HISTORY. Subject : History (For under graduate student) Paper No. : Paper - IV History of Modern India

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1 History of India 1 HISTORY Subject : History (For under graduate student) Paper No. : Paper - IV History of Modern India Topic No. & Title : Topic - 6 Cultural Changes and Social & Religious Reform Movements Lecture No. & Title : Lecture - 7 Reformism & Revivalism Among Indian Muslims FAQs 1. What was the nature of the Muslim community in nineteenth century India? The Muslims were by no means a homogenous community. In 1881 they constituted 19.7% of the population, but in the Punjab they constituted a majority (52%) and in Bengal the census of 1872 revealed that the Muslims represented nearly half the population (49%). Apart from such dissimilarities in demographic characteristics, there

2 History of India 2 were also sectarian differences (Sunni-Shia), linguistic barriers and economic disparities. 2. What picture of the Muslim community can be observed in Bengal? The Bengal Muslims were a highly fragmented group, vaguely united by a common allegiance to the essentials of the Islamic faith. There were considerable economic differences within the community, with a minority of large landed magnates at the top and a majority of poor peasants at the bottom. There were Urdu speaking urban elite, and Urdu-Bengali speaking mofussil landlords. The peasantry were Bengali speaking, mainly residing in the swampy low lying areas of east Bengal and were mostly backward and uneducated. 3. How did a distinct Muslim identity develop among the Bengal Muslims? Various Islamic reform movements started developing at a mass level from the early nineteenth

3 History of India 3 century, which rejected the earlier syncretism and sought to Islamise and Arabicise the culture, language and daily habits of the Muslim peasants, by purging whatever they thought to be of un- Islamic origin. Various agencies became the medium for imparting a sense of Muslim or even Arabic origin, like itinerant mullahs, bahas or religious gatherings and anjumans or local associations. The first Muslim organization in Bengal was the Anjuman-i-Islami established in 1855 with the objective of promoting the interests of the community. 4. Why did the Muslim gentry feel alienated due to British rule? The displacement of the Muslim aristocracy from positions of power and influence, with the advent of the British, and the replacement of Persian as an official language by the English, made the Muslim gentry feel alienated from British rule. They also felt an aversion for the western culture represented by the English language and Christianity, which they

4 History of India 4 conceived as a threat to the purity of Islamic communities in the land of Islam or Dar-ul-Islam. 5. Why was a programme of reform initiated by Muslims? At one level reforms were perceived as urgently required to purge Islam of the corrupting practices which had crept into its religious practice through its interaction with a polytheistic culture (Hindu) and on making the practice of Islam more consistent with the fundamental religious precepts. There were some reformers and Muslim scholars who realized the necessity to come to terms with modernity by accepting features of western education. 6. How did Shah Waliullah attempt Islamic revivalism in India? Eighteenth century thinkers like Shah Waliullah, a theologian from Delhi, started emphasizing the Arab connection of Indian Islam and the need for Indian Muslims to stick to a pure Islamic identity to counter the syncretic beliefs and traditions that had evolved

5 History of India 5 over the centuries as a result of Hindus and Muslims having lived alongside each other especially in the rural areas. His intention was to strengthen Islam with puritanism in a seemingly hostile environment, as India had become a land of the infidels following the collapse of Muslim rule. It was implied that for Indian Muslims, the Indian identity was less important than Muslim identity. 7. Define Ijtehad. Ijtehad enabled Muslims to think of strengthening Islam with a certain kind of puritanism, which they found lacking in Indian Islam. Emphasis was placed on the connection of Islam with the Arab world on the one hand (the land where Islam originated) and also on the requirement of the Muslim communities to follow the religious texts more faithfully. 8. How did Syed Ahmad Barelvi proceed in the sphere of revivalism? Syed Ahmed Barelvi was the progenitor of the movement called Tariqa-i-Mohammadiya which

6 History of India 6 implied a reassessment of orthodoxy, and of existing practices in terms of the proper knowledge of Islam. The intention was to remove the errors which had crept into Islamic religious practice. Syed Ahmed Barelvi s innovation in this movement was the idea of jehad. He started a militant movement in the North Western Frontier Provinces, to realize Waliullah s expectation that people from the North Western Frontier Provinces would intervene in India to restore Dar-ul Islam. 9. What do you know of the Faraizi movement? The Faraizi movement was started by Haji Shariatullah and carried on by his son Dudu Mian. The name Faraizi was derived from the idea that every Muslim was obliged or had the farz to follow Islamic precepts faithfully. The Faraizis combined an element of peasant radicalism with their religion. The movement spread its influence among the peasants by asking Muslim peasants not to pay subscription for the Durga Puja festival and to withhold payment of illegal taxes to the Hindu

7 History of India 7 landowners. Apart from religious ideology which was to alter the regular practice of the ordinary peasants, they came up with a certain emancipatory message by way of a doctrine that propounded the concept of proprietorship of land as being due to the labour. 10. Who were the Deobandis? After 1857 a different kind of reformist initiative may be observed, by which Islamic communities were asked to come to terms with western modernity and the Deobandis represented this effort. The Deoband was a reformist initiative inspired by revivalist activities and was founded by Mohammed Qasim and Rashid Ahmed. They set up a seminary at Deoband, near Lucknow, where they adopted features of modern education. They devised a curriculum which was based on classical Persian education, claiming the right to interpret religion freely in order to make religion more consistent with the modern world.