Humanity in a New Age

defeated the Marathas, formidable enemies of the Mughals, at Panipat in 1761. However, if one looks at this development from the proper perspective, rather than being an outstanding achievement of Shah Waliullah, it reflects a lack of foresight and clarity of thought on his part. Shah Waliullah could have made a much better contribution had he studied the celebrated Muqaddimah of the noted Muslim scholar Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406). In it, Ibn Khaldun has perceptively noted that every Sultanate survives only for a limited period, just like an individual (p. 170) and that when it grows old, it cannot stand up again (p. 293). Had Shah Waliullah been cognizant of this law, he would have known that the task before him was not to seek to protect the pillars of the tottering Mughal Empire that had, as it were almost wholly gnawed away by termites and that, in line with the laws of Nature, were bound sooner or later to collapse. Instead, he would have known that he needed to turn to understand the prevailing conditions and, accordingly, help the Muslim ummah to chart a new course in its history.