 5000 men
o They BUILT A BAMBOO FORT at Narkelbaria in 1831 and fought
against the British forces sent to poose it (400 men total)
o They were finally defeated later in a 5 days’ battle against British cavalry and
cannons

Potential Questions:
Four Marks:
Who was Shah Waliullah/what did he do:

Who was Syed Ahmed Shaheed Barelvi/what did he do:

Who was Haji Shariat Ullah/what did he do:

Who was Mian Mohsin-ud-din-Ahmed:

Who was Titu Mir:

Seven Marks:
Why did Shah Waliullah attempt to revive Islam:

Why did Barelvi start the Jihad Movement:

Why did Haji Shariat Ullah start the Faraizi Movement:

What was the Importance of Shah Waliullah/why did they have such a major impact:

What was the importance of Barelvi/his Jihad Movement/why did he have such a major
impact:

What was the importance of Haji Shariatullah/his Faraizi Movement/why did he have such a
major impact:

Ten/Fourteen Marks:
Was ____________ more important for the revival of Islam in the subcontinent during the
17th and 18th century?