The Muslims of British IndiaDr Hardy has attempted a general history of British India's Muslims with a deeper perspective. He shows how the interplay of memories of past Muslim supremacy, Islamic religious aspirations and modern Muslim social and economic anxieties with the political needs of the alien ruling power gradually fostered a separate Muslim politics. Dr Hardy argues (contrary to the usual view) that Muslims were able to take political initiatives because, in the region of modern Uttar Pradesh, British rule before 1857 and even the events of the Mutiny and Rebellion of 1857-8 had not been economically disastrous for most of them. He stresses the force of religion in the growth of Muslim political separatism, showing how the 'modernists' kept the conversation among Muslims within Islamic postulates and underlining the role of the traditional scholars in heightening popular religious feeling. Regarding any sense of Muslim political unity and nationhood as an outcome of the period of British rule, Dr Hardy shows the limitations and frailty of that unity and nationhood by 1947. |
Contents
The effects of British rule on Muslims before 1857 | 31 |
Muslims come to terms with British India as Muslims | 92 |
Muslims move towards political community 18711901 | 116 |
Muslims acquire a constitutional identity and enter | 147 |
Religion enters politics 191024 | 168 |
The period of frustration 192435 | 198 |
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accept Akbar al-din Aligarh Allahabad areas Aurangzib Awadh Bareilly Bengal Bihar Bombay British India British rule Calcutta caliphate cent century classes Congress courts cultivators Dacca dar al-harb dar al-Islam Deccan Delhi Deoband district educated Muslims elected empire frontier Ghurid Government of India Hindu Hindus and Muslims Husain India Office Library Indian Muslims interests Islam Islam in India jagirdars Jam'iyyat Jinnah Khilafat Lahore land landholders landlords leaders Legislative Council Letters London Lord Lucknow Mahomedan Maratha Maulana Mayo Papers ment Minto modern movement Mughal Muhammad Muhammadan mujahidin Muslim community Muslim majority provinces Muslim political Muslim population Muslim rulers nation Nawwab non-Muslim North-Western Provinces number of Muslim official organisation Ottoman Pakistan Panjab party Persian Procs Prophet Qur'an reforms religion religious Report revenue Saiyid Ahmad Khan separate electorates settlement Shah shari'a Sikh Sir Saiyid Ahmad social society sultan tion Tyabji ulama United Provinces upper provinces Urdu Wahhabi zamindars