Islamic Revival in British India: Deoband, 1860-1900
... The British Empire, for instance, took a pragmatic approach to religion in India, Africa, and the Middle East, using indirect rule to incorporate local religious elites into governance. The British patronized Hindu and Muslim leaders in India, maintained the influence of Islamic authorities in Nigeria and Sudan, and supported Christian communities in Egypt and Palestine, ensuring loyalty while suppressing radical religious movements that threatened colonial authority (Metcalf 1995;Makdisi 2000). ...
... In the Islamic world, colonial powers also manipulated religious movements to maintain control. The British cultivated alliances with conservative Islamic groups in India and Sudan, selectively supporting certain religious leaders to prevent radical anti-colonial mobilization (Metcalf 1995). ...
... Similarly, religious institutions were sometimes co-opted into colonial governance. The British alliance with Islamic institutions in Sudan and Nigeria, for example, allowed them to control local populations through existing religious leadership structures while restricting radical reformist movements (Metcalf 1995). In French Algeria, colonial authorities strategically integrated Islamic legal institutions into governance while simultaneously undermining their autonomy, ensuring religious mobility served state control rather than indigenous agency (Robinson 2000). ...
The expansion of empires and colonial rule significantly shaped the movement of religious communities, practices, and institutions across borders. This article examines the intersections of empire, colonialism, and religious mobility with a view to exploring how colonial administrations facilitated, restricted, or co-opted religious movements for governance and control. Religious actors—such as missionaries, clerics, traders, and diasporic communities—played roles in transnational exchanges, carrying faith traditions across imperial networks while simultaneously influencing local spiritual landscapes. The study situates religious mobility within the broader framework of colonial power structures and analyzes how missionary enterprises, religious conversions, and state-sponsored religious policies were used to consolidate imperial control. It also considers how indigenous religious movements navigated, resisted, or transformed under colonial rule. The case studies include Christian missionary networks in British and French colonies, the movement of Islamic scholars across the Ottoman and Mughal empires, and the role of Buddhism in colonial southeast Asia. These examples highlight the role of religion not just as a tool of empire but as a vehicle for indigenous agency, resistance, and syncretic transformation. This article explores the transnational mobility of religious artifacts, sacred texts, and pilgrimage networks, demonstrating how colonial expansion altered religious landscapes beyond political boundaries. The study critically engages with postcolonial perspectives to interrogate how colonial legacies continue to shape contemporary religious diasporas and global faith-based movements.
... Literature on the Ulama's political and religious activity occur in articles on their role during British colonizing. Metcalf (Metcalf, 2014) emphasizes the ulama's essential participation in organizations like the Deobandi movement, which tried to protect Islamic education and traditions against colonial attack. Robinson (2003) focuses at the larger Islamic rebirth in South Asia as well as the tactics Muslim academics used to question British rule. ...
... The Deobandi movement (founded in 1866) was a significant attempt to preserve Islamic knowledge by means of madrassas therefore improving traditional Islamic education. This movement aimed to protect Muslims against Christian missionary activities and Western influences (Metcalf, 2014). Similarly, the Aligarh Movement established in 1875 focused on modern, English-based education to allow Muslims compete in the colonial government while maintaining their Islamic identity. ...
... Though its principal goal fell short, it increased political awareness among Indian Muslims and increased their participation in anti-colonial movements (Robinson, 2005). Many ulama also supported Gandhi's non-cooperative campaign meant for a boycott of British establishments (Metcalf, 2014). ...
Contemporary ulama often face challenges in uniting diverse Muslim communities around shared goals. This paper seeks to identify the strategic lessons from the past that can enhance the effectiveness of current movements led by ulama. This paper proposes a strategic model for contemporary ulama’ movements and political engagement, drawing on historical lessons from the contributions of ulama during British colonization. By analyzing their mobilization strategies, community engagement, and political activism, this study aims to identify effective approaches for current ulama to address contemporary challenges while promoting unity within the Muslim community. The historical context of British colonization in India serves as a critical backdrop for understanding the role of ulama in shaping Muslim identity and political involvement. This paper examines how the ulama effectively organized communities, advocated for rights, and resisted colonial oppression, providing valuable insights for today’s ulama engaged in similar movements and political activities.
... If the student's reading is satisfactory according to the teacher's assessment, the student will then be given an ijāza (license to teach) testifying to their accomplishments (Witkam, 2012). A student's knowledge was evaluated based on the number of certificates he obtained as well as the scholars he received them from (Eickelman, 1978;Makdisi, 1983;Metcalf, 2014). The ijāza system is a traditional Islamic learning method of granting license to others to teach their work and serving as a witness to the student's scholarship. ...
Sebagai bidang penelitian yang berkembang, arah penelitian internet dan keagamaan menunjukkan perkembangan yang dinamis. Pada tahap awal perkembangannya, studi agama digital berfokus pada bagaimana agama memperkenalkan praktik online dengan mempertimbangkan keuntungan dan kerugian internet (Brasher 2001, Zaleski 1997), sebelum mengeksplorasi bagaimana agama diadaptasi dalam praktik online (Bunt 2003, 2010), juga sebagai fenomena yang muncul dari agama siber dan agama digital (Campbell 2005a, 2005b, 2007; Cloete 2016; Helland 2005). Beberapa peneliti telah menggunakan sejumlah pendekatan teoritis untuk studi agama digital, termasuk mediasi (Hoover 2006; Martin-Barbero 1993) dan mediatisasi (Giorgi 2019; Hjarvard 2011a, 2011b; Loveheim 2008). Secara umum, agama digital telah menarik perhatian sejak studi O'Leary tentang bagaimana internet berfungsi sebagai ruang sakral (O’Leary 1996). Campbell bahkan mengusulkan agama sebagai mikrokosmos baru dalam studi internet (Campbell 2012).
