International Seminar on Shah Wali-Allah's Thought

Abstract

Ahinad ibn Abd al-Rahim, better known as Shah Wali-Allab of Delhi( 1703-1762), is perhaps the greatest intellectual figure of Islam in SouthAsia. An international seminar was organized on his thought (as containedin Hujjat-Allah al-Balighah) on February 20-22, 2001 by the Shah WaliAllahDehlavi Research Cell of the Institute of Islamic Studies, AligarhMuslim University, India.Wali-Allah was a prolofic writer in Arabic and Persian and a "syntheticthinker" like Al-Ghazali and ibn-Khaldun. He made his contribution onthe eve of the modem (colonial) period. The British in the Bay of Bengalhad their eyes set on Delhi, the Mughul seat of Muslim power. Deeplyconcerned, Wali-Allah understood his mission to be a two-fold reformationof "the religion and the state." With his favorite slogan "Back to theQur'an", he called for a complete change of the old order and sought to"reopen" the doors of jihad and ijtihad.
 In his resistance to the growing power of the Mrathas and Sikhs, he isbelieved to have set a tradition for the subsequent generations of MuslimIndia. Acclaimed variously by different Islamic groups as a reformer,a purifier, a revivalist and a modernizer, Wali-Allah is considered to be thespiritual and intellectual progenitor to a host of religio-political movementsin South Asia, including the Mujahidin movement, the Deobandmovement, the Aligarh movement and the Pakistan movement. Hisinfluence has also been acknowledged on the subsequent generations ofMuslim thinkers in the Indian subcontinent including Allama MuhammadIqbal and Mawlana Abul Aala Mawdudi.In his magnum opus, Hajjat-Allah al-Balighah (The ConclusiveArgument from God), Wali-Allah has worked out an "integrated scheme"of Shari'ah, or a theoretical basis for interpretation and applicationof Shari'ah against a background provided by his ideas of "humanpurposefulness" and "beneficial interests". He believed that his(pre-modern) age demanded a projection of Shari'ah with reasoned andconvincing "arguments", unraveling the secrets (deeper meanings) ofreligious symbols and injunctions ...