Shah Waliullah Dehlawi رحمة الله عليه was famous scholar 250+ years ago, considered reviver of faith of his time. Usually chain of narration for hadith in the subcontinent is through Shah Waliullah.
Religious scholars of his time were pre-occupied with subjects that were of little consequence, didn’t oppose the practice of masses so they wouldn’t face disapproval from people. However, Shah pondered over social conditions of the Muslims of his day, extensively pointed out the evils. Few Examples from Tafhimat-i-llahiya and Wasiyat Nama by Shah Waliullah:
(1) One of cruel customs prevalent among Hindus is when husband of any woman dies, they do not allow her to re-marry. Muslims have been influenced by this. But early Muslims were never given to such practice, either before or after the advent of Prophet
.
Allah will bestow His grace on the man who may succeed in eradicating this evil practice followed by the people. Per saying of Prophet
(Riyad as-Salihin 184):
-If one is not able to put an end among the people at large,
-one should atleast try to restore practice of remarriage first in his own family and clan, and
-if this is also not possible, one should regard it as a evil practice and hate it in one’s heart. For this is the lowest stage of rejecting anything not approved by Islam.
(2) Another unseemly practice followed is to have an unusually large amount of dowry for the woman. Following Prophet
practice we can succeed in this world and the next. Despite his wives being best in humanity, he used to fix a dower amounting to twelve and half awqiyah which was equivalent to five hundred dirhams.
(3) Yet another improper practice adopted by us is to be extravagant on joyous occasions and traditional celebrations. Prophet
is reported to have approved of celebrations with food on occasions of marriage and Aqiqa (on birth of a baby). We ought to follow his example and desist from other festivities and should not be lavish in our celebrations. 