... Critical dialogues were a regular feature of public places, courts, and salons. Metcalf ([1892] 2014, 65) notes that "not only the royal family, but courtiers, poets, and gentlemen all took part in the religious debates of the time. When the poet Ghalib (1796-1869) arrived in the capital in 1810 he found 'the radical reforming trend' of Shah Waliyu'llah raging (Russell and Islam 1969, 30)" all over the place. ...
... Language in Islamic Economics is instrumental in constructing a unique identity for its practitioners and adherents. As Metcalf (2009) in "Islamic Revival in British India: Deoband, 1860-1900" notes, the use of specific Islamic economic terminology helps in creating a sense of belonging and identity among Muslims. This linguistic identity is crucial in differentiating Islamic Economics from conventional economic systems. ...
The current interdisciplinary research explores the intersection of linguistics and Islamic economics, focusing on how language constructs and reflects the unique identity of the economic system. The study aims to bridge the gap between the two disciplines by analyzing the linguistic features of Islamic economic texts, including specialized terminology, narrative structures, scriptural references, and ethical discourse. The research employs a comparative approach, contrasting the linguistic aspects of Islamic economics with those of conventional economic systems to highlight the distinct identity and ethical underpinnings of the former. Key findings indicate that language in Islamic economics plays a crucial role in integrating economic practices with Islamic religious and ethical principles. The study has implications for both academic research and practical application and highlights future directions. The study concludes that a comprehensive approach, integrating linguistic insights with economic and religious principles, can significantly contribute to the development and global understanding of Islamic economics.
... Emphasizing the conflicts within the Islamic identity, Jaffrelot investigation highlights the problems Pakistan has had in harmonizing multiple religious narratives within its national framework. An American scholar of Indian history Barbara D. Metcalf in her academic contribution "Islamic Revival in British India: Deobandi, 1860-1900" recounts the origins of Islamic revivalist movements in the pivotal period (Metcalf, 2014). The book provides insights into the reformist and puritanical aspects of Islamic thought that influenced the development of a distinct ideological foundation during this period. ...
Pakistan, a country founded on religious character, faces the complexity of relationship amidst religious, ethnic, and secular descriptions in shaping its national identity. This article explores the multiple factors of identity encompassing religious, ethnic, and secular characters of integration within the Pakistani context. Applying a multidisciplinary approach, the study analysed the complex tapestry of religious, compound ethnic, complications of secular identities in combine with historical, sociological, and political perspectives of magnitude of cohesive identity of Pakistan. Unveiling the relationship between religion, ethnicity, and secularism through scientific investigation and theoretical exploration, the research identifies key factors influencing the integration process, including historical legacies, ideologies, and socio-cultural dynamics. By examining diverse characteristics of the multicultural societies of Pakistan, the research offered better understandings of complexities surrounding construction of Pakistan's national identity.
... For example, studies in the United States have consistently found positive civic effects in Catholic and private schools compared to public schools (Campbell, 2001;Wolf, 2007), and these issues may depend largely on context and the fragility or stability of democratic institutions (Heyneman & Todoric-Bebic, 2000). Other research notes potential concerns about traditional forms of religious schools that prioritize religious instruction over secular academic curricula (e.g., Q'ranic schools in Africa (Boutin, 2019;Carr, 2012), the Madrasas of Southeast Asia (Hefner & Zaman, 2010;Metcalf, 1982), and the Yeshiva schools in New York (Bedrick et al., 2020). ...
... I contemporanei e connazionali attribuivano allo studioso un grande carisma personale e una notevole capacità mnemonica. Di là dall'aneddotica pratica, l'opera di Ahmad riscosse in India e in particolar modo nel Punjab un ampio successo perché forniva una copiosa letteratura apologetica a sostegno degli indiani che erano rimasti uniti nella fede islamica 16 . Alla fine dell'Ottocento, i missionari cristiani avevano una posizione di indiscutibile vantaggio, perché professavano la stessa fede degli amministratori coloniali, spesso condividendone anche i territori di provenienza. ...
