The Impact of Ibn Taymiyyah on South Asia

8/13/2019 The Impact of Ibn Taymiyyah on South Asia

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) Journal of Islamic Studies 1 (1990) pp. 120-149

THE IMPACT OF IBNTAIMIYYA ONSOUTH ASIAKHALIQ AHMAD NIZAMIFormerly Professor of History, Aligarh Muslim University

Ibn Taimiyya (661-728/1263-1327) is one of the most dynamicandseminal personalitiesin thehistoryofIslam. Bornin an agewhich,touse Toynbee's words, wascharacterized by 'schism of thesoul'and'schismofthe body politic',hestruggled hardtorevive Muslim societythrough inward animation and re-interpretationofits valuesinthe lightof a new spiritofijtihad(interpretationoflaw) basedondirect recoursetotheQur'an and the Sunnahofthe Prophet. He therefore reacted mostforcefully tothe political decadence and social chaos which followed theirruptionofthe Mongols.Hewas born five years after Hulagu's sack ofBaghdadand was in histeens when the Mongol storm inundatedtheeastern world of Islam.Hestruggled hard to turn thetide. Whenhebreathed his lastin1327, Muslim and Mongol principalities existed sideby sideinCentral Asia, the Ilkhans had stabilized their positioninPersiaandtheMongol tribes were convertingtoIslam. Muchofthishadbeendue to the efforts of Ibn Taimiyya. He came to be hailed as themujaddid1ofhis age.2His thought influenced not only his contemporar-iesin theMuslim heartlandsbutreachedfarbeyond: MuhammadbinTughluq (13251351) the Sultan ofDelhi,forexample, became an ardentadvocateofhis ideologyandsoughttorestructure political institutionsin its light; many Muslim reform movements in the 18th and 19thcenturies drew some degreeofinspiration from him;inrecent historyhisthought suppliedelanto themovementsforpolitical liberationinSouthAsia. Surprisingly,noattempt hasso farbeen madetoassess the impactof his ideologyonSouth Asia.

1 Theword mujaddidmeans 'reformer' or'regenerator'. Atradition of theProphetcitedby AbuDawud says:'Godwill,on the eve ofevery century, raiseaperson inthisummatwho would renew Islam.' See also Shah Wall Allah,Izalat al-Khafa an Khilafatal-Khulafa,(Bareilly,A H1286), 271,for adiscussion aboutmujaddtdsofdifferent periods.

1 Siddiq Hasan Khan,Hajja; al-KaramatAthar al-Qayyama(n.d.),1367;Maqdlat-iShtbli (Azamgarh, 1955),V, 62.


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THE IMPACT OF IBN TAIMIYYA ON SOUTH ASIA 121LIFE OF IBN TA IMIYYA

Ibn Taimiyya3was born at H arran (near Damascus) on22January 1263,in a family known for academic attainm ent. T he nature and reach of hisreformist activityboth at the political and ideological levelcan onlybe appreciated in the context of the Mongol invasions which hadbrought down the medieval Muslim state-system and torn up the fabricof Muslim civilization. A gainst that backgrou nd of Mongol threat IbnTaimiyya's father decided, sometime in 1268, to leave H arran and settlein Damascus.Adecade earlier Baghdad had been sacked by H ulagu andMuslim political prestige touched its nadir. A few small states clung to amelancholy existence but w ith destruction imm inent. The sheer num berof Ibn Taimiyya's teachers (some 200) reflects the unstable conditions inwhich he had to complete his education. Significantly, one of thoseteachers ' was a learned lady called Z ainab .* A t the age of seventeen hestarted instructing students, giving legal verdicts (fatawa) and writingbook s. H e remained a celibate throughout his life. In 1282, on the deathof his father, he was appointed professor in H anbali law . H is soul wasstirred to its depths at the spectacle of the loss of Muslim politicalpower,5 and he took it upon himself to mobilize Muslims for jihadagainst the Mongols.6H e found the M uslim society of his day demoral-ised, superstitious, and indolent, and commended the strictest m easuresto revitalise it. Some of his views brought him into conflict with the'ulama'and the mystics of his day. H e went to C airo to muster supportfor his anti-Mongol movement. H e was imprisoned several timesinDam ascus, Cairo, A lexandria and other placesfor his views, butnothin g could dampen his spirit. H e criticised vehemently the un-Islamicaccretions and attitudes of sects as well as individuals. H e returned toDamascus after some eight years in Cairo, some of which were spent inan underground prison cell. A letter written to his mother from Cairoshows the depth of his commitment to his cause.7A prolific w riter, he

3 For his life see: Dhahabl, Tadhhrat al-Huffaz (Hyderabad, AH 1334), IV, 288; IbnShakir al-Kutubl, Fawat al-Wafayat (Bulaq, AH 1299), al-Subki, Tabaqat al-Shaf'tyya(Cairo,AH 1324), V, 81-212 ; Ibn al-Warsdi, Tarikh (Cairo,AH1285, II, 254 f; Ibn Hajar al-Haytaml,al-Fatawa al-Hadithiya (Cairo,AH 1307,86 f; al-Suyuti, Tabaqat al-Huffdz(n.d.).Amo ng recent works, Muhammad Abu Zahra, Ibn Taimiyya: Hayatuhu wa 'Asruhu(Cairo,1952); Muhammad Yusuf Kokan 'Uman, Imam Ibn Taimiyya (Urdu) (Madras, 1959).

4 ShiblT, Maqalat-i Shibli, v, 64.3 Ibn Taimiyya's political ideas appear in detail in the two works, Minhaj al-Sunnah

(Bulaq, AH 1322) and Styasat al-Shart'ah (Egypt, AH 1322). See also H. Laoust,Essai surlesdoctrines soctalesetpoltttques d'lbn Taimiya (Cairo, 1939).* He participated personally in some of the campaigns against the Mong ols. He foughtthe battle of Shaqhab, near Damascus.7 Abul Hasan 'Ah NadwT, TarTkh-i Da'wat wa AzJmat (Azamgarh, 1957), ii, 84-8.


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THE IMPACT OF IBN TAIMIYYA ON SOUTH ASIA IZ3IsmaTlTs, KharajTs, RafidTs, QadirTs, Mu'tazills, Jahmls, Karramls ando t h e r s . "

(d) H e criticized man y practices preva lent am ong the m ystics of hisday as un-Islamic accretions.(e) H e criticized Shaikh M uh l al-Dln Ibn al-cA rabl for his doctrine of

wahdat al-wujud (unity of the noum enal and the pheno men al).(f) H e considered illegal all journey s unde rtake n to visit shrines.(g) H e considered adm issible the levy of taxes by the state over andabove those laid down by God . H owe ver, he exemp ted those wh o paidsuch taxes from payment of zakat.(h) H e believed tha t it was imp erative to hav e an imam to regulateand direct the life of the community and give it cohesion, unity anddiscipl ine, even when pol i t ical power was in non-Muslim hands.(i) H e believed in unified and inte grated c om mu nity life witho ut any

separation between religion and politics.Whe ther in prison or inmadrasah, Ibn Taimiyya's sole concern was toawaken Muslim masses from their s tupor, to remove their confusion ofmind, inspire them with the spirit of ijtihad to meet the challenge of thet ime, and to take them to the Qu r'an and the Sunnah as the safest guidesin mom ents of trial and turm oil . A reformer determined to rejuvenate awhole society could not but come into conflict with a number ofelements that obstructed his progress. Ibn Taimiyya refused to accept theSufis' stance to the effect that, as state and religion had different paths,they could have nothing to do with pol i t ics . Such an approach wouldrender his whole m ission fruitless. H e had to m obilize all the talents ofall the community in order to deal with its social, ideological and

poli tical proble ms. A nxious to s trengthen mosques as the lynch-pin ofMuslim community-l i fe, he cri t icized the construct ion of khanqahs,zawiyahs and jam'at khdnahs as innova tions.

EARLY SIGNS OF IMPA CT ON SOU TH A SIACircumstantial evidence shows that even during the early phase of IbnTaimiyya's career, India did not remain ignorant of the religious trendsinitiated by him, though their actual application was varied and sporadic.During the time of Ibn Taimiyya's struggle against the Mongols, Bal-ban (1266-1287), 'A la' al-DTn Kha ljl (1296-1316) and M uh am ma d

13 See Mar'i, al-Kawakib, 165; Abu Zahra, Shaikh al-lslam Ibn Taimiyya, 170 f. In1303 he fought against the people of Jabal Kasrawan in Syria, including isma'ilTs,Hakimis, etc. He wrote a pamphlet against the Ittihadiya.


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1 24 K H A L IQ A H M A D N I Z A M Ibin Tughluq (1325-1351) wereon thethroneofDelhiand all ofthemwere carryingon a determined struggle against theMongols. Thereisdirect evidence of Muhammad bin Tughluq's admiration for IbnTaimiyya's ideas;andindirect, circum stantial evidenceofthe impact ofthose ideas on others. Given the nature of political and intellectualcontacts between South A siaand(asitis now called) the M iddle East,itis improbable that these Sultansdid notknowof the defence strategiesevolved in other Muslim lands which hadsuffered from theMongols.Balban gave sheltertomany scholars who had been huntedout oftheirhomelandsby theMongols.14Henamed fifteen quartersin thecapitalafter these refugees.15A mong his favourite were pupilsofImamFakhr al-Dln RazT,16 Maulana -Burhan al-Dln MarghinanI17 (authorofHidaya),andMaulana R azI al-Dln H asan SaghanT (authorofMashariqal-Anwar).1*In such circumstances Delhi could hardly have remainedignorantofattempts being madeinthe contemporary Muslim worldtomeettheMongol threat. Duringthereignof'A la' al-Dln Khaljl, SouthA sia could boastof having sheltered many eminent scholarsof CentralAsiaandPersia. Referringto theintellectual achievementsofthe ageof'A la' al-Dln K haljl, BaranI says that books w ritten outside India wereaccepted as authoritative only when the scholars of Delhi approvedthem.19 TheSultanhad diplomatic relations with theIlkhansand hadwelcomed Rashld al-Dln Fadl A llah20, the famous historian and scholarof the age . Despite all his shortcom ings, 'A la' al-Dln had establishedanefficient administration of the Muslim institutionofhisbazl (controlofpublic standardsofmo rality,law andorder). A ccordingtoBaranI,theEmperor would say:'IfIpunishathiefor anadultereror adrunkard,itisnotbecausehe has doneanywrong tom e,butbecauseIfollowthepathof theProphets.'22Hedealt with the Ibahatls (whohadlegalizedcertain immoral practices)inthe same religious sp irit.23D uring his reignMaulana Shams al-Dln Turk cameto Multan from Egyptandbroughtwithhimfour hundred booksonahadtth eagertoestablishthescienceof their studyinSouth A sia.24Some writers think thathewasnoother

