Screening Ṣiddīq Ḥasan Khān’s Library 193
al-Shawkānī either in his personal network or in his chain of transmis-
sion. It was not sufficient for him to be “the pupil of al-Shawkānī’s
pupils”, he also wanted a direct link to al-Shawkānī.
6. Topical Influences by Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn al-Qayyim
Searching for strictly Ḥanbalī writings in Ṣiddīq Ḥasan’s library of
more than 600 works, we can identify at least 28 monographs, mainly
those by Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn al-Qayyim. It has been shown how
Ṣiddīq Ḥasan’s personal networks – including his educational ones –
have had a significant influence on the Indian reception of Ibn Taymi-
yya’s oeuvre. The following topical influences of Ibn Taymiyya and
Ibn al-Qayyim on Ṣiddīq Ḥasan Khān are the most important: (i) Sun-
ni creed in theology, (ii) insistence on ijtihād and rejection of taqlīd,
(iii) critique of instant divorce, (iv) un-Islamic novelties and apocalyp-
tic fear, (v) critique of polytheism, (vi) the veneration of graves.
6.1. Sunni Creed in TheologyAll in all, 17 students from what is today Saudi Arabia – most of them
from the central highland region of Najd – are reported to have studied
from the late 1870s to 1900 with Indian Ahl-i Ḥadīth scholars, mainly
in Delhi, Bombay and Bhopal. Not until the 1920s were discussions
about the legitimacy of studies in foreign countries begun. Wahhabi
scholars issued several fatwas claiming that it was not permissible to
study “in the lands of the polytheists” (mushrikūn).^99 Interestingly in
this context, the Wahhabis regarded primarily the Ottoman lands as a
place of the mushrikūn – and not India, where the Muslims had only a
minority status. With the beginning of Saudi Arabia as a nation state,
the Wahhabiyya also had the resources to set up new universities, print-
ing presses and possibilities to finance education. Since then, Indian
students have been travelling to Saudi Arabia. Ahl-i Ḥadīth members
used to study at the Islamic University in Medina. Whereas at the end
of the 19th century, the Indians could exert considerable influence on
the Najdīs, it is the other way round today. Since the 1930s, the Ahl-
i Ḥadīth, although still against taqlīd and adherence to only a single
99 Steinberg, Religion und Staat, pp. 163–165 et passim.
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