A Dallal _The Origins and Objectives of Islamic Revivalist Thought 1750 1850

7/29/2019 A Dallal _The Origins and Objectives of Islamic Revivalist Thought 1750 1850

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The Origins and Objectives of Islamic Revivalist Thought, 1750-1850

Author(s): Ahmad DallalSource: Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 113, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1993), pp. 341-359Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/605385 .

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THE ORIGINS AND OBJECTIVES OF ISLAMICREVIVALIST THOUGHT, 1750-1850AHMADDALLALSMITH OLLEGE

This paperexamines and compares four majorintellectual trends of Islamic thoughtin the periodfrom the mid-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth century. It characterizes the works of the ArabianMuhammad Ibn CAbdal-Wahhab(1703-1787), the Indian Shah Wall Allah (1703-1762), the westAfrican cUthmanIbn Fudi (1754-1817), and the north African MuhammadCAlial-Saniusi(1787-1859). It then argues that, contrary to the accepted paradigm, the intellectual models produced bythese scholars are quite distinct and cannot be groupedunderone rubric.

STUDIESOF MODERNSLAMIC HOUGHTften assert thatthe roots of the modern Islamic revival originate in theeighteenth century. An intellectual link is postulated be-tween Wahhabi puritanical ideas and later Islamicthought; Wahhabism, it is argued, continues to inspire agrowing number of Muslims in their encounter with theproblems of the modern world.1 "Wahhabi" is appliedto such diverse groups as the followers of the IndianSayyid Ahmad Barelvia2 and the Subbanu al-Muslimin(association of young Muslims) of west Africa,3 despitethe recognition that in both of these cases the title Wah-habi is a misnomer.4 The argument for the continuity of

I Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Islam in ModernHistory (Prince-ton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1977), 42; for a similar notion ofthe gradual spread of Wahhabism in the Muslim world seeH. A. R. Gibb, Modern Trends in Islam (Chicago: The Univ.of Chicago Press, 1947), 27-28.2 Qeyamuddin Ahmad, The Wahabi Movement in India(Calcutta:Firma K. L. Mukhopadhyay,1966).3 Lansine Kaba, The Wahhabiyya:Islamic Reformand Poli-tics in French West Africa (Evanston: Northwestern Univ.Press, 1974).

4 Bari argues convincingly that the name "Indian Wah-habis" given to the nineteenth-century militant reform move-ment led by Sayyid Ahmad Barelvi (d. 1831) was anafterthought, "perhaps given by co-religionist opponents todiscredit them"; M. A. Bari, "The Politics of Sayyid AhmadBarelwi," Islamic Culture 31.1 (1957): 158. He also arguesthat the name was adopted by British administrators for thesame purposes; M. A. Bari, "A Nineteenth-CenturyMuslimReform Movement in India,"in Arabic and Islamic Studies inHonor of Hamilton A. R. Gibb, ed. George Makdisi (Cam-bridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1965), 84. Ahmad adds,

the "fundamentalist tradition"5 is also founded on theassumption that, despite the diversity in their "organi-zational styles," the revivalist movements stretchingfrom the mid-eighteenth to mid-nineteenth century haveproduced a single, more or less homogeneous, body ofthought which belongs to an identifiable "fundamental-ist mode of Islam."6 This mode which traverses Islamichistory is defined in terms of such themes as the need toabide by the Qur'an and the Sunna, return to origins, re-vival of ijtihad and hadith studies, rejection of innova-tion and imitation (taqlid) in matters of law, andrejection of the excesses of sufism.7 More generally

however, that "the title became unavoidable on account of itswide prevalence"; Ahmad, Wahabi,v. The name was given tothe mid-twentieth-centurymovement in west Africa by theFrench head of the Bureau of Muslim Affairs in Bamako inthe 1950s; Kaba, 8.5 Rudolph Peters, "Idjtihad and Taqlid in 18th and 19thCenturyIslam,"Die Welt des Islams 20.3-4 (1980): 145.6 John O. Voll, "The Sudanese Mahdi: Frontier Fundamen-talist," International Journal of Middle East Studies 10(1979): 160.

7 There is abundantreference in writings on 18th- and 19th-centuryIslamic thoughtand movements in which these themesare said to define the common intellectual trend of fundamen-talistor revivalistIslam; see, for example, Smith,42, 52; FazlurRahman,Islam (Chicago:Univ. of Chicago Press, 1968), 242-50; John Esposito, "Traditionand Modernization n Islam,"inMovements and Issues in WorldReligions, ed. Charles Wei-hsun Fu andGerhardE. Spiegler (New York:GreenwoodPress,1987), 92; Mervyn Hiskett, The Developmentof Islam in WestAfrica (London:Longman, 1984), 157;JohnO. Voll, "Muham-mad Hayya al-Sindi and Muhammad bn CAbdal-Wahhab:An

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Journal of the American Oriental Society 113.3 (1993)

these themes are said to assert transcendence,unity, andauthenticity as opposed to immanence, diversity, andopenness.8 It is thus commonplace to speak of Wahhabiinfluences on the thought of the IndianShah Wall Allahal-Dihlawi,9 the west African cUthmanIbn Fiudi,' andthe north African MuhammadCAllal-Sanuisi.1

To lend further credibility to the theory of a unitedIslamic revivalism, scholars argue that the renownedrevivalists from different parts of the Islamic worldconverged with a "small group of teachers of hadith inthe holy cities" of Mecca and Medina, thus creatingoverlapping "intellectual family trees."12This theory is

Analysis of an Intellectual Group in Eighteenth-CenturyMa-dina,"BSOAS38.1 (1974); JohnO. Voll, "Hadith Scholars andTariqahs:An Ulama Groupin the 18thCentury Haramaynandtheir Impact in the Islamic World,"Journal of Asian and Afri-can Studies 15.3-4 (1980); Louis Brenner, "Muslim Thoughtin Eighteenth-CenturyWest Africa: The Case of Shaykh Uth-man b. Fudi," in Eighteenth-CenturyRenewal and Reform inIslam, ed. Nehemia Levtzion and John O. Voll (Syracuse: Syr-acuse Univ. Press, 1987), 61; Muin ud-Din Ahmad Khan,"Fara'idiMovement,"Islamic Studies9 (1970): 123; and B. G.Martin, Muslim Brotherhoods in Nineteenth-Century Africa(Cambridge:CambridgeUniv. Press, 1976), 107-8.8 Voll, "Sudanese Mahdi"; Gibb, 32; and Peters, 132.9 Smith, 52; Voll, "IntellectualGroup,"39; Rahman, Islam,242-50; Aziz Ahmad, "Political and Religious Ideas of ShahWali-Ullah of Delhi," The Muslim World 52.1 (1962): 22; andEsposito, 92.10Gibb, 27, 30; and Hiskett, Development, 289-91.l Gibb, 27; Hiskett, Development, 256, 259; and Martin,99, 103. In fact, this intellectual genealogy is often stretchedback in time to include, in addition to the Sanusi and Wahhabimovements, the Murabitunand the Muwahhiduin f north Af-rica; see Gibb, 26; and Nehemia Levtzion, "Introduction,"nRural and Urban Islam in WestAfrica, ed. Nehemia Levtzionand Humphrey J. Fisher (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers,1987), 12.12Voll, "IntellectualGroup,"39; most of the researchon thetheory of a common network of scholars was done by Voll;see, for example, Voll, "IntellectualGroup";Voll, "SudaneseMahdi"; and Voll, "Hadith Scholars." This theory has alsogained wide currency among scholars of modern Islam; for areference to the common backgroundof Shah Wali Allah andIbnCAbd l-Wahhabsee AnnemarieSchimmel, Islam in the In-dian Subcontinent(Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1980), 153; on the linkbetween west African education and the Arabian network ofscholars see Nehemia Levtzion, "The Eighteenth CenturyBackground to the Islamic Revolutions in West Africa," inEighteenth-CenturyRenewal and Reform in Islam, ed. Ne-hemia Levtzion and John O. Voll (Syracuse: Syracuse Univ.

attractive in many ways, primarily because it allowsthe student of modem Islam to analyze and understanda complex set of variables in the context of one co-herent whole. The connections made to achieve thiscoherence are at best fragile. Any familiarity with theperception of Wahhabism in the Islamic world wouldconfirm the rather conspicuous status it has amongmost Muslims, which undermines any parallels be-tween Wahhabis and other movements enjoying gen-eral or local recognition outside Arabia. Second, thegeneral characterizationsof modern Islamic revival arenot always applicable to specific instances of thisrevival. Even a cursory reading of the work of ShahWall Allah, for example, reveals that, contrary to theaccepted paradigm, his reformed "Neo-Sufism" is notstripped of its "metaphysical character";13his, despitethe fact that both Wall Allah and the ardent anti-sufiIbn CAbd l-Wahhab studied under the same Medinesehadith scholar Muhammad Haya al-Sindi14(d. 1750).The "intellectual family-trees"of students and teacherscannot serve as evidence for common origins; educa-tion acquired from the same teacher could be, and in-deed was, put to completely different uses by differentstudents, and the commonality of the source does notprove that the outcome is identical or even similar. Theonly information that can be safely derived from suchevidence relates to the pool of prominent teachers ofthe time with whom a serious student might study. Ifaccepted, the allegations made in an anti-Wahhabipolemic, in which Muhammad Ibn Sulayman al-Kurdiand Muhammad Haya al-Sindi warned their studentsagainst the excesses of Ibn CAbdal-Wahhab, wouldfurther corroborate this conclusion.15

Press, 1987), 32-33; also on CUthman bn Fudi see Brenner,61;on the teachers f al-Saniisi ee Peters,145.13 Compare,for example, with Rahman,Islam, 253-54; andVoll,"Hadith cholars."14ComparewithVoll,"Intellectual roup."15 CAbdal-QadirIbn al-Sayyid MuhammadSalim al-Kilani

al-Iskandarani,Al-Nafhaal-Zakiyafi al-RaddCalaal-Firqa al-Wahhabiya(Damascus:Matbacatal-Fayha', 1340 A.H.), 4; IbnCAbd l-Wahhabcomposed the Kitabal-Tawhidduringhis stayin Basrabeforehe travelled o Mecca,wherehe supposedlystudiedunderMuhammadHaya al-Sindi; he was also expelledfrom Basra on accountof his extremism;see Amin Sa'id, Siratal-lmdm al-Shaykh MuhammadIbn CAbd l-Wahhab (Beirut:Sharikatal-TawziCal-CArabiya,1384 A.H.); and A. M. Nasir,Al-Shaykhal-ImdmMuhammadIbn 'Abdal-Wahhdbwa Man-hajuhui Mabdhith l-CAqldaBeirut:Daral-Shuruq, 983),32. This seems to indicate that his ideas were articulatedbe-foreestablishingonnectionswiththeHaramaynetwork.

