Shah Waliullah

Shah Waliullah Dehlavi (Arabic/Persian/Urdu: شاہ ولی اللہ دھلوی) also known as Shah Waliullah of Delhi (1703–1762) was an important Islamic reformer who worked for the revival of Muslim rule and itellectual learning in the South Asia, hoping to restore the ulama's former power and influence. He despised the divisions and deviations within Islam and its practice in the subcontinent and hoped to 'purify' the religion and unify all Indian Muslims under the banner of the 'truth' (Haq).

One of his main desires was to intellectually revive Islamic learning and did so by emphasising studies in madrassas (Islamic schools), especially his own, Madrassa-i Rahimiyya. Waliullah advocated the strenuous study of the Islamic "sciences of revelation", which comprised studies of the Hadith (the oral tradition of the sayings of the Prophet) and the Qur'an (the Islamic holy scripture). Shah Waliullah attempted to simplify the texts in order to spread their message to Muslims of every educated class. In addition, Waliullah was a powerful advocate of the establishment of Urdu as a mainstream literary and liturgical language, citing it as the lingual link among all Indian Muslims. Shah Waliullah's approach to learning and his Muslim revivalist agenda inspired the Deobandi movement, who claim their scholastic heritage and lineage back to Shah Waliullah).

Shah Waliullah was also a key protagonist in initiating the spiritual revival of Muslims through tasawwaf and Sufism (Islamic spirituality). He spread the message of Islamic spiritualism to the Indian masses and emphasised Da'wah and Tableegh (Islamic propagation) to his students and he supported the well-established tradition of the Sufis in the South Asia, while at the same time condemning external influences and innovations (bid'a) in Sufi practices, advocating the idea of a pure Islam devoid of such influences on the basis that Muslims should assert an independent identity free from the influence of Hindu polytheists. In this respect as well as others, Shah Waliullah was a follower of the Ghazalian tradition of Imam Al-Ghazali.

It is interesting to note that Shah Waliullah is respected and revered greatly by all Muslims in the South Asia and beyond, including the Barelvi, Deobandi and Ahl-e-Hadeeth groups and movements of Pakistan, Bangladesh and India, who include both Sufis and Salafis. The Deoband movement as well as the Ahl-e-Hadeeth both claim to espouse the ideology and thought of Shah Waliullah and the Barelvi movement follow his spiritual tradition. Shah Waliullah belongs to a noble family.

Shah Waliullah was a prolific writer who wrote extensively on several Islamic topics. His works include an instrumental and one of the earliest translations of the Qur'an from Arabic into Urdu, as well as one into Sanskrit, contrary to the will of many of his Muslim contemporaries who opined that the Quran should be left in its original language. Later Indian Islamic scholars, however, accepted such efforts and rather than criticise this, they welcomed it. Other famous works include Hujjat al-Balagha amd Al-Tafheemat al-Ilahia.