The Languages of Political Islam in India c.1200–1800

by Muzaffar Alam

This book shows the ways in which political Islam, from its establishment in medieval north India, adapted itself to a variety of Indian contexts and became deeply Indianized. This process, by which pre-existent Arabo-Persian traditions were moulded to new Indian contexts, involved changes in the manner in which Islamic rule was conceived and conducted in the subcontinent. It became gradually apparent to the conquering Muslim sultans (and later to their successors, the Mughals), as well as to medieval thinkers and writers of treatises on Islamic morality, theology and political doctrine, that the conduct of Islamic statecraft in a country comprising mostly Hindus entailed shifts in Islam’s conceptual and institutional vocabulary. Islamic rulers could not command a vast country without accepting certain cultural limitations to the exercise of their power. In this process of acculturation, political Islam in India was forced to reinvent itself as a doctrine of rule. From this stemmed a second change: a shift in the meanings of key Islamic terms, especially those pertaining to statehood, and relations between rulers and subject populations. Through a close reading of a variety of texts—ranging from normative treatises and Sufi biographies to Persian court poetry—Muzaffar Alam shows that the vocabularies in use went through certain changes so fundamental that the language of Indian Islam became quite different from what was in vogue in contexts outside. With its profound deployment of primary and secondary sources to study Indo-Muslim statecraft vis-à-vis Islamic theocratic languages over an eight-hundred-year stretch, this book provides major insights into the changing nature of political Islam in India. It will interest scholars of the Islamic world, as well as all serious readers of Indian history and comparative politics.

Genres: History, Islam, India, Nonfiction, Religion, Politics

244 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 5, 2013

About the author

Muzaffar Alam is a historian and professor of south asian languages and civilization trained at Jamia Millia Islamia (New Delhi), Aligarh Muslim University and Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi), where he obtained his doctorate in history in 1977. Before joining the SALC at the University of Chicago in 2001, he taught for three decades at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and has held visiting positions in the Collège de France (Paris), Leiden University, University of Wisconsin (Madison), and the EHESS (Paris). His working languages include Persian, Arabic, Hindi and Urdu. Professor Alam has taught courses on the history of the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal empire, and he has also worked closely with students on advanced Urdu and Persian literary and historical texts.

Reviews

[Humaira Afreen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This scholarly work is much a history of ideas than political history. It is written thematically and is quite unique in its approach to shedding light on the unexplored areas of the medieval and early modern period in South Asia. It succinctly explores the nature of ethical literature, and also discusses the role of Persian during this period. The only shortcoming is its highly generalized nature where the ideas and information are broadly discussed and are not sufficiently backed by political history.
I would personally not recommend this book to anyone who is not well versed with Sultanate or Mughal historiography or political history. For those who are obsessed with scholarly works on the Sultanate and Mughal period, do give it a try. It is lucidly composed and has some mind-blowing arguments.

[MM · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good reference book.

Thesis = to deal with the political nuances of managing a diverse (religiously/culturally/linguistically) populace, during the Mughals there were several streams of Islamic and Islamic-adjacent thought that modified or were in tension with sharii requirements

Studied =
1) Sufis (Chishtis, primarily, as well as Naqshbandis)
2) Poets (Amir Khusrau, primarily)
3) Badauni

Concern = lack of clarity around the sharii requirements regarding dhimmis- more or less taken for granted that it would correspond with the most stringent/harshest views

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

So boring and difficult if you don't know anything about the topic; my entire class struggled with it.

[Azam Ch. · Rating 5 out of 5]

really insightful book,
muzaffar alam is perhaps one of the most (if not the most) insightful human beings on the topic of indo-persianate islam,

this book spoke of the language, motif, ideas and ideals in political islam and dealt from the non-secular early ideas to the secular ideals based on tusi and its massive influence,
and it also spoke to indo-sufism which is a gem and perhaps one of a kind from chisti folkfore, to muslim-pagan syncretic motifs to perennialism and blurring of lines,
and it was really beautiful and insightful to read.

loved dis book.