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DALLAL: Origins and Objectives of Islamic Revivalist Thought

What is most inadequate about the theory of a com-mon origin is that the little analysis there is of the sub-stance of the ideologies of Islamic revival have not beencomparatively examined. Whether Islamic revival isunified or diverse can only be decided on the basis ofwhat is Islamic in this revival, and that is ideology. It isthus imperative to reconstruct the different intellectualprojectsof the period in question. Any resolution is con-tingent upon a comparison of the main features of thisbody of thought. This study will examine and comparethe works of four major thinkers and activists whoseideas, I will argue, comprise four distinct intellectualtrends of Islamic thought in the period from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth century. These think-ers are the most famous scholars of the period in ques-tion: Muhammad Ibn CAbd al-Wahhab, of Arabia(1703-1787), Shah Wall Allah, of India (1703-1762),'Uthman Ibn Fuidi,of west Africa (1754-1817), and thenorthAfrican scholar MuhammadCAllal-Sanusi (1787-1859). Studies which draw parallels between their re-spective backgrounds and ideas16 have consistentlylacked a general account or analysis of their thought.

Shah Wall Allah lived and worked in Delhi.'7 Duringhis lifetime he witnessed the final breakup of the Mu-ghal empire, and the rise in its place of a number ofsmaller and weaker states. The invasion of Nadir Shahin 1739 and the subsequent sack of Delhi further weak-ened the Muslims and left them vulnerable to the ag-gression of the numerous non-Muslim communities ofIndia. It is not surprisingthat Wall Allah's thought wasin some measure a response to his perception of thecrisis of the time.'8 Rather than define this crisis sim-ply in terms of our perception of the political situationof Wall Allah's time, it would be more instructive toexamine his understandingof it, which is the basis ofhis intellectual project.For the many ills of society, Wall Allah singles outseveral sources which he specifies directly in his writ-

16 See footnotes 8-12 above.17For general information on Shah Wall Allah and his timesee the introductorysections of G. N. Jalbani, Teachings ofShah Waliyullah of Delhi (Lahore: Sh. Muhammad Ashraf,

1967); and J. M. S. Baljon, Religion and Thought of ShahWall Allah Dihlawi (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1986); also see thechapteron the eighteenth century in BarbaraDaly Metcalf, Is-lamic Revival in British India: Deoband, 1860-1900 (Prince-ton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1982).18On the notion of crisis see Fazlur Rahman,"The Thinkerof Crisis: Shah Waliy-Ullah," Pakistan Quarterly6.2 (1956):44-48; Jalbani, 112-13; and Ahmad, "Political Ideas," 22.

ings or implies throughthe issues he discusses. Disunityis a central theme that occupied him throughout hislife.19 He wrote extensively on differences of opinionwithin jurisprudence,20sufism,21 traditionalist hadithscholarship,22and differences among all of these.23Al-thoughhe was concerned with political division anddis-integration,the solution he prescribedwas to be foundoutside the immediaterealm of politics. He believed thatpolitical authority is importantfor practical purposes,but what ultimatelycounts is society. While the outwardcaliphate (khildfatal-zahir) is in charge of implement-ing superficialorder, the inward one (khildfatal-batin)is responsible for social order in all its details.24 Theguardiansof the inwardorder are the scholars(Culamda),and it is their duty to ensure that daily life is conductedin harmony with God's created nature (fitra).25 Politicalcorruption s but an outcome of the scholars' neglect inperforming their duties properly.26 Extreme intellectual-ism or "profundity" (ta'ammuq),27 severity,28 false con-sensus,29 opportunism,30 and claiming monopoly overtruth3l are some aspects of this neglect.Wall Allah's world emerges as one in which thepolitical and the social are separated. This separation,however, is not meant to serve the interests of the po-litical but to provide alternatives to it. The scholars

19 He states that his role is to interpretthe ShariCa n a waythat will allow differences within it to vanish; see Shah WallAllah, Al-Tafhimdtal-Ilhiya, 2 vols., ed. Ghulam Mustafa al-Qasimi (HaydarAbad: Shah Wali Allah al-Dihlawi Academy,no date), 1:111 12; 2:54.20 See ShahWall Allah, Clqdal-Jidfi Ahkamal-Ijtihddwal-Taqlid (Cairo: Al-MatbaCaal-Salafiya, 1385 A.H.); and ShahWall Allah, Al-Insdffi Bayan Sabab al-Ikhtildf(Lahore:Mat-bacatal-Maktabaal-'Ilmiya, 1971).21The works where sufi differences are mostly discussedare Shah Wall Allah, The Sacred Knowledge of the HigherFunctions of the Mind: Translation of Altaf al-Quds, trans-lated by G. N. Jalbani,revised by David Pendlebury (London:The Octagon Press, 1982); and Wall Allah, Tafhimat.

22 Wall Allah, 'Iqd; Insdf; and Shah Wall Allah, HujjatAllah al-Baligha, 2 parts (Cairo:Dar al-Turath,1936).23 See especially Wall Allah, Tafhimat, 1:54.24 Wall Allah, Tafhimat,1:8.25 Wall Allah, Tafhimat, 1:8; and Hujjat, 2:215.26 Wall Allah, Hujjat, 1:120, and 2:150.27 Wall Allah, Hujjat, 1:120, and 2:21-22, 215.28 Wall Allah, Hujjat, 1:120.29 Wall Allah, Hujjat, 1:121.30Wall Allah, Insdf, 57-58; and Hujjat, 1:152-53.31 From Wall Allah's Fuyiid al-Haramayn,quoted in Baljon,162.

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who inherit the role of prophets must not be deterredby the corruptingeffects of politics,32and if they fail intheir endeavor, it is the thought that informs theiractions, and guides them and the community throughthem, which deserves reform.33 In opposition to thephilosophers, Wall Allah argues thatthe political imamis not necessarily a real individual, but a symbol of theindispensable unity of the community.34Moreover, thecentral role of the Culamaimay not be restricted to aspecial elite, but should be open to the participationofthe community at large.35Such participationensures aprogramfor intellectual as well as social revival, and itis this duality between the intellectual and the socialthat characterizesWall Allah's thought.Wall Allah envisions revival through intellectualsynthesis, and the inclusion of the community in thisprocess has broad social ramifications.Knowledge, ac-cording to Wall Allah, is of two kinds. The firstpertainsto a core of specific and well-defined rules which guar-antee humanity'snaturaland logical interests.36Obser-vance of these rules, which are subsumed under God'srevealed injunctions and prohibitions, is mandatorywhether one recognizes the wisdom in them or not.37Itfollows that this first kind of knowledge is transmittedrather than acquired through speculation, and that itsauthority derives from the letter of the law.38 The sec-ond kind of knowledge is general, unspecified, and flex-ible. It is based on human interest, and seeks theamelioration of society and the lives of individuals.39God's instructionsregardingthis second kind of knowl-edge are general, and intention ratherthan strict obser-vance determines the validity of relatedjudgments andactions.40Central to Wall Allah's scheme is the effort tolimit the applicability and prevent the undue extensionof knowledge derived from divine law.41 For Wall

32Wall Allah, Insaf, 57-58.33ToWallAllah,renewal s mainly nresponseo theprob-lem of differences, nd s achieved hroughheintellectual e-form of thought; ee Wali Allah,Hujjat,1:8;and Tafhimat,1:37, 111-12, and2:54.34 ShahWallAllah,Al-Budiral-Bazigha, d. SaghirHasanal-Ma'sumiHaydarAbad:ShahWali Allahal-DihlawiAcad-

emy,no date),91.35 From Wall Allah's Fuyudal-Haramayn,quoted in Baljon,162.36Wall Allah, Hujjat, 1:111, 129.37WallAllah,Hujjat,1:130.38 Wall Allah, CIqd,12-13; Insaf, 62; and Hujjat, 1:161.9 WallAllah,Hujjat,1:111,129.40 Wali Allah, Hujjat, 1:130.41 Wali Allah, Hujjat, 1:120, and 2:22.

Allah, a proper legal analogy (qiyas), for instance, isthe derivation of a legal ruling on the basis of a com-mon legal cause (Cillamushtaraka) ratherthan on thebasis of a common interest (maslaha mushtaraka).42This would restrict the imposition of opinions derivedfrom the application of general knowledge under thelimited and binding sharc of God.For Wall Allah Islam is the religion of nature(fitra).43 He introduces a theory of humandevelopmentin stages which he calls irtifaqdt44 sing. irtifiq). Anirtifaq is characterized as the art of searching for ease(taysir) and beneficial acts, and ease obtains specifi-cally because God commands acts for which peoplehave a natural inclination, and which are required byboth nature and reason. The first and most basic irtifaqincludes those aspects of knowledge and conduct whichare specific to the human species and essential to itssurvival, such as language, cultivation, and family rela-tions. The second includes experiential and acquiredfaculties and customs that are utilized in the house andmarketplace.The third relates to the administrationoflife in the city, and the fourth and ultimate regulates therelations between all the cities within a universal order.Aside from the specific core of commands which Godunequivocally communicated to men, Wall Allah main-tains that most laws are guiding principles, and theirprecise determination is left to the reasoning of peopleand to what they think is best for their well-being, andto what is in harmony with and in the interest of theirnaturaldispositions.45Nature, in the language of Wali Allah, refers notonly to human naturebut to the physical world as well.The laws of an expanded naturegovern all phenomenathat men may observe or experience in life, includingmiracles. Miracles, he maintains, are simply the resultof uncommmon or less frequent natural causes.46 Godinterferes in nature through nature itself, by suppress-ing (qabd) certain aspects of nature and expanding(bast) others.47 In his account of Muhammad'snight

42 Wall Allah, Hujjat, 1:130.43WaliAllah,Hujjat,1:111;andTafhimdt,:266.44Onthefollowing heoryof irtifdqdtee WallAllah,Huj-jat, 1:39-47;andBudir,61-64, 119-20.45WallAllah,Hujjat,1:111-12.46 Shah Wall Allah, A Mystical Interpretation of PropheticTales by an Indian Muslim: Translationof Ta'wil al-Ahddith,translatedyJ. M. S. Baljon Leiden:E. J. Brill,1973),4.47 Shah Wall Allah, Sufism and the Islamic Tradition: TheLamahat and Satacat of Shah Waliullah, trans. G. N. Jalbani,ed. D. B. Fry (London:The Octagon Press, 1980), 56-57.

