DOCSLIB.ORG

Performing and Supplicating Mānik Pīr

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Performing and Supplicating Mānik Pīr Performing and Supplicating Mānik Pīr Infrapolitics in the Domain of Popular Islam Syed Jamil Ahmed In isolated rural pockets of the ethno-linguistic region of Bengal, which sprawls across an international border separating Bangladesh and West Bengal (India), a number of performances are held in honor of a Sufi culture-hero popularly known asM anik Pir.1 These performances assert that Manik Pir is a miracle worker who was born by the generative action of a flower and not the conjugal union of humans, and that the pir possesses the power to reinstate eyesight, enable pregnancy, restore life to animals, and empower the lame. He can also restore dead humans to life and cure all forms of illness. Numerous devotees supplicate Manik Pir in times 1. Among the Sufis, the term pīr, derived from the Persian, denotes a spiritual director or guide. Syed Jamil Ahmed is a director based in Bangladesh, and Professor at the Department of Theatre and Music, University of Dhaka. He has received two Fulbright fellowships (1990, 2005), has published essays in Research in Drama Education, Asian Theatre Journal, TDR, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, South Asian Popular Culture, and New Theatre Quarterly, and has taught at Antioch College, USA (1990), King Alfred’s College, UK (2002), and San Francisco City College, USA (2005). His book- length publications in English are Acinpākhi Infinity: Indigenous Theatre in Bangladesh (University Press Limited, 2000), In Praise of Nirañjan: Islam, Theatre, and Bangladesh (Pathak Samabesh, 2001) and Reading against the Orientalist Grain: Performance and Politics Entwined with a Buddhist Strain (Anderson Printing House Private Limited, 2008). TDR: The Drama Review 53:2 (T202) Summer 2009. ©2009 New York University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 51 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram.2009.53.2.51 by guest on 24 September 2021 of distress, especially when all other means fail.2 The performances and rituals supplicating Manik Pir function as “infrapolitics” of the subaltern classes, i.e., “a wide variety of low-profile forms of resistance that dare not speak in their own name” (Scott 1990:19), effectively generating “resistance of a different kind: dispersed in the fields we do not con- ventionally associate with the political; residing […] sometimes in what looks like cultural difference” (O’Hanlon 2000:110). The Figure 2. Sahar Ālī Sardār as Mānik Pīr brings Kānu Ghos. (the doll) back to “invisibility” of infrapolitics life in a mānik pīrer gān performance at Kāsimpur village in Sātkhirā district, is largely by design, part of a 23 October 1995. (Photo by Syed Jamil Ahmed) tactical choice of the subal- tern classes facing situations of fear, intimidation, and, borrowing a phrase from Marx, “[t]he dull compulsion of economic relations” (1965:737) that enforces subjection. Hardly traceable in the public transcript, (i.e., “the open interaction between subordinates and those who dominate” [Scott 1990:2]), the subaltern classes articulate their infrapolitics as a hidden transcript or the “discourse that takes place ‘offstage,’ beyond direct observation by the powerholders” (4). In my examination of how infrapolitics operates in the domain of “popular Islam,” a term that refers to, for the purpose of this essay, “the derivative and synthetic patterns of the little tradition characteristic of communities on the periphery rather than at the center of a putative Islamic civilization” (Gaffney 1992:39), I first explore indigenous performances of Manik Pir and then investigate the rituals of his cult. Both of these sections remain anthropologically informed and attempt to unravel the devices that the cult of Manik Pir generates in laboring against threats of extinction and assimilation while at the same time seeking to enforce domi- nance by exercising symbolic violence and promoting the cult’s religious habitus. A substantial number of popular (“folk”) genres—such as tales, theatrical performances, songs, and religious rituals—operate in a realm that lies strategically between public and hidden transcripts, where they articulate disguised ideological insubordination and critique the dominant classes “while hiding behind anonymity or behind innocuous understanding of their conduct” (Scott 1990:xiii). 