History of Indian Islam

Irtifaq is means being soft, convenient, kind, helping, benefitting, etc. The word irtifaq refers to adopting convenient ways, helping devices, beneficial methods, useful technology, and good manners in one's life. Shah Wali-Allah uses it in a special sense denoting different stage of socio-economic development of mankind. According to him, starting from simple primitive village life to an international community, the socio-economic development of human society can be divided into four stages. The first stage is dominated by simple economic struggle while the last stage is developed to maintain just political order on international level, to safeguard the socioeconomic interests of different states and establish peace and justice among them. All economic ideas of Shah Wali-Allah are related, in some way or the other, to his concept of irtifaqat or stages of socio-economic development. We will examine his economic ideas under different stages.

South Asia’s encounter with Western colonialism preceded that of the Arab world, arguably rendering it more sensitive to the intellectual challenges implicit in political subjugation. Consequently, scholars of South Asian Islam, such as Francis Robinson, have highlighted its role historically more as an exporter than as an importer of reformist ideas, particularly during the decades of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The subject of this book, Shaykh Abu al-Hasan Ali Nadwi (1915–99), exemplifies both these tendencies through his life and works. First, he confronts head-on the challenges posed to Muslim civilization by Western cultural and political hegemony. Second, through a corpus of eloquent and passionate Arabic publications and frequent lecture tours abroad, he speaks to the trauma of a post-colonial Arab world still reeling with the shock of its inglorious place in the new global political order.

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Hint kıtasında yaklaşık sekiz asır süren Müslüman Türk hâkimiyeti döneminde, Hindu toplumuna yön veren düşünürler, kendi perspektiflerinden İslâm’ı ve müntesiplerini tahlil edip konumlandırmaya çalışmışlardır. Kimisi ötekileştirici bir dil kullanmış kimisi ise kuşatıcı bir söylem geliştirmiştir. Orta Çağ Hint kaynaklarında “Türk” tabiri etnik anlamından ziyade İslâm dinini ve müntesiplerini ifade etmek amacıyla şemsiye bir kavram olarak kullanılmıştır. Nitekim İslâm için “Türklerin dini” manasında Turuka dharma ifadesi tercih edilmiştir. Müslüman Türk idaresi altında bireylerin dinî inancına saygı gösterildiği de vurgulanmıştır. Bütün bu veriler, Türklerin, Hindular nazarında bıraktığı tesiri açık bir biçimde ortaya koymaktadır.

Hint kaynaklarından hareketle Hinduların, İslam ve Müslüman algısının objektif bir biçimde ortaya konması, hem bölgedeki Türk-İslam izlerinin tespit edilip gün yüzüne çıkarılmasına hem de Hindu-Müslüman ilişkilerinin daha sağlıklı bir bakış açısıyla analiz edilebilmesine katkı sunacaktır. Zira bir milyarı aşkın Hindu ile beş yüz milyondan fazla Müslümanın yaşadığı günümüz Hint coğrafyasında birlikte yaşama kültürünün istenilen düzeyde tesis edilebilmesi, ötekini anlamaya ve onun hakkında doğru bilgi edinmeye bağlıdır. Elinizdeki kitap böyle bir çabanın ürünüdür.