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journey to Jerusalemand his ascension to heaven, WallAllah contends that the laws of the spirit became oper-ative while the laws of physical bodies were sus-pended.48The actual occurrence of this incident is notdenied, nor is it metaphorically interpreted;rather, adifferent and unfamiliar set of laws produced a "natu-ral"miracle.It does not follow, however, that God's agency in thelife of men is mediated throughand thus limited by na-ture. While he asserts the principle of causation, WallAllah attributesit to the intention or will of an agent hecalls al-shakhs al-akbar (the greater being or "meta-physical man").49This greater being is God's first crea-tion; God then creates the things that are ingrained inits universal nature, and its existence is sustainedthrough continuous emanation from the First.50 Ac-cording to this theory, naturalcausation is the intentionof an agent which is itself, together with its soul, cre-ated and sustained by God. Causation is thus recoveredwithout compromising the power of God. The reconcil-iation between natural laws and causation, on the onehand, and transmittedknowledge, on the other, is sanc-tioned by scripture, and specifically by the Qur'anicprinciple of taysir.51It is importantto note that the ul-timate authority which enables this mediation is thetransmitted tradition.52According to Wall Allah, theclassification of scholars into those who pursue inde-pendent legal opinion (ahl al-ra'y) and literalists (ahlal-zahir) is based on an invalid delineation. The realdifference between these two groups is not over the ex-clusive use of either tradition or reason; rather, it liesin their supreme source of authority, and Wall Allahexhibits no willingness to compromise the authorityoftraditionin the interest of any reconciliation.53Wall Allah's attempt to reconcile sufism with tradi-tion is as ambitious as-though perhaps less effective

48 Wall Allah, Hujjat, 2:206-7.49Wali Allah,Lamahdt, 1. The translationmetaphysicalman'was usedbyFazlurRahman;ee Rahman, Thinker,"6.50WallAllah,Lamahat, 6.51WallAllah,Hujjat,1:111-12.52 Wali Allah, Hujjat, 1:2-3.53WallAllah'sprinciple f tatbiq,or the mutual pplicationof the two categoriesof transmitted ndrationally onstruedknowledge, houldnot be confusedwith an attempto subju-

gate tradition o independent easoning;he frequentlyndi-catesthat while attemptso explainrationallyhe wisdom nwhat he lawobligatesarerecommended,heyare subordinateto,andareonlyattainablehroughtrictabidance y,the letterof the law. See WallAllah,Hujjat,1:8;andTafhimdt,:242-43; andcomparewithRahman, Thinker,"4.

than-the work of his predecessor, the eleventh-century scholar al-Ghazali. Wall Allah's defense ofsufism does not prevent him from criticizing sufi ex-cesses.54 His creative interpretations,however, are farmore importantthan his criticism. To startwith, he ar-gues that the silence of the law on such subjects assufism does not mean they cannot be pursued.55 slam,he maintains, prohibits metaphysical speculation on is-sues beyond the naturalorder;56he adds, however, thatthe sufis reflect on these subjects to the extent that theypartake in existence outside of their capacity as hu-mans.57The sufi purificationof the hidden faculties issubordinate to the observance of the law, and is notachievable without such observance.58Sufis who main-tain that the essence of God and the world is one areunbelievers, and their harm to the common people isgreat.59Such allegations often result from a misunder-standing of the complex technical terminology used bysufi writers.60Othererrors result from the sufis' neglectof the apparentand real meanings of the Qur'an andthe hadith in favor of the meanings they bring tothem.6' At both the terminological and the conceptuallevels, however, there are some truthswhich are recon-cilable with the basic tenets of belief. One importantconcept which Wall Allah attempts to recover is theunity of being (wahdat al-wujud) which was systemati-cally advocated by the famous sufi philosopher IbnCArabi.On the notion that all being is subsumed by theone real existence of God, Wali Allah writes:

[T]he ormof the Real whichappearedn the mirror fthe finepartof the ShakhsAkbarhas also twoaspects.One showstheperfection f ShakhsAkbar, ountedasa universe,whilethe other hows he Realand tsexist-ence.62 . . . When a gnostic reaches this Divine Appear-ance and looks intentlyat it, he sees in it only anincorporeality.hemirror oes notcometo his sightatall,nay,even itspresence oesnotoccur o his mind.63

Here the unity of existence occurs at a level removedseveral stages from the Creator,but still reflects God'sall-encompassing nature.

54 Wali Allah, Altdf, 82; and Tafhimat,1:282-85.55WaliAllah,Hujjat,1:18.56 WallAllah,Tafhimdt,1:266-67.57WallAllah,Tafhimdt,:266-67.58 Wall Allah, Al.tf, 80.59Wali Allah, Tafhimat,1:275.60 Wall Allah, Altaf, 39; and Tafhimat,2:263.61 Wall Allah, Altdf, 47, 52.62 Wali Allah, Satacdt, 81.63 Wall Allah, SataCat,82.

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Wall Allah uses a similar approach to reconcile theconcepts of unity of being and unity of witness (wah-dat al-shuhud);64 the latter is promoted by ShaykhAhmad Sirhindi, in whose view the notion of unity ofbeing constitutes a denial of God's oneness and tran-scendence.65 Wall Allah maintains that the emergenceand polarization of different sufi sects occur whenpeople judge by appearances, and fail to realize thatthe "Providence of the True One is the same."66WallAllah clarifies what he considers a misuse of terminol-ogy which partly accounts for the schism between theunity of being and the unity of witness. These conceptsactually refer to different aspects of the same truth;67that is, one meaning of the former is "being absorbedin the knowledge of the encompassing Truth... suchthat the laws of separation and distinction, on whichthe knowledge of good and evil is based... cease toapply";a meaning of the latter is "to combine the lawsof classification and distinction, thus realizing that inone respect multiple things are united in one, and inanother respect they are numerous and differentiated."According to Wall Allah, the insight of Sirhindi'swah-dat al-shuhud is more profound and hence superior toIbn CArabi'snotion of unity of being.68His defense ofIbn CArabi,however, is more persistent and uncriticalthan his assessment of some of Sirhindi's formulations,with which he takes issue. While Sirhindi is entitled tohis interpretations,Wall Allah argues, his opinions donot necessarily coincide with the normative position ofthe first generation of Muslims, and are not superiortoother mystical interpretationsof Islam.69While acknowledging that the last formal link be-tween humanity and God was Muhammad,Wall Allahgrants that a potential experience of the Divine can bereclaimed through the spiritually rich sufi tradition.70This allows for a continuous presence of the sacred inthe lives of individuals, but it cannot form the basis ofcommunity action. A similarly accommodating attitude

64 Wahdatal-wujid is often translated as ontological or ex-istentialmonism,while wahdatal-shuhidtranslates s phe-nomenologicalmonism; ee, for example,Ahmad,"PoliticalIdeas," 3.65 Metcalf, 39.66 Wall Allah, Tafhimdt,1:114, 166, 252.67 Wall Allah, Tafhimat,2:262.68 Wall Allah, Tafhimat,2:263.69 Wall Allah, Tafhimat,2:282-83.70Though hiskindof sufism s in harmonywiththeformalaspectsof religion, t is in no waydevoidof philosophicalndspiritual alues,as manymodern tudiesclaim.See footnote13 above.

toward individual Muslims characterizes all of WallAllah's writings. In his definition of belief (iman) hemakes a distinction between a this-worldly and another-worldly imdn.7' Worldly belief is the professionof faith on the basis of which worldly action is de-cided, whereas a person's status in the hereafter is de-cided on the basis of other-worldly faith. In thehereafter, cardinal hypocrisy may entail eternal resi-dence in Hell, yet this-worldly takfir (accusing some-one of disbelief) cannot be predicated on a person'sintention.72Takfir is only possible on the basis of anunambiguous scripturalstatement. Actions as extremeas prostration73 o trees, stones, idols, and stars, al-though strictly forbidden, are not final evidence of dis-belief because there is no explicit text thatdefines themas such.74 The accusation of disbelief is valid onlywhen the person performing such forbidden acts de-clares them to be acts of worship, or professes his orher belief in, and obedience to creators other thanGod.75Visiting tombs, and the accompanying expres-sions of sadness, cannot be forbidden according toWall Allah, as they are by-products of the tendernessof the human heart, which is essential for the properfunctioning of society.76He also maintainsthat it is notwrong to believe in and seek the blessing (baraka) andintercession (shafd'a) of pious people, as long as thisdoes not involve glorifying them.77Strictly speaking,making vows and offering sacrifices at the tombs ofsaints are not part of proper belief; however, oncemade, one should not neglect fulfilling vows made inthe name of God.78Wall Allah even uses his own read-ing of certain historical classifications to support hisconciliatory distinction between sin and disbelief. Hedistinguishes between the first and the second jdhili-yas: while in the first one people denied that God is thecreator, in the second one they simply turned awayfrom Him, and failed to obey Him as they should.79Wall Allah develops other unconventional readingsof history. The superiority of the first community, heargues, is a functional concept, but not necessarily an

71 Wall Allah, Hujjat, 1:162-63.72Wall Allah, Hujjat, 1:163.73Wall Allah indicates hatprostrationould be seen aseitheranact of worshipor simplygreeting;WallAllah,Huj-jat, 1:60.74 Wall Allah, Hujjat, 2:38; and Tafhimat,2:49.75 Wall Allah, Hujjat, 1:61-62.76 Wall Allah, Hujjat,2:32-38.77WallAllah,Hujjat,1:61.78Wall Allah, Hujjat, 2:202.79 Wall Allah, Budur, 252.

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exclusive one. For later generations to accept the trans-mitted tradition, they had to develop an idealized viewof its transmitters. Later generations, however, are notdoomed to be inferior to earlier ones, and they are cap-able of producing people who are, in some respects,better than their earlier counterparts.80This reading isclearly inspired by a strong commitment to the livingcommunity of Muslims. A more persistent presence ofthe community is evident in Wall Allah's extensive dis-cussion of ijtihad and taqlid. Ijtihad is defined as ex-hausting one's effort in arriving at legal rulings inmattersover which there is no explicit statementin theQur'an or the hadith,81and it is a communal obligationuntil the end of time.82The requirementsfor the differ-ent ranks of ijtihad are attainable without much diffi-culty.83Partial knowledge of a few disciplines sufficesfor fulfilling these requirements, and even then thisknowledge need not be committed to memory. A mujta-hid should know the verses of the Qur'an and the tradi-tions of the prophet which pertain to the applied law,the instances of abrogation,the difference between am-biguous and unequivocal verses, the legal categories ofobligation and prohibition and what falls in between,the principles of hadith authentication, he conditions oflegal analogy, and Arabic grammar.A mujtahidis alsorequiredto know the instances of consensus so as notto contradictthem in his ruling. Knowledge of theolog-ical disputation (kalam) or jurisprudence are not re-quirements for ijtihad.84In short, to attain the rank ofa mujtahid one must know how to extract rulingsfrom traditions and provide their evidence and proof,whether they agree with old rulings made by earlierauthoritiesor not.85

To be sure, there are different ranks of ijtihad:86anabsolute and independent mujtahid (mutlaq mustaqill)is one who has full knowledge of the principles onwhich he bases his rulings; he should know all the pre-cedent rulings, their proofs in the Qur'an and thehadith, and the methods of deriving them; he shouldalso be able to handle new questions for which no pre-cedents exist. An absolute and affiliatedmujtahid(mut-laq muntasib), on the other hand, is one who acceptsthe principles adopted by his teacher, relies on the

80 Wall Allah, Hujjat, 2:215.81 Wall Allah, 'Iqd, 3.82 Wall Allah, cIqd, 3; and Insaf, 46.83 Wall Allah, lIqd,4.84 Wall Allah, Clqd,3-4, 32-35.85 Wall Allah, Clqd,3; Insdf, 36, 50; and Hujjat, 1:156.86 On the kinds of mujtahidssee Wall Allah, Clqd,5, 17-19;andInsaf,46-50.

teacher'sargumentsin his proofs and derivations of oldrulings, and is capable of deducing new rulings on thebasis of his teacher's principles; he should also havesome knowledge of the method of deriving a rulingfrom evidence. A mujtahid within the school (fi al-madhhab) is one who follows his teacher or imamwherever there is an existing ruling based on a text(nass); he also knows the general principles uponwhich his imam's school is based, and is capable ofindependently applying these principles to a limitednumberof new cases. A whole range of types of ijtihddmakes this collective obligation accessible to anyknowledgeable member of the community.