Preliminary remarks on the Palestinian legal system to the test of the relation between law and religions ABSTRACT: The aim of this essay is to shape a very first physiognomy of the political and religious Palestinian system. While international current events seem to concentrate especially on the hypotheses of formal State recognition for the Palestinian territories, a different approach to the study of that legal order and the associative forms that make it distinctive might improve the knowledge of the ongoing claims and the petitions for pacification. The analytical purpose consists in underlining a general framework much more articulate and diversified: not a vague, monolithic, block, but an everyday changing combination of interests and belongings never disregarding the relationships between law and religion. SOMMARIO: 1. Una premessa sui contenuti dell’analisi: la necessità di un approccio differente dalle contingenze politiche - 2. Demografia religiosa e pluralità sostanziale in un territorio controverso - 3. Rappresentanza e movimenti sociali: un quadro in divenire - 4. Possibili considerazioni conclusive: la riemersione della statualità e l’attualità delle proposte di autonomia nel dibattito interno e internazionale
Strategic Culture of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a compelling and well researched exploration of Pakistan’s strategic mindset which offers insight into the country’s nuclear posture, military traditions, and geopolitical imperatives. In a time when South Asia remains a focal point of international security concerns, this book provides an in-depth analysis of how Pakistan perceives external threats and formulates its defence policies. One of the book’s key strengths lies in its structured approach which unfolds the evolution of Pakistan’s strategic culture. The author ensures that readers—whether scholars, policymakers, or general enthusiasts of international security—are equipped with the necessary theoretical tools to understand the complexities of strategic thought. This foundational discussion transitions into an examination of Pakistan’s historical trajectory, illuminating how its past experiences continue to shape its current defence and security decisions. The use of case studies, historical documents, and primary sources strengthens the presented arguments ensuring that readers gain a holistic understanding of the subject. This book enriches academic discourse and provides an insight necessary to comprehend Pakistan’s defence strategies and their broader implications in an increasingly complex global security landscape.
Abstrak Perbahasan etos dan pembangunan masyarakat khususnya muslim menfokuskan kepada pentingnya etos dalam membentuk pembangunan sosial, ekonomi, dan budaya di sesebuah negara. Tujuan kertas kerja ini adalah untuk menganalisis aplikasi nilai Islam kepada pembinaan etos serta sejauh mana fungsi etos mempengaruhi proses pembangunan masyarakat dan negara. Ulasan beberapa kajian menghuraikan integrasi nilai-nilai Islam dalam kehidupan sosial, ekonomi dan politik demi memastikan identiti, perpaduan dan kestabilan masyarakat dalam menghadapi cabaran dunia moden menjadi panduan dalam pembinaan etos. Perbahasan ulasan ini merujuk kepada beberapa kajian di negara Asia Tenggara dan Timur Tengah. Perbahasan ini merujuk kepada perspektif Sosiologi iaitu teori struktur sosial yang menekankan kepentingan budaya dan perspektif Antropologi yang merujuk kepada interaksi budaya dan agama seperti nilai dalam agama Islam. Justeru, nilai Islam ini disulam melalui interaksi budaya dan agama dalam struktur sosial untuk pembangunan kesejahteraan negara. Hasil perbahasan dalam kajian membuktikan bahawa etos yang kukuh dengan nilai Islam memainkan peranan penting dalam mempercepatkan pembangunan negara, manakala kelemahan dalam etos boleh menjadi penghalang kepada kemajuan. Penemuan ini memberikan implikasi penting kepada institusi dan pelaksana dasar dalam merangka strategi pembangunan yang lebih berfokuskan kepada pengukuhan etos yang bersulamkan nilai Islam.
Pakistani Tablighis, practitioners of the transnational Islamic piety movement the Tablighi Jamaat, say that Muslims have abandoned religion (din) and been led astray by the world (dunya) and this has thrust the world into a state of moral chaos (fitna). They insist that only their form of face-to-face preaching (dawat) can remedy this situation. Drawing on Bakhtin’s (1981) notion of chronotope, or distinct imaginaries of space and time, anthropologists have argued that chronotopes produce a “plot structure” for social interaction that instantiates different social persona and forms of agency. In this article, I argue that dawat is organized around a chronotope of piety that encourages deference to others as well as defers the realization of piety to the future, thereby creating a self-limiting and self-regulating form of pious authority that Tablighis see as the basis for the creation and moral reproduction of the Islamic community. Pious authority takes on political significance as an alternative form of sovereignty against the backdrop of religious and political fragmentation engendered by state- and market-driven Islamization in Pakistan.
This chapter examines the first tenure of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which existed from 1996–2001. The author believes that this period has been studied in sufficient detail by many historians and social scientists. The chapter analyzes the bibliography in various languages regarding this historical period. The reasons why the Taliban, and no other numerous Mujahideen groups, managed to unite the Pashtuns and come to the fore are analyzed. The author notes the historical role of defections from the Afghan army and other irregular fighting groups. The second part of the chapter focuses on the social forces and practices of the Pashtuns of Afghanistan, namely the unwritten code of Pashtunwali. The author notes that this social force was and continues to be the main canon of practices of the Pashtun society. Pashtunwali also became one of the two pillars of the radical movement, which allowed them to achieve victory and create the Talibanland.
Although this book investigates the Taliban’s victory, its social causes, and its consequences from a predominantly political scientific vantage point, understanding the nature of that triumph and the emergence of the Talibanland requires us to consider and chronicle the most recent Afghan war. The 9/11 attacks triggered global shockwaves and opened a new, albeit de courte durée, era of world history. The two-decade War on Terror became one of the longest and bloodiest in American history. This chapter examines the evolution of US counterterrorism policy in response to the rise of the Taliban. However, changes in America's strategy did not lead to positive results.
The following chapter analyzes in depth what the author dubs the immorality of the social structures of Afghanistan. Though the name “Afghanistan” itself is quite young, the Afghan nation has a profound history. This territory has been inhabited since ancient times. Despite, or perhaps because of, the peoples’ diversity, historically, Afghanistan features remarkable customs, constancy, and continuity of generations. Many state-like proto-formations, communities, social cells, and practices have kept amazing similarities and kinship over the centuries. The year 1747 is well-known to any Afghan person. From this year, the first Afghan state (or rather, its earliest prototype) takes the count of its history. The Durrani Empire, headed by Ahmad Shah Durrani, was established due to a sharp struggle, a sea of blood, and a long series of trials.