" See K. A.Nizami,Salattn-i-Dehli kayMadhabJ Kujhanat (Delhi, 1958),182." Ferishta, Tarikh-i Ferishta,(Nawal Kishore, AH 1281),i, 75." BaranT,Tarikh-i Firuz Shahi (Calcutta, 1860),46.17 Hasan SijzT, Fawa'id al-Fu'ad (Nawal Kishore, A H 1302), 238-9. 'Abd al-Haqq

Muhaddith DehlawT,Akhbar al-Akhyar (Delhi, A H 1309),45-6.11 ibid. BaranI, Tarikh-i Firuz Shah,355.20 See K. A.Nizami,'Rashld al-Dln Fazl AllahandIndia'inRashid al-Din Fazl Allah:

Commemoration Volume (Tehran, AH 1350), 36 -53 .21 See I. H.Qureshi,TheAdministrationof theSultanateofDelhi(Lahore, 1942), 45,157.22 BaranT, Tartkh-t Firuz Shahi,296.23 ibid.;Amir Khusrau,Khaza'in al-Futith (Calcutta, 1953),20.24 BaranT, Tarikh-i Firuz Shahi,297.


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THE IMPA CT OF IBN TAIM IYYA ON SOUTH ASIA 125than Ma ulana Shams al-Dln ibn al-H awerl who had been a qadi inEgypt but dismissed from office on account of his committment to IbnTaimiyya's views.25Contact with the Islamic world intensified during the Tughluq period.Some identical trends in religious thought in South Asia and the MiddleEast illustrate the extent of that contact.While discussing the legality of music in a mabzArmeeting convenedby Sultan G hiyath al-DTn Tughluq (1320-1325), the well-known Chishtlsaint Shaikh Nizam al-Dln A uliya quoted a hadith of the Prophet, butthe lulamc?of Delhi refused to listen to him and sa id: 'We w ant theverdict of Imam A bu H anlfa, not a tradition of the Prophet'. The Shaikh,distressed, remarked that a city in which the 'ulama3 refuse to listen tothe traditions of the Prophet, is do om ed ." Shaikh Nizam al-Dln A uliyamay have arrived at his belief in tjtihadentirely independently, but it isinteresting that he should have come to a line of religious thinking sosimilar to the one that had inspired Ibn Taimiyya. This led NawabSiddlq H asan K han, the most ardent South A sian advocate of IbnTaim iyya's views in recent years, to suggest that there was an identity ofapproach between Shaikh Nizam al-DTn A uliya and Ibn Taimiyya . H ewrites: 'In this matter Shaikh al-Islam Ibn Taimiyya agrees withNizam[al-Dln] A uliya.'27

One of the scholars who su pported Shaikh Nizam al-DTn A uliya atthe mabzar meeting was M aulana 'A lam al-DTn, a grandson of ShaikhBaha al-DTn Zakariyya of Multan, who was known for his extensivetravels in Muslim lands.28 Some later writers consider him an advocateof Ibn Taimiyy a's ideology,2' but contemporary records contain nothingon this point.Influence on Muham mad bin TughluqWith the accession to power of Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq(1325-1351) positive historical evidence does become available about theinfluence of Ibn Taim iyya in South A sia.cA bd al-'A zTz A rdbailT, a pupil ofthe Shaikh al-Islam, visited the court of the Sultan. A ccording to Ibn

" Abu Zahra,Hayat-iShaikh al-hlam Ibn Taimiyya(Lahore, 1971), Urdu translator'spreface, 4." Mir Khurd,Styar al-Aultya(Delhi, AH 1302), 531.27 SiddTq H asan K han, Tiqsar Juyud al-Ahrar mm Tizkar Junud al-Abrar(Bhopal1295/1878), p . 136.11 Mir Khurd, Styar al-Auliya,528-30. BaranI calls him 'a world of knowledge andlearning', Tartkh-t ftruz Shaht, 354." See Urdu translator's preface to A bu Za hra'sHayat-i Shaikh al-lslam, 5.


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1 26 K H A L IQ A H M A D N I ZA M IBattuta, M uham mad bin Tughluq w as so impressed by his views thathekissedhisfeetin theopen durbar.30IfIbn Battutahad notinformedusabout cA bd al-'A zIz A rdbailFs visit to,andhis recep tionat,the court ofMuhammad binTughluq,wewould have remainedin the dark aboutthe motive that inspired the Sultan's religious and political activities. Ofall the SultansofDelhi, MuhammadbinTughluqhadthe most intimateknowledgeof thepoliticaland ideological developmentsin theIslamicworld beyond Indian frontiers. His responses to these developmentswere quite in accord with theviews of IbnTaimiyya the followingactions,in particular, bear the unmistakable stampof Ibn Taimiyya'sthought:

(1)TheSultan's declaration'StateandReligionaretwins',31 clearlyechoesIbnTaimiyya's ideas.TheSultan firmly rejected anyseparationbetween state and religion, as advocated by the mystics. This isexemplified in the correspondence he had with foreign powers: forexample, Sultan AbuSa'ld to Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq, obvi-ously wanting to demonstrate his commitment to the same ideology,writes:A ccording to [the maxim] 'Religion and State are twins' , [I] have alwaysconsidered state essentialforreligion,andreligionthecauseofthe permanenceofthestate.32

The Chishtl saintshadgiven wide berthtothe governmentofthe dayand warned their senior disciples against consorting with kings, accept-ing their endowments or indulging in shughl (government service).33They believed that after theKhtlafat-t Rashida the pathsofreligionandstatehadseparated,andservingthestatewas no longer identical withservingthereligion.Muhammad bin Tug hluq opposed this ideological stance of themysticsandforced themtomake the ir services availabletothe state.Heextricated m any younger saintsofdistinguished mystic families fromthekhanqahsandobliged themtoserve the state. Shaikh Mui'zz al-DlnandShaikh 'A lam al-DTn whobelonged to the renowned mystic houseofA jodhan, w ere entrusted w ith adm inistrative responsibilities. ShaikhMui'zz al-Dln wassent to Gujarat butfailed to control the situation

30 Ibn Bat tu ta , Rehla (Cairo, 1928) ,n, 44.31 Mir Khurd,Styar al-Auliya,196.31 Bayaz-t Taj al-Din Ahmad Wazir,ed. Iraj Afshar and Murtaza Taimuri (University of

Isfahan Publication, Chapkhana Bahman, A H1353), 410.33 For a detailed discussion of the ideological and other considerations that prompted

the Chishtl saints to adopt this attitude towards the government of the day, see K. A.Nizami's article 'Early Indo-Mushm mystics and their attitude towards the State',IslamicCulturexxii-xxiv (Oct. 1948, Jan. 1950).


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THE IMPACT OF IBN TAIMIYYA ON SOUTH ASIA 127thereand waskilledby therebels.34 Shaikh 'A lam al-Dinwas appointedShaikh al-Islam 35 with the responsibility of looking after the religiousclasses. While the Chishtls joined government service under duress,themysticsof theSuhrawardT orderdid so of their free will.36T obreaktheisolationist attitude of the Chishti mystics the Sultan married hisdaughter into a well-known Sufi family of Nagaur .3 7Inspiredby theideasof IbnTaimiyya,he wasanxiousto returnto anintegrated approach to religion and s tate as had developed under thePious Cal iphs. His views were, however, distorted by others and hismotivat ions became subject to d o u b t and distrust . The following tw oinstances illustrate thenature of the misrepresentat ion:

(a) Ibn Battuta wri tes:38When Sultan Muham mad became the ruler,headopted the practiceofassigningkhtdmattojurists, saintsandpious people,and insupportofthis practice citedthe rulersofthe first century[khulafa-i Rashidin]who never assigned any w orktoone who was not ascholaror a wiseman.

Th e significanceof thewo rd khidmat wasmissedbylater writerswhotwistedit tomean thatthe Sultan expected 'personal ' services, like thoseof at tendants , keepers of royal wardrobes, etc.39 H owev er, reference to' the rulersof the first century' makes itclear that the service meantwasto thes tatenot to anindividual , andt h a t the Sultan regarded this as areturn to the pract ice that prevai led during the time of the khulafa-iRashidin.(b)TheJawam i' al-Kaltm informs usthattheSul tan would say: 'Wha thaveAbuBakr, cUmar, 'Uthman and 'Ali done which we cannot do?'*0Thiswas not vain bluster, rather assertion of an ideological aspiration.

34 Mir Khurd,Siyar al-Auhya, 196. ibid., 196-7.34 If it be accepted, though no contemporary evidence on this point is available, thatShaikh 'Alam al-DIn, grandson of Shaikh Baha al-DIn Zakanyya of Multan, had comeunder the influence of the teachings of Ibn Taimiyya, the relations of the Suhrawardisaints with Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq can be very neatly explained. Shaikh Ruknal-DIn Multani's suppon to the Sultan in his various measures, his acceptance of the titleofShaikh al-Islam etc, indicate his close association with the Sultan in the implementa-tion of his policies. For a detailed discussion, see the author's article 'The SuhrawardiSilsilah and its influence on Medieval Indian Politics'Medieval India Quarterly (Aligarh,July-Oct 1957), iii, 109-49.

37 K. A. Nizami , 'Some Documents of Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq' MedievalIndia: A Miscellany (Asia Publishing House, Bombay, 1969), 1, 307.

35 Ibn Battuta Kehla,ii, 54." e.g. Mir 'Abd al-Wahid Bilgrami,Saba' Sanabil(Kanpur, A H1299), 64-5; Tarikh-i

Fertshta, ii, 399; 'Abd al-Rahman Chishti, Mir'at al-Asrar (MS): Muhammad BulaqChishti declared all such stones a tissue of lies. See his Matlub al-Talibin (MS).40 Sayyid Muhammad Akbar Husaini,] aw ami' al-Kattm (Intizami Press, Kanpur, AH1356), 175-.


