Life of Shah Wali Allah

Preface

Ahmad b. 'Abdur Rahim, Popularly known as Wali Allah, was born in A. D. 1702 in a small village named Pulth in the Muzaffarnagar district, United Provinces (India), and died in Delhi in A. D. 1763. A research on his teachings under the title Teachings a/Shah Wali Allah by the present author has already been published in the Sindhi, Urdu and English languages.

The late Dr. S.M. Ikram who had founded the Shah Wali Allah Academy had once earnestly requested the present writer in one of the Academy's meetings for the preparation of a book on the life of Shah Wali Allah. Shaikh Muhammad Ashraf, the present publisher, had also made repeated requests to this author for the same work when the research mentioned above was in his press for publication. The author, however, had politely declined to undertake that work at that time. Now when he has become free from translating some important works of Shah Wali Allah into the Sindhi and English languages, he himself felt the necessity of writing on the life of Shah Wali Allah.

The present work is also a research in which the information given about his life is mainly gathered from his writings. What chiefly characterises it is the collection of data in relation to the dates of some of his compositions. This research was first prepared in the Sindhi language and published by the Shah Wali Allah Academy, Hyderabad, in 1973. It is hoped its English version with a few additions will largely meet the requirements of the readers in this direction.

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