The Anjuman I Khuddam I al-Sufiyya was a popular organization in the early twentieth century Colonial Punjab, aiming to foster unity among diverse Sufi orders. This research article explores the early history, foundation, objectives, activities, branches and structural framework of Anjuman I Khuddam al-Sufiyya through meticulous examination of historical documents and primary sources. This abstract examines the proactive stance of the Anjuman against proselytizing movements during colonial times, elucidating its efforts in preserving the essence of Sufism in a changing socio-religious landscape. Furthermore, it explores how the Anjuman bravely confronted ultra-orthodox ideologies of Wahhabism, aiming to safeguard the pluralistic nature of Islamic practice and culture. The Anjuman’s response to the Ahmadiyya community is also discussed. By delving into the organizational structure, this research dissects the sophisticated layers that govern the functioning of Anjuman I Khuddam al-Sufiyya. By analyzing the Anjuman I Khuddam al-Sufiyya’s establishment, objectives and early history, this abstract throw light on its noteworthy contributions to inter-Sufi unity, countering radical influences, and promoting a harmonious coexistence of diverse Islamic beliefs. As a result, this research provides a valuable resource for scholars, historians, and enthusiasts interested in understanding the rich tapestry of Anjuman I Khuddam al-Sufiyya journey from its inception to 1951
Contrary to popular notions of a perpetual antagonism between ‘Hinduism’ and ‘Islam’, played out on Indian soil over the centuries, this article examines the relatively recent origins of a Hindu–Muslim conflict in South Asia, situating it in the reconfigurations of ‘religion’ and religious identity that occurred under British colonial rule in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The multivalent and somewhat fluid categories of religious identification found in pre-modern India gave way to much more rigid and oppositional modern and colonial epistemic categories. While much has been written on how colonial policies and incipient Hindu and Muslim nationalisms shaped the contours of modern Hindu–Muslim conflict, little work has been done on the important role religious actors like Muslim and Hindu scholars and reformers played in shaping the discourse around what constituted Hinduism and Islam, and the relationship between the two, in the modern period. This study examines the first-known public theological debates between a Hindu scholar and a Muslim scholar, respectively, Swami Dayānanda Sarasvatī (1824–1883), founder of the reformist Arya Samaj and first exponent of a Hindu polemic against other religions, and Mawlānā Muḥammad Qāsim Nānautvī (1832–1880), co-founder of the seminary at Deoband and an important exponent of Islamic theological apologetics in modern South Asia, and how they helped shape oppositional modern Hindu and Muslim religious theologies. A key argument that Nānautvī contended with was Dayānanda’s claim that Islam is idolatrous, based on the contention that Muslims worship the Ka’ba, and thus, it is not a monotheistic religion, Hinduism alone being so. The terms of this debate show how polemics around subjects like monotheism and idolatry introduced by Christian missionaries under colonial rule were internalized, as were broader colonial epistemic categories, and developed a life of their own amongst Indians themselves, thus resulting in new oppositional religious identities, replacing more complex and nuanced interactions between Muslims and followers of Indian religions in the pre-modern period.
This paper examines madrasa education in UP, with a particular focus on girls, during the 2017–23 period of BJP rule, led by Yogi Adityanath as chief minister. The paper is directed along three distinct lines of inquiry. First, I look back at British Indian colonial policy regarding institutions of higher learning, both Indian and Western, to understand the colonial roots of the current mistrust of madrasa education by secular Indians and the Hindutva-leaning public. Second, I ask how the UP government has handled educational policy toward Muslims, particularly that regarding madrasas. I focus on a statewide government survey of madrasas in 2022–23, the results and implications of which are ongoing as we speak. And third, I ask how and why many Muslims continue to support madrasa education, including girls’ madrasas, a relatively new addition to the overall educational landscape in UP and elsewhere in India. This section of the paper is based on fieldwork observations at two girls’ madrasas in UP. I conclude that despite some problems—curricular, financial, and other—girls’ madrasas play a valuable role in educating Muslim girls. Graduates enjoy greater respect in their families and communities because of their religious knowledge, and they acquire life skills which benefit their families and communities.
This study re-examines the historical and ideological roots of modern Salafism by exploring its proto-Salafi antecedents, which emerged as localized Islamic reformist movements during the 18th and 19th centuries. Through a comparative historical analysis of key movements in South Asia, West Africa, and Arabia, the paper challenges the dominant narrative of Salafism as a unified, global, and inherently violent ideology. Instead, it highlights the diversity of proto-Salafi movements and their responses to distinct socio-political, colonial, and theological contexts. Emphasizing shared doctrinal principles such as the rejection of bid‘ah (innovation) and the prioritization of tawhid (monotheism), the study demonstrates how these movements contributed to shaping modern Salafism while contesting its portrayal as a monolithic phenomenon. This nuanced exploration provides a framework for understanding Salafism’s foundational diversity, its regional adaptations, and its evolution into a multifaceted contemporary movement.