تهدف تلك الورقة في الأساس إلى دراسة مفهوم العلاقات التجارية والدينية والثقافية بين الهند والعرب قبل البعثة النبوية وبعدها. و تظهر إشكالية الورقة في البحث عن الآليات والطرق التي أسهمت في تقوية تلك العلاقات بين الطرفين إبان تلك الفترة التاريخية. وفي ذلك الصدد ركزت الورقة في دراسة وجود النشاطات التجارية المتبادلة بين الطرفين مع ذكر الطرق البحرية التي كانوا يسلكونها، والسلع التجارية الهندية التي كانت تجلب من الهند إلى الجزيرة العربية وإلى المناطق الغربية الأخرى، وذلك لتبيان حجم التجارة والتعاون الاقتصادي بين الأطراف المعنية. وكذلك سلطت الورقة الضوء على العوامل التي دفعت الخلفاء الراشدين إلى الاهتمام بالفتوحات الإسلامية للهند، فضلًا عن التطرق إلى أي مدى قام الصحابة بدور في تقوية تلك العلاقات المتبادلة وترسيخها من خلال مشاركتهم في الفتوحات الإسلامية الأولى للهند برًا وبحرًا. وانتهت الورقة بدراسة النشاطات العسكرية التي ساعدتهم على الوصول إلى المناطق الهندية الساحلية مثل گجرات والسند مع دراسة دور تلك النشاطات العسكرية في تمهيد الأرضية للفتوحات الكبيرة التي تمت في عصر الدولة الأموية مع التأكيد على أن تلك الفتوحات الأولية كانت بمثابة الخيط الأول لربط المناطق الهندية بالخلافة الراشدة، ثم بالدولة الأموية والعباسية. وقد اتبعت الدراسة المنهج الاستنتاجي والاستقرائي والتحليلي، والقائم عل استخراج المواد من بطون أمهات الكتب التاريخية، ومن ثم العكوف على دراستها وتحليلها، لاستنباط فرائضها واستخلاص نتائجها، دون إفراط،أو تفريط بما يخدم موضوعات البحث ومضامينه.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the commercial, religious and cultural dimensions of the relations between India and the Arabian Peninsula before and after the prophetic mission of Muhammad (SAW). It looks into the mechanism and channels that contributed to strengthening those relations. The paper focuses on investigating the mutual commercial activities between the two parties, describing the maritime routes they used, and the Indian commercial goods that were brought from India to the Arabian Peninsula and other western regions. These accounts show the volume of trade and the extent of economic cooperation between the parties under study. The paper also highlights the factors that led the caliphs to pay attention to the Islamic conquests of India. Furthermore, it deals with the extent to which the companions played a role in strengthening those ties and consolidating them through their participation in the first Islamic conquests of India by land and sea routes. The paper concludes with a study of the military activities that helped them to reach Indian coastal areas such as Gujarat, Bombay and Sind. Moreover, it touches upon the role of the military activities in paving the way for the great conquests which took place in the Umayyad era. It further emphasizes that those conquests were the first thread to connect the Indian regions with Al-Khilafat Al-Rashida, then the Umayyad and Abbasid states later on. The study followed the inductive, deductive and analytical methods of extracting data from the primary Arabic and Indian historical sources and reviewing and analyzing them in order to draw conclusions from those data.

یہ مولانا عبد الحق حقاني دہلویؒ، جو تفسیرِ حقاني، حقانی عقائد الاسلام اور حاشیہ النامی علی منتخب الحسامی فی اصول الفقہ الحنفی جیسی بے مثال تصنیفات اور گران مایہ علمی میراث سے آج تک پڑھے لکھے دینی طبقوں میں جانے پہچانے جاتے ہیں، ان کے متعلق سب سے مبسوط سوانحی ترجمہ ہے۔ عرصہ دراز سے ان کے حالات کی تلاش وجستجو تھی، حسنِ اتفاق سے عقائد الاسلام کے ایک نسبتا جدید اڈیشن میں یہ بطور ضمیمہ ملحق تھا۔ اسے الگ سے صاف کر کے افادۂ عام کی نیت سے یہاں پر آویزاں اور چسپا کیا جاتا ہے۔

ناظرین سے کتابتی اغلاط پر آگاہ ومتنبہ کرنے کی درخواست ہے۔ والسلام۔

Scholarship on Buddhist and Muslim interactions has long proposed that Islam was largely responsible for the decline of Buddhism in its homeland of India during the medieval period. The popularity of the idea that Islam not only injured by actually killed off Indian Buddhism c. 1200 CE far outstrips the historical evidence for such a proposition. Nonetheless, this narrative of an antagonistic, fatal relationship between Islam and the Buddhist dharma on the subcontinent is widespread and oft repeated in modern scholarship, especially introductory-level textbooks. This paper considers the sparse historical sources that undergird the “Islam killed Indian Buddhism” narrative and traces how this storyline has nonetheless been resilient and embellished over time. I argue that the notion that Islam finished off Indian Buddhism endures in both premodern and modern sources because of its rhetorical force and assumptions about the life cycles of religious traditions. Prejudices about both Buddhism and Islam are also partly responsible for the persistence of this narrative in contemporary scholarship. The paper closes by analyzing the difficulties of reframing the question of what happened to Indian Buddhism and suggests some shifts that may better position future scholars to move beyond the tired and largely ahistorical approach of crudely blaming Islam and more accurately capture the elusive end (or near end) of Indian Buddhism.

