I S I M NEWSLETTER 1 1 / 0 2 Historical Approaches 31 I n d i a CLAUDIA PRECKEL Wahhabi or Hardly is any historical Indian Muslim figure of the 1 9t h century as controversial as Sayyid Siddiq Hasan Khan al-Qannauji al-Bukhari (1832Ð1890). The reason for all the contrasting assessments of his personality National Hero? was his astonishing career: he rose from an impover- ished scholar to the son-in-law of the Prime Minister at the court of Bhopal.1 In 1871, the widowed ruler of this principality, Shah Jahan Begum (r. 1868Ð1901) chose him as her second husband. After his marriage, Siddiq Hasan Khan Siddiq Hasan Khan established the reformist move- ment Ahl-e Hadith (people of the prophetic tradi- tions), which soon became a dominant Muslim group achieve his/her aims. Hence, it may be inter- famous books by the reputed Yemenite tional network of anti-British agitators, in Bhopal. But as soon as Siddiq Hasan's career had esting to show which personal relations scholar and q a d i Muhammad b. cA l i a s h - reaching from Bhopal to Egypt, Istanbul, started, it came to a sudden end. were really important in Siddiq Hasan's ca- Shaukani (d. 1834), who gained fame mainly and the Mahdist Sudan. The British Resident reer Ð and which connections became cru- for his legal theories of rejecting the t a q l i d, Lepel Griffin immediately reacted and de- cial only to the eyes of posterity. The follow- i.e. the strict adherence to one school of law. posed Siddiq Hasan. Other prominent lead- ing gives an analysis of Siddiq Hasan's per- Shaukani insisted on the i j t i h a d, i.e. to find ers of the Ahl-e Hadith like Husain b. Muhsin sonal networks, trying to avoid the cate- the proof (d a l i l, pl. a d i l l a) of a legal opinion and Muhammad Bashir Sahsawani (d. 1908) gories of 'Wahhabi' or 'nationalist hero', in the Qur'an and s u n n a. Shaukani applied further propagated the objectives of the which have determined the characteriza- the method of i j t i h a d in his own f a t a w a, col- movement. This points to the fact that some tion of Siddiq Hasan for more than 100 lected in his voluminous Nail al-autar. people at the court of Bhopal only wanted years. Shaukani's works, all of them containing to eradicate Siddiq Hasan's dominant influ- Born into a Sayyid family, strongly con- heavy criticism on t a q l i d, spread all over ence on the Begum. Nationalist circles, how- nected to the Tariqa-ye Muhammadiya re- India starting from the late 1850s. The ever, had labelled their hero as 'a victim of form movement of Sayyid Ahmad Barelwi (d. Yemenite brothers in Bhopal as well as Sid- the British imperialism'. At first, the British 1832), Siddiq Hasan made the first steps of diq Hasan were responsible for this 'Shau- were proud to have caught 'one of the lead- his personal career as the secretary of the kani boom'. Siddiq Hasan, formerly influ- ing figures of the Indian Wahhabis'. Later Prime Minister at the court of the Islamic enced by the teachings of Shah Waliullah (d. they had to admit that they had overreacted principality of Bhopal. Since 1818 this Cen- 1762) and Sayyid Ahmad Barelwi, shifted to to intrigues and rumours circulating at the tral Indian princely state was ruled by strong the Yemenite tradition of Shaukani and Hu- court. female rulers, the Begums. Sikander Begum sain b. Muhsin. Husain wrote several i j a z a t Every group mentioned above neglected (r. 1844Ð1868) followed her mother Qudsiya (teaching permissions) to him, which al- completely that Siddiq Hasan in his works Begum (r. 1818Ð1837) to the throne (m a s- lowed him to teach several works of this had always denied Muhammad b. cA b d a l - n a d) and secured the succession of her Yemenite tradition (e.g. by the Ahdal family, Wahhab's influence on the Indian re- daughter, Shah Jahan Begum (r. 1868Ð1901). the Mizjajis, and mainly Shaukani). formists. Rather, he had accused the Najdi of Sikander Begum, on the one hand, needed At this time, around 1857, Siddiq Hasan religious fanaticism and bloodshed among support from the British to protect Bhopal's was a young scholar with limited influence. fellow Muslims. Siddiq Hasan himself was territory from the invasions of the Marathas He even lost his job as a secretary to the far away from being an anti-British agitator: and Pindaris. On the other hand, she wanted Prime Minister and had to leave Bhopal. he did not