2. All the information incorporated in this essay regarding performances and practices related to the cult of Mānik Pīr, unless stated otherwise, have been gathered by field-level research investigations. Information from Sātkhirā and Khulnā districts in Bangladesh, and Kolkata, Nadiyā, and North 24-Parganas in West Bengal has been gathered by the author from four investigations conducted on 23 October 1995 (in Sātkhirā), 7–8 October 2007 (in Sātkhirā), 2–3 November 2007 (in Sātkhirā and Khulnā), and 27–30 March 2008 (in Kolkata and North 24- Parganas, West Bengal). Alim al-Razi, a PhD candidate at the Department of Theatre and Music, the University of Dhaka, has gathered information from Syhlet; Santanu Halder, an ex-student of the Department of Theatre and Music, has collected from Kotālipādā, in Gopālgañj district; Ānanda Dāsa, local correspondent of the Daily Sangbad in Jessore, from Jessore district and Saymon Zakaria from Kuśtiyā district. Figure 1. (previous page) A performance of mānik jātrā by the Śobhnā Mānik Jātrā troupe on 2–3 November 2007, at Śobhnā village in Khulna district. Sitting on the “throne” is Jayanūr Bādśāh, SyedJamil Ahmed the king of Bālur Bāzār. The musicians are sitting to his left and right. (Photo by Alim Al Razi) 52 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram.2009.53.2.51 by guest on 24 September 2021 Figure 3. Sahar Ālī Sardār, a fakir of Mānik Pīr, Figure 4. One of the musicians as Maynā Bud.i begs invoking Mānik Pīr in a mānik pīrer gān forgiveness from Sahar Ālī Sardār as Mānik Pīr, performance at Kāsimpur village in Sātkhirā in a mānik pīrer gān performance at Kāsimpur district, 23 October 1995. (Photo by Syed Jamil village in Sātkhirā district, 23 October 1995. Ahmed) (Photo by Syed Jamil Ahmed) Performing Manik Pir in the Domain of Popular Islam It was an October evening in 1995. I was sitting on the straw-strewn ground of the courtyard of a farmer’s homestead in Kasimpur, an average village not far from Satkhira, a town in south- western Bangladesh. A little away from me, at the center of the courtyard, the asar (performance space) was already set up for a manik pirer gan performance. A mat made of date-palm leaf lay awkwardly on the ground; it was not large enough to cover the nine foot square space. At its center was a bamboo pole that held up an awning also providing support for a gas-pressure lantern emitting a harsh glare. Children and adult males sat all around the asar, their attention silently focused on the performers. Women sat further away, where the glare of the lamp had softened considerably. A substantial number of the spectators were Hindus, Muslims being the majority by only a slim margin. On the western side of the asar lay the (a low wooden seat), asan Performing and Supplicating M Supplicating and Performing on which was placed a camar (a whisk; fig. 2) and thea sa (a small baton with an inverted crescent attached to its top). Five musicians were playing their instruments: the harmonium player sitting on the side opposite to the asan; the judi and the dhol players on the northern side; and opposite to them the prem-judi and the cau-tara players.3 Three of them were Hindus and two, Muslims. They were all males, farmers by profession. The gayen (lead narrator) was a Muslim. Wearing all white—a pañjabi4 and a pair of pyjamas—he was standing near the center of the asar facing the asan as he sang a song invoking Manik Pir and inviting him to occupy the asan (fig. 3). a 3. The judi is a pair of cymbals; the dhol, a two-sided drum; the prem-judi, a percussion instrument made of two P nik rectangular wooden pieces; and the cau-tārā is a four-stringed instrument. i 4. A pāñjābi is a loose full-sleeved shirt worn as an upper garment. See figures 3 and 4. r 53 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram.2009.53.2.51 by guest on 24 September 2021 The gayen was Mohammad Sahar Ali Sardar, a fakir5 of Manik Pir from the nearby Akhrakhola village who had married and settled down as a farmer after obtaining permission from his guru Takabbar Ali Baul (from Bhañga village in the same district). Sahar Ali is a mechanic of shallow tube well pumps and sells medicine at local hats (weekly markets), where he sings marfati songs6 to draw a crowd. I was on a field trip for my doctoral research on the indigenous theatre of Bangladesh when I accidentally landed at the site of this performance of manik pirer gan. In rural pockets of Satkhira administrative district, farmers (mostly Hindus) often pledge (manat) such a performance to Manik Pir when a member of a family is seriously ill or when pestilence strikes their cattle. After the pestilence passes or the ailment has been overcome, a performance is sponsored in fulfilment of the pledge. On this occasion, a Muslim farmer had sponsored the performance as a pledged offering after members of his family had been freed from a long bout of persistent sicknesses of various kinds. Sahar Ali began to perform “Kanu Ghošer Pala” (The Episode of Kanu Ghoš), possibly the most popular piece related to Manik Pir in Bangladesh today. As he sang, describing as well as enacting what transpired in the lyrics, the musicians played their instruments and then joined in to sing the refrain.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Odisha Review
