Shibli's Ideology

Shibli’s genius had its flowering in Aligarh University when he came into contact with Sir Syed Ahmed and British scholars. Both Shibli and Sir Syed Ahmed wished for the welfare of Muslims, and wanted to have Western thinking and style come along with it. However, Sir Syed wanted to save the Muslims from the wrath of the British rulers after their active participation in the War of Independence, called the "Sepoy Mutiny" by the British colonialist rulers, whereas, Shibli wanted to make them self-reliant and self-respecting by regaining their lost heritage and tradition.
Shibli was a staunch supporter of Pan-Islamism. He wrote poems and articles decrying the British and other Western powers when Turkey was defeated in the Balkan Warsand he urged the world Muslims to unite. In 1913, when the British Administration in India stormed the Kanpur Mosque, Shibli condemned them.

Casteism

Maulana Shibli Nomani – whose ancestor converted from Hindu Rajput into Islam - also had casteist mindset. Mr. S.M. Ikram writes that he humiliated his own step mother calling her names like “chhawni / arbabe chhawni” (It is a camp like army camp where Nawab used to live outside the house) because she was from low caste. Syed Sulaiman Nadvi also mentioned the same thing, but he also says that in the last Maulana Shibli asked for forgiveness from her mother and she forgave him.^[3]