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1 28 K H A L IQ A H M A D N I ZA M IThe Sultan wishedtoemphasize thatit wastakingthewrong a t t i tudetosay that we cannot do w h a t the Pious Cal iphs had done and sit backhelpless. Their ideals should befollowed asactive principlesof life.Noclaimofequal i tywasimpliedin theSul tan 's assert ion, ratheradesiretoemulate them asmodels of conduct .

Wh en the Sultan put forward these views,he was grossly misunder-stoodandfiercely m aligned.Thecontem porary historian BaranI chargedhim with tahakkumat-i mujaddiyya*1 (innovatory injunctions) and saidthat 'he wan t ed to combine kingship with prophethood' .4 2 Noth ingcould be further from the t ru th . What the Sultan had aimed at wasbridging the gulf between religion and politics as advised by IbnTaimiyya.(2) Ibn Taimiyya had mobil ized opinion against the Mongols andpreached jihad against them. From Damascus to A lexandria he had

createda powerful resis tance movement againsttheMong ol occupat ionof Musl im lands . Muhammad bin Tughluq implemented that pol icy inSouth A s ia. He called himself Abu.al-Mujahid,*3 and exhorted peoplefo r jihad against the Mongols . Mir Khurd informs us:In those dayshe[Sultan MuhammadbinTughluq] wantedtocontrolthelandsof Turkistan andKhurasan andoverthrow thedescendantsof Chengiz Khan.A lltheeliteandeldersofDelhi44andthose livinginadjoining areas w ere askedtobepresent.Ahuge tentwas put up andunderit apulpitwasplaced.He saton this pulpitandpersuaded peopletoprepareforjihad...andsaid:IwanttooverthrowthedescendantsofChengiz Khan.Youshould cooperate withme inthis struggle.45

The correspondence between Sultan AbuSa ' ld and Sul tan M uham -m adbinTu q h l u q ,asavai lableinBayaz-i Tajal-DIn Wazir,*6 shows thatboth w ere anxioustoevolvea common strategyformeetingtheM o n g o lmenace.

(3) The Sultan strictly enforced the ihtisab regulations asenjoined byth eSharValaw and asinsisted upo nby IbnTaimiyya. H imself punct i l iousin the performance of obligatory prayers and in observing fast,47 he41 Baranl.Tarifc*-/Firuz Shahi,457. ibid.,459.43 K. A. Nizami, 'Some Documents of Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq' in Medieval

India, I, 308; Badr-i-Chach, QasaUd Badr-i-Chach(Nawal Kishore, A H1279), 2, 20, etc.Also Bayaz-i Tdj al-Din Ahmad WazTr,41 , wherein Sultan Abu Sa'ld addresses him asSultan-i-Azam Mujdhtd-i lAdil.

44 Eminent saints of Delhi, like Shaikh Nasir al-DIn Chiragh, Maulana Fakhr al-DTnZarradT, and Maulana Shams al-Din Yahya were present at this meeting.

41 Mir Khurd,Styar al-Auhya, 271-2.** Afshar and Taimuri (eds.),Bayaz-i Taj al-Din Ahmad Waztr, 406-9.47 Kaiaru,TarTkh-iFiruzShahi,460. See also K. A. Nizami,Saldtin-i Dehli kay Madhabt

Rujhanat, 329.


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THE IMPACT OF IBN TAIMIYYA ON SOUTH ASIA 129banned wine and issued prohibitionary orders.*8 Whoever disregardedSharVa l awsin this regard, whether nobleor aco m m o n er ,wastaken totask. People were asked to be regular in the performance of theirobl igatory prayers. Those found loi teringin the bazar after thecallforprayers (adhan), were punished. Ibn Battuta informs us:The Sultan's order wasthat everybody should learn namazandessentialsoffaith. So people were found committing to memory namazin thebazarsandgetting these writtenonpapers.4 'Wh en the Sultan entered the women ' s quar ters , allwom en wi th whomSharVa lawprescrib es seclusion, were remo ved from his sight.50

(4) Muhammad bin Tughluq ' s concept of khilafa was also deeplyinfluenced by theviewsof IbnTaimiyya. He considered recognit ion ofauthori ty by the khalifa an essential and indispensable legal require-ment . Thosewhofailed to obtain this recognit ion were 'usurpers ' in hiso p i n i o n / 1 So,pending cal iphal recognit ionof hisau thor i ty ,he s toppedFriday and 'Idprayersin his realms.52 Not realizing thesignificance ofthis order people considered it an interference in religion.53In thesamespirit, the Sultan stop ped insc ribing his own n am e on the coins andinscribed on them onlythen am eof thekhalifa.5* Wh en thefarman wasreceived from the Cal iph in Cai ro ,55 the Sultan took bay't (oath offealty) from people with theQu r ' an and theMashariq al-Anwar placedbefore him.56

(5) Many of M u h a m m a d bin Tughluq's act ions, l ike those of IbnTaimiyya, reflected ananxiety to revivethet radi t ionsof theProphetinevery walkoflife.He wasqui te aw areofthis role:his coins pronouncedhim as Muht-i-Sunan-i-Khatim al-NabiyytnS7 (reviver of the t radi t ionsand pract ices of thelastof the Prophets).

(6)Oneworking undertheinfluenceofIbn Taimiy ya's ideas couldnothelp coming into direct conflict withtheideologyand institutionsof the48 AI-Qalqashandi, SubhalA'sha. English translationbyOtto Spies:AnArab Account

of India (Ahgarh,n.d.) 64; Shihab al-DTn al-'Umari, Masalik al-Absar fi Mamaltk al-Amsar, chapter dealing with India translated into EnglishbyOtto Spies,S. A.RashidandS. Mo in al-Haq (Lahore, 1943),52.

4 ' Itma ybepointedoutthattheQur'an enjoins uponaMuslim rulertoensure regularperformanceof congregational prayers (22:41).

30 BaranT.Tan/W-; Ftruz Shaht,506. ibid.,491. ibid.,492. 'Isami, Futuh-al-Salatm (Madras, 1948),515. H. N. Wright, The Coinage and Metrology of the Sultans of Delhi (Delhi, 1936),

149-52;E.T h o m a s , The Chronicles of thePathan Kings ofDelhi (London, 1871),259. Muham m adbinTughluq celebratedtheevent with great eclat and enthusiasm.The

qasa'td (panegyrics) on this occasion reveal the Sultan's sentiments of respect anddevotionfor thekhilafa: Qasa'td Badr-i-Chach, 15.

Baranl.TarifeA-i Ftruz Shahi,495. H. N. Wright, Coinage and Metrology, 120.


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1 3 0 K H A L I Q A H M A D N I Z A M Imystics. In his early years Muhammad bin Tughluq had shown greatrespect to contemp orary saints, but under the influence of Ibn Taimiyyahis attitude changed. A t his request Shaikh Sharaf al-Dln Y ahya ofMa ner wrote two. volumes elucidating the principles and practices ofmysticism but the Sultan remained unconvinced. H e asked for m oreelucidation but the Shaikh declined, comm enting: 'he who is deprived ofthe real mystical norm will never known anything.'58 Significantlyenough this letter opens with the Qur'anic verse:Itmayhappen tha tyehateathing whichisgood for you and itmayhappen thatye love a thing which is bad for you. A llah knoweth, ye know not. [2: 216]

The Sultan clashed with the Sufis on the following issues: (a) theirconcept of walaya (b) their disassociation from government service, (c)their dress and demeanour, and (d) their khanqah life. The concept ofwalaya rendered it obligatory on mystics to remain rooted to the placeassigned to them by their spiritual mentors.59Muhammad bin Tughluqasked them to move to different parts of the country according to hisdirections.60 H e sent the Sufis resident in Delhi to the d istant Deccan,*1brought the Muslim elite in from adjoining areas to Delhi and settledthem there.62 H e asked Maulana Shams al-Dln Yahya to move toKashmir.63

Tw o eminent m ystic houses of the time, A jodhan and Nag aur, alsofelt the impact of the Sultan's policy. Only Shaikh Naslr al-Dln Chiragh,successor of Shaikh Nizam al-Dln A uliya, refused to m ove out of Delhiand bore all the hardships and punishments inflicted on him by theSultan.64The mystics' principle of abjuring government service was alsoassailed by Muhammad bin Tughluq and Sufis were made to accepts l Maktubat-t Sharaf al-Din Ahmad Maneri, MS in Khuda Balchsh Library Patna,

letter No. 207, 216-7, as translated by A. M. Husain, Tughluq Dynasty (Thacker Spink,Calcutta, 1963), 622-A.

See K. A. Nizami, Religion and Politics in India during the Thirteenth Century (AsiaPublishing House, Bombay, 1961), 175-7.

Mir Khurd refers to nine saints who were ordered by the Sultan to acceptgovernment service. They were Shaikh Fakhr al-DTn ZarradT (Styar al-Aultya, 271),Shaikh Shams al-Dln Yahya (228), Shaikh Qutb al-Dln Munawwar (250-1), KhwajaKarlm al-Dln Samarqandi (307), Sayyid Qutb al-Dln Husain Kirmam (218), SayyidKamal al-Dln (215), Shaikh Mazh ar al-Din (197), Shaikh Muizz al-Dln (196), and ShaikhcIlm al-Dln (197).

Baranl.Tar/fcA-i Firuz Shahi, p. 474. ibid.; Muhammad Bihamld Khani, TarTkh-i-Muhammadi, MS British Museum ,

f. 400a. Mir Khurd, Styar al-Auliya, 288.M For details see Khan al-Ma/alis: C onversations of Shaikh Nasir al-DTn Chiragh, ed .

by K. A. Nizam i (Aligarh, 1959), 49-5 8.


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T H E I M P A C T O F I B N T A I M I Y Y A O N S O U T H A S I A 1 3 1government assignments in different parts of the country. The khanqahlife in South A sia suffered a set-back as a result of this policy. Baran Iinforms us that when Muhammad bin Tughluq died and Firuz Shahsucceeded him:The khanqahs of the city and its environs, and of tow ns w ithin four or fivekarohs of the city, and, in fact the whole empire, had been lying in ruins foryears,no birdflewhere and no thirsty man got any water there. Owing to FiruzShah's royal favours, the keepers of khanqahs, the sufis, the devotees, theqalanddrs, theHaideris, the travellers and the indigent became prosperous andsatisfied."