Ijtihad, however, is not simply a requirementfor is-suingfatwas andjudging in courts,87but it has broaderimplications for the community. The shariCa,accord-ing to Wall Allah, can only be known through trans-mission (naql);88 this is why it is important to studyand verify the authenticity of hadith, and to recognizethat, after the Qur'an, it is the most noble and authori-tative of all disciplines.89 Legal codes which are ex-tractedfrom the hadith cannot have the same authorityas the hadith itself.90 Wall Allah distinguishes betweenthe authorityof authentic transmitted texts and the au-thority of interpretationsof these texts, and allows hisown community the same right to interpretthem as didpast communities.91 Viewed from this perspectiveijtihad, coupled with an emphasis on the authority ofhadith, limits the domain of sharc to a central, defini-tive core of texts, readily accessible to all Muslims,and it undermines the elitist claims of professional ex-perts of the law. Wall Allah even denounces extremeintellectualism (ta'ammuq), which he maintains is notobligated by the law,92and which he considers one ofthe causes of difference and disunity.93Wall Allah's theory of ijtihdd seeks to mediatedifferences among jurists. The status of divergent rul-ings issued by these jurists is the next issue on hisagenda of reconciliation. The ijtihdd of Wall Allah isnot simply a prescriptionto include more opinions andhence dissent, but a way of coming to terms with

87 Wall Allah, Clqd,4, 35; and Hujjat, 1:153.88Wall Allah, CIqd,13.89Wall Allah, Hujjat, 1:2; and Ilqd,13.90 Wall Allah, Hujjat, 1:161; Tafhimat, 2:242-43; 'Iqd, 13;and Insdf, 62.91 He frequently asserts this right by stating that "they aremen and we are men too"; see, for example, Wall Allah, Taf-himat, 2:282-83.92 Wall Allah, Hujjat, 2:21-22.93 Wall Allah, Hujjat, 1:120.

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differences of opinion, and creatively bypassing themin the interest of the community. He believes there arehistorical reasons for differences among scholars andtheir approachesto the study of law. Early traditionists,he argues, did not derive rulings from the hadith, fear-ing they may misunderstand ts meanings. Instead, theysimply transmitted the traditions as they heard them.94Early jurists were afraidof attributing wrong traditionsto the prophet, and thought that less risk is involved inissuing rulings and opinions.95The followers of bothgroups actually attributed to them exclusive claimsthey did not make, and the zealotry of these followersis one of the reasons for later differences.96The situa-tion was aggravated when some scholars compromisedtheir integrity, and were lured by the prospects ofwealth and power.97 Legal disputation was a favoritesubject in the courts, and scholars seeking wealth fo-cused their researchon it in order to gain the patronageof the rulers, thus diverting their attention from themore scholarly pursuitsof the first generations of Mus-lims.98There are also structural actors that account forlegal divergences (ikhtilafat); conflicting transmittedhadiths and their varying linguistic interpretationsaresome such factors. The differences in the methods ofapplying a general rule in a specific situation, or deriv-ing a general ruling from a specific one, and the inter-pretation of a general rule in a specific context inopposition to the requirements of common sense andsimple reason, are added causes for ikhtilaf.99

Wall Allah charts the causes of legal divergences,then suggests ways of dealing with them. Difference,he asserts, is a natural and unavoidable outcome of ijti-had. It is sanctioned in the prophetic tradition whichassigns two rewards to a mujtahid who hits the mark,and one reward for one who does not.l00According toWall Allah, this does not mean that one of the twoopinions in question is wrong, only that one is morecorrect than the other. The claim that only one of thetwo opinions corresponds to the ruling intended byGod would pitch the other one in opposition to God'sruling, which is a sin and cannot be deserving of God'sreward.'10 Therefore, in differences resulting frommost kinds of ijtihad, the truth is on both sides of the

94 Wall Allah, Hujjat, 1:148-49; and Insaf, 23.95 Wall Allah, Hujjat, 1:151-52; and Insaf, 33.96 Wall Allah, Hujjat, 1:159; and Insaf, 64.97 Wall Allah, Hujjat, 1:120, 152-53; and Insaf, 57.98 Wall Allah, Hujjat, 1:153; and Insaf, 58.99 Wall Allah, Hujjat, 1:141-43; Ilqd,8-9; andInsaf, 6-11.100Wall Allah, lIqd,6; and Insaf, 6.101Wall Allah, Clqd,6-7.

difference,102 and the choice between different legalopinions, and by extension different legal schools, is achoice between equally valid options. Based on this ar-gument, Wall Allah then asserts that it is prohibitedtobelieve in and promote one school of law to the exclu-sion of others.103These schools have no exclusiveclaim to truth,and there are only four of them becauseit so happened that their followers were more activethan those of the now extinct schools.104A measure ofijtihad should be exercised by any discerning Muslimin opting for one among differentopinions. This choicemust be based on the strength of the evidence behindeach opinion, the soundness of its reasoning, and howeasily it can be followed.'05 Since the choice is madebetween equally valid opinions, and on the basis of theprinciple of taysir, Wall Allah sees no reason whypeople should not adopt the easier and least demandingof the options.106

Contraryto Ibn Hazm who prohibits it, Wall Allahdoes not deny people the right to resort to taqlid (imi-tation in mattersof law) when they are incapable of ex-ercising their own judgment.107He does prohibit thebelief that an imam is infallible, or that it is obligatoryto imitate him.108This kind of taqlid is the major rea-son for disunity and is strictly forbidden.109He furtherargues that taqlid is obligatory for one who is ignorantof the Qur>anand the hadith, in which case imitation isequivalent to following the tradition.110 uch a person,however, cannot have a school; the traditionhe followscan only be the ruling of the judge or mufti.llWall Allah's conciliatory approach is not restrictedto theoretical discussion, but extends to his own legalpractice. A committed Hanafi, he studied and taughtthe Muwatta' of imam Malik and reassessed Hanafilegal opinions in its light, arguing that it is the mostreliable book after the QurDan.112He applied the princi-ples of jurisprudencedeveloped by Shafici to his theoryof ijtihdd, convinced that no ijtihad in any of thefour schools could have been possible without these

102 Wall Allah, CIqd,11.103 Wall Allah, Hujjat, 1:154; and lIqd,14-15.104 Wall Allah, ICqd,13.105Wall Allah, Clqd,20.106 Wall Allah, CIqd,36.107 Wall Allah, Clqd,14.108Wall Allah, Hujjat, 1:154-55; and CIqd,15-16, 28.109Wall Allah, Hujjat, 1:121.110Wall Allah, Iqd, 27.l l Wall Allah, Clqd,30.112 Wall Allah, Hujjat, 1:133; 'Iqd, 20; Wall Allah alsowrote a separatework in Persianentitled Sharh-i-Muwatta3.

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principles."13He also recognized the primacy of theauthorityof hadith,"4 which is the central contributionof Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, and adopted the theory of ijti-had which was largely advocated by several genera-tions of Hanbali scholars.Shah Wall Allah's formidable attempt to reconcilethe conflicts between the different facets of the Islamicintellectual legacy, and to forge a new synthesis ofgnostic, inductive, and transmitted forms of knowl-edge, was conducted with an eye on the community, itspower and well-being. Perhaps the greatest achieve-ment of this intellectual synthesis was in its ability toargue, without being reductive or simplistic, for thecommunity's right to wrench the use of the intellectfrom the exclusive monopoly of the professional zeal-ots of Islam.

MuhammadIbn CAbd l-Wahhabwas born in the vil-lage of CUyaynain Najd in the year 1703. There islittle reliable informationon his activities the first fourdecades of his life. His longest journey was to Basra,from which he was eventually expelled. In the early1740s, after the death of his father, he started preach-ing his doctrine of tawhid. Five years later he gainedthe political supportof the head of the Su'id family re-siding in Dar'iya, and together they gradually spreadtheir control over different parts of Arabia. Ibn CAbdal-Wahhab reportedly retired after the conquest ofRiyadh, and devoted the last two decades of his life toworship and meditation.115Ibn CAbdal-Wahhab's writings are almost entirelydevoted to a discussion of the concept of tawhid (pro-fessing the oneness of God). Before trying to charac-terize his thought, however, it might be useful toexamine some of his ideas, while comparing them tothose of Wall Allah. It is perhaps safe to state up frontthat Wall Allah would have disagreed with Ibn CAbd l-Wahhab on every single issue he addressed. To startwith, Ibn CAbdal-Wahhab had no interest in intellec-tual accommodation or reconciliation. He strove toclassify people on the basis of their creed into believ-ers and unbelievers, and his subsequent actions wereall predicated on this classification.116Political and so-

3 WallAllah,Hujjat,1:146-47;andInsaf,19-22, 55-57.114 Wall Allah, Hujjat, 1:2, 161; and Insaf, 62.15 On the life of Muhammad Ibn CAbdal-Wahhab seeSacid, and Nasir [n. 15]; there is also some useful informationin the otherwise dated article by Phoenix, "A Brief Outline ofthe Wahabi Movement,"Journal of the Central Asian Society17 (1930): 401-16.

116 Almost every single work by Ibn CAbdal-Wahhab dis-cusses this issue.

cial concerns were marginal to his agenda. He made adistinction between politics and creed, and although herecognized that in promotinghis cause he was indebtedto the supportof the local rulers,17 he neither couchedhis teachings in political language, nor did he considerthe seizure of power an aim of his movement. The onlytime he mentions tolerance is in reference to the ex-cesses of rulerswho, he says, should be advised gently,and in the event they fail to heed this advice, theirinjustice should be tolerated patiently. Rulers shouldbe obeyed despite their injustice and the harm theydo."8 Zealotry, on the other hand, upon which Wah-habism has many obvious claims, is defined only interms of the intolerant attitude toward the political au-thority.119 bn CAbdal-Wahhab even distinguishes be-tween what may be termed as injustice because ofsocial and economic inequities, and credal injustice(zulm al-amwal and zulm al-shirk, literally, the injus-tice of wealth and that of association).120Needless tosay, Wahhabi thought is focused on the second kind,whereas the first is tolerable as long as it is accompa-nied by tawhid.Immediate concern for the social is largely absentfrom the writings of Ibn CAbd l-Wahhab. Not only aretyranny121 nd social injustice minor problems in hisview, but numbers are also irrelevant and of nomerit.122The community may very well be represented

117 MuhammadIbn CAbd l-Wahhab,"Rasa'il al-DaCwa,"nSirat al-Imdm al-Shaykh Muhammad Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab,ed. Amim Sacid (Beirut:Sharikatal-Tawzic al-'Arabiya, 1384A.H.), 43.