    ODISHA REVIEW VOL. LXXI NO. 6 JANUARY - 2015 MADHUSUDAN PADHI, I.A.S. Commissioner-cum-Secretary RANJIT KUMAR MOHANTY, O.A.S, ( SAG) Director DR. LENIN MOHANTY Editor Editorial Assistance Production Assistance Bibhu Chandra Mishra Debasis Pattnaik Bikram Maharana Sadhana Mishra Cover Design & Illustration D.T.P. & Design Manas Ranjan Nayak Hemanta Kumar Sahoo Photo Raju Singh Manoranjan Mohanty The Odisha Review aims at disseminating knowledge and information concerning Odisha’s socio-economic development, art and culture. Views, records, statistics and information published in the Odisha Review are not necessarily those of the Government of Odisha. Published by Information & Public Relations Department, Government of Odisha, Bhubaneswar - 751001 and Printed at Odisha Government Press, Cuttack - 753010. For subscription and trade inquiry, please contact : Manager, Publications, Information & Public Relations Department, Loksampark Bhawan, Bhubaneswar - 751001. Five Rupees / Copy E-mail : [email protected] Visit : http://odisha.gov.in Contact : 9937057528(M) CONTENTS Messages Editorial Shree Jagannath : Lord of the Universe Dr. Pradeep Ku. Choudhury ... 1 Good Governance ... 5 Making of the Constitution of India : A Critical Analysis Dr. Abhijit Sahoo ... 7 Dr. Tusarkanta Pattanaik Lion-hearted Fighter Jayee Rajguru Samiksha Das ... 16 Vivekananda : The Humanist Dr. Somarani Chand ... 18 Swell of 'Purna Swaraj' in Odisha and the Importance of 26th January Dr. Janmejay Choudhury ... 21 India's Missile Programme and Odisha : A Study Sai Biswanath Tripathy ... 25 My Grandfather’s Shop - a Space for Culture and Translation ... 31 Indecent Representation of Women : Role of Media and Law Deepak Ranjan Sahoo ... 35 The Still Sad Music of Dangara Field (Essay on Bonda agriculture system.) Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • Sufi and Bhakti Performers and Followers at the Margins Of
    religions Article Sufi and Bhakti Performers and Followers at the Margins of the Global South: Communication Strategies to Negotiate Situated Adversities Uttaran Dutta The Hugh Downs School of Human Communication, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA; [email protected] Received: 13 January 2019; Accepted: 15 March 2019; Published: 18 March 2019 Abstract: Throughout the globe (particularly in the global South), religious orthodoxy and their discriminatory intolerances are negatively impacting religious freedom of underserved populations, particularly those who practice/follow alternate spiritual praxis, like the Sufi and Bhakti performers from rural and geographically remote spaces of South Asia. Hindu and Islamic fundamentalist discourses/doctrines are propagating their conservative religious agendas and thereby creating tensions and separatism across the subcontinent. Such religious extremism is responsible for the threatening and even murdering of nonsectarian torchbearers, and their free thoughts. This study focused on various alternate communication strategies espoused by Sufi and bhakti performers and followers in order to negotiate and overcome their marginalized existence as well as to promote the plurality of voices and values in the society. This article identified the following communication strategies—innovative usages of language of inversion or enigmatic language; strategic camouflaging of authors’/writers’ identity, and intergenerational communication of discourses and spiritual values to ensure freedom and survival of their traditions. Keywords: Sufi; bhakti; South Asia; enigmatic language; performance 1. Introduction Throughout the globe, religious dogma and orthodoxies are negatively affecting, and even sometimes destroying, religious freedom of underserved and marginalized populations, particularly those who practice and follow alternate spiritual praxis (Mamoon 2008; Robinson 2001). Rural and geographically remote spaces of South Asia are not an exception.