This is a report on the ongoing SRITE project for surveying, digitizing and cataloging the Syrian Christian manuscript archives in India, started in the year 2000. It presents the main results of the work and the new plans for enlarging it, so that it may encompass a study of the Mappilla Muslim community, too.

Christian-Muslim relations developed significantly in a number of areas during the encounter of the European Christians with Muslims in the Mughal Empire in South Asia, beginning in the 16 th century. Initially, the encounter was military, as the Portuguese arrived with the intention of taking control of the spice trade in the Indian Ocean which had been dominated by Muslim traders. However, because the rising Mughals had no ambitions to control the seas, and because the Portuguese likewise made no efforts to conquer the subcontinent, the relations transformed from military confrontations to trade agreements in the economic sphere. With the decline of the Mughal authority in the 18 th century, the encounter once more became a political and military contest as European nations such as France and Britain sought to expand their influence and control. By the end of the Mughal dynasty in 1857, the British Empire had established itself as dominant, leading Muslims scholars to debate whether India had ceased to be dār al-Islām (domain of Islam) and had become dār al-ḥarb (domain of war). The encounter between Christians and Muslims had other theological dimensions beyond the status of India in Muslim law. With the arrival of Roman Catholic missionaries in the late 16 th century, Jesuit priests debated with Muslim scholars in the courts of Mughal rulers such as Akbar and Jahāngīr, addressing many of the doctrinal issues that had been debated centuries ago in Baghdad in the Abbāsid era. The arrival of Protestant missionaries in the 18 th centuries brought a new voice, one that grew more strident as the missionary presence expanded rapidly in the early 19 th century. By the mid-19 th century, Muslim scholars had been drawn into discussion both in print and in public debate. The fact that the religion of the British conquerors was Christian meant that these encounters had a significance beyond abstract matters of theology. Interconnected with the theological debate was rapid increase of knowledge about each other's religion, particularly regarding the sources of authority for each group. Muslims studied German and English works on the textual criticism of the Bible, and Christians studied Arabic and Persian works on the Qur'ān, on the Ḥadīth and on the life of Muḥammad more generally. Both groups would use their new-found knowledge in their interactions with each other, whether those were confrontational or conciliatory. The acquisition of knowledge about the other extended beyond the realm of theological encounters. An increased knowledge of Muslim law in particular was essential for British rule in South Asia. Because of their declared commitment to continue to administer Muslim law to the Muslims, members of the East India Company collaborated with indigenous scholars to translate and transform traditional Muslim jurisprudence into an amalgam known as Anglo-Muhammadan law. This coincided with other Orientalist research by Europeans at the close of the 18 th century and the beginning of the 19 th century resulting in the publication of edited or translated volumes of key texts of Muslim scholarship. Concurrently, some Muslim scholars were fascinated with European knowledge, particularly in the fields of mathematics and science, and worked to translate those texts into Persian or other vernacular languages. Other cultural encounters also occurred, affecting both art and architecture. Nor was this interaction restricted to South Asia; increasingly Indian Muslims travelled across the seas to Britain and other European destinations, transforming Christian-Muslim relations in the metropole as well as in the periphery.

This paper examines enigmatic, small, Arabic-inscribed copper coins that were minted or circulated in the environs of a Hindu cave temple complex in northern Gandhara. Based on legends and typology, most of these issues can be attributed to the Ghaznavid period. This new numismatic evidence calls into question long-standing narratives of the Ghaznavid invasion of Hindustan, which posit that the Ghaznavids pursued a uniformly iconoclastic policy toward Hindu sacred sites. The evidence also suggests that the Ghaznavids embraced diverse modes of interaction with the Hindustani frontier zones. These went beyond the well documented raiding expeditions to realize shortterm fijinancial gains. Rather, the Ghaznavids may also have had long-term economic objectives, which necessitated preserving existing sacred institutions and their administrative and fijiscal machinery and patronage networks.