support the Mahdist revolt in to have her reign legitimated by a group of Later on, in 1859, he was allowed to return Sudan and did not even justify Islamic jihad Islamic scholars. Thus, she invited several to Bhopal and was appointed Head of the against the British in India. He opted for a ulama of reformist background to Bhopal. Bhopal State Archives by Sikander Begum. close cooperation of Muslim rulers and the Among them was Sayyid Jamal ud-Din Dih- His career gained further impetus when he British authorities within the framework of lawi (d. 1881) who had been, like Siddiq married the widowed daughter of the Prime Islamic s h a r ica. Hasan's father, an active member of the Minister Jamal ud-Din Khan. From that time All in all, Siddiq Hasan was a reformer who Tariqa-ye Muhammadiya. onwards, Siddiq Hasan was one of the most gained most of his religious knowledge influential scholars in Bhopal. His career from his Yemenite teachers. His link to The 'Yemen connection' reached its climax when the widowed ruler Yemenite scholarship even overshadowed When young Siddiq Hasan approached Shah Jahan Begum made him her Nawwab- his connection to Indian reformist circles Bhopal, Jamal ud-Din took him under his consort in 1871. Siddiq Hasan started exten- into which he was born. The combination of wing. Due to the fact that from now on he sive propagation of the theories of Shau- the analysis of Siddiq Hasan's oeuvre and lived in financially secure conditions, he kani, Ibn Taimiya, and to a lesser extent the that of his social network is the objective of could continue his personal studies, which opinions of Sayyid Ahmad Barelwi. This mix- the further research concerning this subject. Siddiq Hasan In 1885, Siddiq Hasan was deprived of all his he had had to interrupt before. In Bhopal he ture of Indian and Yemenite religious re- K h a n posts and titles by the British, thus forcing came to know two Yemenite brothers who formist teachings became fundamental to him into privacy. For a period of more than had been living in Bhopal for several years, the Ahl-e Hadith movement, of which Sid- one year, he had to retire in his own palace, namely the brothers Zain al-cA b i d i n ( d . diq Hasan was one of the most active mem- Nur Mahall, completely isolated from his 1880) and Husain b. Muhsin al-Hudaidi (d. bers. He wrote almost 300 works in Arabic, wife and his supporters. Due to this sudden 1910). Sikander Begum had met the Yemi- Persian, and Urdu dealing with the elimina- end of his career, in the Indian nationalist nite family in Hudaida during her pilgrim- tion of unlawful innovations (b i dca), the up- views prevalent since 1918 Siddiq Hasan is age to Mecca in 1863. She invited Zain al- coming approach of the Day of Judgement described as one of the first heroes of the cA b i d i n to Bhopal, because she was looking (yaum al-qiyama) and the need for reform of anti-colonial struggle. for a new qadi al-qudat (chief judge) for her the Indian society according to the model of This nationalist paradigm is overshad- state. the early Islamic community in Medina. It owed by another perspective about the his- Although Zain al-cA b i d i n did not know was mainly the insistence on i j t i h a d t h a t torical figure of Siddiq Hasan: several Mus- Persian or Urdu, nor did he belong to the caused conflicts among all Indian Muslim lim sources describe him as a puritan and a Hanafi school of law prevailing among the groups of that time, e.g. the Deobandis and Wahhabi, closely linked to the reformist Indian Muslims (he was a S h a f ici), he soon the movement of Ahmad Riza Khan Barelwi movement of Muhammad cA b d a l - W a h h a b became acquainted with the situation in (d. 1921), who were all strict followers of the (d. 1762) in today's Saudi Arabia. Besides Bhopal. After a short time, he knew all rele- Hanafiya. N o t e s these contrasting views, the sources lack an vant manuals of Hanafi law in India and Siddiq Hasan's enemies in Bhopal's as well 1 . Claudia Preckel, The Begums of Bhopal (New Delhi, assessment of the 'real' Siddiq Hasan. As a wrote his legal decrees (f a t a w a) according as in other Muslim circles chose the easy 2000); Shaharyar Muhammad Khan, The Begums of consequence, it is necessary to apply chang- to that school. Later, he invited his younger way to get rid of him: they denounced him B h o p a l (London, 2000).