    [Show full text]
  • List of Municipalities Sl.No
    LIST OF MUNICIPAL BODIES WHERE ELECTIONS WILL BE HELD IN THE MIDDLE OF 2010 SL.NO. DISTRICT NAME OF MUNICIPALITY 1 Cooch Behar Municipality 2 Tufanganj Municipality Cooch Behar 3 Dinhata Municipality 4 Mathabhanga Municipality 5 Jalpaiguri Jalpaiguri Municipality 6 English Bazar Municipality Malda 7 Old Malda Municipality 8 Murshidabad Municipality 9 Jiaganj-Azimganj Municipality 10 Kandi Municipality Murshidabad 11 Jangipur Municipality 12 Dhulian Municipality 13 Beldanga Municipality 14 Nabadwip Municipality 15 Santipur Municipality 16 Ranaghat Municipality 17Nadia Birnagar Municipality 18 Kalyani Municipality 19 Gayeshpur Municipality 20 Taherpur Municipality 21 Kanchrapara Municipality 22 Halishar Municipality 23 Naihati Municipality 24 Bhatpara Municipality 25North 24-Parganas Garulia Municipality 26 North Barrackkpore Municipality 27 Barrackpore Municipality 28 Titagarh Municipality 29 Khardah Municipality \\Mc-4\D\Munc. Elec-2010\LIST OF MUNICIPALITIES SL.NO. DISTRICT NAME OF MUNICIPALITY 30 Kamarhati Municipality 31 Baranagar Municipality 32 North Dum Dum Municipality 33 Bongaon Municipality 34 Gobardanga Municipality 35North 24-Parganas Barasat Municipality 36 Baduria Municipality 37 Basirhat Municipality 38 Taki Municipality 39 New Barrackpore Municipality 40 Ashokenagar-Kalyangarh Municipality 41 Bidhannagar Municipality 42 Budge Budge Municipality 43South 24-Parganas Baruipur Municipality 44 Jaynagar-Mazilpur Municipality 45 Howrah Bally Municipality 46 Hooghly-Chinsurah Municipality 47 Bansberia Municipality 48 Serampore Municipality 49 Baidyabati Municipality 50 Champadany Municipality 51 Bhadreswar Municipality Hooghly 52 Rishra Municipality 53 Konnagar Municipality 54 Arambagh Municipality 55 Uttarpara Kotrung Municipality 56 Tarakeswar Municipality 57 Chandernagar Municipal Corporation 58 Tamluk Municipality Purba Medinipur 59 Contai Municipality 60 Chandrakona Municipality 61 Ramjibanpur Municipality 62Paschim Medinipur Khirpai Municipality 63 Kharar Municipality 64 Khargapur Municipality 65 Ghatal Municipality \\Mc-4\D\Munc.
    [Show full text]
  • A History of Ottoman Poetry
    ; All round a thousand nightingales and many an hundred lay. ' Come, let us turn us to the Court of Allah: Still may wax The glory of the Empire of the King triumphant aye, 2 So long as Time doth for the radiant sun-taper at dawn A silver candle-stick upon th' horizon edge display, ^ Safe from the blast of doom may still the sheltering skirt of Him Who holds the world protect the taper of thy life, we pray. Glory the comrade, Fortune, the cup-bearer at thy feast; * The beaker-sphere, the goblet steel-enwrought, of gold inlay ! I give next a translation of the famous Elegy on Sultan Suleyman. It is, as usual, in the terkib-bend form. There is one other stanza, the last of all, which I have not given. It is a panegyric on Suleyman's son and successor Selim II, such as it was incumbent on Baqi, in his capacity of court poet, to introduce into a poem intended for the sovereign but it strikes a false note, and is out of harmony with, and altogether unworthy of, the rest of the poem. The first stanza is addressed to the reader. Elegy on Sultan Sulcym;in. [214] thou, fool-tangled in the incsli of fame and glory's snare! How long this lusl of things of 'I'linc lliat ceaseless lluwolli o'er? Hold tliou in mitiil thai day vvliicli shall be hist of life's fair spring, When Mii:<ls the I uli|)-tinlcd cheek to auluniu-lcaf must wear, » Wiieii lliy lasl (Iwclling-placc must Ije, e'en like tlie dregs', tlic diisl, « When mi<l ihe iiowl of cheer must fail the stone I'injc's haml doth licar.
