Socio Political Thought Of Shah WaliAllah Rahmatullahi Alaihi

Selections from Hujjat Allah al-Balighah
qisds, diyiif, marital transactions and in playing a leading role in the
society; so they have no choice but to have recourse to faith. These
conditions also include that people are made responsible to carry
out their religious obligations with regard to virtue and vice in the
prescribed forms. These forms should be made essential to obligations
without much allusion to the spirit underlying these forms. The
inziim, therefore, should leave no discretion with the followers of the
Religion in respect of their obligations under the Shari'ah. Moreover,
he should make the science of the subtle meanings of shara'i'
('ilm asriir al-sharii'i'), a reserved science, accessible only to those
who are well-versed in the understanding of Religion, because most
of the followers of the Religion neither comprehend, nor are they
capable of comprehending the great beneficial considerations underlying
the injunctions of the Shari'ah. These could be comprehended
only if these were regulated by definite rules, and thus had become so
perceptible that it could be attained by anyone pursuing them. Had
there been any option to omit any part of the Shari'ah, or it were
explicitly stated that the real purpose of the Shari'ah was other than
these forms, avenues would have been opened wide for vain debates,
and people would have plunged themselves in great disputation and
controversy. In such a condition, it would not have been possible to
realise the Divine scheme chosen for them.
184. Also, included among these conditions is the consideration that since
subjugation by sword alone cannot remove the rustiness of their [i.e.
the disbelievers'] hearts, and it remains likely that in the event of
mere use of the sword, they might soon return to their earstwhile
state of infidelity, it becomes essential that by employing various
modes of reasoning and demonstrative proofs it is established in the
minds of the general masses that those [other] religions are not worthy
of being followed because they are either not sanctioned by an
infallible authority, or they are not practicable in the existing conditions
of the community, or because there is some distortion or
misapplication in them. With these considerations in view, deviations
are openly rectified and the priorities of the True Religion are
clearly set forth. It is, then, made clear that the comparatively hidden
teachings of the Religion are also as evident as the light of the day,
the prescribed patterns are most beneficial for the masses, and that
they are almost identical to the examples set by the earlier Prophets
(peace be upon them), and similar other distinctive traits of the Religion
are underlined. God knows best.