In Arabic Oration: Art and Function, a narrative richly infused with illustrative texts and original translations, Tahera Qutbuddin presents a comprehensive theory of this preeminent genre in its foundational oral period, 7th-8th centuries AD. With speeches and sermons attributed to the Prophet Muḥammad, ʿAlī, other political and military leaders, and a number of prominent women, she assesses types of orations and themes, preservation and provenance, structure and style, orator-audience authority dynamics, and, with the shift from an oral to a highly literate culture, oration’s influence on the medieval chancery epistle. Probing the genre’s echoes in the contemporary Muslim world, she offers sensitive tools with which to decode speeches by mosque-imams and political leaders today.

From the eleventh century AD onwards, some Indian dramatists began to derive the plot of their plays from contemporary events, such as the military achievements of their patron, despite the prohibition of this kind of subjects by theoreticians. As the neighbouring Afghan and Turkish rulers of Ghazna and Ghūr were threatening India then, Muslim characters made their appearance in some of these historical plays, like Somadeva's Lalitavigraharāja (c. AD 1153) and Jayasiṃhasūri's Hammīramadamardana (c. AD 1227–30). Consequently, these texts constitute a counterpoint to the Persian chronicles and give us the unique opportunity of ascertaining how Muslim invaders were perceived by Indian people during the political upheavals of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries AD. The article first analyzes how Muslim characters are reviled and even demonized by means of specific dramatic languages as well as other literary devices, and then demonstrates that Muslim people were far from being the only target of this process of demonization: according to the circumstances, it was also used by devotees of Viṣṇu against Jains, Jains against followers of Śiva and even between rival sects of one and a same religion. Furthermore the plays betray a genuine acquaintance of their authors with the realities of the Islamic world. Though portraying Muslim characters in a more virulent way than Somadeva, Jayasiṃhasūri transposed foreign names into Sanskrit rather carefully and gave a faithful account of the political, military and cultural particularities of Muslim people.

The Islamicate traditions of South Asia, a unique phenomenon resulting from the cohabitation and mutual influences of non-Muslim and Muslim societies, are the focus of the fourteen articles presented in this volume. The texts, written by invited specialists in different fields, cover a large array of themes. The main issues discussed by the authors refer to the widely understood cultural environment of South Asian Muslims, including their language, literature, history, thought and traditions. Divided into four sections ("Places & Images", "People", "Ideas & Notions", and "History & Language"), the volume also presents different research directions and methods followed by leading scholar authorities investigating various aspects of the Muslim presence and Muslim-influenced heritage in South Asia. This book is important for those who are dealing with the problematic of Islam and Islamicate cultural traditions in the form in which these features are present in the vast and differentiated area of South Asia. It will also prove to be a useful reference tool for students of humanities in general, and of South Asian studies in particular, especially those interested in Muslim history, culture and literature. Moreover, it should be helpful in researching the questions of intercultural communication as well as studying the confluences of cultures and languages not necessarily and exclusively in the South Asian context.

This article contributes to a growing body of scholarship on immigrants from Safavid Iran who travelled back and forth between their home cities and Hind during the early modern period. Intending to better comprehend some of the key mentalities and social practices of these cosmopolitan Persianate communities, I explore the literary strategies by which migrants worked to negotiate their place in rapidly transforming and highly competitive political environments in both Hind and Iran. Focusing on migration narratives that were commonly embedded in Persian historical works, I examine a cluster of local and dynastic histories that were composed in dialogue with one another and that emerged around a particular corridor of migration linking the Iranian city of Yazd with various cities in the Deccan. Previous scholarship has argued that immigrants could acquire social capital in their new environments by commemorating ties to Iranian cities through narratives of migration. I demonstrate that migrants also brought migration stories they had found in the Deccan back to their hometowns in Iran, where they redeployed them for similar political ends in new works of history.

In this article, we attempt to resolve only one of the many controversies centered round Muhammad Ali Jinnah – one involving his last name.
(page nos.520-526,
Reddy smriti: exploring the Indian past (commemoration volume in honor of Dr.Y. Gopal Reddy).
P. Chenna Reddy, ed., B R Publishing Corporation, New Delhi)

Triple talaq practised in whatever form will remain discriminatory for Muslim women. The only way to resolve the contradictions that will arise from retaining triple talaq in any form will be to replace it with a uniform civil code for the entire country.

