Focuses on the period leading up to the Indian Mutiny of 1857.

Focuses on the period leading up to the Indian Mutiny of 1857.

"The book also features cross-references throughout, a bibliography accompanying each entry, an elaborate appendix listing biographies according to particular categories of interest, and a comprehensive index."--BOOK JACKET.

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.

A study of the cultural world of the Muslim soldiers of colonial India in the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

A correct perspective on the origins and development of pan-Islam in British India had eluded writers for years. The author treats the subject comprehensively and highlights links between pan-Islam and nationalist movements in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In focus is the Khilafat movement (1918-1924) which, with its distinct religio-political dynamics, aimed at saving Ottoman Turkey from dismemberment as well as securing self-government for India. Extensively utilizing a variety of archival and other source materials, the author unfolds the fascinating story of how, in concert with secular forces, the pan-Islamic appeal was mobilized for political gains in the broader context of the British policy towards Turkey and India. The book also examines the gradual transition of Muslim politics from pan-Islam to territorial nationalism, especially after the Turks abolished the caliphate and the Indians plunged back into communal strife.