Shah Waliyullah Dihlavi: Aspirations and Tensions of Islamic Cosmopolitanism

South Asia’s most reputable and influential scholar of Islam Shah Waliyullah Dihlavi (1703–1762) was a highly renowned and influential scholar of Islam who produced foundational works on the Qur’an, Islamic law and jurisprudence, Sufism, philosophy, and politics. He sought to reconcile seemingly competing strands of Muslim intellectual thought and practice, pursuing a cosmopolitan Islam marked not by dogmatism and finality but by debate and hermeneutical flexibility. Yet it is precisely in his attempt to forge such a vision that some of the most profound tensions and ambiguities of his thought were enshrined. In this detailed yet accessible study of his life and scholarship, set in the context of India on the eve of British colonisation, SherAli Tareen examines critical facets of Shah Waliyullah’s intellectual career and explores his contested legacy in South Asia and beyond.