Contested Identities and the Muslim Qaum in Northern India: C
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)103/ ip 1, Contested Identities and the Muslim Qaum in northern India: c. 1860-1900 S Akbar Zaidi Churchill College University of Cambridge CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Abstract Contested Identities and the Muslim Qaum in northern India: c. 1860-1900 S Akbar Zaidi Using primarily published sources in Urdu from the second-half of the nineteenth century, my thesis presents evidence with regard to north Indian Muslims, which questions the idea of a homogenous, centralising, entity. at times called the Muslim community. qaum, ummah or nation. Using a large number of second-tier publicists' writings in Urdu, the thesis argues that the self-perceptions and representations of many Muslims. were far more local. parochial, disparate, multiple, and highly contested. The idea of a homogenous, levelling, sense of collective identity. or an imagined community, seem wanting in this period. This line of evidence and argumentation, also has important implications for locating the moment of separatism and identity formation amongst north Indian Muslims, and argues that this happened much later than has previously been imagined. Based on this, the thesis also argues against an anachronistic or teleological strain of historiography with regard to north Indian Muslims of this period. The main medium through which these arguments are debated, is through the Urdu print world, where a large number of new sources have been presented which underscore this difference, more than this uniformity. Whether it was in religious debates, debates around the attempt to unify - as part of a qaum - or around the for be humiliation literature reasons Muslims to at a point of zillat - utter - the points to multiple and diverse interpretations, causes and solutions. Moreover, the question of who a Muslim was', was always bitterly contested by those who claimed to be Muslims themselves. The thesis also examines the forum of the munäzara, and how pre-print forms of public engagement helped in emphasising individual identity, authority and reputation. The interplay between oral representation and the subsequent written accounts after the event, also raise questions about the fixity of print'. and about sources for historians. Using this new print material, the thesis engages broadly, with notions related to the imagined community and the public sphere, arguing that in a colonial context, much of the theory based on the European experience, needs to be rethought, for the nature and development of the public sphere/s and of the formation of communities, may have been somewhat different in this context. Statement of Length and Originality This thesis does not exceed the word limit prescribed by the Faculty of History. University of Cambridge. This dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing that is the outcome of work done in collaboration except where specifically stated in the text. S Akbar Zaidi Contents Acknowledgments Preface iii Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Chapter 2: Zillat 22 Chapter 3: Who is a Muslim? Labels and Self-identity 74 Chapter 4: Print, Identity, Differences 132 Chapter 5: Orality in Print: The creation of myth and the reinforcement of identity 191 Chapter 6: Conclusions 232 Bibliography 251 Acknowledgments After having studied, taught and done research in political economy for 30 years, I decided to get an education, and embarked on a journey to learn History. What I thought would be an easy quest, led me to understand how a completely new discipline, was taught, researched, and 'done'. During the four years I have studied and learnt History, I have acquired numerous debts and have learnt from many of the best in this field. My first debt is to the late Rajnarayan Chandavarkar, who was my first advisor at Cambridge, and welcomed me into his discipline. I started off from a completely vague and highly ambitious project, which I thought would be my thesis, but very soon after becoming a student of History, Raj instructed me on how to do research and what History was all about. Raj was my advisor for but one year before his passing, and I was his last student. I owe him many thanks for his initial advice, guidance and friendship. I was fortunate to inherit Professor Sir Christopher Bayly as my advisor after Raj's passing, and as all students of Chris know, we have been privileged to learn from and with Chris. Chris has made the material I collected in my first year into my doctoral dissertation. Without his unconditional support, in terms of availability, advice and support, I would have not achieved my goal of finishing the thesis. His encouragement proved crucial at numerous critical moments, for which I am grateful. I also acknowledge the