This research aimed to determine how the Bibi Paak Daman Shrine, which is located in Lahore, Pakistan, can act as an example of tolerance between Sunni and Shia Muslims. Specifically, the goal of the research was to comprehend the role of common religious buildings and rituals in reducing sectarian conflicts and promoting group cohesion. Stemming from the theoretical perspectives of religious pluralism (Barry 2003) and shared sacred spaces (Taylor 2010), the study analyzes how the shrine's connection to the Ahl-e-Bayt (A.S) and Ruqayyah bint Ali (A. S.) fosters interactions between the Shias and Sunnis. The study was grounded within a qualitative framework and incorporates observational analysis and interviews with Sunni and Shia worshippers as well Remittances Review September 2024, Volume: 9, No: S 4, pp. 901-931 ISSN: 2059-6588(Print) | ISSN 2059-6596(Online) 902 remittancesreview.com as Islamic scholars and employees of shrines. Information was obtained through interviews and observations during on-site field research at the shrine and nearby locations. Such categories were analyzed on thematic levels to highlight patterns connected to common practices, problem-solving strategies, and actions towards promoting religious tolerance by the communities involved. It has revealed that Sunni and Shia participants' common rites and rituals like dua, qawwali, and majlis-e-aza make them turn their attention to their respective spiritual traditions instead of the sectarian ones, while the management of the shrines through Sunni and Shia leaderships rekindles the spirit of togetherness and tolerance. In this regard, this research benefits the literature through showing how interfaith spaces have the potential of enhancing religious diversity in sectarian societies and inform how such models can be applied to other contentious areas.
This article contributes to the scholarship on the Islamic tradition and Urdu culture in modern South Asia through an analysis of comic genres in the writings of the colonial-era Sufi theologian and social reformer Maulānā Ashraf ʿAlī Thānavī (1863–1943). Jokes, humorous anecdotes, and puns are found in sources such as transcripts of sermons and Sufi counsel sessions ( mavāʿiz̤ and malfūz̤āt ). These sources document an imaginative use of narrative and wordplay to produce senses of pleasure that facilitate the transmission of moral lessons and through this transmission the creation of community (this combination of comedy, counsel, and collectivity is here called prophetic humor). We analyze prophetic humor and build an argument about how it operates in tradition as form of life through three analytical movements. First, we explore how tradition becomes a site of play and pleasure but also anxiety and ambivalence. Second, the turn to comic genres allows us to appreciate tradition as a site of textuality and translation, that is, tradition names a framework for cultivating literary and ethical sensibilities ( adab ). Finally, we consider the question: Is humor necessarily subversive and secular? The article attends to this question by complicating Alenka Zupančič’s secularist psychoanalytic theory of comedy vis-à-vis an engagement with Talal Asad’s critical anthropological study of tradition (especially what he says about ritualization and secularization). We show how Maulānā Thānavī’s use of humor largely reflects the protocols of ritualization but also responds to the demands of secularization. These various argumentative strands come together to illuminate how prophetic humor displaces the reigning epistemological and methodological imperatives of colonial modernity, such as secularism, rationalism, and historicism.
From manuscripts to various types of printing, the production of written knowledge has undergone drastic changes since the nineteenth century. What impact did this transitionary period have on hadith manuscripts, which enjoyed a complex textual tradition spanning centuries? Through a case study of the North Indian hadith scholar Aḥmad ʿAlī Sahāranpūrī (d. 1880) and his printing press, Maṭbaʿ-i Aḥmadī, this article contributes to the burgeoning scholarship on early-modern editorial practices. Focusing on the use of lithographic printing in nineteenth-century India, this study examines how Sahāranpūrī employed editorial techniques to print hadith literature that paralleled other prolific printing hubs like Cairo while also preserving the distinctive premodern characteristics of these texts. Moreover, this article will showcase the broader editorial trends in India at the time vis-à-vis hadith literature with a focus on what set Sahāranpūrī’s work apart from that of his fellow Indian editors.
Drawing from year-long ethnographic fieldwork in a North Indian Madrasa, this paper looks at how young Madrasa students are navigating socio-economic precarity in their everyday lives. I primarily focus on young people’s navigation of neoliberal and Hindu Nationalist discourses surrounding work and employment. In doing so, I draw on the recent turn in critical work geographies by de-emphasising a wage-centric approach to studying practices of work. At the same time, I show how work is locally constructed and mobilised in relation to a variety of social and cultural resources by focusing on young people’s articulation of work through the Hindustani word kaam.
The Qurʾān grants a childless widow a one-fourth share in the inheritance of her husband. However, this right is limited to movable property under the Ithnā ʿAsharīyya school in South Asia (India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh). In December 2021, Pakistan’s parliament extended a childless widow’s inheritance right to include immovable property under the Ithnā ʿAsharīyya school. This paper examines the historical processes that contributed to the formulation and subsequent reformulation of the legal rule governing the inheritance right of a childless widow under the Ithnā ʿAsharīyya school. It identifies distinct but interconnected phases in which sharīʿa was transformed within the institutional structure of the modern state during the colonial and post-colonial periods. By doing so, the paper highlights the fluidity of sharīʿa as a legal tradition, which adapted to changing circumstances in different historical contexts.