The majority of Sunni Muslims in South Asia is considered to subscribe to Barelwi beliefs, only a minority to Deobandi belief systems. At the same time, a majority of Muslims claims to consider themselves as Muslim only, thereby theoretically putting the theological differences of interpretation between specific schools of thought to a place of secondary relevance in everyday life. The following article aims to understand why this could sometimes be difficult in practice.

The Indian continent is one of the conspicuous regions where the Turks left indelible marks in the area of history, literature, culture, and civilization. Although the contact of the Turks with the Indian continent goes back to much earlier periods, the Turkish-Islamic presence in the
region has been permanently settled with the arrival of Ghaznavids since the first part of the eleventh century. After that, the Indian subcontinent was governed by various Turkish dynasties for approximately eight centuries until the collapse of the Baburi dynasty (the definition of Mongol for Baburs is not correct) in the eighteenth century. Therefore, in the historical process Turks and Hindus, who have very strong historical heritage, have interacted with each other in the field of military, religion, culture, art, and literature. Due to such a deeply as well as multidimensional historical connection, it is significant to strengthen Indo-Turkish relations. However, the way to take healthier and more sustainable steps in the bilateral relations one should focus on the one-hand sources and try to understand the ‘other’ in a proper perspective. In this regard, the data found in the basic sources written by Hindu thinkers in the medieval period is very crucial and precious in order to gain true knowledge on Hindu-Turk relations and to reveal the views of Hindus on the Turkish imperial system and their religious tradition.
When the original sources have been analyzed, it is seen that the terms such as saka, yavana (other, foreigner) and mleccha (ignorant, dirty) were used in order to refer to Turks. In this
context another conspicuous phrase found in Sanskrit and Hindi texts is Turko, Turuka or Turuska. In the time of early relations these kind of phrases were used to identify a different racial community who came from the foreign areas. However, after the increase of the Turks’
influences on Indian societies, the meaning attributed to this term has been expanded. As a matter of fact, the term of Turuka was used in the meaning of “Muslims” and Turuka dharma was used in the sense of “Turks’ religion”, that is Islam. Some Hindu leaders who stand out among Indian society in the medieval period, tried to assess the behaviors of Turks and their religious and imperial policies towards non-Muslims
from their own eyes. While some of them have preferred a pejorative approach for Turks, others have developed more encompassing turn of phrase. Hindu thinkers who attained a chance to make close contact with the Turk administrators, have provided more reasonable
evaluations about Turks. It is clear that all Turkish administrators have not carried out same political attitudes towards Muslims or non-Muslims since it is quite possible that some rulers have used the authority of the dynasty for their own benefit. However, according to information obtained by the Indian sources, while Muslim Turks were in power, a
management approach based on peace and tolerance was adopted; furthermore, various specific social and political policies were implemented for the improving of the culture of living together. Turkish leaders benefited from the experience of qualified people regardless of their religious and ethnical identities. Therefore, the scientific and objective studies regarding to Hindu’s views on Turk and Turks views on Hindus via checking the original sources written by Hindu thinkers in the medieval period will shed light on the illumination of the historical background of Indo-Turk relations and contribute to the reassessment of the current data regarding with this subject with a truer perspective.

