UP close UP: Shah Waliullah

By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net

UP elections is in full swing and suddenly political parties, media, and experts, all remember that there is a significant population of Muslim in India’s most-populous state. Road to Delhi goes through Lucknow, they will declare and start speculating which way Muslims will vote this time around.


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Muslims in Uttar Pradesh as diverse as the state itself, with their own history, culture, religious practices, and most importantly their own opinions. Twocircls.net visited some places in UP, few months before elections to talk to Muslims of the state directly. The stories from that visit are part of this series UP close UP.

Part 1: Shah Waliullah

Road to Delhi may go through UP but to understand UP Muslims began our journey by visiting the grave of famous Islamic scholar Shah Waliullah. Shah Waliullah, along with his close family members, is buried in the graveyard of Mahdiyan behind Maulana Azad Medical College in Delhi. Lack of visitors and simple graves of him and his sons fail to give true representation of the contributions and influence that this family continue to have over a large sections of South Asian Muslims.

Shah Waliullah [1703-1762] lived in a tumultuous period of Indian Muslim history. Mughal power was on decline and future looked unstable. Masterfully, Shah Waliullah through his analytical writing laid down the art of state-craft and wrote treatise on the development of society. Shah Waliullah also reconciled the philosophy of Wahdat-ul-Wujud (unity of existence) and Wahdut-ul-Shuhood (unity of perception) removing a big source of confusion among Muslims.

Shah Waliullah’s another major contribution was his attempts in bringing message of Islam and Quran closer to the people. He was the first person to translate Quran, taking lot of criticism for this, he translated the Holy Book into Persian. His sons Shah Rafiuddin and Shah Abdul Qadir later translated Quran into Urdu. A significant event as it suggests that religious scholars began to look for alternate sources of patronage and also shows the importance that Urdu began to gain among the educated Muslims of North India.




Land-grab at Mahdiyan graveyard. [TCN Photo]

Today, three hundred years later, in the same place where Shah Waliullah ran Madrasa Rahimiya, you will find a living picture of Muslim marginalization. Among the development all around, this graveyard is the only piece of land available for Muslims. In this graveyard you will a functional madrasa; a number of houses with small children; office of Markazi Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind; signboards of organizations like All India Unique Welfare Association, Old Artist Association, Iqbal Bano Foundation Trust for Orphanage, seems nothing more than an attempt at land-grab; and also restaurants, shops, and someone using the open space for drying cotton yarns. A pathetic image of Muslims at the margins of the society fighting among themselves for the margins of the land.

Slide show of Mahdiyan gravyard

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