Shah Waliullah:

• Shah WaliUllah was a great reformer.

• He was born in 1703, only four years before the death of Aurangzeb. Therefore, he was a witness to, and worried over the process of the decline of the Mughal Empire and the deteriorating condition of the Indian Muslims.

• He believed that the main reason of the miserable condition of the Muslims was their ignorance of Quran and Sunnah.

  • Persian, the court language, was understood by the educated Muslim elite.

  • So, he translated the Quran into Persian language.

  • This way a greater number of Muslims could understand and follow the Quranic teachings.

• In order to create awareness among Muslims regarding the problems faced by them and the possible solutions to the problems, he wrote several books.

  • The most famous book was, “Hujjat Ullah al-Baligha” in which he analysed the problems of the Muslim community.

  • In “Izalat ul Khafa”(usually misspelt as Izalat ul Ikhfa), he tried to remove the differences between the two major sects of Islam, Sunni and Shi’a Muslims.

  • In this he wrote the biographies of the Four Rightly Guided Caliphs in a way acceptable to both the major sects.

• He also advised Muslims to work honestly and with dedication if they really wanted to come out of a state of helplessness and ignorance that they had inherited from their corrupt, weak and luxury loving rulers. As a result of this, there were several threats to the Mughal rule in India both from within and outside.

• He emphasized the importance of Jihad against a common enemy.

  • Therefore, he invited Ahmed Shah Abdali of Afghanistan to save it.

  • Accordingly, Abdali broke the backbone of the South Indian militant Hindu community, the Marathas.

  • He defeated them in the third and last Battle of Panipat in 1761, though he himself did not stay back in India.

• First Muslim thinker to attempt revival of Islam & regenerate Muslims in the wake of Mughal decline.

Syed Ahmed Shaheed Barelvi

• Syed Ahmed Shaheed Barelvi was dismayed at the fast decline of the Mughal Empire and the growing influence of non-Muslim forces.

• He believed that, under a policy, Muslims were being kept weaker than the Hindus and Sikhs.

  • Being inspired by the teaching and sons of Shah Waliullah, he decided to wage Jihad (armed struggle), to liberate Indian Muslims from the non-Muslim rule.

• He was especially worried about the Punjabi Muslims who led a miserable life under the Sikh ruler Ranjit Singh.

  • They were subjected to several humiliations and were denied religious liberty.

  • Azan was banned and the Badshahi Mosque, Lahore was used as a stable by the Sikh forces.

• After returning from Arabia, Syed Ahmed raised a huge army of volunteer Mujahideen and shifted to the NWFP where he was supported by the Pathan tribes against Sikhs.

• Under his Jihad movement he defeated the Sikh forces in various battles till 1830.

• Finally, due to the betrayal of the Pathan chiefs, and sectarian divide in his army he was defeated and killed by the Sikhs in the battle of Balakot in 1831.

• He gave courage to the Indian Muslims by inculcating the idea of physical struggle for their survival.

• Jihad movement was continued till the 1860s.

  • It is considered to be the forerunner of the Pakistan Movement as both were aimed at liberating the Muslim majority areas from the non Muslim rule.

Haji Shari’at Ullah

• Haji Shari’at Ullah was a reformer from East Bengal.

  • He was very much worried about the pitiable condition of Bengali Muslims.

  • They suffered a lot under the British rule and the powerful Hindu Zamindars.

• He believed that the main reason of the poor condition of Bengali Muslims was their negligence of religious obligations or Faraiz.

  • He launched his Faraizi movement that was aimed at urging the Muslims to perform their Faraiz.

• He declared Bengal as Dar-ul-Harb (land under enemy rule) and also believed in the need of Jihad.

• Noticed by the local authorities he had to go back to his native town where he died in 1840.

• His movement was continued by his son Mohsinuddin popularly known as Dadu Mian.