The Need for an Additional Qualification

TAQLID AND IJTIHAD fewer than 1,500. However, within two years of peaceful conditions, their numbers grew to 10,000. This remarkable increase in strength, achieved without a single battle, enabled Muslims to gain dominance through their sheer numerical presence. A similar event occurred in the 13th century when the Mongols, a warlike and militarily powerful force, invaded the Muslim world. Their campaigns devastated Muslim cities from Samarkand to Aleppo and brought an end to the Abbasid Caliphate. The severity of the situation was such that Muslims would say, “If you hear that the Tartars have been defeated, do not believe it” (Al-Kamil fi at-Tarikh by Ibn al-Athir al-Jazari, vol. 10, p. 353). This was the external reality. However, beneath the surface lay another truth: while the Mongols wielded military might, they lacked a cohesive ideology or worldview. Through their interactions with Muslims, the Mongols were exposed to the ideology of Islam. Unable to counter its intellectual and spiritual appeal, many of them accepted the teachings of Islam. This significant development was aptly summarized by the Orientalist Philip K. Hitti: “The religion of the Muslims had conquered where their arms had failed” (History of the Arabs, P. K. Hitti, 1989, p. 488). Consider a later period. The first clear example in this context is that of Shah Waliullah Dehlawi. During his time, the Mughal Empire in India had weakened and appeared to be on the verge of collapse. Shah Waliullah dedicated