Search

Following their violent suppression of the Indian Revolution of 1857, the British founded and consolidated their secular empire in the Indian Subcontinent, which marginalized and bypassed religion as far as possible, particularly Islam, which had been the official religion of the Mughal ancien régime. Contemporaneous Ottoman efforts to counter European imperialism led to Sultan Abdul Hamid II's (r. 1876-1909) policy of pan-Islamism, particularly the call for Islamic unity against the Russian aggression against Turkey in 1877. It was at this critical juncture that some Indian Muslim scholars gallantly volunteered to counter this threat, and to preserve the Islamic faith and heritage worldwide, despite the severe problems faced by the Muslims in India itself. This study highlights the role of an eminent scholar in this movement, namely Allama Shibli Nu'mani (1857-1914), who in 1914 conceived the idea of founding the world-famous Islamic research institute Darul Musannefin Shibli Academy in his home town of Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, India. Shibli was very active and instrumental in collecting donations from the wealthy landowners (zamindars) among the Muslim elite in his hometown of Azamgarh for the Ottoman cause, raising 3,000 rupees, which was handed to Husain Hasib Afendi, the Ottoman Consul in Bombay in 1877. Furthermore, his eloquent poetry rallied Muslims across India to support the valour and heroism displayed in the jihad by Ghazi Usman Pasha against the Russians. Shibli travelled to Istanbul in 1892 and met with the Pasha, on whose efforts Tamgha-i Majidi (gold medal) was granted to Shibli on 13th Muharram, 1310/7th August, 1892. This article is based on Shibli's major works in Urdu, particularly his arousing eulogies (qasaid), Turkish archival reports, newspapers and magazines, and secondary sources in Urdu and English. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Muslim presence was manifest in the coastal regions of Southern India from the earliest days of Islam, as evidenced by the establishment of Arab trading settlements, with minor political impact prior to the conquests in Northern India from the beginning of the 8th century, which solidified the influence of Islam leading to tangible political and socio-cultural impacts in the region. The history of India furnishes an amazing picture of the syntheses of many divergent cultural trends which were gradually transformed by a process of mutual adjustment and assimilation. Islam played a significant role in this by contributing to India's multi-cultural and multi-religious ethos, embedding the subcontinent in the Arab-Islamic maritime civilization, stretching from southern Africa to China, particularly in connecting Africa as well as the great Turkic empires of Central Asia. It offers a pertinent example of the interaction of human minds and the effects of cultural and civilizational contacts on indigenous customs, religion, literature and arts. This paper examines the impact of Islam in the Indian Peninsula from three different angles: its political predominance, its intellectual and cultural impact, and finally, its influence on art and architecture. Based mainly on Arabic and Persian sources, the article focuses on the intellectual legacy, achievements and the role that the Indian Muslims played in the Indian subcontinent during the Delhi Sultanate, the first major Islamic political authority to govern large parts of South Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]