Beginning especially in the early twentieth century, Qur'an translation emerged as a major facet of modern Islamic daʿwa (‘“inviting” to Islam’, or ‘Islamic mission’). With the increasing availability of new translations and commentaries as the century progressed, Muslim leaders often found themselves asked for, or simply offering, recommendations about which Qur'an translations were most suitable for different purposes. This article examines the case of one such recommendation: Sayyid Abū’l-Ḥasan ʿAlī Nadwī's endorsement of ʿAbd al-Mājid Daryābādī's early twentieth-century English translation-commentary, Tafsir-ul-Quran. In so doing, it sheds lights on Qur'an translation in relation to modern daʿwa and, more precisely, on how a thinker's ‘ daʿwalogy’ (Islamic missionary theology) might influence his or her translation and commentary preferences. Through a historical contextualisation of Daryābādī and Nadwī, along with close readings of the former's English Qur'an translation-commentary and the latter's endorsement, the article argues that Nadwī's endorsement of Daryābādī not only provides a useful window into Nadwī's – and by extension, Daryābādī's – daʿwalogy, but also that Nadwī's daʿwalogy helps to explain why he endorsed Daryābādī's translation-commentary in the first place. In studying this case, the article illustrates significant linkages between daʿwa, Qur'an translation, networks of Muslim thinkers, and rising inter-religious competition in the late-colonial period and beyond.
This article is an exploration of the texts and historical contexts of the early translations of the Qur'an into the South Indian language of Malayalam. Attempts at Malayalam translations of the Qur'an started in the 1930s. The present study deals with the translation projects that emerged between the 1930s and 1965. It showcases the situatedness of these translations in the colonial experiences of the region, as well as in the discursiveness of global Islamic trends. It also looks at the theological controversies these translations evoked within the Muslim community.
This article explores the geographical imagination of diasporic activists from Afghanistan. It examines the significance of the historic-geographic region of Khorasan for their attempts to re-imagine Afghanistan and its place in the region and wider world. The article documents ethnographically the forms of intellectual exchange in which these intellectual-activists participate, and their modes of materializing the geographical imagination of Khorasan in everyday life. Rather than analyzing their geographical imagination solely through the lens of ethnicity, it treats it as reflecting the activists’ underlying yearning for sovereign agency and as an attempt to forge politically recognizable subjects capable of action.
This article provides a methodologically oriented case study of the application of Large Language Models (LLMs) in Islamic studies. Its empirical focus is on 20 thousand e-fatwas from the website askimam.org. The study demonstrates how LLMs, here represented by the open-source tool BERTopic, can significantly augment a process of distant reading. The research focuses on a topic modelling revealing insights into recurring concerns evident from the questions posed by believers in fatwas. It also provides an example of further, post-topic modelling and analysis focusing on thematic variations across questions from different geographical regions. The article argues for the potential of LLMs to reshape research methodologies, offering faster, more comprehensive, and nuanced analyses of large datasets.
According to the traditional mainstream interpretation of Muslim jurists including the Ḥanafī ‘ulamā’ of the Indo-Pak subcontinent, khul ‘-divorce can take effect for certain reasons, but the husband’s consent is always necessary in each case. Otherwise, it is illegitimate for the judiciary to decide the separation between the husband and his wife. This has created a difficult situation for women, particularly for those who have married new husbands after obtaining the khul ‘ divorce through the courts. The Ahl-i Ḥadīth school of thought has played a decisive role in issuing the fatwās in favour of the wife-initiated divorce because they are of the view that the courts are authorized in such cases to grant a judicial khul ‘ or dissolve the marriage of an unwilling wife even without the consent of her husband. This paper examines how the Ahl-i Ḥadīth ‘ulamā’ are granting the courts and the judicial law-making process the required religious legitimacy.
This chapter presents an ethnographic exposition on the authority and limits of Islam in regulating the daily rhythms of life for common Pakistani Muslims, delineating the grassroots fabric of everyday existence in Pakistan. It delves into the imperative of understanding the quotidian intricacies of Pakistani cultural life, underscoring its crucial role in acquiring a nuanced discernment of blasphemy embodiment. The goal is to present a comprehensive panorama of how lifeworlds function in Pakistan, capturing the myriad factors that shape the moods, attitudes, and existential dispositions of Pakistani Muslims. It explores whether ordinary Pakistani Muslims translate their fervent devotion to Islam into their actual lives, examining the ostensibly paradoxical and incongruent relationship between the “religious and secular” realms within mundane flows and prosaic constructions of their daily life. It presents the narratives of ordinary Pakistani Muslims hailing from diverse socio-economic and cultural backgrounds to better understand this convoluted dynamic. Additionally, it scrutinizes the tension between religion and culture and explores the evolving religious, sexual, educational, and political sensibilities among Pakistani Muslims, as well as the mediating identities and shifting religious boundaries in the country.
This article studies some major shifts in the relationship between law and Sufism in South Asian Islam between the eighteenth and the twentieth centuries. It does so by focusing on Shah Wali Allah of Delhi (d. 1762) to examine, first, how these two key facets of Islam interact with each other in his thought and, second, how some influential Muslim intellectuals of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries have understood and positioned themselves in relation to this aspect of his thought. Though one would be hard pressed to know this from the sanitized modern image of Wali Allah as a scholar of the Quran and hadith, and of a Sufi piety uncompromisingly anchored in them, his Sufism reveals a wide and, from many a modern Muslim perspective, unwieldly range of ideas and practices. Yet it was precisely in that unwieldy breadth and depth that it was generative of some of his key insights into matters of the law. Even as many people have continued to insist on the imbrication of law and Sufism, a sanitization of Wali Allah’s Sufi image serves to highlight wider processes whereby an earlier era’s generative relationship between the two has come to be increasingly attenuated since the late nineteenth century.