118 Ibn CAbdal-Wahhab, "Rasa'il," 139-40; and "Masa'ilal-Jahiliya," n MuhammadIbnCAbd l-Wahhab,MajmuCatl-Fatawd wal-Rasdail wal-Ajwiba (Cairo: Dar al-Wahi, 1400A.H.), 105, 128.

119 Ibn CAbd l-Wahhab,"Rasa'il," 139.120 Ibn CAbd l-Wahhab,"Rasa'il," 116.121 Ibn CAbdal-Wahhabrefers to tdghut which, in the mod-ern usage of the word, translates as tyrantor tyranny,and mayimply a concern for social justice; Ibn CAbdal-Wahhab,how-ever, steers away from this possible political meaning, anduses the word in a specific credal sense in conjunction withworshippingGod throughintermediariesor worshippingidols.See, for example, MuhammadIbn CAbd l-Wahhab,"RisalafiMacna al-Taghut," in Majmicat al-Tawhid, ed. Rashid Rida(Cairo: Al-MatbaCaal-Salafiya), 122-24; also see "Rasa'il,"142; and Majmiiat al-Fatawd, 119-21.122Ibn CAbd l-Wahhab,"Rasaiil," 57, 168; MuhammadIbnCAbd l-Wahhab,"Kitabal-Tawhid," n Siratal-lmdmal-ShaykhMuhammad bn CAbdl-Wahhab,Amin SaCIdBeirut:Sharikatal-Tawzic al-CArabiya,1384 A.H.), 227; and Muhammad Ibn

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by one man,123 nd the Qur'anic injunction to abide bythe community (jamada) may refer to an earlier gen-eration of Muslims, rather than a contemporaryone.'24As such, unity is of no importance, and neither are thevenues that guarantee the empowerment and participa-tion of the community in deciding its future. Withhold-ing knowledge from the masses is permissible.125Similarly, ijtihad is not an issue which he seriously ad-dresses. In a couple of instances he denies that he him-self was a mujtahid, and asserts that in every casewhere he diverged from a scholar, he relied on the au-thority of an earlier one.126He also rejects the notionthat a mujtahid is needed to bypass the authoritativeworks of the laterjurists, in order to go back directly tothe tradition of the first generation of Muslims.127TheQur'an, he argues, has ambiguous and unambiguousverses; the latter are straightforwardand require nei-ther the explanation of earlier jurists, nor the interpre-tations of contemporarymujtahids.'28He thus reducesthe operativeness of the Qur'an to its unambiguousverses, and dismisses the need for the intermediarytra-ditions, without replacing them with the empoweringtool of ijtihdd. The closest Ibn CAbd l-Wahhabgets torejecting taqlid is when he blames it, together with theexcessive veneration of scholars and saints, for muchof the unbelief of his contemporaries.'29His oppositionto taqlid is used only to undermine traditionalauthor-ity, and is not contrasted with its logical opposite, ijti-hdd. Elsewhere Ibn CAbdal-Wahhabdoes not hide hisscorn for scholarship that disagrees with his positions,and adds that the enemies of God may have a lot ofknowledge and many books.'30Ibn CAbdal-Wahhab shared none of the concerns ofWall Allah. His enemies were Muslims who held

CAbd al-Wahhab, Al-Kalimat al-NdfiCa i al-Mukaffirat al-Waqica Cairo:Al-MatbaCa l-Salafiya, 1393 A.H.), 2-3.

123 As Ibn CAbdal-Wahhab maintains was actually the caseat the time of Ibn Hanbal;see Ibn CAbd l-Wahhab,"Rasa'il,"112.124 IbnCAbdl-Wahhab,Rasa'il," 13.125 IbnCAbdl-Wahhab,Kitab l-Tawhid,"23.126 Ibn CAbd l-Wahhab,"Rasa'il," 49, 58.127 Ibn CAbd l-Wahhab,"Rasa'il," 55.128 Ibn CAbdl-Wahhab,Rasa'il," 8-62; andMuhammadIbnCAbdl-Wahhab, KitabKashfal-Shubuhat,"n Siratal-Imdmal-ShaykhMuhammadIbn CAbd l-Wahhab,Amin Sacid

(Beirut: Sharikat al-Tawzic al-CArabiya, 384 A.H.), 302-3.129 Ibn CAbdal-Wahhab, Majmucat al-Fatawa, 105-7; healso opposes the taqlid of the scholar in opposition to a text;ibid., 137.130 Ibn CAbd l-Wahhab, "Kashf,"302.

wrong beliefs about God, not tyrants who oppressMuslims. He separates the credal and the political, butunlike Wall Allah, this separation ultimately benefitsthe political, and fails to produce alternativesto it. Hisideology was generally intolerant of many practicesand beliefs of individual Muslims. In his extensive dis-cussion of what constitutes unbelief (kufr) and the be-lief in more than one God (shirk), he lists numerousconvictions and acts. Shirk includes supplicating piousliving or dead people,131seeking their intercession,132making vows to them,133 ffering sacrifices and prayingat their tombs,134and attributing to the dead amongthem the power to harm or give benefit.'35Shirk alsoincludes the belief in, practice, teaching, and learningof magic, astrology, and divination;'36 he use of amu-lets and talismans;'37giving shelter to innovators, andbefriending unbelievers;'38treating rabbis and monksas lords by offering them unquestioning obedience;'39and worshipping God throughintermediaries.'40A per-son who knows both the Ashcari school and the schoolof the first generation and gives preference to theformer over the latter is also considered an unbelieverby Ibn CAbdal-Wahhab.'41In addition, someone whosays, for example, "Take note my brother, may younever know evil," will also qualify for kufr, since with-out knowledge of evil one cannot know tawhid.142It is through his emphasis on shirk and kufr thatIbn CAbdal-Wahhab introduces his theory of tawhid.Tawhid, he argues, is the exclusive dedication of

131Ibn CAbdal-Wahhab, "Rasa'il," 46-47, 64-65; "Kitabal-Tawhid,"233; and "Kashf,"300.132Ibn CAbd l-Wahhab,"Rasa'il," 46-47, 64-65, 155;Maj-muiat al-Fatdwd, 34, 37, 40-44; and Kalimat,45.133Ibn CAbdal-Wahhab, "Rasa'il," 64-65, 108; and Kali-mat, 6.134Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, "Rasa'il," 64-65; "Kitab al-Tawhid,"237-38, 239; and Kalimat,4.

135 Ibn CAbd al-Wahhab, "Rasa'il," 46-47, 84; and"Kashf,"312.

136 Ibn CAbd l-Wahhab,"Rasa'il," 64-65, 83.137 Ibn CAbdal-Wahhab, "Rasa'il," 105; and "Kitab al-Tawhid," 32-33, 257-58.138 IbnCAbd l-Wahhab,Kitab l-Tawhid,"38;andMaj-mu'at al-Fatawa, 109.139Ibn cAbd al-Wahhab, "Rasa'il," 145. He then extendsthis concept to include similar attitudestoward much of whatis often referred to as jurisprudence; Ibn CAbdal-Wahhab,

"Rasa'il," 145.140 IbnCAbd l-Wahhab,"Rasa'il," 82, 108.141 Ibn CAbd l-Wahhab,"Rasa'il," 136.142 IbnCAbdal-Wahhab,"Rasa il," 93.

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DALLAL:rigins and Objectives of Islamic Revivalist Thought

worship to God; it is worshippingGod without shirk.143The mere profession of faith is not sufficient forIslam'44 because there is a difference between know-ing the truth about God (Cilm),actively affirmingthistruth (tasdiq), and believing in it (iman).145The firsttwo kinds of recognition are possible for unbelievers,whereas iman involves full reliance on and fear of God;it also involves loving, hating, and making friends orenemies in the way of God.146Ibn CAbdal-Wahhab'scautious attempt to develop a positive definition oftawhid in terms of imdn suffers no small setback whenhe argues that even someone with great love for Godmay be an unbeliever.147There are, according to Ibn CAbdal-Wahhab, twokinds of tawhid. The first is the tawhid rubiibi(profess-ing the lordly unity), the belief that God is the creatorand administratorof the universe.'48This belief is heldby most people, and was even held by the Arabs beforethe advent of Islam.149 The unbelievers in the pre-Islamic jahiliya knew God, glorified Him, believedthat He was the only creator and that He alone couldgrant sustenance and bring life and death. They werefollowers of Ibrahim, and performed the pilgrimageto Mecca, but they were still guilty of shirk becausethey associated partners with God in worship, andsupplicated and sought the intercession of prophets,angels, and pious people.150They were not driven tooppose the message of Muhammad until he initiatedhostilities against them and cursed their religion andscholars.151 The second kind of tawhid demanded ofhumanity, and required for true Islam, is the tawhidulihi152(professing the Godly unity); it entails bearingwitness that there is one God and that Muhammad is

143 Ibn CAbdl-Wahhab, Rasa'il," 6; "Kitabal-Tawhid,"231-32; "Kashf," 299; MajmuCat l-Fatawd, 104; and Maj-miuat al-Tawhid, 22.

144 IbnCAbdl-Wahhab,Rasa'il," 3-74.145 bnCAbdl-Wahhab,Rasa'il," 6.146Ibn CAbd l-Wahhab, Kitabal-Tawhid," 65-67; and

Majmiiat al-Fatawd, 32.147IbnCAbdl-Wahhab,Kitab l-Tawhid,"66.148Ibn CAbdl-Wahhab,Rasadil,"9; "fi tafsirkalimat l-

tawhid," in Majmiiat al-Tawhid, 122-24; and MajmiCatal-Fatawa, 56-57.

149 Ibn CAbd l-Wahhab, Rasa'il,"46-47, 79; "Kashf,"307; and Kalimat, 25.150 bnCAbdl-Wahhab,Rasi'il,"46-47; "Kashf,"99;Ma-jmi'at al-Tawhid, 10-14;andMajmuCatl-Fatawd, 7-44.151Ibn CAbd l-Wahhab,Majmacatal-Tawhid, 106-8.152 Ibn CAbd l-Wahhab, Rasaiil,"79, 96; andMajmiiatal-Fatawd, 56-57.

