Shah Wali Allah al-Dihlawi

Qutb al-Din Ahmad ibn Abd al-Rahim al-Faruqi al-Dihlawi, known as Shah Wali Allah, was the foremost Islamic scholar of the Indian subcontinent. He studied in Madinah under the hadith master Abu Tahir al-Kurdi. He wrote Hujjat Allah al-Balighah (The Conclusive Argument from God), a landmark work explaining the rational and spiritual wisdom behind Islamic rulings and seeking to reconcile the four madhabs through hadith methodology. He also translated the Quran into Persian (Fath al-Rahman) and Urdu (Fathu al-Aziz). He revived Islamic scholarship in India and his school influenced all later Indian Islamic movements. He died in Delhi in 1176 AH.