A ccording to Mir K hurd, the Sul tan was opposed to myst ic dress andforced the sufis to give it up. If anybody showed respect to his spiritualmentor the Sultan angrily admonished him: 'Give up these beliefsinvolving heresy. '6 '(7) Ibn Taimiyya believed in just and generous treatment of all non-Musl ims (dhitnmis) living in a Muslim state. In a letter to the Christianruler of Cyprus he wrote:

We people seek the welfare of all. We wish that God may bless you with thegood of this and the next world, because it is the duty of one who has faith inGod to wish well ofHiscreation. T he Christians will themselves bear witness towhatIam saying. When I approached the Ta rtars for the release of the prisonersof war, their ruler Ghazan released only the Muslims and told me that they hadChristians also as prisoners whom they had brought from there. 'These[Christians] will not be set free' [he said].I told him : 'N o. Besides Muslims, youshould set free the Jews and the Christians also as they are our dhimmis. Wecannot tolerate their remaining in prison, neither in the hands of Muslims, nornon-Muslims.' So we got the Christians also liberated."Mu ham ma d b in Tughluq ' s ex t raord inar ily good t reatment of the non-Mu slims clearly recalls Ibn Ta im iyya 's line. Th e Sultan gave full religiousfreedom to the H indus and treated them gen erously. Ibn Battuta informsus that once a H indu no ble lodged a comp laint with theqadi against theSultan that he had killed his [the plaintiffs] brother without reason. TheSultan was summoned by the qadi, and appeared in the court w ithoutarms and, accepting the verdict of the qadi, conci l iated with the H indunoble . '8 This was an unprecedented event in the history of India at thist ime.

" Kztarii,Tartkh-t FiruzShahi,p. 560.M Mir Khurd,Styar al-Auliya, 273." Ibn Taimiyya,al-Risalaal-Qabrasya,22, as cited in Muhammad Abu Zahra,Hayat-tShaikh al-Islam, (Urdu trans.), 578." Ibn Battuta,Rehla,il, 52. Details of his relations with the non-Muslims may be readin K. A . NizamiSalatin-tDebit kay Madhabt Kujhanat,345-8.


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132. K H A L I Q A H M A D N I Z A M I(8) Muhammad bin Tughluq insisted on being calledSultan al-'Adil69

(the just ruler). One of Ibn Taimiyya's three essential conditions forlegitimate exercise of political authority was that a ruler should beImam-i 'Add,70 and Muhammad bin Tughluq was anxious to fulfil thiscondition.

(9) Ibn Taimiyya's interest in jurisprudence and emphasis onijtihadinspired the same in Muhammad bin Tughluq. He knew the Qur'an byheart and for all practical purposes theHidayah was on the tip of histongue.71He believed in fresh interpretation according to the exigenciesof the situation and had a group of iulama>always around him. Withthem he discussed and debated every matter; he never issued orders forthe execution of anybody unless these lulamay concurred with hisjudgment.71If he failed to convince them he would immediately set freethe person held in' custody. He told the jurists that if anybody wasunjustly executed, they would be responsible for shedding innocentblood.73Never before in the history of the Delhi Sultanate were intendedexecutions thus discussed with the 'ulama' in the light of theSharT'a.

(10) A deep religious conviction seems to have motivated many of theSultan's actions. He called Deogir, the second administrative city of theEmpire,Qubba-i DJn-iIslam7*('vault of the Islamic religion'). This wasnot without significance. He asked Maulana Fakhr al-Din ZarradT to goto Kashmir in order to 'sit in the idol houses and preach Islam there'.75His claim to be the 'reviver of the traditions of the last of the Prophets',read alongside these remarks, provides an insight into the working of hismind.

(11) Ibn Taimiyya considered rebellion against established Muslimauthority injurious to public well-being. When Muhammad bin Tugh-luq's various projects provoked strong reaction and the religious classesjustified rebellion against him,76 Muhammad bin Tughluq must havederived moral support from the ideology of Ibn Taimiyya. For the firsttime in Indian history, coins were used to advocate loyalty to the Sultan.The inscriptions on Muhammad bin Tughluq's coins referred to the

Badaoni, Muntakhab al-Tawarikh (Bibhoteca Indica, Calcutta, 1864),i., 225. Hiscoinsandbuildings also pronou nce himassuch,seeLane-Poole,TheCoins of the Sultansof Delhiin the British Museum (London, 1884),Nos.2 8 0 - 2 8 2 .HisfortressinDelhiwascalled 'Adilabad.

70 Minhaj al-Sunnah, ii , 8 5 .71 Shihab al -DIn al - 'Umarl , Masahk al-Absar, 3 7 ; I b nHajar AsqalanI , al-Durrar al-Kaminah (H y d era b a d , AH 1 3 4 8 ) , l i i ,4 6 0 .

71 Yahya S irh indT, Tartkh-i Mubarak Shahi (Ca l cu t ta , 1 9 3 1 ) , 1 1 5 - 6 .73 ibid., Badaoni, Muntakab al-Tawarikh, 239.74 E.T h o m a s , Chronicles, 209. MirKhurd, Styar al-Auhya, 288. 'Isami, Futuh al-Salatm,536.


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THE IMPACTOF IBNTAIMIYYA ONSOUTH ASIA 133people's religious obligations in this respect: 'Whoever obeys the Sultan,obeys God' and 'Obey God, obey the Prophet and obey those withauthority amongst you.'77

(12) Muhammad bin Tughluq rejected all medieval concepts of thenobility of birthsomething whose significance in the religious contextBaranT failed to appreciate. That low born peoplee.g. vinters, garden-ers, weavers, etc.78could rise to eminence in the state was a positivecontribution of the Sultan to Indian polity of-this period. Historianshave attributed the germination of this approach to the influence ofphilosophy on the Sultan. Considered in its proper context it had itsroots in the Islamic principles of equal treatment for all, as propoundedby Ibn Taimiyya.

(13) Though practically all Arab writers of the period, the authors ofal-Durr'ar al-Kaminah, Subh al-A'sha, al-Ayan al-cA$retc., have paideloquent tribute to Muhammad bin Tughluq's erudition and generosity,the account of the Sultan in Masalik al-Absarhas a special significance.Its author Shihab al-Dln al-'Umarl, a resident of Damascus, was afollower of Ibn Taimiyya. His appreciation of the Sultan's religiousattitude and behaviour is, in fact, an appraisal of him in the light of IbnTaimiyya's ideology. He expressly observes of the Sultan: 'He is one whodoes not permit the prohibited actions, nor lets anyone [have] offorbidden things and none dare commit openly in the country unlawfulacts and most sternly he forbids the use of wine.'79 Discussing theSultan's various measures he says: 'the beacon of SharVais shining onaccount of him'.80He praises his dispensation of justice most eloquently:'Everyone who wants to approach him can reach him. Neither thegreatness of the chamberlains nor their curtains can keep him back.'Summing up, Shihab al-Dln writes: 'he fears God in secret and in public,[and] does not commit a prohibited thing and does not yield to it.' 81

Zia al-Dln BaranI, who seems to have been ignorant of the intellectualscene in the Islamic world at that time and known nothing about theideology of Ibn Taimiyya, attributed Muhammad bin Tughluq's reli-gious attitudes and policies to the local influence of contemporaryIndian philosophers, like Sa'd MantaqT, 'Ubaid, Najm Intashar and'Alirn al-Dln.82

Under Muhammad bin Tughluq, the state espoused the ideology of IbnTaimiyya. Firuz Shah Tughluq, his successor, though deeply interested in

H .N.Wright, CoinageandMetrology, 143; E. Thom as, Chronicles,243-50.BaranI,Tartkh-i F iruz Shah t,p. 505.Shihab al-DTn al-'Umarl,Masalik al-Absar,38.ibid.,44. ibid.,50.See K. A . Nizam i,Salatin-i-Dehli kayMadhabi Rujhanat,327f.


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134 KHALIQ AHMAD NIZAMIreligion and strongly opposed to heretical movements and ideas,hadlittle in common with Muhammad bin Tughluq's views and indeedopposed someofthem.The state never again came und er the influence ofIbn Taim iyya's ideology whose impact turned slowlyandgradually intopurely religious channels.

EARLY RESPONSE TO IBN TA IMIYYA 'S IDEA SPerhaps the most outstanding religious figure of the period whoresponded, reacted or modified mystic attitudes in the light of thesituation created by the dissemination of Ibn Taimiyya's ideas,wasShaikh Naslr al-Dln ChiraghofDelhi (d.1356).He resolutely affirmed:The waysof aspiritual mentor cannotbecitedasjustification for anyaction.One can justify his action only on the basisoftheQur'an and the Sunnah of theProphet."and rescued the mystic movement from criticism. He stopped thepracticeofprostration beforeaspiritual master8*andforbade reverenceat graves.85 .Certain Qur'anic verses with anthropomorphic references werethesubject of bitter controversy in those days. Ibn Taimiyya who hadexpressed hisviewson this subject in his Tafstr-i Surah-i Ikhlas*6wascriticisedonthat count.Avisitor once triedtodraw Shaikh Naslr al-DlnChiragh into that controversybut theShaikh confined himselfto averybrief reply andchanged the subject.87Shaikh Naslr al-Dln's views aboutthevisionof God areclearly s tatedintheKhair al-Majalis."'TheShaikh believed thatthevisionof God ispossible in this world. 'Had it not been so, Moses would not haveprayedto God forit,'8 ' argues the Shaikh.IbnTaimiyyahadcriticisedallthosewhobelieved in sucha possibility.90The fact that Shaikh NasTr al-DTnwasknown asAbuHariifa Thancan eitherbeinterpretedtomean thatheadhered strictlyto theH anaflschool of law or that he used the same intelligence in dealing withreligious issuesas was characteristic of Imam Abu H anlfa. The latter

" Shaikh Abdal-H aqq M uhaddith Dehlawl, Akhbar al-Akhyar,81.M H amid Qalandar,Khair al-Majalts,ed. by K. A.Nizami (A ligarh, 1959),157." ibid.;Sayyid Jalal al-Dln al-Bukhari Makhdum -i Jahaniyan (d. 1384) alsocon-demned kissingofgravesandscatteringofrose petalson them: H usain,Strajal-Hidaya,ed. Qadi Sajjad H usain (Delhi, 1983)." Tafstr-i Surah-i lkhlas.Urdu translationby Maulwi Ghulam Rabbani, (Lahore,AH1344), 161f. H amid Qalandar, Khairal-Majalts,238." ibid.,194-5,239. ibid.,239.50 Al-Wasdah, Urdu translation byMalihabadl (Lahore,A.H.1342),41.