His messenger, ridding oneself of shirk, abandoningthe worship of anything but God, devoting all worshipexclusively to God, and disowning the believers andtaking them for enemies.'53 Recognizing shirk is aprerequisite for this second kind of belief,154 and sois barada,155 issociating oneself from unbelievers anddisbelief in words and deeds. The concept of tawhidis thus linked in the thought of Ibn CAbd l-Wahhabtoan act of repudiation,which functions as a rite of intel-lectual initiation into Wahhabism. The non-initiatedremains guilty of shirk.Armed with this concept of tawhid, Ibn CAbd al-Wahhab was able to change his discourse on practiceto a discourse in practice. He arguedthat the first battlein Islam (after the death of Muhammad)was fought byAbui Bakr against people who claimed to be Mus-lims.'56They believed in God and in the prophethoodof Muhammad, but refused to pay taxes. This act ofdisobedience was reason enough for fighting them.157The shirk of the time of Ibn CAbdal-Wahhab, on theother hand, is graverthan the shirk of the firstjdhiliya:the people who are supplicatedare neitherpious peoplenor objects that are obedient to God, and the shirk ofthe later generations persists in times of plenitude andhardshipalike.'58In this framework, the Wahhabi waragainst the hidden unbelievers of Islam is not only jus-tifiable, but is itself a condition for properbelief.Far from the tolerant and rich synthesis of Shah WaliAllah, Ibn CAbd l-Wahhabprovided a grim and narrowtheory of unbelief, which failed to link the credal to thepolitical or the social, or to generate a meaningful dis-course that could justify its perpetuationas a legitimatetheoretical reading of Islam.

CUthman bn Fudi'59was born in Gobir (in northernNigeria) in the year 1754. His father was a learned

153IbnCAbdl-Wahhab,Kitab l-Tawhid,"22, 226,231-32; MajmiCatal-Tawhid, 110-14; and Majmiiat al-Fatdwd,32.

154 Ibn CAbd l-Wahhab, Rasa'il," 3; and MajmiCatl-Fatawd, 2.155IbnCAbdl-Wahhab, Kitabal-Tawhid,"22, 231-32;Majm'catal-Tawhid,122-24; andMajmiCatl-Fatdwd,32,106-8.

156 IbnCAbdl-Wahhab,Rasi'il,"159.57 IbnCAbdl-Wahhab,Rasaiil," 6.158IbnCAbdl-Wahhab,Rasiail," 7; and"Kashf," 07.159There are several good studies on the life and writingsofIbn Fudi, and on the Fulani jihad movements; see, for ex-ample, Marilyn Robinson Waldman, "The Fulani Jihad: A Re-assessment," Journal of African History 6.3 (1965): 333-55;

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man, and Ibn Flidi studied with him and with severalrenowned scholars of the region. He startedhis careeras a wandering teacher in the 1770s, and through themid-1790s he instructed people on the proper practiceof Islam. By the end of this period he had acquired awide reputation and his following increased consider-ably. Around the year 1795 the emphasis of his teach-ings and writings gradually shifted from personalinstruction to a broader concern with social and politi-cal questions,160and a jihad which was declared in1804 culminated in 1806 in the establishment of theSokoto caliphate. He died in 1817 in the newly estab-lished capital Sokoto, but the caliphate he built contin-ued to flourish under his successors and to inspiremany other movements in west Africa.161As a young man cUthmanIbn Fudi studied the clas-sical works of medieval Muslim writers whose viewsinformed his notions of an ideal society.'62 His experi-ence in life, however, brought him into contact with areality which did not conform to his ideals. The com-munities of Muslims were plagued by two sets of prob-lems which are interrelated in the thought of Ibn Fudi,improper practice of Islam and social injustice. Islamwas injected with non-Islamic practices by ordinaryMuslims.163 t was not uncommon for Muslims to glo-

J. O. Hunwick, "Religion and State in the Songhay Empire1464-1591," in Islam in TropicalAfrica, ed. I. M. Lewis (Ox-ford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1966); Murray Last, "Reform inWest Africa: The Jihad Movements of the Nineteenth Cen-tury,"in The History of WestAfrica, vol. 2, ed. J. F. A. Ajayiand Michael Crowder (Essex: Longman, 1984); Peter B.Clarke, WestAfrica and Islam (London: Edward Arnold Ltd.,1982); Hiskett, Development;and Martin.160An excellent study of the developmentof the thoughtofIbn Fudi is Brenner's. For the purposes of this paper, thethought of Ibn Fudi will be examined in its final shape, al-though it is interestingto note how his early ideological predi-cations conditioned his later work. For materialrelating to thestatus and role of education before and during the jihad, seeLouis Brenner and Murray Last, "The Role of Language inWest African Islam,"Africa 55.4 (1985): 432-46; A. D. Bivarand M. Hiskett, "The Arabic Literatureof Nigeria to 1804: AProvisionalAccount,"BSOAS 25 (1962): 104-49; andMervynHiskett, "MaterialRelating to the State of Learning among theFulani before their Jihad,"BSOAS 19 (1957): 550-78.161 On other west African movements see Last, "Reform";Martin;Clarke;and Hiskett, Development.

162 On the standardIslamic educationin west Africa priortothe jihad see Hiskett, "Material";some of the authorities fre-quently quoted by cUthmanare listed in footnote 200 below.

163 cUthmanIbnFudi, "TheWathiqatAhl al-Sudan:A Man-ifesto of the Fulani Jihad," Arabic text and translation with

rify stones and trees, offer them sacrifices, and seekthem for the fulfillment of their needs.164 Some claimedto be Muslims while they consulted magicians andsoothsayers, claimed knowledge of the hidden, madevows at the tombs of pious people, and mocked Islamand Muslims.165They neglected performance of reli-gious obligations and participated in corrupting andforbidden ceremonies.166 Corruption also crept intofamilies: men married far more than the four wives al-lowed by the law, and the first and oldest of thesewives was allowed full control of the others;'67 nheri-tance was usurped by the strongest heir among the de-scendants of the deceased,168Muslims cheated in theircommercial transactions,'69and moral laxity and deca-dence prevailed.170n short, Muslims emulated the cus-toms of unbelievers in their private and public lives.171cUthman called upon Muslims to order their lives onthe basis of Islam, and to resist the influences of theprevailing non-Islamic religious and social practices.

introductionby A. D. H. Bivar, TheJournal of African History2.2 (1961): 240; cUthmanIbn Fudi, "The Translation of theNur-Al-Albab,"Arabic text and translationwith introductionby Yusuf Wali, Kano Studies 2.1 (1980): 18; and cUthmanIbnFidi, "Sirajal-Ikhwan," n "An Islamic Tradition of Reforminthe Western Sudan from the Sixteenth to the EighteenthCen-tury,"translationof selections from Sirajal-Ikhwan,Bayan al-Bidac al-Shaytaniya,and Nasa'ih al-Umma al-Muhammadiya,by M. Hiskett, BSOAS25.3 (1962): 579.164 Ibn Fidi, "NOr,"19; and cUthman Ibn Fudi, "Unbeliefin the Western Sudan: 'Uthman dan Fodio's 'Taclim al-Ikhwan,'"ed. and trans. with an introductionby B. G. Martin,Middle Eastern Studies 4 (1976): 63.

165 Ibn Fudi, "Siraj,"579; "NOr,"20, 27-28; and cUthmanIbn Fudi, "Bayanal-Bidac al-Shaytaniya," n "An Islamic Tra-ditionof Reformin the WesternSudan from the Sixteenthto theEighteenthCentury,"by M. Hiskett,BSOAS25.3 (1962): 594.

166 Ibn Fudi, "NOr,"28-30; and 'Uthman Ibn Fudi, BayanWujubal-Hijra Caldal-'ibad, ed. and trans. F. H. El-Masri(Khartoum:KhartoumUniv. Press and Oxford Univ. Press,1978), 29.

167 Ibn Fudi, "Nur,"25; and cUthmanIbn Fudi, "Kitab al-Farq:A Work on the Habe Kingdoms Attributed to cUthmanDan Fodio," ed. and trans. with introductionby M. HiskettBSOAS23.2 (1960): 561

168Ibn Fudi, "NOr," 4; and cUthmanIbnFudi, "Nasa'ih al-Umma al-Muhammadiya,"n "An Islamic Tradition of Reformin the Western Sudan from the Sixteenth to the EighteenthCentury,"by M. Hiskett, BSOAS25.3 (1962): 587.169Ibn Fudi, "Nur,"33-34.170 Ibn Fudi, "NOr,"30; "Al-Farq,"560-61; and "Nasa'ih,"587.171 Ibn Fudi, "Al-Farq,"560, 563; and "Nasa'ih," 586.

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At this first stage, Ibn Fuidienvisioned a solution forthe problems of Muslims by modeling a society afterthe Islamic ideal. It is importantto note that despite hisemphasis on the properpractice of Islam and on reject-ing non-Islamic practices that lead to kufr, Ibn Fldi'sprimaryconcern was social. For him creed, in contrastto Ibn CAbdal-Wahhab, is not an end in itself; the endis to create the kind of Muslim defined by this creed.His concern for the community and his tolerance indealing with individual Muslims fuels the positive andconstructive articulation of notions of belief and kufr.He insists disbelief can be discerned only throughdeeds, and not through what is in the heart.172On nu-merous occasions he warns of the great danger in ac-cusing Muslims of disbelief on account of sins,173andimplies that it is definitely kufr to accuse the wholecommunity of unbelief.174 The sanctity of a Muslim'sblood and dignity is unequivocally protected by thelaw,175andjudgment about disbelief can only be madeon the basis of a transmitted tradition that is not thesubject of speculation or analogy.176He further distin-guishes between prohibited and reprehensible innova-tions. Muslims are discouraged but not prohibitedfromthe latter. Reprehensible innovations include, amongother things, planting trees and building mosques atgrave sites, and seeking intercession by praying at atomb or rubbing oneself against it,177He strongly con-demns denying the blessings (karamdt) of piouspeople, and argues that such denials are themselvesprohibited innovations.178He maintains that it is per-missible to seek these blessings by visiting the tombsof saints,179and that this permission is confirmed bythe actions of the companions of the prophet.180The religious scholars were also part of Ibn Fudi'sreform of the social disorder. It is through the spreadof education thatMuslims may recognize and apply the

172Ibn Fudi, "Nur,"21.173 bn Fidi, "Nasa'ih,"588; "Siraj," 85; and "TaClim,"54-55, 60. Headds hat hiswas thepractice f theKharijitesand MuCtazilites,and that it was forbiddenby consensus, "Na-sa'ih,"588; he alsocriticizeshis teacher ibril bn CUmarorhis excessive zeal, "Nasa3ih,"589.

