The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2207 page)

 
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(1702–62)
. An Indian Islamic reformer, who was a
Sunni
and a leading
Naqshband
S
f
. He lived at a time when the Indian Muslims were bitterly divided and were suffering a decline in political
power
. He wrote fifty-one major works in Arabic and Persian. His
magnum opus
,
Hujjatullah-ul-Balaghah
(covering
Qur’
n
,
shar
‘a
,
tasawwuf
, politics, and philosophy), is a restatement of Islam allowing rational and empirical arguments on a much broader basis than the traditional line. His vast influence can still be perceived in such reform movements as
Jamaat-al-Islam
, Tableeghi Jamaat,
Iqbal's
neo-modernism, the
Ahl-al-Hadith
, the
Barelvi
, and
Deoband
, all of which invoke Shah Waliullah's authority in support of their views.
Waliullah, an eminent S
f
himself, also began the task of reforming Sufism which had declined extensively into a commercial exploitation of superstition.
On political and socio-economic matters, Waliullah upheld the principle of unity and toleration, condemning sectarianism and Sunni/Sh
‘a polemics.

 
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Shaikh al-Isl
m
or shaykh
.