This article examines the theological and hermeneutical foundations and fault lines of Muslim modernism and traditionalism in South Asia. It does so through a close reading of a massively consequential but thus far unstudied debate on the normative sources and interpretive parameters of religion in colonial modernity between the scholars Sayyid Ahmad Khan (d. 1898) and Muhammad Qasim Nanautvi (d. 1877), founders of arguably the most prominent bastions of modernism and traditionalism in Muslim South Asia: the Aligarh Muslim University and the Deoband Madrasa, both established in the late nineteenth century.
This short article introduces the Forum on Muslim modernity in South Asia, placing its four articles—by Muhammad Qasim Zaman, SherAli Tareen, Julia Stephens, and Justin Jones—in the context of existing scholarship. I highlight the authors’ contributions to the study of Islamic reform and of women’s agency, in particular, in understandings of Muslim modernity in South Asia. Each of the contributions is on a discrete topic; this introduction therefore endeavours to pull at the threads within each that underscores their interventions in the study of Muslim modernity and that tie them together in this Forum.
This chapter aims to provide a general frame of discussion. It tackles the root problems in order to achieve a successful national construction in Afghanistan beyond the actual conflicts. These problems are related to the construction of a conciliatory national identity with respect to different ethnic groups, the role of Islam in this national construction and its complex adjustment regarding the needs of modernization, and the processes of institutionalization which are susceptible to moderate the power of clientelist networks.
This article examines the issue of radicalism in Pakistan, often identified as the "Land of Ali Jinnah," reflecting the values and vision of its founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Radicalism has been a deep-seated issue in Pakistan, with debates over whether religious or group factors play a more critical role in strengthening radical movements in the country. This article examines the historical development of radicalism in Pakistan, analyzes the factors that influence the spread of radical ideology, and considers the implications of this view on regional and global stability. Through a comprehensive analytical approach, it explores the role of religion as a central element in radicalism in Pakistan, highlighting the role of incorrect or extreme religious understandings in motivating individuals to engage in radical activity. It also examines how group factors such as economic inequality, political discontent and ethnic tensions are essential in strengthening radical movements in Pakistan. The result is that some extremist thinking is based on some of the conservative madrassa education curricula, and some people who lack access to education are, therefore, easily duped and pitted by vested interests. The importance of understanding the balance between religion and group factors in the context of radicalism in Pakistan is that prevention and countermeasures can be more effective. This investigation provides greater insight into the complexity of the issue. It provides a basis for formulating better strategies to address radicalism in the country, which will positively impact regional and global peace and stability. Abstrak: Artikel ini mengkaji masalah radikalisme di Pakistan, yang sering kali diidentifikasi sebagai "Tanah Ali Jinnah," yang mencerminkan nilai-nilai dan visi pendirinya, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Radikalisme telah menjadi isu yang mendalam di Pakistan, dengan perdebatan apakah faktor agama atau faktor kelompok yang memainkan peran yang lebih penting dalam memperkuat gerakan-gerakan radikal di negara ini. Artikel ini membahas sejarah perkembangan radikalisme di Pakistan, menganalisis faktor-faktor yang memengaruhi penyebaran ideologi radikal, dan mempertimbangkan implikasi yang muncul dari pandangan ini terhadap stabilitas regional dan global. Melalui pendekatan analisis komprehensif, artikel ini mengeksplorasi peran agama sebagai elemen sentral dalam radikalisme di Pakistan, dengan menyoroti peran pemahaman agama yang salah atau ekstrem dalam memotivasi individu untuk terlibat dalam aktivitas radikal. Selain itu, artikel ini juga mencermati bagaimana faktor kelompok seperti ketidaksetaraan ekonomi, ketidakpuasan politik, dan ketegangan etnis memainkan peran penting dalam memperkuat gerakan-gerakan radikal di Pakistan. Hasilnya bahwa sebagian corak pemikiran ekstrimis didasari dengan beberapa kurikulum pendidikan madrasah yang konservatif dan sebagian masyarakat yang minim akses pendidikan sehingga mudah dikelabui dan diadu domba oleh orang berkepentingan. Pentingnya memahami keseimbangan antara agama dan faktor kelompok dalam konteks radikalisme di Pakistan adalah agar upaya pencegahan dan penanggulangan dapat menjadi lebih efektif. Penyelidikan ini memberikan wawasan yang lebih mendalam tentang kompleksitas masalah ini dan memberikan dasar untuk merumuskan strategi yang lebih baik dalam mengatasi radikalisme di negara ini, yang pada gilirannya akan berdampak positif pada perdamaian dan stabilitas regional dan global.
The Deoband school, which emerged in India, has become one of the topical issues recently. Groups are emerging in Kazakhstan who believe that Deobandism is correct and adhere to it. Spread of this ideology in our country was mainly due to the people who studied at the centers of this ideology, which are mainly Pakistan. Muslims in countries such as Pakistan, India and Afghanistan often follow Abu Hanifa school, Maturidi creed and are conservative in religious issues. In turn, the Kazakh people throughout the history combined religion and traditions. Therefore, the spread of Deobandi religious concepts in the Kazakh land creates certain misunderstandings. This is probably due to the fact that the religious views of the Deobandis are contrary to the Kazakh worldview. Research is needed to determine how and why these contradictions are emerging. Despite the relevance of the problem, there are almost no research on this topic in our country. The skeleton of any religious ideology is a matter of faith, therefore for this article as a research topic has been chosen Deobandi’s faith. The purpose of the article is to determine what belief system the Deoband school adhere to and how they relate to Salafism. The article contains a brief history of Deobandism, its belief system and the views of Deoband scholars on the prominent scholars of Salafism like Sheikh Ibn Taymiyyah. Also, the influence of Maturidi and Ash’ari belief systems on the Deobandis and generally their views on Wahhabism are analyzed.