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THE IMPACT OF IBN TAIMIYYA ON SOUTH ASIA 135interpretation seems more probable because his spiritual mentor ShaikhNizam al-Dln A uliya had advocated direct recourse to the Q ur'an andthe H adTth for tackling religious issues.Safi al-Dln al-HindVs debates in DamascusSafl al-Dln al-H indl (1246-1315), born and brou ght up in Delhi,settled in Damascus. H e was looked upon as the leader of the Shafl'iteand A sh'arite scholars of his da y.' 1H afiz Ibn Q ayyim, a distinguishedfollower of Ibn Taimiyya, was his pupil and had lived with him till hisdeath. Safl al-Dln challenged Ibn Taimiyya's views on anthropo-morphism and had public debates with him in Damascus. Some ofthese debates were arranged by the government of Syria, and hadofficial support. Notwithstanding SafT al-Dln's eminence as a scholarand jurist, he could not stop the impact of forces which Ibn Taimiyyahad released. H ow Safl al-Dln al-H indT's views were received in Indiais not known.After Muham mad bin TughluqThough Ibn Taimiyya is not explicitly mentioned in the religiousliterature of early medieval India, his impact is discernible in some of thetrends of the period. Shaikh A hmad SirhindT (1564-1624), popu larlyknown as Mujaddid-i Alf Than , makes no reference to Ibn Taimiyya inhis writings but his criticism of Ibn al- 'A rab fs wahdat al-wujiid(unityof the noumenal and the phenomenal) established his intellectualidentity with Ibn Taimiyya. Perhaps confronted by similar situations,Ibn Taimiyya and Shaikh A hmad SirhindT regardedwahdatal-wujiid,asa source of confusion in religious though t. Of course, Shaikh A hmad'sfaith in mysticism as a means to invigorate spiritual life remainedstrong. Nevertheless, he m ade theSharVa the main prop of his spiritualdiscipline and openly criticised Sufis who strayed from it. This adapta-tion, conscious or unconscious, of Ibn Taimiyya's ideology to the SouthA sian situation, had far-reaching effects on subsequent religious devel-opments in the region. Ibn a l-'A rabfs thought was rejected, mysticdiscipline strengthened, and the erratic behaviour of the pseudo-mysticscondemned.

He was born in Delhi in 1246 and educated there. He left India at the age of 23 andafter visiting several Muslim countries settled in Damascus. His Indian accent inpronunciation continued till the last. For his life: Ibn Taqi al-Dln Subki, Tabaqat al-Shafi'ya al-Kubra (Cairo,AH 1324), Ibn Hajar AsqalanI, al-Durrar al-Kamtnah (Hydera-bad, 2nd ed., 1982). A detailed account appeared in Urdu in Ma'anf (Azamgarh, March1943), 165-180.


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136 KHALIQ AHMAD NIZAMIS H A H W A L l A L LA H A N D IB N TA IM I YY A

It was in the eighteenth century, when Shah W all A llah (1702-1763) wasprominent on the South A sian intellectual scene, and Muham mad bincA bd al-Wahhab in the A rab world, that Ibn Taimiyya's thought came tobe seriously studied in academ ic circles. Shah W all A llah's stay in H ijazafforded him thorough insight into the though t of Ibn Taimiyya of whichhis teacher, Shaikh A bu Tahir K urdl of Mad ina, was an ardentadvocate. But the latter was an adm irer of Ibn al-'A rabl as well as IbnTaim iyya. Shah Wall A llah imbibed this approach of evaluating conflict-ing ideological positions in an objective and dispassionate manner.Ibn Taimiyya 's impact on Shah W all A llah's thought is clearlydiscernible in some of his writings. H is discussion ofkhilafaandkhilafaal-Rashida in Izalat al-Khifa and Qurrat al-'Aynayn echo the ideaspropounded in Ibn Taimiyya's Minhaj al-Sunnah;while som e of hisdiscussions inHujjat Allahal-Baligha seem inspired by Ibn Taimiyya'sFatawa.91Similarly, Shah Wall A llah's campaign againstbid'at,empha-sis on ijtihadand involvement in the political struggles of the time93arenot unrelated to Ibn Taimiyya's teaching on these questions.Makhdum Muhammad Mu'In Sindhl, author of Darasat al-Lablb,wrote to Shah W all A llah, seeking his opinion abo ut some of the viewsof Ibn Taimiyya. Shah Wa ll A llah wrote in reply:My approach about all Muslim religious thinkers is that they are ludul, that is,they possess correct faith and prope r co nduct. This is as the Prophet has said: 'Inevery age people with piety and faith will represent [interpret] the religion.'They may believe in certain things on which there may not be unan imity, but ifsuch matters of their belief are not against the clear Qur'anic injunctions, thesunnahof the Proph et and the consensus of the comm unity {ijma'),[criticism ofthem is not justified]. Our assessment of Ibn Taimiyya after full investigation isthat he was a scholar of the 'Book of God' and had full command over itsetymological and juristic implications. H e remembered by heart the traditionsof the Prophet and accounts of elders (salaf) and understood well theiretymological and juristic purpose and meaning. H e was a recognized scholar ofsyntax (nahw) and semantics (lughat).H e was an authority on the H anbalitejurisprudence and its principles and branches. H e excelled in intelligence andbrilliance. H e argued in defence of ahl al-Sunnah with great eloquence andforce. No innovation or irreligious act is reported about him. Only certainmatters on which he was harassed by his contemporaries have been reported tous.But there is not a single matter on which he is without his defence based on theQur'an and the Sunnah.So it isdifficultto find a man in the whole world whopossesses thequalitieso fIbnTaimiyya.No one can come anywhere near him in

91 Compare, for instance: Minhaj al-Sunnah, (13440) and Qurrat al-'Aynayn,(236-46)." SeeShah Walt Allah kay Siyasi Maktubat, ed. K. A. N izami, (Delhi, 1969).


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THE IMPA CT OF IBN TA IMIYYA ON SOUTH A SIA 137the force of his speech and writing. People who harassed him [and got himthrown in prison] did not possess even one-tenth of his scholarly excellence ...In this matter the differences of the 'ulama' resemble the differences of theCompanions of the Prophet and it is necessary to abstain from making anycomments on such matters.'4

Shah W al l A llah then referred item by item to objections again st IbnTaimiyyahis anthropomorphic ideas, his views about visi t ing thetomb of the Prophet, his position vis-a-vis Qutb, G hawth, Khizr, etc,and his assessment of the Cal iph 'A l la nd showed th at , though onemight disagree, Ibn Taimiyya could not be charged with blasphemy orheresy on that acc ount . H e concluded: ' I exhort Musl ims in the nam e ofGod, against maligning him as lalim and mujtahid on such matters ofdifference of opinion.'This defence of Ibn Taimiyya's ideological posi t ion had an impact oncon temp orary rel igious though t in South A sia. A s his seminary,

Madrasah-i-Rahimya, was the hu b of intel lectual l ife in the country ,ideas adumbrated there quickly flowed to wider academic circles . ShahW al l A l lah ' s son , Shah cA bd al -cA zIz, seems to have been impressedby Ibn Taimiyya ' s commentary on Surat al-Niir in his Bustan al-Muhaddithtn, bu t in Fatawa-i 'Azizi, he app ear s critical of some of hisviews.

IMPA CT OF IBN TA IMIYYA 'S IDEA S ON CERTA INREFORMIST MOVEMENTSThe Fara' izI and the Mujahidin movements which arose in India duringthe 18th-19th centuries held certain posi t ions inspired by the teachingsof Ibn Taimiyya. Local conditions and individual preferences accentu-ated one or the other aspect of his thought , bu t in their emphasis on thedoctrine of tawhtd and the spirit ofjihad, these movements95 s tood onthe same ground as, and drew inspirat ion from, Ibn Taimiyya.The Fara'izT movement, whatever its genesis, came under the influenceof W ahh abl ideology when i ts leaders went to the H i jaz and came into

94 Maktubat-i Shah Walt Allah (A hmadi Press, Delhi), 26- 9." During the British periodp articularly soon after 1857the word Wahhablcameto be regarded as synonymous with 'rebe l' and 'mutinee r'.(See W.W. H unter,Th eIndianMusalmans(London, 1872). Sir Syed A hmad Khan had to use much ingenuity t o save theW ahha bl movement in India from British fury. H e divested it of its political trap pingsand emphasized its religious objectives and ideals, particularly the spirit of ijtthad. Th eliterature produced in South A sia during the nineteenth ce ntury on the subject ofjihadprovides an interesting insight into the currents and cross-currents of ideological conflict.


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1 38 K H A L IQ A H M A D N I ZA M Icontact w ith eminent religious figures of A rabia. H aji Sha n'at A llahstayed in A rabia for 20 years (1799-1818) and received his educationthere. H e could not but be influenced by W ahhabl ideas about adherenceto the montheistic ideal of Islam and stern rejection of bid'at. But theFara'izls professed strict adherence to the H anafl school of law, and didnot reject mysticism as a source of spiritual enlightenment. 96Th e views of Sayyid A hmad S hahld (1786-1831) leader of theMujahidln movement, are carefully collected in Sirdt-i Mustaqtm,compiled by Shah Muham mad Ism a'll and Mau lana 'A bd al-H ayy. Itcontains a powerful denunciation of bid'dt, and criticises many Sufipractice s. A n effort to recover the true spirit ofahsdnis made by layingdown the basic principles of theTariqa-iM uhammadiya,shaking off theunauthorized accretions in mystic life, and adhering to spiritual dis-ciplines closer to the spirit of the Sunnah.A mon g the followers of Sayyid A hmad ShahTd were men wh o hadreceived their education in the H ijaz under W ahhab l scholars. MaulviWalayat 'A h 'AzTmabadi had learnt H adlt h with Q adi Shaukani, a well-known WahhabT scholar. Unlike the Fara'izTs who were deeply attachedto the H anafT school, the Mujahidln renouncedtaqltd.In sum , while allthese reformist movements were influenced one way or another by theideas of Ibn Taimiyya, none adopted Ibn Taimiyya's approach towardsmysticism. Rather, in securing their position all adopted mystic practicesof initiation (bay't), khtldfa and spiritual training.