    [Show full text]
  • Understanding the Concept of Islamic Sufism
    Journal of Education & Social Policy Vol. 1 No. 1; June 2014 Understanding the Concept of Islamic Sufism Shahida Bilqies Research Scholar, Shah-i-Hamadan Institute of Islamic Studies University of Kashmir, Srinagar-190006 Jammu and Kashmir, India. Sufism, being the marrow of the bone or the inner dimension of the Islamic revelation, is the means par excellence whereby Tawhid is achieved. All Muslims believe in Unity as expressed in the most Universal sense possible by the Shahadah, la ilaha ill’Allah. The Sufi has realized the mysteries of Tawhid, who knows what this assertion means. It is only he who sees God everywhere.1 Sufism can also be explained from the perspective of the three basic religious attitudes mentioned in the Qur’an. These are the attitudes of Islam, Iman and Ihsan.There is a Hadith of the Prophet (saw) which describes the three attitudes separately as components of Din (religion), while several other traditions in the Kitab-ul-Iman of Sahih Bukhari discuss Islam and Iman as distinct attitudes varying in religious significance. These are also mentioned as having various degrees of intensity and varieties in themselves. The attitude of Islam, which has given its name to the Islamic religion, means Submission to the Will of Allah. This is the minimum qualification for being a Muslim. Technically, it implies an acceptance, even if only formal, of the teachings contained in the Qur’an and the Traditions of the Prophet (saw). Iman is a more advanced stage in the field of religion than Islam. It designates a further penetration into the heart of religion and a firm faith in its teachings.
    [Show full text]
  • Witness to Marvelssufism and Literary Imagination
    6 Pragmatics of Pīr Kathā Emplotment and Extra-Discursive Effects In the Kali Age people reap misery as the fruit of their actions. Recognizing that, the Lord created a way to alleviate the suffering. For the express purpose of saving all peoples, that Great Protector manifested himself in this world, wearing the garb of one who begs for food. The Lord Himself extended his immanent dominion across the earth. He appeared as Satya Pīr, the perfection of all phakīrs. Listen one and all and be glad at heart, for your misery will flee, your afflictions will disappear, and happiness will to you accrue. Dvija Ghanarām has composed this sweet song— Now Lord, may you quickly fulfill every heart’s dreams and desires. —Ghanarām Cakravarttī, Satyanārāyaṇ ras sindhu 6.1. FROM LITERARY EMPLOTMENT TO SOCIAL DISCOURSE It would have been easy to have ended this book with the conclusions of the last chapter, marking the subtle shift in the tenor of the narratives of the fictionalpīrs and bibīs. The literatures of Satya Pīr taken by themselves—and they constitute the largest block of stories dedicated to a single figure—not only confirm this trans- formation but demonstrate how the tales enter the political world of the last two centuries. In a sense, the tales of Satya Pīr serve as bookends to the pīr kathās; they are the earliest of the fictional pīrs to emerge in the manuscript archive, and they actively span the centuries with new stories being generated up to the pres- ent. Especially notable is the upsurge of activity that occurred with the advent of inexpensive printing in the decades of the late nineteenth and early twentieth 189 190 Chapter Six centuries.
    [Show full text]
  • Islamic Esotericism in the Bengali Bāul Songs of Lālan Fakir Keith Cantú [email protected]
    Research Article Correspondences 7, no. 1 (2019): 109–165 Special Issue: Islamic Esotericism Islamic Esotericism in the Bengali Bāul Songs of Lālan Fakir Keith Cantú [email protected] Abstract This article makes use of the author’s field research as well as primary and secondary textual sour- ces to examine Islamic esoteric content, as mediated by local forms of Bengali Sufism, in Bāul Fa- kiri songs. I provide a general summary of Bāul Fakiri poets, including their relationship to Islam as well as their departure from Islamic orthodoxy, and present critical annotated translations of five songs attributed to the nineteenth-century Bengali poet Lālan Fakir (popularly known as “Lalon”). I also examine the relationship of Bāul Fakiri sexual rites (sādhanā) and principles of embodiment (dehatattva), framed in Islamic terminology, to extant scholarship on Haṭhayoga and Tantra. In the final part of the article I emphasize how the content of these songs demonstrates the importance of esotericism as a salient category in a Bāul Fakiri context and offer an argument for its explanatory power outside of domains that are perceived to be exclusively Western. Keywords: Sufism; Islam; Esotericism; Metaphysics; Traditionalism The history of the Bāul Fakirs includes centuries of religious innovation in which various poets have gradually created a folk tradition highly unique to Bengal, that is, Bangladesh and West Bengal, India. While there have been several important works published on Bāul Fakirs in recent years,1 in this ar- ticle I aim to contribute specifically to scholarship on Islamic esoteric con- tent in Bāul Fakiri songs, as mediated by local forms of Sufism.2 Analyses in 1.