comments and support from many leading historians. Who read chapters and offered comments on various ideas. Professors Barbara D Metcalf and CM Naim, read chapters, as did Javed Majeed. Professors Muzaffar Alam and Mushirul Hasan, offered advice and comments on key issues which helped me clarify numerous issues. I am grateful to all of them for their help. Professor Usha Sanyal deserves particular thanks for taking an interest in my work and for reading the entire thesis before completion. I owe her many, many, thanks. In order to allow me to do the research essential for this thesis, Dr TCA Raghavan, an historian himself vvho also discussed the ideas of this thesis with me as they were developing, made it possible for me to get to libraries across India, for which I am extremely grateful. In Delhi, friendship and support from Mohan, Githa, Prabir. Rahul. Ayesha, Aditya, Nivedita, Satish and Mary, made each of my visits memorable. Perhaps the one person who is most responsible for my staying the course and finishing this thesis, is historian and friend, Charu Gupta of Delhi University. Charu has been part of this thesis, from well before it began. She was instrumental in helping me to understand how History was done', and I know, that this thesis would not have been possible without Charu's constant help and encouragement. Her support has been critical in seeing this thesis through. On a personal note, there are a number of people who I need to thank for their during the this journey. Even in support, understanding and encouragement course of . my middle-aged years, both my parents took a great interest in this project and were eager that I see it through and I am very grateful for all their support and encouragement. The last year of the thesis owes much to the coffee and friendship with Afiya S Zia in Karachi, who made it far easier to deal with life's multiple challenges and tribulations. Rabab, Faiz, Amar and Laila, deserve all the thanks possible, for giving me the permission to chase my windmills. while they waited for me to return. Preface I have transliterated Urdu words into English primarily on the pattern laid out in John ' T Platts', A Dictionary of Urdu, Classical Hindi, and English. and also use Barbara Metcalf's schema where she builds and simplifies Platts' in her Islamic Revival in British India: Deoband, 1860-1900.2 I transliterate without diacriticals except where I feel an emphasis makes the word closer to the Urdu original. For instance, one word which is used a great deal in writings regarding the Muslim north Indian well- born, is incorrectly written as `ashraf '. The word needs an accent on the 'a'. and to be `ashrcf, to `akhläq' `ajläf. differ from Platts' needs written as similar or .I also use of the Urdu letters L and which he transliterates as 'g, and `c' respectively, and I use the far simpler gh and ch. Also, for the Urdu word `in' and 'I', Platts uses the same form men; I use men for `in' and main for `I'. In some cases my use of Urdu terms differs from other scholars, and one particular case is the use of the Urdu alphabet `vao' or `wao'. Some scholars use the `softer' version, `wao', such as Barelwi, Nadwa. I, however, use the `stronger' version, `vao', as in Barlevi, Nadva. I do this for all uses of `vao', except in the case of fatty a and Nawab, both of which are now fairly standardised, where I use the softer `wao'. Following Barbara Metcalf, I too, simply add an `s' to many transliterated words to make a plural, particularly, qaums, twas, raises, etc, but use the Arabic for other more standard ones like ,f mazähib, etc. For proper names, I use what has now become convention, for example, Khan, rather than Khän. In this thesis, I also use the original names as transliterated by Urdu newspapers themselves, in particular, the Oudh Punch and the Oudh Ukhbar, both of which were given on the mast-head of the two papers from Lucknow. 1 John lF Platts, Dictionari' C'r(lu, Classical Hindi, English, Oxford University Press, London, .1 O1 and 1974, first published 1884. 2 Barbara D Metcalf, Islamic Revisal in British India: Deoband 1860-1900, Oxford University Press, Ne\\ Delhi, 2002; first published Princeton, 1982. Chapter One Introduction Contemporary historiography on north Indian Muslims of the second half of the nineteenth century, for the most part, has been over-shadowed by the history of, and around, Sayyid Ahmad Khan and his Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh, and by Muslim separatism, which for some scholars, arose as a consequence of the cultural and political praxis of both. Within and around this tradition of doing history, there has also been work of considerable influence and quality on religious institutions and processes which moulded the Muslim Public, the Muslim gain, giving it a sense of community and identity after 1857.