Analysis and Evaluation of the Thoughts of Shah Waliullah Dehlavi on the Prophethood of the Prophet (S)

Shah Waliullah Dehlavi is one of the most important Sunni thinkers in India in the recent centuries who has had a great impact on later schools of thought by raising controversial issues on various doctrinal topics, especially in the field of prophethood of the Prophet (S). For the first time, he considered the Quranic revelation to the Prophet (S) to be a dream, while neither it was compatible with any of the historical and interpretive propositions nor the Prophet (S) or his Companions had claimed that Quranic revelation was a dream. Regarding the Prophet's appointment to prophetic mission, there are two types of invitations: a mission to Bani Ismail and a mission to the whole world, while the scholars believe in the secret invitation and then the invitation of relatives and finally the public invitation. As for the Prophet's knowledge, Dehlavi is one of those who believed in the distinction between worldly affairs and religious and otherworldly affairs in prophetic behavior and hadith. Moreover, he believed in the oversights of the Prophet (S), which has many drawbacks. In the end, Dehlavi, based on weak narrations, believed in the ijtihad (reasoning) of the Prophet (S) and considered it permissible in place of revelation, while this claim requires distrust of the Prophet's words, and contradicts the explicit verses of the Quran.