    [Show full text]
  • District Sl No Name Post Present Place of Posting S 24 Pgs 1 TANIA
    District Sl No Name Post Present Place of Posting PADMERHAT RURAL S 24 Pgs 1 TANIA SARKAR GDMO HOSPITAL S 24 Pgs 2 DR KIRITI ROY GDMO HARIHARPUR PHC S 24 Pgs 3 Dr. Monica Chattrejee, GDMO Kalikapur PHC S 24 Pgs 4 Dr. Debasis Chakraborty, GDMO Sonarpur RH S 24 Pgs 5 Dr. Tusar Kanti Ghosh, GDMO Fartabad PHC S 24 Pgs 6 Dr. Iman Bhakta GDMO Kalikapur PHC Momrejgarh PHC, Under S 24 Pgs 7 Dr. Uday Sankar Koyal GDMO Padmerhat RH, Joynagar - I Block S 24 Pgs 8 Dr. Dipak Kumar Ray GDMO Nolgara PHC S 24 Pgs 9 Dr. Basudeb Kar GDMO Jaynagar R.H. S 24 Pgs 10 Dr. Amitava Chowdhury GDMO Jaynagar R.H. Dr. Sambit Kumar S 24 Pgs 11 GDMO Jaynagar R.H. Mukharjee Nalmuri BPHC,Bhnagore S 24 Pgs 12 Dr. Snehadri Nayek GDMO I Block,S 24 Pgs Jirangacha S 24 Pgs 13 Dr. Shyama pada Banarjee GDMO BPHC(bhangar-II Block) Jirangacha S 24 Pgs 14 Dr. Himadri sekhar Mondal GDMO BPHC(bhangar-II Block) S 24 Pgs 15 Dr. Tarek Anowar Sardar GDMO Basanti BPHC S 24 Pgs 16 Debdeep Ghosh GDMO Basanti BPHC S 24 Pgs 17 Dr.Nitya Ranjan Gayen GDMO Jharkhali PHC S 24 Pgs 18 GDMO SK NAWAZUR RAHAMAN GHUTARI SARIFF PHC S 24 Pgs 19 GDMO DR. MANNAN ZINNATH GHUTARI SARIFF PHC S 24 Pgs 20 Dr.Manna Mondal GDMO Gosaba S 24 Pgs 21 Dr. Aminul Islam Laskar GDMO Matherdighi BPHC S 24 Pgs 22 Dr. Debabrata Biswas GDMO Kuchitalahat PHC S 24 Pgs 23 Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • Ideology of the Faraizi Movement of Bengal History 2001
    IDEOLOGY OF THE FARAIZI MOVEMENT OF BENGAL ABSTRACT i THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF THE il "^ »L;i. ! HISTORY I i ^ if By » <t MUHAMMAD AHSAN ULLAH Under the Supervision of PROF. ISHTIYAQ AHMAD ZILLI CENTRE OF ADVANCED STUDY DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH (INDIA) 2001 ABSTRACT The Faraizi movement of Bengal was the first organized Islamic revivalist movement in British India, it was not merely a religious movement but its activities also extended to socio-economic, political, cultural, dawah, and agrarian spheres. Its genesis could be traced to local factors such as religious^ socio-economic and political conditions prevailing at that time in Bengal. But it was also influenced by the general awakening in the Muslim world and the rise of Islamic revivalist movements during the 19**' century throughout the Muslim world. This movement was launched by Haji Shariatullah (17S1-1840) in the first quarter of nineteen century in British Bengal. The basic aims and objectives of the movement were related to the religious reform and restoration of the true Islamic spirit but gradually its activities were extended to the spheres of Politics, economy and culture as without all round upliftment of the Muslims no real change could be expected to take place. Morover, as Islam does not countenance a division among the various sphere^ of human society, the Faraizis could not have legitimately looked over these aspects. 2- This thesis seeks to put the the Faraizi movement in its correct perspective by working out its ideology in relation to not only religion but other aspects of its activities which covered politics, economy, culture etc.
