Shah Waliullah
Šāh Walīyullāh ad Dihlawī or Shah Waliullah ( born February 21, 1703 Phulat in Muzaffarnagar, † August 20 1762 in Delhi ) is a major Indian -Islamic thinkers of the 18th century. He comes from a family of scholars in Delhi. Like his father, he worked on putting together the collection of legal opinions Al- Fataawa - l - Hindiya - l - ʿ Ālamġīrīya with which the ruler Muhammad Aurangzeb ʿ Alamgir (ruled 1658-1707 ) was determined, however, final only after his death in their form could be completed.
He spent several years in Mecca, where he studied in the context of the Holy Places, which he critically rezipierte common Puritan thought. He rejected the uncritical adherence ( taqlid ) of the four schools of law and demanded instead that legal opinions directly on the Quran and the Prophet's tradition have to be based ( Sunnah ). As such, it was part of a generation of scholars who sought to separate approaches to the practice of faith. He also rejected the widespread during the Sufis worship of saints' tombs. After his return to India, he continued on the path to its methodology and dealt there within its means with the renewal of Islamic religious practice.
His attitude connects him with people like Muhammad b. ʿ Alī aš - Šaukānī (1760-1832) and Muhammad b. ʿ Abd al - Wahhāb ( 1703-1792 ). Despite the similarities, he is entirely independent, because it differs in that it Although certain practices of Sufism rejected, but clung to many of their teachings of the foregoing. To what extent he could reform the Sufi orders, may be undecided. The fact is that Shah Waliullah was in on four Sufi orders, ie at their practice took part. The Sufi order he saw each other as equals, because they held all one part each of the attainable spiritual experience in his opinion. He also looked at the four schools of law of Sunni Islam as equal, although he himself was a member from home from the Hanafi school of law. In its written in Arabic works Ḥuǧǧatu - l - lah al - Baliga he has the problems and the lives of Muslims in India processed with a view to practical questions of faith. He has many works written in Arabic and Persian, including a translation of the Qur'an into Persian, to this, to get rid of what he sees as sense - obfuscating Koran commentaries on aiming, the Koran closer to the educated Muslims.
Šāh Walīyullāh was an adviser to the government in Delhi and appreciated the Rohilla leader, Najib al-Dawla because of his personal commitment to Sunni Islam.
His son was Shah Abdul Aziz.
Historically, Šāh Walīyullāhs practiced teachings on the further development of the Tariqa -yi Muhammadiyah and the Ahl -i hadith in South Asia some influence.