174 Ibn Ffidi, "Taclim,"60.175 Ibn Fidi, "Taclim,"61.176 Ibn Fudi, "Taclim," 60. Compare this strong anti-Wahhabiposition to Gibb, 30, who speaks of strong Wahhabiinfluences on Ibn Fuidi.177 Ibn Fudi, "Bayan al-BidaC,"594. Note that Ibn CAbd l-Wahhab counts these as either prohibited sins or shirk.178Ibn Fudi, "Bayan al-BidaC,"594.179IbnFidi, "Nur," 8.180 Ibn Fiidi, "TaClim," 9.

properIslamic codes of social behavior. Well-educatedand committed scholars recognized by Muslims are es-sential to this project. Ibn Fudi sharply criticizes thoseCulamd'who seek prestige and power in their teaching,and are interested only in increasing the number oftheir students while failing to teach their wives andchildren the basic tenets of Islam.181He is also criticalof those scholars who neither study nor teach Arabic,and instead dedicate their efforts to justifying theabuses of pagan rulers.'82 Ibn Fidi evaluates scholar-ship in terms of its social functions, and opposes theestablishment of a class of elitist clerics who lack dedi-cation to communal obligations.183Ibn Fidi's initial move to institute an alternative or-der based on Islam was at least partly successful; itclearly alarmed the authorities and provoked them totake measures against the growing autonomous com-munities of Fulani Muslims.184 Rather than succumbunder pressure, Ibn Fudi led his community in a con-frontation from which he emerged victorious. The ideo-logical position of Ibn Fudi was also transformed inconjunction with changes in his political strategies.185He considered the gravest problem facing Muslims inthis new stage to be the hegemony of un-Islamic rule.To lead an Islamic life, it became apparentto him thatMuslims had to seize power. His ideas were increas-ingly influenced by the belief that social ills were ex-acerbated by the rule of unbelievers,186who forcedMuslims to abide by un-Islamic customs and laws.'87The targets of Ibn Fudi's attacks included, as before,

181 Ibn Fudi, "NOr,"23-24.182 Ibn Fudi, "Siraj,"581.183cUthman's ife itself was an example of his social com-mitment; he started his career as a traveling teacher; he alsocomposed numerous works in Fulbe in a clear attemptto makeIslamic education accessible to larger sectors of the commu-nity; Brenner and Last, 436.184 See, for example, Last, "Reform,"5; and Waldman,349.185 On thedevelopmentf IbnFudi's hought, ee Brenner;a similar analysis of this development can be found in Wald-man,349-50.

186cUthmanbnFudi,"AnEarlyFulaniConception f Is-lam," 2 parts, trans.of Tanbih al-Ikhwdnwith introductionbyH. R. Palmer, Journal of the African Society 13 (1913-14)and 14 (1914-15), part 1:414.187 Customs characterizing un-Islamic rule include: heredi-tary succession by force and without consultation;unlawfullyviolating the persons, sanctities, and properties of people; ex-torting unlawful taxes such as a cattle tax, prayertax, towns-people tax, merchant and traveller tax, and meat and cottonsales tax; taking women without marriage, and seizing theirwealth;perpetuationf corruption y the ruler's oncubines;

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unjust laws and customs that sharplycontradictIslamicnorms. What is new in this formulationis that the rulersare held responsible for the perpetuationof this corrup-tion. The status of a town, Ibn Fidi added, is the statusof its rulers,'88and it is obligatory for Muslims to leavetowns ruled by unbelievers for a land where Islam pre-vails.189A Muslim should also refrainfrom commercialexchange with these towns,190 hould not supportthemin any way against otherMuslims,191 nd if possible, heshould participate in the obligatory jihdd againstthem.'92A capable Muslim who fails to emigrate froma land of unbelief chooses to belong to that land andmust bear the consequences of his choice.'93The apparentcontradictionbetween IbnFuidi's arliertolerance and his later sweeping takflris an issue whichhe confronted and creatively resolved. Takfiron the ba-sis of the ruler is a political takfir,'94which is notequated with individual unbelief. Ibn Fuidiwrote exten-sively on the difference between the laws that apply toa genuine unbeliever in enemy territories,and a Muslimresiding therein.'95These laws addressedsuch questionsas whether it is permissible to continue fighting a re-treating Muslim as opposed to a retreatingunbeliever,and the status of the person, his family and wives, andhis wealth once captured by Muslims. It is significantthat, legally, the treatmentof Muslims guilty of politicalkufror loyalty to the unbelievers is similar to the treat-ment of Muslim criminals, and not apostates.196n fact,political takfirwas needed to justify ajihdd which cUth-

briberyin courts and to officials in order to withholdthe appli-cation of the law or to suspend the conclusion of contracts,and to circumvent the laws of God; enlisting Muslims by forceto fight in the armies of non-Muslims; and prohibiting Mus-lims from observing the requirements of their religion as inprohibitingmen from wearing turbans and women from wear-ing veils; Ibn Fudi, "Al-Farq,"560-63.188Ibn Fidi, "Wathiqat," 240; "Tanbih," 2:53-54; andBayan Wujub,12-17.189 bn Fidi, "Wathiqat," 39-40; "Tanbih,"2:54; andBayan Wujub,12-17.

190 Ibn Fudi, "Tanbih,"1:414; and Bayan Wujub,12-17.191Ibn Fudi, "Ta'lim," 53, 70, 73; and Bayan Wujib, 21-24.192Ibn Fuidi,"Wathiqat,"239; "Siraj,"584-85; and Bayan

Wujub,46-49.193Ibn Fudi, "Wathiqat,"240; "Tanbih," 1:414; "Taclim,"65; and Bayan Wujib, 18-20.194 In contrast to the credal takfir of Ibn CAbd l-Wahhab.

195Ibn Fudi, "Wathiqat,"242; "NOr,"22; "Taclim,"61, 72;and Bayan Wujib, 107-12.196For example, while the person, children, wives, andwealth of an unbeliever can be taken, the same measures can

man believed was unavoidable, and which ultimatelyserved the interests of the individual as well as society.The incorporationof tolerant and inclusive formula-tions from the first stage of his careerthroughthe ideo-logical scheme of a radically different stage clearlyindicates the seriousness with which Ibn Fuidi treatedideology, and how his early thoughts, together withthe transformed conditions of the later phase of hisstruggle, were important in shaping his later ideasabout society and politics.197The sources of Ibn Fuidi's ntellectual inspiration allbelong to the classical heritage of medieval Islam,198which he quotes extensively and uncritically. He didnot lack erudition, but unlike Wall Allah, he was notinterested in intellectual reform or revival; his empha-sis was on reviving or reformingactual Islamic society.He did not study the classics to resolve their contradic-tions, but to derive from them a model for individualand social life. He sought not to reform the content ofIslamic education, but to employ it in the reformationof the individual and society. It is not surprisingthat hedid not address questions of taqlid, ijtihad,199or thereconciliation of hadith scholarship and jurisprudence.He himself was a sufi, yet sufism was not partof his in-tellectual discourse. His few references to sufism werepartof largerdiscussions on properIslamic practice forindividuals, and had nothing to do with its intellectualmerits. He did write enough on sufism, however, to

onlybe applied o the wealthof a Muslim apturedn enemyterritory;Ibn Fudi, Bayan Wujub,107-8.

197 cUthman'sjustification for the jihad against the Bornurulers is a clear illustration of this point; after he initially ac-cused them of unbelief, a Bornu scholar initiated a correspon-dence with Sokoto and challenged CUthman'saccusations;'Uthman then withdrew his general characterizationof Bornuas a land of unbelief, and restricted it to individuals known tocommit kufr;he also added that the war against Bornu was inself-defense; after this correspondence the war between thetwo states stopped, although the political conflicts betweenthem were not yet resolved; see Ibn Fidi, "Taclim,"53.

198He quotes such names as al-Maghili, al-Tinbukti, al-Suyuti, al-Mahalli,al-Kunti,al-Qastalani,al-Sanusi,al-Shabra-khti, al-Barmini, al-Ajhiri, al-Zarqani,and Ibn Khaldun;see,for example, Ibn Fudi, "Tanbih,"2:57; "TaClim," 5-66; andBayan Wujub,passim. For a studyon the Arabic classics taughtin west Africa, see Hiskett, "Material";and Bivar and Hiskett.199He does indicate that ijtihad is one of the conditions ofthe legitimate imam; however, he adds, this requirement canbe overlooked if a qualifiedperson is not found; see Ibn Fidi,Bayan Wujub,30-31; compare with Martin,32-34, who sug-gests a much greater emphasis on ijtihad in the work ofcUthman.

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DALLAL:Origins and Objectives of Islamic Revivalist Thought

indicate that his position was radically opposed to thatof Ibn CAbd l-Wahhab.200The jihdd led by Ibn Fudi culminated in the forma-tion of a central state on the ruins of an old social and

political order. At both levels a radical transformationwas realized through the interplay of a clear programof social and political change, and an effective strategyfor the introduction and application of this program.The old, fragmented order was meant to be replacedby a model of a centralized Islamic state extractedfrom the writings of medieval Islamic political theo-rists.201Indeed, the Sokoto state established after thesuccessful conclusion of the jihad had all the charac-teristics of the ideal model; it was a state in whichpolitical power was delegated, but whose unity wasguaranteedby the diffusion of a heterogeneous body oflegal and administrative professionals.202The key tothis uniformity was education,203a strategic weaponused by Ibn Fudi, which he deployed on several levels.Through his efforts to spread literacy among his fol-lowers, Ibn Fiidi sought to forge a common social iden-tity which included and superseded the precedingfragmented identities of the region. He convincedpeople of the superiority of his program for literacy,through which he then promoted a program of socialand political change, and provided training for a team

200 Although he does not engage in any theoretical discus-sion of sufism, he does quote IbnCArabi pprovingly(IbnFudi,"Taclim," 65-66), in contrast to Ibn CAbdal-Wahhab, whoconsiders him an unbeliever.

