Shah Waliullah was born on 21 February 1703, during the reign of Emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir.His real name was Qutub-ud-Din, but later he became to be known as Shah Waliullah because of his piety.His father was Shah Abdul Rahim, who founded the Madrassa e Rahimiya in Delhi. When his father died in 1730, Shah Waliullah took over the leadership of the madrassa. In 1724, Shah Waliullah went to Arabia to Perform Hajj and to furthwer his studies.He studied under the famous scholar Sheikh Abu Tahir bin Ibrahim, before returning to Delhi in 1732.
During his time in Arabia, Shah Waliullah thought deeply about the problems faced by Muslims in the Mughal Empire. The empire was in decline and Muslims were disunited and vulnerable to attacks on their religion. Shah Waliullah realised that reform could not come from the weak leadership in Delhi and that it had to come from within the Muslim Community itself.. He believed that many of the problems of the Muslims resultedfrom their incomplete knowledge of Holy Quran and Islam in genera-and it was necessary that Quranic teachings become more accessible to the people. All political, social and economic behaviour should be based on Islamic principles. Shah Waliullah wanted Muslims to concentratte on fundamental principles of Islam, believing that this would create more united community. It was essential to follow the moral and spiritual princiles of Islam in order tocreate a good society. UnIslamic princiles were not acceptable in any area of society , weather politics,economics or just the day to day lives of individual Muslims.
Shah Wliullah worked hard to ensure that he was the role model for other Muslims. His deep understamding with Quran,Hadith, fiqh and Tasawuf made him the highly knowledgeable scholar at an early age.Since He belived that an emphasis on Quranic teachings was vitaal for Muslims, he translated Holy Quran into Persian Language. Few Muslims spoke Arabic and so the Holy Quran had not been studied previously. Now it could be understood by a larger number of Muslims. The ulamas critisised his works ,but his work proved very popular. Lter two of his sons ,Shah Abdul Qadir and Shah Rafi translated Holy Quran into Urdu language, which meant that many more people could study it. In addition, Shah Waliullah wrote 51 books in Persian and Arabic. Amongst his famous books were "Tajrid al-Quran" and "Al-Hudna fi al-Iman" and many others. His writings brought him great fame and prestige and unabled him to influence in other areas too. For example , in economics he emphasised the need for social justice and for peasants and craftsmen to be truly valued for their contributions to the economy. One of Shah Waliullah's most important contributions to the Muslim's community was his organisationof opposition to the Marathas, who were constantly a source of threat for the Mughal Empire. He realised that Muslims had to unite to deal with this threat , and that of the Sikhs who were attackinf from the north. Shah Waliullah wrote to all Muslim nobles calling them to join to save the Mughal Empire. It was partly his influence which helped to persuade Ahmad Shah Abdali to intervene. He joined local Muslim leaders and defeated Marathas at the battle of Pnipat in 1761. However despite the encouragement from Shah Waliullah, the Muslim leaders did not unite to take advantage of the defeat of Marathas at the battle of Panipat.