Indian Muslim Minorities and the 1857 Rebellion: Religion, Rebels and Jihad

by Ilyse R. Morgenstein Fuerst

Overview

While jihad has been the subject of countless studies in the wake of recent terrorist attacks, scholarship on the topic has so far paid little attention to South Asian Islam and, more specifically, its place in South Asian history. Seeking to fill some gaps in the historiography, Ilyse R. Morgenstein Fuerst examines the effects of the 1857 Rebellion (long taught in Britain as the 'Indian Mutiny') on debates about the issue of jihad during the British Raj. Morgenstein Fuerst shows that the Rebellion had lasting, pronounced effects on the understanding by their Indian subjects (whether Muslim, Hindu or Sikh) of imperial rule by distant outsiders. For India's Muslims their interpretation of the Rebellion as jihad shaped subsequent discourses, definitions and codifications of Islam in the region. Morgenstein Fuerst concludes by demonstrating how these perceptions of jihad, contextualised within the framework of the 19th century Rebellion, continue to influence contemporary rhetoric about Islam and Muslims in the Indian subcontinent.Drawing on extensive primary source analysis, this unique take on Islamic identities in South Asia will be invaluable to scholars working on British colonial history, India and the Raj, as well as to those studying Islam in the region and beyond.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780755603794
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	01/23/2020
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	695,666
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.51(d)

About the Author

Ilyse R. Morgenstein Fuerst is Assistant Professor of Religion at the University of Vermont. She has previously published in peer-reviewed jourbanals and her research deals with Islam in South Asia, historiography and the development of theories of religion. She received an MTS from Harvard Divinity School and a PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Religion, Rebels, and Jihad
Theoretical Framing
A Note on Language
Chapter Outline 1
1. The Company, Religion, and Islam
Religion before Rebellion
“Watershed Moment”: the Great Rebellion
Greased Cartridges and Chapatis: the Anxiety of
Religious Conspiracy
Muslim Memories of the Great Rebellion
Conclusions
2. Suspect Subjects: Hunter and the Making of a
Muslim Minority
Bound to Rebel: Making Muslims a Minority
Indian Musalmans and Hunter: Author of Empire
Laws, Literalism, and All Muslims: Hunter's Claims
Favorable Ruling, Unfavorable Interpretation
Conclusions
3. “God save me from my friends!”: Syed Ahmad Khan's
Review on Dr Hunter
Sir Syed on the Great Rebellion
An Academic Rejoinder to Indian Musalmans
A Legalism of His Own: Sir Syed on Hunter's Use of
Islamic Law
On Muslim Loyalty
On Literalism, Wahhabism, and Jihad
Conclusions
4. Rebellion as Jihad, Jihad as Religion
Defining Jihad
Making Muslims Jihadis
Jihad in Imperial India and the Great Rebellion
Conclusions
Conclusion Religion, Rebels, and Jihad: Legacies and
Ongoing Impact
Epilogue 1857 from Today's Vermont

Editorial Reviews

Through its attention to the politics of Muslim identity, Indian Muslim Minorities and the 1857 Rebellion opens the door for discussion of not just what the British were doing in India, but also why they viewed their subjects as inferior. The first section of the book may be appropriate for use in undergraduate courses. The book in its entirety, however, may be better suited for graduate seminars. Ultimately, though, I would recommend this book for anyone even mildly interested in the 1857 rebellion, Islam, or the origin of modern conceptions of Islam.”

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