Muslim World in Modern South Asia, The: Power, Authority, Knowledge

Description

Sets out the challenges presented to Muslim societies by Western dominance over the past two hundred years, and explores Muslim responses, particularly in the context of South Asia. Over the past two hundred years, two great processes have shaped Muslim societies: Western domination and the industrial capitalism that came with it, and the Islamic revival that preceded the Western presence but came to interact significantly with it. In this book, Francis Robinson considers the challenges Western dominance has offered key aspects of Muslim civilization, particularly in the context of South Asia, which in the nineteenth century moved from being a receiver of influences from the rest of the Muslim world to being a transmitter of influences to it. Robinson also considers aspects of the Muslim revival and how they have come to shape, in various ways, Muslim responses to Western dominance. The role of the transmission of knowledge, both formal and spiritual, in forming Muslim societies is explored, and also the particular role of the transmitters in sustaining the Islamic dimensions of Muslim societies under Western dominance. Attention, too, is paid to the imposition of the modern state and the restriction of cosmopolitan spaces. Contents Acknowledgments Transliteration Glossary Introduction 1 The Islamic World in the Age of Western Dominance Notes 2 Global History from an Islamic Angle The Muslim World and Global History Shared Worlds of Knowledge and Experience The World of Storytelling Astrology Commodities of Global Impact The ‘Protestant Turn’ Notes 3 Education in the Muslim World to the End of the Eighteenth Century The Fields of Knowledge The Transmission of Knowledge Madrasas and Education The Spread of Education Beyond the Central Islamic Lands Spiritual Education The Early Education of Children Slave Education Popular Education Women and Education Conclusion Notes 4 On How Since 1800 Islamic Societies Have Been Built from Below Notes 5 Crisis of Authority: Crisis of Islam? Notes 6 Strategies of Authority in Muslim South Asia in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Religious Leaders Unani Hakims, Medical Leaders Literary Leaders Rulers Conclusion Notes 7 Islamic Reform and Modernities in South Asia The Assault on the Authority of the Past The New Emphasis on Human Will Transformation of the Self Rationalisation Secularisation Notes 8 Iranian Influences on South Asia Power, People and Iranian Influence in South Asia The Two Pillars of Iranian Influence in South Asia The Pillars of Iranian Influence in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries The Swift Decline of Iranian Influence from the Mid-Nineteenth Century Two Final Reflections Notes 9 South Asia and West Asia from the Delhi Sultanate to the Present: Security, Resources and Influence From the Delhi Sultanate to the British Resources Influence The British Period Security Resources Influence Post-Independence Notes 10 The Memory of Power, Muslim ‘Political Importance’ and the Muslim League The Memory of Power, Its Cultivation and the Values that Went with It Putting the Memory of Past Glory to Work in Politics Notes 11 The Modern State: Citizenship, Multiculturalism and Globalisation Cosmopolitanism before the Nation-State The Onset of the Modern Nation-State Globalisation, Citizenship and the Modern Nation-State Multiculturalism Notes 12 What Ralph Russell Meant and Means to Me Notes 13 Love on the Roof Note 14 Hunting the Tiger Note 15 The Garden of the Eight Paradises Notes 16 Uses for Grass Note 17 The Muslim Commander Bond Note 18 Aromatherapy Note 19 Love of Mahal Notes 20 Cosmopolis of a Shared Worldview Notes 21 In Reverse Note 22 Women, Leadership, and Mosques: Changes in Contemporary Islamic Authority Note Index