Hundred Great Muslims

SHAH WALIULLAH
Dr. Iqbal, the poet of the East. has characterized the celebrated Mughal
Emperor Aurangzeb as "#/-I':,$.IL' "WI' (the last arrow in the
quiver of Muslim power in india): The anti-Isl'rmic forces which had raised their
head during the reign of the irreligious Emperor Akbar and later found their
champions in Jahangir and Dara Shikoh were, to a great extent, checked by
Aurangzeb, the most honest, conscientious and able Muslim monarch that
ascended the throne of Delhi.
With his passing away in 1707 A.C. started the political chaos which later
culminated in the disintegration of the Muslim power in the subcontinent. This
political disintegration which was the result of spiritual confusion encompassed
the socio-economic spheres also. Aurangzeb's successors were too weak and
incapable of facing the rebellious forces emerging on all hands. At such a critical
period of Muslim history was born Shah Waliullah, the greatest religious thinker
produced by Muslim India who has contributed immensely to the reintegration
of the structure of Islam.
Shah Waliullah was born in 1703 A.C. four years before the death of
Aurangzeb. His grandfather, Sheikh Wajihuddin, was an important officer in the
army of Shah Jahan who supported Prince Aurangzeb in the war of succession.
His father, Shah Abdur Rahim, a sufi and an eminent scholar assisted in the
compilation of Fatwa-i-Alamgiri-aue voluminous code of Islamic law. He,
however, refused an invitation to visit the Emperor and devoted his energies to
the organisation and teaching at 'Madrassa Rahimia-a Theological College which
he bad established and which, later, played an important part in the religious
emancipation of Muslim India and became the breeding ground of religious
reformers and 'Mujahids' like Shah Waliullah, Shah Abdul Aziz, Syed Ahmad of
Bareli, Maulvi Abdul Haiy and Shah Ismail Shaheed. Writing about the teachings
of Shah Abdur Rahim and his brother, Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi observes:
"The essence of the teaching of the two brothers was the effort to discover
a path which could be traversed together by the Muslim philosophers (the
Sufis and the Mutakallim] and the Muslim Jurists (Faqih]".
Shah Waliullah received his early education from his illustrious father, who
was his teacher as well as his spiritual guide. Being a precocious child with a
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