201 See notes in Hiskett, "Islamic Tradition of Reform,"592-93.

202 On the organizationof the Sokoto state see, for example,Murray Last, The Sokoto Caliphate (London: Longmans,1967), 149, 178, 185, 226, 330-32; and Hiskett's conclusionsin his edition of Ibn Fudi, "Al-Farq,"579. On the role of thestate in introducingsocial change, see Last, "Reform,"25-29.The Islamic ethos of the city, characterizedby puritanism,lit-eracy and egalitarianism, was instrumental in effecting achange in the ruralhinterland,and in producing a central statein which the urban and the rural were unified; compare withErnest Gellner, "A Pendulum Swing Theory of Islam," ThePhilosophical Forum 2.2 (1970-71): 234-44; and ErnestGellner, "The Moslem Reformation,"The New Republic, Nov.22, 1982, pp. 25-30; Gellner's "pendulum swing theory of Is-lam" seems to locate the rural and the urbanon two oppositepoles, and allows for no possible synthesis between them.203 On the roles of scholars in the pre- and post-jihddperiods, see Last, Sokoto, 57-60, 227-29, 232; and Last,"Reform," 29; also see HumphreyJ. Fisher, "Conversion Re-considered: Some Historical Aspects of Religious Conversionin Black Africa,"Africa 43 (1973): 36-37.

of legal and administrativeprofessionals, who allowedthe new state to function in accordance with its inspir-ing ideal.204

The writings of Muhammad CAll al-Sanusi205 repre-sent yet another distinct project of revival. Sanuisiwasborn in 1787 in Mustaghanimin Algeria. He receivedhis first education in his home town and laterin Fez be-fore he went on pilgrimage to Mecca; there he met andbecame a loyal disciple of Ahmad Ibn Idris al-Fasi,founder of the Idrisiya (or Ahmadiya) order. AfterFasi's death in 1836 Sanusi founded his first zawiya onMount Abu Qubays just outside Mecca, but he had toleave it due to opposition and pressure from localgroups. In 1840 he headed back to Africa, and in theyear 1842 established his first headquarterson al-Jabalal-Akhdar, halfway between Tripoli and the Egyptianborder. From this zawiya Sanisi dispatched missionar-ies to the southern and western parts of Libya, where thepresence of Ottoman or French authorities, the strongorders of north African cities,206andthe influence of theAzharite scholars were minimal. Between the years1846 and 1853 he went on a second long pilgrimage toMecca, and soon after his return he moved his headquar-ters further south to Jaghbub, where he spent the finalyears of his life. Upon his death in 1859, tens of zdwiyaswere already established throughout Libya and else-where in Egypt, Algeria, and the Sahara. The spread ofthe Sanusiya continued under the leadership of thefounder's two sons, and was halted only by the expand-ing French power. Later the followers of the order wereactive in the resistance against the Italian occupation,and the head of the order became the firstking of Libyaafter independence.

204 This radical transformation n termsof the reorganizationof political order and social structure llustrates the revolution-ary effects that literacy had in west Africa; it is thus hard tofigure out what Goody is referring to when he speaks of the"restricted" onsequences of literacy in westernSudan(as wellas elsewhere in black Africa and the Islamic world in general!)due to the "association of the Book with magic and religion."See Jack Goody, "RestrictedLiteracy in NorthernGhana,"inLiteracy in TraditionalSocieties, ed. Jack Goody (Cambridge:CambridgeUniv. Press, 1968), 237, 241.

205 On the life of Sanusi see Nicola A. Ziadeh, Sanisiyah: AStudy of a Revivalist Movement in Islam (Leiden: E. J. Brill,1958); E. E. Evans-Pritchard,The Sanusi of Cyrenaica (Lon-don: Oxford Univ. Press, 1954); and Martin, 99-124. Theseworks deal more with the historyof the Sanusi order thanwiththe thoughtof the GrandSanusi. For some discussion of Sani-si's opinions on ijtihad see Peters.

206 Almost all the non-Sanusiya lodges mentioned byEvans-Pritchardwere urban;see Evans-Pritchard,84-97.

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Sanusi was neither an exclusive social reformernor asimple reviver of the intellectual tradition-he mixed ameasureof both in his thought.As opposed to ShahWallAllah, whose intellectualreform hadpositive butindirectimplications for the social order, Sanisi's immediatemission was to model, initiate, and structurean ideal so-ciety. Unlike IbnFuidi,he avoided conflicts with politicalauthoritiesby moving into areas of political vacuum,andunlike Ibn CAbd l-Wahhab,the central characteristicofthe religion that he preachedwas mercy (rahma).207

Early in his life, Sanuisibecame aware of the hazardsof both politics and religious zealotry. In response tothe first, he chose withdrawalover confrontation.In re-sponse to the second, however, he adopted, developed,and applied a readingof Islam which is at once authori-tative and tolerant. Zealotry, the cause of social strife,was a major ill from which he personally suffered dur-ing his formative experience in Mecca. The zealotry ofthe traditionalists, he argues, is in their claim of mo-nopoly over truth;208hat of the sufis is in their scornfor the law;209and that of the masses is in their blindimitation of fallible men.210The final manifestation ofzealotry concerns the accusation of unbelief. In whatsounds like a direct response to Wahhabism,he quotesnone other than Ibn Taymiya, who warns that the errorinvolved in sparing the life of an unbeliever is far lessthan the error of spilling the blood of an innocent Mus-lim.211A ruling of takfir, Sanisi adds, is only appli-

207Ina workonpropheticraditionanusi tartswith hetra-ditionofmercy, ndhe ustifieshiscommencing ith hishadithonthegroundhat his s theessenceof God's reation;Muham-mad CAllal-Sanusi, Al-Musalsaldt al-'Ashrafi al-Ahddith al-Nabawiya, in Al-MajmiCaal-Mukhtdra,ed. MuhammadCAbduIbnGhalbunManchester,990),8-10. Also inarguinghat e-gal analogy s not validwhenthere s a textualstatementnwhich he ssue nquestions mentioned,emaintainshat ucha text eithercontradictsheresultof theanalogy,or makesnoruling nthespecificssueunder onsideration.nthe atter asethesilencemustbe interpreteds a license,anda rulingonthebasis of analogywould be a denial of God'slicense; seeMuhammadCAlial-Sanusi, Iqaz al-Wasndnfi al-'Amal bi al-Hadith wal-Quran, in Al-MajmuCa l-Mukhtara,ed. Muham-madCAbdubnGhalbunManchester,990),89-90. This nter-pretations comparableo WallAllah'snotionof taysir.208 Muhammad CAli al-Sanusi, Al-Masa'il al-CAshr al-MusammdBughyat al-Maqdsid fi Khuldsatal-Mardsid, in Al-Majmi'a al-Mukhtara, ed. Muhammad CAbduIbn Ghalbun(Manchester,990),8.209 Sanusi, Masdail, 9.210 Sanisi, Masdail, 9-10; and Iqdz, 84, 124.211Sanusi, Iqdz, 36.

cable to someone who professes kufr, unambiguouslychooses it as a religion, and apostatizes from the reli-gion of Islam altogether.212His remarks on sufism are driven by similar con-cerns. Although he dedicates some of his work to a dis-cussion of the intellectual content of sufism,213he ismore interested in formal descriptions of sufi orders,and in defending some sufi-related notions and prac-tices. He describes the rituals of initiation and theprayer formulas of some forty sufi orders, implyingthat they are equally valid.214Unlike Wall Allah, hedoes not try to justify or reconcile the differences be-tween the various contradictory sufi concepts. Thesufis, he argues, are the friends of God who have cer-tain knowledge through direct inspiration communi-cated to their hearts. This inspirationis congruent withthe content of the law revealed to the prophet, but lestthe literalists object, he terms it inspiration,not revela-tion.215The sufis' knowledge is also limited by theQur'an and the Sunna,216and theirs is a new under-standing, not a new legal code.217He argues that it isprohibited for someone who does not know the suficonventions to read their books.218In addition to hisdefense of the legality of sufi practice, Sanusi defendsthe social status accorded to sufi masters, and contraryto Wahhabism,he confirmsthe validity of the notion ofintercession by asserting that Muhammad was the firstintercessor.219 n his writings, Sanusi is not concernedwith intellectual sufism, and instead concentrates onthe formal task of legitimizing sufi practice againstWahhabi-like zealots,220and on the organizational as-pects which formed the backbone of the Sanusiya en-terprise.221 ufi knowledge is construed not in terms of

212 Sanisi, Iqdz, 37.213 Sanusi, Masd'il, 274ff.; and Iqdz, 129-35.214 Muhammad CAlial-Sanusi, Al-Salsabil al-MuCin i al-

Tardaiqal-ArbaCin,n Al-MajmiCaal-Mukhtira, ed. Muham-madCAbdubnGhalbunManchester,990).215 Sanisi, Iqdz, 129.216 Sanusi, Iqdz, 130-31.217Sanisi, Iqdz, 134-35.218 Sanisi, Masdiil, 274.219 Sanusi, Masa'il, 273; Iqdz, 20, 129; and Salsabil, 18.220 Statementson Sanusi's affinityto, or at least normalizedfeelingstoward,Wahhabismompletely gnorethe clearop-positionbetween hemon issues of takfirandsufism; omparewithMartin, 9, 103.221 On the highly regimentedocial order n the Sanusiyanetworkof lodges see Evans-Pritchard,9ff.; and Ziadeh,106-23.

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discussions of the substance of the sufi experience, butas systematically rationalized conduct.222In arguing against it, Sanusi meant to rescue all thevictims of zealotry resultingfrom taqlid. He was carefulnot to create new victims of either the founders of theimitatedschools, or the authoritative exts of Islam. Theultimate authority is vested in the texts of the Qur'anand the hadith, and it is the obligation of every Muslimto try to extract the scriptural commands.223Hadithhence becomes the best of all disciplines and the realbasis of jurisprudence;224n the event that a traditionopposes the ruling of a school, one should always sidewith the tradition,225 nd neither ijtihdd nor legal anal-ogy are valid when there is a text.226 n fact, Sanusi ar-gues, every generation should revisit the rulings ofearlier legal schools, and evaluate these rulings againstthe bodies of hadith literatureknown to them.227The founders of the four schools are also redeemedin Sanusi's analysis. It is prohibited to claim that oneof the recognized imams would intentionally contradicta sound tradition, or that he would make lawful whatGod prohibited and prohibit what God made lawful.228According to Sanusi, it is impossible for anyone toknow the whole of the hadith corpus;229when contra-dicting a hadith the imam must have the excuse of notknowing it, rejecting it on the basis of its weakness, orthe like.230Whatever the reason, however, an errorwhich results from an imam's ijtihad is not a sin, and isdeserving of God's reward.231 anisi goes even as faras to state that imams are not infallible and it is not un-thinkable that they may sin,232but even then we shouldwish them well on account of all the good work theyhave done.233

There is no argumentover the rankof the great mas-ters of the law; there is an argument, however, with222Note that heWeberian haracterizationf mysticknowl-

edgeasuncommunicableoes notapply o thiskindof knowl-edge.223Sanusi, Iqaz,116.224Sanusi, Masa'il, 112-29; and Iqaz, 19, 57, 117.225 Sanusi, Masa'il, 12; and Iqdz, 55-56.226Sanisi, Iqaz, 76-78, 89-90.227 Muhammad CAli al-Sanusi, Shifad al-Sadr bi Ari al-Masa'il al-'Ashr, in Al-MajmaCa l-Mukhtara,ed. Muhammad'Abdu Ibn Ghalbun(Manchester, 1990), 21.228Sanusi, Iqaz, 12, 20.229 Sanusi, Iqaz, 15.230 Sanusi, Masd'il, 9-11; and Iqdz, 12-13, 19.231 Sanusi, Masa'il, 36; and Iqdz, 20.232 Sanusi, Masadil, 13; and Iqaz, 22.233 Sanuisi,Masdail, 13; and Iqdz, 22.

anyone who follows an opinion against an establishedhadith. So w

A Dallal _The Origins and Objectives of Islamic Revivalist Thought 1750 1850

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