    [Show full text]
  • The 2021 Syrian Presidential Election
    July 2021 The 2021 Syrian Presidential Election Political deadlock and Syrian Burnout Hadia Kawikji Introduction The legitimacy of any position is based on two main elements, first the manner in which the individual attained the position, and second is the ability of the individual to fulfill the related responsibilities. For the first point, Bashar al-Assad’s Presidency in Syria was attained through heredity within a ludicrous system following his father who seized the power via a military coup. Both father and son ruled Syria for the last half a century with de-facto legitimacy, through nominal referendums completely dominated by the Ba’ath party. This was instead of an election that reflects the Syrian people’s will. In terms of the ability to fulfill the responsibilities of the presidency, many indicators showcase the regime’s failures to the Syrians. The recent years have witnessed the collapse of the Syrian pound to unprecedented levels, along with the displacement of more than half of the Syrian population,1 and the rise of extreme poverty to 82%,2 with the fact that 37% of the Syrian territories are outside of the regime’s control. Additionally, the violation of the Syrian decision is evidenced by the control of the Lebanese “Hezbollah”, Iranian militias, and Russian troops controlling over roughly 85% of the Syrian borders, finally yet importantly, the Syrian regime’s inability to protect its territory is illustrated by the haphazard attacks by Israel on Syrian land at any given time. In March 2011, the majority of the Syrian people called for the removal of the Assad regime and the transition to a democratic country.
    [Show full text]
  • Yusuf Book Review
    http://www.bmri.org.uk Book Review Aspects of Historical and Cultural Legacy of Muslim Bengal Historical and Cultural Aspects of the Islamic Inscriptions of Bengal: A Reflective Study of Some New Epigraphic Discoveries, by Mohammad Yusuf Siddiq, Dhaka: The International Centre for Study of Bengal Art, 2009, HB, pp316, Tk.2000/ US $ 45. Professor Dr Mohammad Yusuf Siddiq is a well-known scholar in the field of Islamic History, Culture and Civilization. Having studied and taught at a number of universities in the East as well as the West, he has also undertaken research in the field of Arabic and Persian inscriptions of Bengal. His writings have been received well and they have also been translated into numerous languages. At present he is the H. E. C. Professor of Islamic History, Civilization and Culture at the University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan as well as a visiting faculty member at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). The book under review consists of eight chapters and four appendices as well as a bibliography and index. In the “Introduction: Epigraphy of Muslim Bengal”, the author observes that pre-Islamic Sanskrit and Pali inscriptions are generally informative rather than calligraphic in intent. The significance of calligraphy (viz. the art of writing and elegant penmanship) in Islamic culture has been discussed in the book in some detail, with particular focus on the role of inscriptions in Islamic buildings. He disagrees with the earlier scholars that inscriptions of Bengal were mostly rendered in Naskh character. On the contrary, he emphasizes that most of the Sultanate inscriptions are of Thulth character.
    [Show full text]
  • Varieties of South Asian Islam Francis Robinson Research Paper No.8
    Varieties of South Asian Islam Francis Robinson Research Paper No.8 Centre for Research September 1988 in Ethnic Relations University of Warwick Coventry CV4 7Al Francis Robinson is a Reader in History at the Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, University of London. For the past twenty years he has worked on Muslim politics and Islamic institutions in South Asia and is the author of many articles relating to these fields. His main books are: Separatism Among Indian Muslims: The Politics of the United Provinces' Muslims 1860-1923 (Cambridge, 1974); Atlas of the Islamic World since 1500 (Oxford, 1982); Islam in Modern South Asia (Cambridge, forthcoming); Islamic leadership in South Asia: The 'Ulama of Farangi Mahall from the seventeenth to the twentieth century (Cambridge, forthcoming). Varieties of South Asian Islam1 Over the past forty years Islamic movements and groups of South Asian origin have come to be established in Britain. They offer different ways, although not always markedly different ways, of being Muslim. Their relationships with each other are often extremely abrasive. Moreover, they can have significantly different attitudes to the state, in particular the non-Muslim state. An understanding of the origins and Islamic orientations of these movements and groups would seem to be of value in trying to make sense of their behaviour in British society. This paper will examine the following movements: the Deobandi, the Barelvi, the Ahl-i Hadith, the Tablighi Jamaat, the Jamaat-i Islami, the Ahmadiyya, and one which is unlikely to be distinguished in Britain by any particular name, but which represents a very important Islamic orientation, which we shall term the Modernist.2 It will also examine the following groups: Shias and Ismailis.
    [Show full text]