Civilization and Modernity: Narrating the Creation of Pakistan (New Perspectives on Indian Pasts) by David Gilmartin

Author:David Gilmartin [Gilmartin, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: YODA PRESS
Published: 2020-05-20T00:00:00+00:00

14 W.C. Smith, ‘The “Ulama” in Indian Politics,’ in C.H. Philips, ed., Politics and Society in India (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1963), pp. 50–51.

15 Barbara Metcalf, ‘The Reformist Ulama: Muslim Religious Leadership in India, 1860–1900’ (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 1974), pp. 304–9.

16 Metcalf notes that the great bulk of early monetary contributions to the school at Deoband from the Punjab came from donors in the cities and towns; Ibid., p. 194.

17 Ibid., p. 26.

By the 20th century, therefore, though the traditional forms of rural religious leadership associated with the shrines had been strongly challenged, the challenge had not gone unanswered. The structure of religious authority based on the shrines remained overwhelmingly dominant in rural Punjab, and the fundamental basis of religious leadership in the rural areas remained tied to the hereditary transmission of religious charisma. The focus of religious authority continued to be diffused among numerous shrines which were, in many ways, tied closely to the local political structures of rural society. But the currents of religious revival had produced a deep impact on the concerns of many of the sajjada nishins whose roots were in the Chishti revival. It was these revivalist leaders, who were a product of the era of religious ferment which had produced the reformist perspectives, and yet who were, at the same time, closely linked as rural sajjada nishins to the local structures of Muslim power which had survived the Mughal collapse, who were to play a pivotal role in the developing relationship between religious leaders and Muslim politics.

18 Hafiz Nazar Ahmad, Jaiza-yi Madaris-i Arabiya-yi Maghribi Pakistan, II (Lahore: Muslim Academy, 1972), pp. 28–29; Iqbal Ahmad Faruqi, Tazkira-yi Ahl-i Sunnat o Jamaat Lahaur (Lahore: Maktaba Nabviya, 1975), p. 263; Naqoosh, Lahore Number (February 1962), p. 538.

19 Hafiz Nazar Ahmad, Jaiza, pp. 27–28; Faruqi, Tazkira, p. 321.

20 Mohammad Din Kalim, Lahore ke Auliya-yi Chisht (Lahore: Maktaba Nabviya,

1967), pp. 143–44.

21 Pir Jamaat Ali Shah was a Naqshbandi, but I have treated him as a revivalist since his

religious concerns were very similar to those of the Chishti revival sajjada nishins.

He made donations to both the Dar-al ulum Naumania and the Dar-al ulum Hizbal Ahnaf. Haider Husain Shah, Shah-i Jamaat (Lahore: Maktaba Shah-i Jamaat,

1973), p. 116.

Religious Leaders and the Unionist Party

The impact of the structural position of sajjada nishins on their political roles cannot be understood without describing briefly the structure of rural politics which grew out of the system of administration developed by the British in rural Punjab. In the 19th century the British had attempted to consolidate a system of rural administration which relied, particularly in west Punjab, on the local political influence of landed, often tribally based, intermediaries. In this the British were not departing from the established traditions of political control in west Punjab. But at the same time the British sought to bolster the position of these rural leaders by isolating the rural areas from the growing economic and political influences emanating from the cities which might have tended to undermine the position of these leaders.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.