The 1857 revolt, which had forged an unshakable unity amongst Hindus and Muslims alike, was an important milestone in our freedom struggle - providing hope and inspiration for future generations of freedom lovers. All Hindus and Muslims were fighting under a single command and control for a single cause – FREEDOM from British tyranny. That shocked the British; they learnt that a unity among Indians would be irresistible in future.
Thus, the aftermath of the 1857 brought about dramatic changes in colonial rule as stated earlier. In addition to change of governance from proxy to direct British Rule, the British embarked on a furious policy of "Divide and Rule", fomenting religious hatred as never before. Resorting to rumors and falsehoods, they deliberately recast Indian history in highly communal colors and practised malicious communal politics to divide the Indian masses. Hateful history books portraying successful and pious Mughal rulers like Babar and Aurangzeb were compiled in that period of time.
All practicing Muslim rulers were shown as anti-Hindu and repressive against their citizens whereas those fond of Darbaris and lavish were given importance in the pages of Indian history, thus creating communalism and hate among Hindus and Muslims. Shuddhi Karan Movement by Arya Samaj, which later shaped into Bhartiya Hindu Shuddhi Mahasabha' (Indian Hindu Purification Council) in 1923 to work as what today the Sang Privar is doing in the name of Gharwapsi was also among the plots of ‘divide and rule’ conspiracy of British Raj in India. 
That legacy continues to plague the sub-continent till today. However, if more people become aware of the colonial roots of this divisive communal gulf - it is possible that some of the damage done to Hindu-Muslim unity could be reversed. If Hindus and Muslims could rejoin and collaborate in the spirit of 1857, the sub-continent may yet be able to unshackle itself from it's colonial past – say British and American hegemony this day.
Let's have a real recounting of our strength in India— the unity in diversity— and make meaningful salutations to all our heroes alike. Year 1857 was a time for united war against British tyrants and 2016, after 159 years, should bring real smiles to all the brave souls – ulama, Muslims, Hindu and Sikhs who gifted us the 'FREEDOM'.

تتناول هذه الدراسة المطولة عن مفهوم العلاقات بين المسلمين والهندوس في عصر سلطنة دهلي، وتم إعدادها بواسطة كتب الفتاوى مثل الفتاوى الغياثية، وفتاوى فيروز شاهية، وفتاوى تاتارخانية، وفتاوى إبراهيم شاهي، و طرفة الفقهاء  وغيرها من كتب الفتاوى التي تم تدوينها في فترة الدراسة.

In this paper life of India's eminent astronomer of 20th century has been detailed. Dr. Saleh Alladin was leading astronomer of India who earned his P.hd from Chicago. Besides books he authored hundreds of articles, both on science and religious subjects. His specialized in galaxies.

To understand the Golconda Historical study, The Fort History of Golconda-a case study of Golconda Rulers. The present study has formulated three hypotheses: the historical background of the Golconda fort and political history, and the early foundations of the Golconda fort. The Art & architecture of the Golconda Fort and a particular focus on Hindu Islamic architecture. Golconda as a trade centre. And multi-Industries in this region, Golconda Social and political Aspects and economic conditions of Golconda in the region. Water irrigation system for Agricultural development, what happened ending period of Golconda, the tourist place of the great Golconda.

Al-Muʾayyad al-Shīrāzī was a medieval Arabic-Islamic scholar and poet committed to the Fatimid religio-political ideology. Chief missionary for their Caliph-Imams, he founded the dynamic tradition of "Fatimid daʿwa (religious mission) poetry” that flourished after him for a thousand years through the succeeding Ṭayyibī daʿwa and continues to thrive today.
This study examines the manner in which al-Muʾayyad's mission informed the aesthetic rules, motifs, structures, genres, motives, addressees, and aspirations of his poetry. It analyzes the characteristics of al-Muʾayyad's verse that render it distinctive, above all, its use of a unique form of esoteric tāwīl-based religious symbolism—metaphor, in fact, as manifestation, where what appears to be metaphor is the theological reality of the Imam. This book features a large number of original translations.

The main objective of this research book is to examine the educational and cultural conditions during the reign of Sultan Firoz Shah Tughlaq. The research problem arises from the misconception of many Indian and western historians and researchers about the Islamic states, especially the Sultanate of Delhi, that they didn't have developed educational and cultural systems. Illiteracy and ignorance were widespread among people; because the Sultans had no policies to care for the education or to produce knowledge. Therefore, they did not pay any attention to establish educational institutions; instead, they were very interested in military activities, establishing opulent palaces and living luxuries life. The research focused on the study of scientific and cultural activities during Tughlaq reign. It dealt with the dedication of Tughlaq and his interest in knowledge, science and encouraging scholars. It discussed a number of educational institutions which were built during his ruling period, showing the role of scholars, the nobility and Sufis in developing an education and literacy system during the period under review. The paper examined the forms through which scientific and cognitive activities emerged during Tughlaq’s reign. It touched on the concept of education and culture as well as its presence into scientific and technological knowledge, and on the contributions of the State and scientific institutions such as private and public schools, hospitals, Karkhanas etc. in the development of these concepts.