Sir Syed and rejection of t a q h dSir Syed A hmad Khan (1817-1898) founder of the 'M uham madanA nglo-Oriental College', 'the first modernist organization in Islam',97later to develop into the A ligarh Muslim University, imbibed many traitsof Ibn Taimiyya's thought. H isRah-i Sunnat wa R add-i Bid'atgives anidea of his religious appro ach from the very beginning. H e rejectedtaqltd9* in favour ofijtihddaccording to the needs of the time. H e evenspoke of the need for a new Him al-kaldmto meet the exigencies of thesituation. H e called himself an 'inveterate Wa hhabi.' 99 H e rejected allconcepts of turk-i duniya (renunciation of the world), emphasized theneed of amujtahidin every age,100and declared fictitious and fabricatedallahddtthabout the Mahdi.101 One cannot fail to discern the influence of

" Al-WasTlah (Urdu trans.), 41." H . A . R. Gibb,Mohamm edanism (London, 1957), 181." Khu tut-i SirSyed,ed. Syed Ross M asood, (Badaon, 1931), 54 -5." ibid.,169.100 Sir Syed,Tahdhtb al-Akhlaq (A ligarh, n d.), ", 182. "" ibid., 376.


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THE IMPACT OF IBN TAIMIYYA ON SOUTH ASIA 139Maulana Isma' l l Shahld10 2 so far as his at t i tude towards taqltd103 andbid lat is concerned . H is at t i tude towards taqltd finds a very cogentexpos it ion in Chi ragh 'A i rs Proposed political, legal and social reformsunder Muslim rule.

Nawdb Muhammad SiddTqHasan KhanA fter Shah Wa ll A l lah, the most powerful adv ocate of Ibn Taim iyya'sideology was Na wa b Sayyid Muha mm ad S iddlq H asan K han(1832-1890),10 4 a veteran scholar and prolific write r from B hopal. H isteacher, Shaikh 'A bd al-H aqq M uha ddith of Benares, was a pupil ofQa dl Shaukanl . H e strove hard to propagate Ibn Taimiyy a's ideas and,moreover, to remove misunderstandings by presenting them in theirprop er historical perspect ive. H is Itahaf al-Nubala,10 S Abjad al-'Uliim;106 , Taqsar,107 and al-Taj al-MukaUal10* contain eloquent t ributesto Ibn Taim iyya's contribut ion to Is lamic thoug ht . H e considered himand his pupil H afiz Ibn Q ayyim as the mujaddids of the seventh centuryA H :Th e mujaddids for the seventh century are Shaikh al-Islam Ibn Taimiyya andH afiz Ibn Qayyim . The efforts of these two elders toward s reform andresurrection have no equal among th e preceding or the following genera tions. Avast number of Islamic literary works, particularly historical and biographical,are full of references to him [Ibn Taimiyya].10 '

Na wa b S iddlq H asan Khan had Nu 'ma n A lusi 's Jala' al-'Aynaynpublished in Cairo. H e strengthened the ideological prominence of IbnTaimiyya by undertaking the publicat ion of a number of works whicheither elucidated his thought or provided ideological arguments fordefending his religious views. But the circumstanc es of SiddTq H asa nKhan's life did not admit of any application of Ibn Taimiyya's ideas inthe political sphere; he concentrated his attention on rejection of taqltd,return to the Qur'a n and H ad lth as sources of law, and reject ion ofbid'at. H e wa s in touch with the 'ulama1 of H adl th in Yemen and

Syed Ross Masood, (ed.) Khutut-i SITSyed, 37, 65, 169.103 See Hali, Hayat-i ]avtd (Kanpur, 1901 ).104 For detailed account of his life, see Ma'athir-i Siddlqi (Nawal Kishore, Lucknow ,

1924-5, 4 vols . ) by his son, Nawab Muhammad 'All Hasan Khan.Sayyid Muhammad Siddlq Hasan Khan, Itahaf al-Nubala (Kanpur, 1288/1871).Sayyid Muhammad SiddTq Hasan Khan, Abjad al-'Vliim (Bhopal, AH 1295).Sayyid Muhammad SiddTq Hasan Khan, Taqsar (Bhopal, AH 1298).Sayyid Muhammad SiddTq Hasan Khan, al-Ta/ al-mukallal (Bhopal, AH 1299).Sayyid Muhammad SiddTq Hasan Khan, Hajjaj al-Karama ft Athar al-Qayyama(n.d.), 136-7.


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140 KHALIQ AHMAD NIZAMIthrough them kept himself fully informed of the numerous works of IbnTaimiyya and his distinguished followers.Amritsar: A centre for the study of Ibn TaimiyyaA lmost at the same time when Siddiq H asan K han was busy popularizingIbn Taimiyya's works in Bhopal, A mritsar came into prominence asanother centre of studies pertaining to Ibn Taimiyya. It attracted theattention of scholars like Maulana M uhamm ad, Maulana 'A bd al-Jabbar,Maulana cA bd al-Rahim, and Maulana 'Abd al-Wahid. A ll of thembelonged to what is known as the Ghaznawi school. They establishedcontact with the culama' of Najd through some Bombay merchants andkept themselves informed of the works of the Shaikh al-Islam. They hadsome of them published, began to give instruction in them and generallyapplied themselves to the zealous propaga tion of Ibn Taim iyya's ideology.They evaded the element ofjihad in Ibn Taimiyya's thought but stressedthe importance of H adlth in articulating the spirit ofijtihad.Maulana Nadhir Husain MuhaddithMa ulana Nad hir H usain (d. 1902) who taught in Delhi for m ore thanhalf a century, was a pupil of Shah M uhamm ad Ishaq, grandson of Shah'A bd al-'A zIz, and was considered leader of the Ahl al-Hadith inIndia.110 Influenced by WahhabT ideology, he nevertheless, in his a ttitudetow ards Ibn a l-'A rabl, followed the tradition of Shah Wall A llah. It isdifficult to say if the A mbala sedition case against h im (18645) wasbased on m ere suspicion as he had con tact with the lulamc? of Sadiqpuror if he had actually been involved in jihad. H owever, in his lateryearsafter the A mbala casehe was m ainly concerned w ith rejectionof taqlid and recourse to Qur 'an and H adlth as primary sources ofMuslim law.Significantly, all admirers of Ibn Taimiyya in India during the post-1857 period presented his views purely in terms of ijtihad and saidnothing about his ideas regardingjihad.Shibli on Ibn TaimiyyaIn 1908 Maulana Shibli (d. 1914) wrote an article in al-Nadwaunder thecaption: 'A llama Ibn Taimiyya H arranT as amujaddid of his century'.H e indicated thre e essential qualifications for amujaddid:

110 For his role in Ahl al-Hadlth movem ent, see Muham mad Ibrahim Mir Siyalkoti,Tartkb-i Ahl-i Hadlth, (Lahore, 1953), 42 5-3 5.


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THE IMPA CT OF IBN TA IMIYYA ON SOUTH ASIA 1411. H e should bring about a purposeful revolution in religion, or inlearning or in politics.2. H is reformist ideas should be the outcome of ijtihad, no ttaqlld.3. H e should have endured physical suffering in the pursuit of hisideal.

Shibli found all these qualities in Ibn Taimiyya and considered himsuperior to many outstanding figures in the history of Islam.111 Shibliwas the first to study Ibn Taimiyya's political role. This was adeparture from the trend represented by Sir Syed, Nawab SiddlqH asan, and Maulana Nadh lr H usain who had presented Ibn Taimiyyaprimarily as a religious reformer. Shibli wished to include Ibn Tai-miyya in his Heroes of Islam Series but w as unable to un dertakefurther work on him.Influence on Maulana AzadEmphasis on H adlth studies and rejection of taqlid continued to beconsidered the only aims of Ibn Taimiyya's movement until MaulanaA bul Kalam A zad (1888-1958) appeared on the Indian intellectual sceneand looked to Ibn Taimiyya for inspiration to restore to the Muslims inIndia the mettle necessary for a struggle against foreign domination.Perhaps no Indian scholar understood the role of Ibn Taimiyya in thehistory of Islam with such clarity and conviction as did Maula na A zad.In his struggle against British rule, he drew inspiration from IbnTaimiyya w ho had guided the M uslims of his day when political pow erhad passed out of their han ds. A part from his own independent study ofIbn Taimiyya's w orks, Mau lana A zad's contact w ith the A lusT family ofBaghdad, whose advocacy of Ibn Taimiyya's ideology was of longstanding , confirmed him in his views. N u'm an al-AlusT (d. 1899) hadwritten,Jala' al-'Aynayn11 1which defends Ibn Taimiyya against chargesof unorthodoxy.11 3 Besides, Shaikh Shihab al-Dln Mahmud AlusT'stafsir, Riihal-Macarii,bore the unmistakable imprint of Ibn Taimiyya'sviews. Maulana A zad's father, Ma ulan a K hair al-DTn had criticisedShaikh A lusT for his views and written a critique of his com men tary. H eparticularly criticised A lusT's denial (following Ibn Taimiyya) of theexistence of the Prophet Khizr. Mau lana A zad abandoned his father's

111 Maqa lat-i Shibli,v, 62-76.112 Cairo, 1298/1880-81.113 A lbert H ouran i considers it 'a sign of the influence which such ideas were nowbeginning to exercise over educated Muslims of different traditions.'Arabic Thought intheLiberalAg e (Cambridge, 1983), 222.


