Screening Ṣiddīq Ḥasan Khān’s Library 201
ar al-Nawawī, Shāh Walī Allāh developed four stages of the rank of
mujtahidūn.^125 In contrast to Shāh Walī Allāh, scholars of the Ahl-i
Ḥadīth considered the ijtihād fī al-madhhab to be a form of taqlīd and
not acceptable. Following al-Shawkānī, they propagated the ijtihād
for the layman. Although the Ahl-i Ḥadīth divergated in some points
from the scholars mentioned above, they still consider them as their
forefathers or first adherents.
The reception of the writings of al-Shawkānī meant a shift in the
curricula of Indian Muslims. In India, works from the Yemenite tra-
dition were not considered important before the late 19th century.
Al-Shawkānī’s insistence on ijtihād clearly challenged the dominant
Ḥanafī concept of authority in interpreting the sources of law. Thus,
the topic became also relevant for patronage by Muslim rulers. The
question of following schools of law grew in significance during the
disputes about the origins of the Ahl-i Ḥadīth. In 1881 and later in
1884/1885, Ṣiddīq Ḥasan was accused of being a staunch Wahhabi who
wanted to instigate a jihad against the British in India and beyond.
He was deprived of all his titles and personal influence, because the
power of members of the Ahl-i Ḥadīth in the state administration
was clearly restricted. When all these accusations against him became
known to the public (even in London), Ṣiddīq Ḥasan Khān wrote a
book titled Tarjumān al-wahhābiyya (Interpreter of the Wahhabiyya),
in which he explained the history of the word Wahhabi in India. He
further denied being a Wahhabi, because the Wahhabis “followed the
school of Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, whereas the Ahl-i Ḥadīth did not practice
taqlīd”.^126 Although Ibn Taymiyya is often regarded as a muqallid of
the Ḥanbalī school of law, Ṣiddīq Ḥasan clearly states that he regards
him as a renewer of the faith (mujaddid) and an “absolute mujtahid”
125 Shāh Walī Allāh listed the “independent absolute mujtahid” (mujtahid muṭlaq
mustaqill). This rank was only to be given to the founders of the schools of
law. After them the “affiliated absolute mujtahid “ (mujtahid muṭlaq munta-
sib) and the mujtahid al-fatwā followed. According to Shāh Walī Allāh, those
mujtahids are able to issue a fatwa, because they know the important texts of
their own schools of law. For al-Nawawī see Calder, Norman: Al-Nawawi’s
Typology of muftīs and its Significance for a General Theory of Islamic Law,
in: Islamic Law and Society 3 (1996), pp. 137–164. For the debates between
the Ahl-i Ḥadīth and their opponents on this subject see Preckel, Islamische
Bildungsnetzwerke, pp. 327–342.
126 Ṣiddīq Ḥasan stated that Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Wahhāb himself was a
muqallid of Ibn Taymiyya. See Ṣiddīq Ḥasan Khān, Muḥammad: Tarjumān
al-Wahhābiyya, Benares 1898, pp. 29–30.
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