Humanity in a New Age

Shah Waliullah of Delhi instead sought refuge in the Muslim world. And then, the intellectual revolution that Islam had ushered in would have witnessed its continuation in the Muslim world instead of in Europe. And then, just as the credit for the beginning of the modern scientific age goes to Islam, the credit for the culmination of that age would have accrued to Islam as well. Needless to say, if that had happened, human history would have taken a course very different from what it did. SHAH WALIULLAH OF DELHI It is sufficient to follow past precedents or traditional thinking when one engages in the work of preservation. However, to engage in intellectual leadership, one must possess a deeper understanding of the times and the capacity to engage in ijtihad, creative interpretation of Islamic sources and their application in changed circumstances. A nother phase in the role of the Ulama is symbolized by the figure of the well-known Shah Waliullah of Delhi (1703-1762). Undoubtedly, Shah Waliullah did some valuable work—for instance, translating the Quran into Persian, establishing the Madrasa Rahimiya