Shi'a Islam in Colonial India: Religion, Community and Sectarianism (Cambridge Studies in Indian History and Society, Series Number 18) - Hardcover

Jones, Justin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1107004608 ISBN 13: 9781107004603

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2011

Synopsis

Interest in Shi'ism Islam has increased greatly in recent years, although Shi'ism in the Indian subcontinent has remained largely underexplored. Focusing on the influential Shi'a minority of Lucknow and the United Provinces, a region that was largely under Shi'a rule until 1856, this book traces the history of Indian Shi'ism through the colonial period toward Independence in 1947. Drawing on a range of new sources, including religious writing, polemical literature, and clerical biography, it assesses seminal developments including the growth of Shi'a religious activism, madrasa education, missionary activity, ritual innovation, and the politicization of the Shi'a community. As a consequence of these significant religious and social transformations, a Shi'a sectarian identity developed that existed in separation from rather than in interaction with its Sunni counterparts. In this way the painful birth of modern sectarianism was initiated, the consequences of which are very much alive in South Asia today. The book makes a significant contribution to the global history of Shi'ism, and to understandings of inner-Islamic conflicts in the colonial and post-colonial worlds.

About this title

Book Description:

Interest in Shi'a Islam has increased greatly in recent years, although Shi'ism in the Indian subcontinent has remained largely underexplored. This book traces the history of Indian Shi'ism through the colonial period toward Independence in 1947. It shows how, as a consequence of religious activism, a Shi'a sectarian identity developed that existed separately from its Sunni counterparts. In this way, the painful birth of modern sectarianism was initiated, the consequences of which are very much alive in South Asia today. The book makes a significant contribution to the global history of Shi'ism, and to understandings of inner-Islamic conflicts in the colonial and post-colonial worlds.

About the Author:

Justin Jones is Lecturer in South Asian History at the University of Exeter.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1107004608
• ISBN 13: 9781107004603
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304