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142. KHALIQ AHMAD NIZAMIstance in favour of A lusrs view in respect of Ibn Taimiyya. Thissurprised even the A lusis,114 and established M aulana A zad as anindependent thinker unfettered by family traditions.Ibn Taim iyya's influence on M aulana A zad was not confined toexplicitly religious ma tters. A zad considered Ibn Taimiy ya's diagnosis ofthe social and political ills of Muslim society very relevant to thesituation prevailing in his day. A nxious to organize the M uslims, hecited Ibn Taimiyya as his ideal and urged the need for an imam toorganize the community. H is life during internment at Ranchi resem-bled, as Maulana Sayyid Sulaiman NadwT remarked, that of IbnTaimiyya and Ibn QayyTm.115A ddressing a m eeting of thelulama\ Azadsaid that what Ibn Taimiyya had done when the Muslim society wasfaced with the problem of resurrecting the structure of Islamic institu-tionspolitical, religious and culturalprovided a model for moderntimes. H e remarked:The first thing that the 'ulama' of those times did was to appoint Muslimdeputies over the territories which the Mongols had occupied, with the purposeof organizing the community and establishing the Shart'a law ... Shaikh-al-Islam Ibn Taimiyya gave afatwaabout the areas under Mongol control that theMuslims of those lands should not accept that change and should not for amoment live without an imam.iU

Ma ulana A zad strove for some years to popularise the idea of animam as the centre of comm unity life. H e establishedDar al-Irshadas anursery for training people in those ideals. H e founded an organizationknow n as H izb A llah, based on this concept ofimamate.In Tadhkirah,published in 1919, he drew a lively, vibrant picture of Ibn Taimiyya,focused on the man's sincerity and determination to revive Muslimsociety regardless of the opposition and hardship that he had toface117M aulana A zad's bold acceptance of Ibn Taim iyya's ideological posi-tion dispelled many misunderstandings about Ibn Taimiyya and a newphase began in the intellectual history of Muslim India characterized byclose study and num erous translations of his works in Urdu. A zadhimself translated al-Wastyat al-Kubra into Urdu,118 and, under hisinfluence, Ghulam Rasul Meh r, 'A bd al-Majid Salik and 'A bd al-RazzaqMallhabadl became ardent admirers of Ibn Taimiyya and propagatedhis views through their journals, magazines and newspapers.

114 Abul Kalam Azad, Karawan-i Khayal (Bijnor, 1946 ), 77.115 Ma'arif, March 1919.* Presidential Address, Jamiat al-'Ulama ', Lahore Session , (1921).117 Tadhkirah (Lahore, 1919 ), 158. Lahore, 1947.


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THE IMPACT OF IBN TAIMIYYA ON SOUTH ASIA 143Iqbdl's assessment of Ibn Taimiyya's legal andphilosophic conceptsIf A zad looked to Ibn Taimiyya for the revitalization of Muslimcommunity and its political prestige, Iqbal (d. 1938) looked to him for areconstruction of Muslim religious thought inspired by a revived spiritof ijtihdd. H e assessed Ibn Tai miy ya's role from different an gles,philosophic, legal, and reformist. Systematic refutation of Greek logic,Iqbal argued, was really undertake n by Ishraql and Ibn Taimiyya, a nd hedrew at tent ion to the lat ter ' s Refutation of Logic, in which induction isdescribed as ' the only form of reliable argument' . 11 9

Referring to the destruction of Baghdad, the centre of Muslimintellectual life in the middle of the thirteenth century, and the tendencyfor false reverence for past history, Iqbal said:The tendency of over-organization by a false reverence of the past as manifestedin the legists of Islam in the thirteenth century and later, was contrary to theinner impulse of Islam and consequently invoked the powerful rea ction of Ibn-iTaimiyya, one of the most indefatigable writers and preachers of Islam .. ,120Iqbal referred approvingly to Ibn Taimiyya's revolt against the finality ofthe schools of law and supported his attempt to go back to firstprinciples in order to make a fresh start. Ibn Taimiyya rejected, writesIqbal , the H ana fl principle of reasoning by analogy and ijma' (consen-sus) as understood by the older legists, for 'he thought agreement wasthe basis of all superstition.'12 1 Iqbal came to the conclusion that'considering the moral and intellectual decrepitude of his times, he wasright in doing so. 'Iqbal saw the WahhabT movement in the context of the impact of IbnTaimiyya ' s ideas . H e wrote :... the spirit of Ibn-i Taimiyy a's teaching found a fuller expession in a movementof immense potentialities which arose in the eighteenth century, from the sandof Nejd, described by Mac Donald as the 'cleanest spot in the decadent w orld ofIs lam' . It is really the first throb of life in modern Islam.In Islam and Ahmadism Iqbal refers to Ibn Taim iyya as a critic of'mullah rigidity. '12 2 H e looked upon 'mullah-ism' , which would no tallow any freedom ofijtihad, as the real cause of Muslim stagnation andremarked:The WahhabT movement which was a source of inspiration to the 19th centuryMuslim reformers was really a revolt against the rigidity of the 'ulama'.1"

" ' Reconstruction of ReligiousThought in Islam(Lahore, 1944), 129.120 ibid., 151-2 . ' ibid.122 ' I slam and A hmad ism' , Islam (Lahore, 22 January, 1936) vol. I, No. 16, 36-7.123 ibid., 31-2.


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144 KHALIQ AHMAD NIZAMIIqbal was particularly impressed by the spirit of ijtihad which hadcharacterized the approach of Ibn Taimiyya; A zad looked to him forguidance in organizing the Muslim community under the overallauthority of an imam. The two approaches, though not divergent orconflicting, were never combined in the larger framework of anymovement for the regeneration of Muslim society. Maulana A zad gaveup his efforts to establish the authority of an imam;Iqbal's ideas aboutijtihad,though understood by few, were acted upon by none.

Impact onscholars of NadwaFrom the early twentieth century, as we have noted, a number of'ulama'became interested in the works of Ibn Taimiyya and Ibn Qayylm.Na wa b SiddTq H asan Khan, Maulana Sh ibll, and Maulana A bul KalamA z5d were largely responsible for creating this interest. M aulana SayyidSulaiman NadwT recalled that when he got hold of the works of IbnTaimiyya and Ibn Qayylm, 'every other impression disappeared from hisheart' and 'every other colour completely faded away'. 1" A s Director ofthe ShiblT Academy, he w as able to enthuse his pupils with admirationfor the works of Ibn Taimiyya.

Ma ulana Sayyid 'A bd al-'A lT, Nazim of Nad wat al'Ulama', zealousfor the works of Ibn Taimiya and Ibn QayyTm, repeatedly urged hisyounger brother, M aulana A bul H asan A ll, to study them closely.125A nother teacher at Nadwa , Maulana Shah H alTm 'A ta, appreciatedespecially the clear, cogent and powerful exposition of Islamic monothe-ism in the writings of Ibn Taimiyya and Ibn QayyTm. H e particularlyadmired Ibn Taimiyya'sMadarij al-Salikin, al-Jawab al-Kaft, Zad al-Ma'ad, and llda al-Sabinn.Excepting Ibn Taimiyya's views about Ahlal-Bait, as expressed in Minhaj al-Sunnah,11 6 he upheld the Imam'sarguments in almost every other respect. H e would advise his studentsthat if anybody had not the time to read all the works of Ibn Taimiyya,he should at least study his Fatawa and Majmii'at al-Rasa'tl whichcontain the essence of his thought.127Maulana A bul H asan 'A ll Nadwl regards Ibn Taimiyya'sTafstrSiiratal-Nur and Ibn Qayyim'sJawab al-Kaft as the best guides for youngminds.128 In 1957 he wrote a comprehensive account of Ibn Taimiyya inhis TarTkh-i Da'wat wa'Azima t,11 9 stressing his efforts to revive thereligious zeal of the comm unity. H e propagated Ibn Taimiyya's

12 4 Mashahtr Ahl-t 'Urn ki Mohsm Kitabain, ed. Maulana Mu ham mad 'Imran Khan(Karachi, 1979), p. 18. 12J ibid., 106.' ibid., 1 0 6 - 7 . ' ibid., 108. I2S ibid., 175.

l Tarlkh-i Da'w at wa'Azima t (Azamgarh, 1957), ii.


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THE IMPACT OF IBN TAIMIYYA ON SOUTH ASIA 145ideology without bringing it into clash with the religious psychology ofthe Muslims in South A sia.Deoband and Ibn TaimiyyaThe early scholars of DeobandMaulana Muhammad Qasim Nanau-taw l (d. 1880) and others did not envince any interest in IbnTaimiyya's teachings. Interest in them began only with Mau lana A nwarShah Kashmiri (d. 1933),130who studied very carefully the works of IbnTaimiyya and Ibn Qayylm. A ssisted by a prodigious memory, he wouldcite passage after passage while discoursing on the works of IbnTaimiyya. H e passed on to his pupils13 1 his own enthusiasm for andcommitment to Ibn Taimiyya. This is evident in the works for example,of Maulana Muhammad Manzoor Nu'manT (editor al-Furqan), Maula-na Sa'id A hmad A kbarabadT (editor Burhan)and o thers. A nwar Shahquoted in his writings from Ibn Taimiyya'sal-Jawab al-SahThandSarimal-Maslul 'ala Shatimal-Kasuland paid tribute to him as a mountain ofknowledge (jabal al-'ilm). H e was, however, critical of some of theviews of Ibn Taimiyya.

A mong others, Maulana K halll A hmad of Saharanpur and MaulanaShabblr A hmad UthmanI,whilenot he sitating to referto IbnTaimiyya andIbn Qayylm, did not comm it themselvestotheir ideology. M aulana A shrafA ll Thanw l expressed his disagreement with Ibn Taimiyya in mo derate,polite language, refraining from entering into open rebuttal of his views.Mau lana H usain A hmad M adanI made no secret of his disagreementwith the views of Ibn Taimiyya. Maulana Manazir A hsan G ilanI, analumnus of Deoband, who later chaired the Department of Theology atthe Osm ania University of H ydera bad, was also sceptical of IbnTaimiyya's views. H is article,Ibn Taimiyya ka Nazariya-i Makhdumi-ya t13 1 is a critique of Ibn Taimiyya'sal-Nabuwwat.1*3

LITERA TURE IN URDUA number of Ibn Taimiyya's books and brochures were translated intoUrdu and published from Lahore, Calcutta, Lyalpur and other places by

130 For his life, see: Muhammad Rizwan Allah, Maulana Anw ar Shah Kashm iri(Ahgarh, 1974); Muhammad Azhar Shah, Hayat-t Anwar (Delhi, 1955); 'Abd al-RahmanKondo, Al-Niir (Delhi, 1979).

131 e.g. Maulana Sa'ld Ahmad AkbarabadT. See Mashahir Ahl-i 'Ilm ki MohstnKitabain, 78 .