The competition between the elites of the two communities to impose their version of the past on the public sphere, along with the physical conflict among the two communities’ members, represents an effort to utilize history to legitimize one’s ethnic community’s dominance and authority. However, this was subject to British power and authority which, although not interested in inscribing its own “city text” on Nicosia, did not wish to allow the formation of national identity among the two communities. Most importantly the British wanted neither their dominance in Cyprus to be challenged nor their interests in the broader geopolitical framework of the Middle East to be hampered. This chapter focuses on the unsuccessful attempt in 1912 to involve both communities in the exercise of street-naming. The proposals for street-naming submitted by the Greek- and Turkish-Cypriot Nicosia municipal council members to the British Government in 1912 are provided, enabling the analysis of the street-names proposed by the two communities in their effort to legitimize their claim upon specific territory. Beyond the proposed street-names, the chapter presents the conflict and antagonism among the two communities, as well as the role of the British authorities in managing the bicommunal relations.
The Barelvi movement in South Asia—particularly in Pakistan—has long been regarded as the indigenous Islam of the region. It is equated with Sufism, and highlighted as the peaceful and moderate Islam of the majority of Muslims. In doing so, it is contrasted with competing Sunni traditions such as the Deobandis, as an explicit binary is created between the two. However, the narrative has seen a shift since 2011, with the rise of Mumtaz Qadri, who murdered a politician due to allegations of blasphemy. In this article, I trace these developments in the perceptions of, and discourses about, Barelvis in South Asia, especially over the last twenty years. In doing so I explore four key ways of being Barelvi, including love for the Prophet Muhammad, an affiliation with the founder of the movement, Sufi practices and shrines, and opposition to Deobandi Islam.
Since its origins in colonial India in the mid-1920s, Tablighi Jamaat (TJ) has established itself as a transnational movement for faith revival among Muslims, with an emphasis on encouraging Muslims to return to what TJ leaders believe is a more authentic form of Islam.
Hint Alt Kıtası sahip olduğu yer altı ve yer üstü zenginliğin yanı sıra kültür ve tarihe yaptığı katkılar ile "medeniyetin beşiği" olarak kabul edilir. Bölgede var olan tarihya-zıcılığı Müslümanların bu coğrafyaya girişi ile daha ileri noktalara taşınmıştır. Bu eser, İslam'ın ilk asrından 20. yüzyıla kadar olan dönemde Hint Alt Kıtasındaki tarihyazımını ve kaynaklarını incelemiştir. Kitap, Türkiye, Pakistan, Bangladeş ve İran'dan tarihçilerin katkılarıyla hazırlanan bö-lümlerden meydana gelmiştir. Görece uzun ve alt dönemlere ayrılan asırlara ilişkin ağır-lıklı olarak eleştirel bir bibliyografya ve tarihyazımı tartışmalarını içermektedir. Hint Alt Kıtasında hüküm sürmüş yerel sultanlıklarının dönemlerinden her birinin kaynakları, alanda ihtisaslaşmış ve çeşitli eserler vermiş tarihçiler tarafından incelenmiştir. ↘İslamuygarlığı ↘coğrafya ↘kültür ↘din ↘ortaktarih ↘medeniyethavzası
This article examines the issue of radicalism in Pakistan, often identified as the "Land of Ali Jinnah," reflecting the values and vision of its founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Radicalism has been a deep-seated issue in Pakistan, with debates over whether religious or group factors play a more critical role in strengthening radical movements in the country. This article examines the historical development of radicalism in Pakistan, analyzes the factors that influence the spread of radical ideology, and considers the implications of this view on regional and global stability. Through a comprehensive analytical approach, it explores the role of religion as a central element in radicalism in Pakistan, highlighting the role of incorrect or extreme religious understandings in motivating individuals to engage in radical activity. It also examines how group factors such as economic inequality, political discontent and ethnic tensions are essential in strengthening radical movements in Pakistan. The result is that some extremist thinking is based on some of the conservative madrassa education curricula, and some people who lack access to education are, therefore, easily duped and pitted by vested interests. The importance of understanding the balance between religion and group factors in the context of radicalism in Pakistan is that prevention and countermeasures can be more effective. This investigation provides greater insight into the complexity of the issue. It provides a basis for formulating better strategies to address radicalism in the country, which will positively impact regional and global peace and stability.
This chapter lays down the basic structure for the analytical framework and elucidates family-related issues about divorcees and widows in the social sphere. A sketched view of mélange, introduced in the previous chapter, is provided to understand the emergence of single mothers/women households in Europe and here with specific examples of single Danish-Pakistani women. It has been an interactive process.
Until now, I have described relational collectivism and individualism and its mixture of mélange familism in the social sphere of multicultural societies. Mélange affects the cultural, social and political spheres and the legal arena. This chapter concerns the legal sphere, i.e. a mixture of institutionalised relational collectivism and individualism. The focus is on family laws that affect single mothers/women directly or indirectly. The structure of the chapter is as follows:
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