Ahmad, Shazia (2015) A new dispensation in Islam : the Ahmadiyya and the law in Colonial India, 1872 to 1939. PhD Thesis. SOAS, University of London. http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/id/eprint/20372 Copyright © and Moral Rights for this PhD Thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non‐commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This PhD Thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. When referring to this PhD Thesis, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the PhD Thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full PhD Thesis title", name of the School or Department, PhD PhD Thesis, pagination. A New Dispensation in Islam: the Ahmadiyya and the Law in Colonial India, 1872 to 1939 Shazia Ahmad Thesis submitted for the degree of PhD 2015 Department History SOAS, University of London 1 Declaration for SOAS MPhil thesis I have read and understood regulation 17.9 of the Regulations for students of the SOAS, University of London concerning plagiarism. I undertake that all the material presented for examination is my own work and has not been written for me, in whole or in part, by any other person. I also undertake that any quotation or paraphrase from the published or unpublished work of another person has been duly acknowledged in the work which I present for examination. Signed: ____________________________ Date: _________________ 2 Abstract This thesis makes the Ahmadiyya a case for examining how colonial law in India defined Muslims, from the late nineteenth century through the 1930s. Contrary to the mainstream discourse on Muslim in India, which examines sectarian Muslim identity but discounts social stratification among Muslims, this thesis shows that there was a material basis for how the law differentiated Muslims that contributed to the creation of sectarian difference. First, it examines structures of landownership and social relations in personal law in colonial India. In the Punjab, customary law created a legal distinction between urban and rural Muslims, while blurring the legal distinction between rural Hindus and Muslims. Second, it examines the emergence of the Ahmadiyya among Muslim landowners in central Punjab within this legal context. Third, it looks at the Ahmadiyya's inclusion within Punjab’s structure of political representation, which maintained the rural and urban distinction, privileged rural Muslims, and marginalized urban Muslims. Fourth, it looks at an all-India structure of political representation, which subverted the legal distinction among urban and rural Muslims in the Punjab and delegitimized the Ahmadiyya as representative of Muslims. Finally, it examines all-India legislation introduced in the 1930s by Indian Muslims. These legislative reforms would have restructured Muslim personal law into a distinct legal system but were impeded by structures maintained through Punjab customary law. Ahmadis gave primacy to freedom of belief in Islam, including to conversion, which depended upon porous social boundaries between Hindu and Muslim personal law, as well as between caste communities. It concludes that the Ahmadiyya’s ‘sectarian’ interpretation of Islamic law, contrary to Muslims who claimed ‘orthodox’ authority, was incompatible with the notion of a Muslim legal system that entailed the construction of impermeable social boundaries between communities in India. This thesis has implications for the discourse on human rights and Islamic law. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.....................................................................................................................5. Introduction:.The.‘Ahmadi.Problem’............................................................................................6. Chapter.1:!Community.Boundaries.in.Personal.Law. Introduction....................................................................................................................................................17. Personal.Law..................................................................................................................................................20. The.Rural.and.Urban.Divide.in.the.Punjab........................................................................................31. Evolutionary.Legal.Theories.and.Islamic.Law.................................................................................45. Muslim.Sects...................................................................................................................................................51. Summary..........................................................................................................................................................54. Chapter.2:.The.Ahmadiyya:.a.‘Muslim.Sect’. Introduction....................................................................................................................................................57. Qadian................................................................................................................................................................59. The.Doctrinal.Boundaries.of.the.Ahmadiyya...................................................................................74. The.Ahmadiyya.from.a.Legal.Perspective.........................................................................................90. Summary.......................................................................................................................................................101. Chapter.3:.Divisible.Sovereignty:.Customary.Law.and.Islamic.Law. Introduction.................................................................................................................................................103. Divisible.Sovereignty...............................................................................................................................105. Muslim.Political.Allegiance...................................................................................................................113. Ahmadis.Across.Political.Boundaries...............................................................................................132. Summary.......................................................................................................................................................152. Chapter.4:.Muhammad.Iqbal’s.Concept.of.the.Muslim.Community.and.Exclusion. of.the.Ahmadiyya. Introduction.................................................................................................................................................155. Muhammad.Iqbal’s.Argument.............................................................................................................156. Muslim.Political.Representation.in.th.1930s................................................................................168. The.Muslim.Community.in.Punjab.Politics....................................................................................186. Summary.......................................................................................................................................................197. Chapter.5:.Apostasy.and.Conversion. Introduction.................................................................................................................................................200. Punjab.Legal.Cases....................................................................................................................................204. The.Muslim.Personal.Law.Application.Act.....................................................................................217. The.Muslim.Dissolution.of.Marriage.Act.........................................................................................227. Summary.......................................................................................................................................................234. Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................237. Bibliography.......................................................................................................................................247. 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to many people who have helped me during my research and writing of this thesis. Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisor Shabnum Tejani for her kind encouragement and patience. Her insistence on clarity and straightforward feedback shaped this thesis tremendously. I would like to thank Eleanor Newbigin, who generously took the time to read and give critical feedback on the first draft of this thesis. I would also like to thank the members of my supervisory committee at SOAS, Martin Lau and Peter Robb for their guidance. Martin Lau suggested that I approach my topic of how the law defined Islam in colonial India by examining marriage disputes, which profoundly influenced the direction that this thesis took. I thank the University of London, Central Research Fund for funding my fieldwork in Pakistan. During my fieldwork in Pakistan, Wardah, Mariam, Roshan and their families hosted me and looked after my wellbeing, and I am grateful to them. I thank the staff at the Khilafat Library in Rabwah and the Library