Unfortunately for the last few years there have appeared dissensions within the tablighi fold, especially at its global headquarter at Hazrat Nizamuddin Markaz, New Delhi between the followers of Maulana Saad Khandhelvi, a contender for single leadership (A’mir) and others who are members of the Shura (an executive world body with equal power), leading to a slackening of the jamaat’s hold on the masses. Your magazine Eastern Crescent carried a detailed editorial in its July, 2016 issue “The Most Successful Movement of 20 Century Islam Tablighi Jamaat is at Crossroads” with a balanced account of ongoing leadership dispute within Tablighi Jamaat.

Apart from the leadership and administrative crises in the jamaat there have been talks among scholars and ulama on Maulana Saad’s unchecked or out of the way statements in his bayans (sermons) for past several years. Mainstream scholars and elders within jamaat, including its sympathizers, were finding it hard to cope with some of the irreligious statements and ideals of Maulana Saad. They started sending documented letters to Darul Uloom Deoband, the fountainhead of the Tablighi Jamaat, seeking fatwas and its religious guidance on some of the infamous statements of Maulana Saad Kandhelvi for past years.

The renowned Islamic seminary of the world, Darul Uloom Deoband took cognizance of these vitiating statements and on urging by the jamaat’s followers and sympathizers has issued a lengthy directive for Maulana Mohammad Saad to correct his wrong ideas being disseminated publicly and repent to Allah immediately, else he and his followers may derail from the original path of Islam. Darul Uloom sought a clear oral and written retraction from Maulana Mohammad Saad on his documented objectionable statements in the past and advised him to shun such unIslamic statements in future. It also warns him to do the required retraction within a limited time period both in public and private else Darul Uloom will release its public statement about him.

This paper is based on British records and discusses three episodes in the life of Khwajah Ahmed Ali, the Patna representative of a Kashmiri commercial house with a network of agents in Tibet. In the first episode, Ahmed Ali offers his services to the British explorer William Moorcroft as a source of intelligence at the outset of the 1814 war between the East India Company and Nepal. In the second episode, in 1816, Moorcroft proposed Ahmed Ali as a potential British commercial agent in Lhasa. The third episode took place in 1831 when Brian Houghton Hodgson, the Acting Resident in Nepal, received an appeal from Ahmed Ali who had been imprisoned in Lhasa on charges of being a British spy.

The story concerns the personal dilemmas of a particular individual. However, it also serves as an illustration of the wider role played by the Kashmiri merchants who travelled between northern India, Nepal, Tibet and western China between the 17th and early 20th centuries.

Absolute Divine transcendence, and concomitant necessary Divine immanence, are theological currents permeating the South Asian Shi'i Ismā'īlī tradition of the Gināns. The contrast between the articulations of Deus absconditus and Deus revelatus in the Ginān tradition reflects its Subcontinent vernacularism, Shi'i framework, and the influence and engagement of multiple Arabo-Persianate and South Asian spiritual streams of tradition. The Ismaili dā'īs, pīrs, and sayyīds, who composed the Ginān, themselves reflected differing articulations of ontotheosophical assertions about the nature of the Divine within the Ginān. The ginānic theological discourse stands between the concurrent assertions of nirguṇa (absolute transcendent formlessness) and ḥāḍar (immanent divine presence). This polarity between absolute negational theology, and absolute divine presence, could be perceived as an ontological tension. However, this study argues the two assertions are to be considered complementary, and coherent, within the onto-theological and onto-cosmological theosophical worldview of the Ginān. Surveying key theological assertions within the Ginān, these assertions are situated within a broader South Asian and Islamicate intellectual milieu, Shi'i, Shī'ī Imāmī Ismā'īlī and Ṣūfī. Ultimately, it is proposed the most consistent interpretive hermeneutical lens to read these ginānic themes was articulated by the invoking of the technical term of 'Monorealism' by Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah, the 48 th Ismā'īlī Imām and 3 rd Aga Khan. Reading the semantic domain of this term as entailing a modified articulation of panentheism, one that compromises neither Divine transcendence nor Divine immanence, we argue coheres most credibly with the modality of Divinity presented in the Gināns.