Universal Social Culture An Empirico-Revelational Paradigm of Shah Wali Allah

Abstract

Shah Wali Allah's (1703-63) ideas and profound intellectual legacy
continue to atrract scholastic interest. Despite many works on his legacy,
significant facets remain unknown. As his futuristic ideas hold great promise
for modem and future Islamic thought, his works should be analyzed.
We will focus on one such idea: his synthesis of reason, revelation,
and empiricism. Building on evidence from an inductive survey of social
phenomena to support the claims of revelation and staying within the
doctrinal framework of revealed guidance, he constructs a universal social
cultute paradigm and says that all Qur'anic injunctions and instructions
of the Prophet are compatible with the demands of human nature.
His view of the individual and human society is an integral facet of
his philosophy of life and is one of the most original parts of his legacy.
He sees life as a display of the grand divine scheme in natural order and
Social organization. Although his exposition of humanity's social development
seems to be in the nature of a humanist and sometimes assumes the
form of an empirical survey, his final conclusions confirm the fundamental
postulates of religion. Some modem exponents of his social doctrines
suggest that his ideas are not original and say that he might have
taken them from Ibn Sin$ or Ibn Khaldiin. However, a totalist view of
his framework of thought shows that this is an unwamted assertion ...