Religious Thinkers and the Spread of Islam

Religious thinkers and the spread of Islam

Background: why a revival was needed

By the early 18th century the Mughal Empire was weakening (see chapter 2). Muslims had lost political power and many felt that their religion was in danger. Hindu customs had crept into Muslim life (for example spending lavishly on weddings and funerals, and honouring saints' tombs in ways that went beyond Islam), and the ulama were divided. The thinkers in this chapter tried to purify Islam, bring Muslims back to the Quran and the Sunnah, and restore their strength.

Shah Waliullah (1703–1762)

Who he was. Born in Delhi, the son of a scholar, Shah Abdul Rahim. He studied in Delhi and in Makkah and Madinah, and taught at the Madrasa Rahimiyya in Delhi.

His main work and ideas.

• He translated the Quran into Persian (the language that educated Muslims read) so that ordinary people could understand it (finished in 1738). His sons Shah Rafiuddin and Shah Abdul Qadir later translated it into Urdu. His best-known book on Islamic philosophy is Hujjat Allah al-Baligha.
• He wrote on the Hadith and on how the four schools of law (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafii, Hanbali) could be understood fairly (Al-Insaf), and on the first caliphs (Izalat al-Khifa) to ease Sunni–Shia quarrels.
• He urged Muslims to return to the Quran and the Hadith and to use ijtihad (independent reasoning) where the texts did not give a clear answer.
• He tried to reduce the quarrels between the schools of law and between Sunnis and Shias, and between the different Sufi orders, so that Muslims could unite.
• He criticised the un-Islamic customs among Muslims, and the luxury of the nobles and the heavy taxes that were ruining the peasants and merchants. He wanted a fairer economic system.

His role in the political situation. He saw that the Mughal Empire was collapsing and that the Marathas were a danger to Muslims. He wrote to Ahmad Shah Abdali of Afghanistan asking him to defend Muslim India, and also encouraged the Rohilla chief Najib-ud-Daula and the Nawab of Awadh, Shuja-ud-Daula, to resist the Marathas. Abdali defeated the Marathas at the Third Battle of Panipat (1761).

His influence. His family and followers carried on his work (his son Shah Abdul Aziz led the school in Delhi), and his ideas inspired later movements, including the Jihad movement of Syed Ahmad Barelvi and the Deoband school (founded 1866). He is seen as the first of the great Muslim revivalists of the period.

Syed Ahmad Barelvi and the Jihad (Mujahideen) movement

Who he was. Syed Ahmad was born in Rae Bareli (in present-day Uttar Pradesh) in 1786. He studied in Delhi under Shah Abdul Aziz, the son of Shah Waliullah. He then served for a time in the army of Amir Khan (a Pathan chieftain), where he learned military skills and saw how the British were taking over.

His aims. To revive Islam, remove un-Islamic customs and practices, and establish a state governed by Islamic law. He believed that the Muslims of the Punjab were suffering under Sikh rule under Ranjit Singh, and that jihad against the Sikhs was a duty.

The movement.

• He travelled widely, preaching and gathering followers, and won the support of many Muslims, including Shah Ismail Shaheed (a grandson of Shah Waliullah) and Maulana Abdul Hayee.
• In 1826 he set out from Rae Bareli with his followers, on a long journey through Sindh and Balochistan to the North-West Frontier. This was the start of the Mujahideen movement.
• He made his base in the Frontier region (around Peshawar and the Yusufzai area). In December 1826 the Mujahideen attacked a Sikh force under Budh Singh at Akora Khattak and won; the later victory at Hazro added to his standing. In January 1827 he was proclaimed Imam and set up an Islamic government. For a time his Mujahideen took Peshawar (1830), and he began to enforce Islamic law.
• Ranjit Singh won over the Peshawar chiefs (Yar Muhammad Khan and Sultan Muhammad Khan). Syed Ahmad restored Sultan Muhammad to Peshawar, but he turned traitor and many Mujahideen were killed, which forced Syed Ahmad to move to Balakot.

Why it failed.

• Some Pathan chiefs and tribes, who disliked the strict rules (including changes to local customs, and the demand for taxes), turned against him. Some betrayed the Mujahideen to the Sikhs.
• The Sikh army was better organised and armed.
• The Mujahideen were short of money and supplies.

The end. Syed Ahmad Barelvi and Shah Ismail were killed in the Battle of Balakot on 6 May 1831, fighting the Sikhs. The movement continued under his followers for many years, with a base at Sittana, and it played a part in later resistance to the British.

Importance. It showed that Muslims were ready to fight for their faith, kept the idea of jihad and Islamic government alive, and inspired the Muslims of the North-West. It also helped to revive Islam and create a sense of separate identity, which was important to the later Pakistan Movement.

Haji Shariatullah and the Faraizi Movement

Who he was. Born in Faridpur in Bengal in 1781. He went to Makkah (about 1799) and spent some 20 years there studying Islam (where he met the strict reforming ideas of the Wahhabi movement), then returned to Bengal in about 1818 to preach.

The Faraizi Movement. The name comes from faraiz, meaning the obligatory duties of Islam. He told Bengali Muslims to follow these duties strictly (prayer, fasting, zakat, Hajj) and to give up un-Islamic practices that they had picked up from Hindu neighbours (such as certain festivals, rituals and the worship of saints).

Its social and economic side.

• Most Muslim peasants in Bengal were poor and were exploited by Hindu landlords (zamindars), who charged illegal taxes (including for Hindu festivals) and indigo planters. Haji Shariatullah told peasants that the land belonged to God and that they should not pay illegal taxes.
• He taught that India under the British had become Dar-ul-Harb (a land of war), so Friday and Eid prayers could not be properly held. (His followers later disagreed about this.)

Leadership after him. After his death in 1840, his son Dudu Miyan (Muhammad Mohsin, 1819–1862) took over. He organised the peasants into a well-disciplined group, appointing khalifas (local leaders) who reported to him, mainly in the Dhaka, Faridpur and Pabna districts. He opposed the illegal taxes, such as the one charged for Hindu festivals (for example the Durga puja), and led resistance to the zamindars and indigo planters. He was arrested several times, including in 1857, and died in 1862.

Titu Mir (Bengal)

Mir Nisar Ali, known as Titu Mir (1782–1831), was another Bengali Muslim reformer. After the Hajj he preached against un-Islamic customs and defended poor Muslim peasants against the Hindu landlord Krishna Deva Rai and the indigo planters. His base was a bamboo fort at Narkelbaria, near Calcutta. When his followers resisted, the British sent troops and he was killed in 1831. He is remembered as a martyr who stood up for the peasants.

Importance. The movement awakened Bengali Muslims to their religion and to their rights. It was the first mass movement in Bengal that was also religious and social. After the death of Dudu Miyan, the movement lost strength, and many followers joined the Ahl-e-Hadith or other movements. It was less political than the Jihad movement.

How successful were the religious thinkers?

Outline. He translated the Quran into Persian, called for a return to the Quran and Sunnah, tried to unite the schools of thought, and criticised luxury and un-Islamic customs. He also looked at the political and economic causes of decline and called for help from Ahmad Shah Abdali against the Marathas. Judgement: very important, as he gave the basis for later movements, although he could not stop the political decline of the Mughals.