(16) عقد الجید از شاہ ولی اللہؒ ۔۔۔تعارف ومنہج+Aqadul Jayyed by Shah Waliullah--- Introduction and Methodology

Abstract

Shah Waliullah promoted his message through writings and education. He trained a number of students and sent them out to promote the message of harmony and unity among all the Muslims. Shah Waliullah penned down 51 books on Sunnah, acts and sayings which the people had forgotten. Apart from imparting religious education to the Muslims, Shah Waliullah also provided leadership to the Muslims in the political field. He came out with his great wisdom and foresight to create political awakening among the Muslim society. This gave Muslims a strong and true leadership to guide and stimulate them unlike the previous religious leaders who were pleasure-seeking and least concerned with the decline and demise of the Muslims. Muslim scholars and Ulema had literally “closed of the gate of Ijtihad” or independent reasoning. Muslim emirs and elites were busy in the life of merry-making. Shah Waliullah launched a project of Islamic reformation for the Muslim society and concentrated his efforts on the moral, religious and ethical revival of the Muslim society and polity. Therefore, Islamic reformation in the eighteenth century is mainly attributed to Shah Waliullah Dehlvi. In the jurisprudential issues, Shah Waliullah advocated the path of moderation. In the contentious jurisprudential matters, he gave preference to the Qur’anic verses rather than the Hadith. His approach to interpret the Qur’an and Sunnah was balanced and opposed to the blind imitation (Taqlid-e-Jamid) of the medieval imams as well as the blind faith in Hadith reporters. However, he wrote a book named “Iqdul jayyad fil Ijtihad wl Taqlid” in which Shah Waliullah ostensibly criticized blind imitation in faith and fiqh and objected on “the closing of the gate of ijtihad”, maintaining that the door of Ijtihad was not open to all and sundry. Rather, he opined that only those well-versed in the Islamic sciences with the required abilities can engage in ijtihad. Shah Waliullah’s emphasis on ijtihad was also demonstrated in his efforts of renewal of the Sharia or Islamic law in tune with the modern times.