Islam in South Asia in Practice

by Metcalf, Barbara D.

• ISBN13: 9780691044200
• ISBN10: 0691044201
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-09-08
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

This volume of Princeton Readings in Religions brings together the work of more than thirty scholars of Islam and Muslim societies in South Asia to create a rich anthology of primary texts that contributes to a new appreciation of the lived religious and cultural experiences of the world's largest population of Muslims. The thirty-four selections--translated from Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Bengali, Tamil, Gujarati, Hindavi, Dakhani, and other languages--highlight a wide variety of genres, many rarely found in standard accounts of Islamic practice, from oral narratives to elite guidance manuals, from devotional songs to secular judicial decisions arbitrating Islamic law, and from political posters to a discussion among college women affiliated with an "Islamist" organization. Drawn from premodern texts, modern pamphlets, government and organizational archives, new media, and contemporary fieldwork, the selections reflect the rich diversity of Islamic belief and practice in South Asia. Each reading is introduced with a brief contextual note from its scholar-translator, and Barbara Metcalf introduces the whole volume with a substantial historical overview.

Author Biography

Barbara D. Metcalf is president-elect of the American Historical Association. She is professor emeritus of history at the University of California, Davis, and most recently has taught at the University of Michigan. She is the author of Islamic Revival in British India and the coauthor of A Concise History of Modern India.

Table of Contents

Princeton Readings in Religions	p. v
Note on Translation, Transliteration, and Acknowledgments	p. vii
List of Illustrations	p. xiii
Contributors	p. xv
Preface: Islam in south Asia in Practice	p. xvii
Maps	p. xxvi
Introduction: A Historical Overview of Islam in south Asia	p. 1
Devotion and praise: To Allah, Muhammad, Imams, and Elders
Introduction	p. 43
Satpanthi Ismaili Songs to hazrat Ali and the Imams	p. 48
The soul's Quest in Malik Muhammad Jayasi's Hindavi Romance	p. 63
Pilgrimage to the Shrines in Ajmer	p. 77
Women's Grinding and Spinning Songs of Devotion in the Late Medieval Deccan	p. 87
Qawwali Songs of Praise	p. 93
Na't: Media Contexts and transnational Dimensions of a Devotional practice	p. 101
Shi'i Mourning in Muhurram: Nauha Laments for Children Killed at Karbala	p. 113
Islam and the devotional Image in Pakistan	p. 120
Holy and Exemplary Lives
Introduction	p. 135
Ibn Battuta Meets Shah Jalal al-Din Tabrizi in Bengal	p. 138
Narratives of the Life of Haider shaykh in punjab	p. 144
The Daily Of a Saint, Ahmad Sirhindi	p. 158
Sufi Ritual Practice among the Barkatiyya Sayyids of U.P.: Nuri Miyan's Life and 'Urs, Late Nineteenth-Early Twentieth Centuries	p. 166
Transgressions of a Holy fool: A majzub in Colonial India	p. 173
The Transmission of Learning
Introduction	p. 187
saving Tamil Muslims from the Torments of Hell: Vannapparimalappulavar's Book of One Thousand Questions	p. 190
The Taqwiyyat al-Iman (support of the Faith) by Shah Isma'il shahid	p. 201
The Brilliance of Hearts: hajji Imdadullah Teaches Meditation and Ritual	p. 212
studing Hadith in a Madrasa in the early Twentieth Century	p. 225
Jihad in the way Of God: A Tablighi Jama'at Account of a Mission in India	p. 240
A College Girl Gives a Qur'an Lesson in Bangladesh	p. 250
Guidance, Sharia, and Law
Introduction	p. 265
Ibn Battuta as a Qadi in the Maldives	p. 271
Guiding the Ruler and Prince	p. 279
A colonial Court Defines a Muslim	p. 293
Maulana Thanawi's Fatwa on the limits of parental Rights over Children	p. 305
Shari'at Governance in Colonial and Postcolonial India	p. 317
Two Sufis on Molding the new Muslim woman: Khwaja Hasan Nizami (1878-1955) and Hazrat Inayat Khan (1882-1927)	p. 326
Fatwa Advice on Proper Muslim Names	p. 339
A Rallying Cry for Muslim personal Lwa: The Shah Bano case and Its Aftermath	p. 352
Belonging
Introduction	p. 371
Forest Clearing and the Growth of Islam In Bengal	p. 375
Challenging the Mughal Emperor: The Islamic Millennium according to 'Abd al-Qadir Badayuni	p. 390
Custom and conversion in Malabar: Zayn al-Din al-Malibari's Gift of the Mujahidin: Some Accounts of the Portuguese	p. 403
Muslim League Appeals to the voters of Punjab for Support of Pakistan	p. 409
Advocating a Secular Pakistan: The Munir report of 1954	p. 424
Maulana Yusuf Ludhianvi on the Limits of Legitimate religious Differences	p. 438
The Indian Jama'at-i Islami Reconsiders Secular Democracy	p. 447
Glossary	p. 457
Index	p. 461
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