131 The wordmakhdum has a technical m eaning in this cont ext. It is used for one wh ocontrols the jinn.

133 See Maqalat-t Ahsani (Karachi, 1959), 36 9- 91 .


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146 KHALIQ AHMAD NIZAMIthe 'ulamd' committed to fighting bid'dt and restoring the practicalsupremacy of theSharVa in Muslim life. Particularly noteworthy Urdutranslationsare:'Usiilal-Tafsir(Lahore,1374AH );TafsirSurah al-Ikhlas(Lahore,1344AH );Tafsir al-Ma'dhutain(Dar al-Tarjuma, Lahore, n.d.);Ziyarat al-Qubur(Laho re, 1347AH );Al-Farqbain Auliya al-Rahmdn w aAuliya al-Shaitdn (Lahore, 1930);Risala fi Darajat al-Yaqin (Lahore,1347 AH);Risala fi al-Sama' wa H-Raqs(Lahore, 1946);al-W asiyat al-Kubrd (Lahore, 1947); al-Wasiyatal-Sughrd; Tafsir Surah al-Kauthar(Lahore, n.d.);Kitab al-Tawasul al-Wasilah(Lahore, 1951);Tafsir Aydtal-Karima (Lahore, n.d.); 'Itaba al-Rasul la Sahih al-Uqul (Lahore,n.d.); Al-WasTlah bain al-Khalq wal-Haqq (A l-Hilal Book A gency,Lahore, n.d.);Mdnasik-i Hajj(Lahore, n.d.);Ashdb al-Suffah(Lahore,1932);FatwdShirk Shikan(Lahore, n.d.);Rafa* al-Malam 'an al-Aimmaal-'Aldtn (Lahore, n.d.);Khildf al-Ummah (Lahore, n.d.);Ifddat-i IbnTatmiyya (containing several brochures, Lyalpur, n.d.);Risala Wajd waSamac (Lahore, 1946);Mana^ira Ibn Taimiyya (Lahore, n.d.);Sirdt al-Mustaqim (Calcutta, n.d.); Aqida Hamwiya (Lahore, n.d.); al-Aqtdaal-Wasilah (Lahore, n.d.); Ma'drij al-Wusiil Lahore, n.d.); Risalaal-Qabrasiya (Lahore, n .d.);Risalaal-cUbiidiya (A bbotabad, 1922);al-Kalim al-Tayyib (H yderabad, n.d.);Fi Ithbdt Karamdt al-Auhyd (Cal-cutta, n.d.); Al-Sufiyah walFuqdra (Lahore, n.d.).The titles give an idea of the main areas of interest and involvement.These translations made the M uslims of South A sia directly familiarwith the basic categories of Ibn Taimiyya's thought. Similarly, some ofthe works of Ibn Qayyim, who was regarded as an exponent of IbnTaimiyya's thought, were also translated into Urdu. His"Shifa" al-lAlilwas translated into Urdu and published by Maulwi Karlm Bakhsh ofLahore under the titleKitab al-Taqdir (no date).

A well-known U rdu scholar who popularized Ibn Taim iyya's viewsand highlighted his role in the history of Islam w as Maulana A kbar ShahKhan NajIbabadl.13* The first comprehensive biography of Ibn Taimiyyain Urdu, published by Afzal al-'Ulama'Muhammad Yusuf Kokan 'Umarifrom Madras in 1959, has helped to make possible a clearer appraisal ofIbn Taimiyya's role in Islamic history.Ma ulana A bu al-'A la' al-Maw dudl, who wrote prolifically in Urdu ondifferent aspects of religion and polity , was influenced by Ibn T aim iyya'sapproach in his interpretation of Islamic history, rejection of taqlid,bridging the gulf between religion and politics and in his criticism of theSufi ways of life. H oweve r, he did no t, in general, explicitly indica te thesources of his inspiration.Certain sections of'ulamd'andmashaikhwere bitterly critical of Ibn1M e.g. see hisA'tna-tHaqTqat Numa (H amdard Press, Delhi, n.d.), li.


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THE IMPACT OF IBN TAIMIYYA ON SOUTH ASIA 147Taimiyya's views about mysticism and taqlid,1 but their polemicalwritings have had only limited influence.

TH E NA TURE OF IBN TA IMIYYA 'S IMPA CT INSOUTH A SIAIn South A sia Ibn Taimiy ya's influence can be distinguished in sixdistinct spheres:

(a) as a model for the resurrection of Muslim society{ihya-i tnillat);(b) as an organizer ofjihad movement against the Mongols;(c) as an advocate of ijtihdd,(fresh interpreta tion of Islamic law);(d) as a critic of bid'dt (innovations in different spheres of Muslimlife);(e) as a critic of the Sufis in general, and(f) as a critic of Ibn al-'A rabt.South A sia accepted Ibn Taimiyya's role as a reformer, as an advocateofijtihdd,as an un comprom ising m onotheist, as a critic ofbid'dtand asan inspiration in the struggle against foreign political domination.H owever, his views were diversely adopted and em phasized accordingto the needs of the period. Excepting the rule of Muhammad binTughluq, it did not prove possible to apply the w hole of Ibn T aimiyya'sthought at any other period.It was as a reformer and critic of bid'dt that Ibn Taimiyya's impactwas most deeply felt in South A sia. H ardly any Muslim reformmovement arose in India th at did not owe some inspiration to him in itsstruggle against unauthorized accretions in Muslim society.Ibn Taimiyya's ideas played an important role in the political sphereduring the 14th, 19th, and the early 20th centuries. Muhammad binTughluq adopted his views as his political ideology; the Fara'izT, theWahhabi and the Mujahidin movements imbibed the spirit of jihadfrom him, directly or indirectly. Maulana A zad was inspired by him inhis struggle for independen ce from British rule. H e sought to revitaliseMuslim society by creating an effective organisational structure underan imam, as advocated by Ibn Taimiyya.Ibn Taimiyya's criticism of Ibn A l-'A rabl's wahdat al-wujud, wasechoed in Shaikh A hmad SirhindFs approach towa rds pantheistictendencies.136 Shah W all A llah of D elhi, who always strongly defendedIbn Taimiyya against all types of criticism, was, however, conciliatory in

135 e.g. see Shams al-DTn A fghani's al-Jawahir al-Bahhiya, a commentary onShark'Aqatd al-Nasaft." ' See Burhan A hmad Faruql,The M ujaddid'sConceptionofTawhld (Lahore, 1940).


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1 48 K H A L IQ A H M A D N I ZA M Ithis matter. H isRisala ft Tahqiq Wahdat al-Wujud (also known asal-Maktiib al-Madant)gave a new orientation to mystical thought in SouthA sia. Following the guidance of his teacher, Shaikh A bu Tahir Kurdi ofM adina , Shah Wall A llah made the reformist programme of IbnTaimiyya co-exist with Ibn al-'A rabfs ideology. As a result even thosewho subscribed to Ibn Taimiyya's tho ught in other spheres, accepted Ibnal-cA rabl's lead in spiritual matters.Ibn Taimiyya had written about innumerable problems pertaining tothe religious, social, and political life of the contemporary Muslims. Areformer working in such a vast orbit could not help touching manysensitive areas and provoking many controversies. Obviously some ofthe controversies were of a temporary nature and of lesser significance,but the opposition they aroused clouded clear appreciation of hisreformist role in the broader framework of Islamic history and thedynamic elements in his thought were not understood.

The ideology of Ibn Taimiyya vis-a-vis mysticism was restated inSouth A sia. H owever, none of its supportersShaikh A hmad SirhindlMujaddid A lf-i Than , Shah Wall A llah, the Fara'izTs, the Mujahidln,Naw ab Siddlq H asan Khan, the schools of Nadwa and Deobandw ereable to dispense with mystic thought or institutions. In fact, they saw inthe revitalization of mystic life the seeds of regeneration for the tndlat.Nevertheless, some significant steps were taken to meet the objections ofIbn Taimiyya. (1) Sufis who did not conform to theShart'awere severelycondemned by Shaikh A hmad Sirhindl137 and Shah W all A llah.138 (2)The mystic movement was presented as an elaboration of the spirit ofahsan as explained by the Prophet. (3) Ibn Taimiyya had categorisedSufis asAuliya Allah(H elpers of God) orAuliyaShaitan(H elpers of theDevil). Careful scrutiny of the attitudes and behaviour of the eminentauliya in South A sia of various affiliations reveals that Ibn Taim iyya'scriticism was not applicable to them. They adhered to SharJ'a norms,discouraged ruhbaniyat(asceticism), did n ot publicly discusswahdat al-wujud,and upheld thesunnahof the Prophet. The delinquent Sufis, whohad provoked Ibn Taimiyya's criticism were never taken seriously by theMuslim peopleas is evident from the fate of A hmad Bihari, Mas'udBak, Sarmad, and others. (4) A readjustment and distinction of this typehad taken place earlier in Muslim lands during the time of Ibn Taimiyyahimself.Malik A sir Qala dun, an adm irer of Ibn Taimiyya, did not abjurecontact with the mystics139 but continued his affiliation with the mystic

137 Maktubat-t Imam-i Rabbant(Nawal Kishore, 1877).131 H e writes in hisWastyat Nama, (Masihi Press of Masih al-Zaman, Kanpur, n.d.),p. 3: 'Don't give your hand in the hand of the mystics of this age as they are involved invariety of btd'at.'139 See Maqnzi,al-Khaltat wa 'l-Athar (Beirut, n.d.), ", 422.


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TH E IMPA CT OF IBNTA IMIYYA ON SOUTH A SIA 149order. (5)Perhaps the most significant development in this connectionwastheline adoptedbyNawab Siddlq H asan Khanwhotook boldandsincere initiatives to propagate Ibn Taimiyya's thoughtinSouth A sia.Heinvested Ibn Taimiyya with mystic attributes,1*0suggested that there wassome identityofview betweenIbnTaimiyyaandShaikh Nizam al-DlnA uliya141andquoted a verse about theneed of practicing ijtihdd thatShaikh Nizam al-Dln A uliya usedtorecite before hisaudience, whosemeaning inEnglishmay berendered as:'Though Godalone providesreligious guidance,yet oneshould also exerciseijtihad.'1*1With these adjustments to,the different circumstances andreligioussensibilitiesofthe MuslimsinIndia borneinmind,we may saythatIbnTaimiyya's ideas have made a deep and far-reaching impression onreligiousandpolitical developments inSouth A sia.

140 Taqsar Juyud al-AhrarmmTadbkar-i Janud al-Abrar, (Bhopal,A H 1298), whereinhe observes about IbnTaimiyya: 'Hisrank in spiritual disciplinewasvery high. Storiesabout hismiracles and traditions relatingto his spiritual blessing are without limit.'

141 ibid.,136. ' ibid.,67.