Zubair Muhammad

A majority of scholars criticize British Indian Courts for making Islamic law rigid and stagnant by relying only on the translations of selected classical legal texts and operating under the doctrine of precedent. This paper challenges that view. It argues that Anglo-Muhammadan law responded to social change by providing a venue for discourse to various classes of society. Judges, lawyers, legal commentators, ulema and politicians played an active role in the making and functioning of the legal system, despite holding divergent views. This paper focuses on the historical legal process by which shares and securities, along with similar types of incorporeal property, became a valid subject matter of waqf. As shares and securities were a new type of property under Islamic law, judges initially refused, on the basis of classical legal texts, to accept them as a valid subject matter of waqf. However, Muslim legal commentators supported such waqf, arguing that Islamic law accommodates social change. This view prevailed in the end, but the legal controversy around it stretched over three quarters of a century. By examining this historical legal process, this paper provides insights into the making of Anglo-Muhammadan law and identifies the contribution of various actors to its formation and development.

History in this age needs to record and analyze the events in the light of modern concept of contemporary world. When the historians narrate the brutal condition of Indo-Pak history, they never forget the work and services of Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi to transform the society according to the current values. For his services, he is hailed as Mujaddid Alf-I-Thani. The Muslim society had degenerated when Mujaddid Alf-I-Thani appeared on the horizon. A number of Hindu customs and practices had become the part of their creed. The commandments of Shariat and Sunnah were being floated. Moreover, the Mughal emperor Akbar had adopted controversial policies detrimental to the very existence of Muslim society. Mujaddid Alf -Thani made strenuous and constant efforts to turn the tide. When Mujadded-Alf-Thani started his social reform movement, he found that the Muslim society was embracing un-Islamic practices such as widespread belief in Karamat had developed under the influence of Hindu thinking. Moreover, the Islamic teachings had been vitiated by adopting customs and practices of other religions such as inter marriages between Hindus and Muslims and ban on cow slaughter etc. Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi never entered into any political conflict directly. He endeavored to restore pure doctrine to Islamic thought and to compel the Muslims to follow Shariat and Sunnah in letter and spirit. He was a social reformer, great Alim, Sufi and Mujaddid. He initiated a process of social change, inspired by Islamic Ideal, in an age, which was becoming secular. This research paper is an attempt to mention the role of Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi for saving the society from un-Islamic values and customs in the sub-continent and its impact on society. By utilizing the historical method, this paper aims at analyzing the effect of social reforms of Shaykh Ahmed Sirhindi on Muslim society.