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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]

History tells us much about how a war was fought and won. However, it does not offer us the complete picture inasmuch as it is largely silent about the loser in a conflict and those sympathetic to the cause. This phenomenon in historiography can be noticed in the events of 1857 in the history of India. It was a war of independence but it was seen by most historians merely as a “Sepoy mutiny”. It was a war fought by the common people, men and women, soldiers and chieftains alike under the banner of the last Mughal Emperor of India, Bahadur Shah Zafar (reigned 1837–1857). The British branded this widespread uprising as a rebellion against the legal authority and set in motion a reign of terror after they regained power. Women of the Mughal royal family were particularly targeted by the British soldiers and they experienced untold humiliation. Nevertheless, most account of this struggle for freedom have failed to stress or even record the sufferings of the womenfolk including those of the royal family. Similarly, British historians of the events have been reluctant to take note of eyewitness accounts of the harshness of the returning troops. The present study is an attempt to fill this gap in scholarship about an important revolution. Based on contemporary Urdu, Persian, and English sources (noteworthy publications, personal letters, eyewitness accounts, newspaper reports, and biographical references), the study focuses on the sufferings of the women, which were the worst part of this human tragedy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Since 1855, the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya has been the source of sporadic clashes between Hindus and Muslims. After a thorough scrutiny of the available historical literature on the Mosque, this article argues that to regard it as the birthplace of the Hindu deity Rama is untenable and the notion was actually put into circulation by British colonial officials to serve British interests in the Indian subcontinent. Successive colonial administrations tried to strengthen their grip on South Asia by playing off one group against another in the name of caste, race, and, most importantly, religion. The ongoing Hindu-Muslim conflict in India is largely the outcome of British policies. With their agenda of 'divide and role' that aimed at consolidating their hold over the subcontinent the British tried to create a huge chasm between Hindus and Muslims. They labelled Muslims as the oppressors and Hindus as the oppressed, working to gain the support of the Hindu masses by provoking their hatred of the Muslims; and they strongly backed their religious and other claims in a vast amount of biased literature. It was with this colonial agenda that they endorsed the Hindu claim to the site of the Babri Mosque. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]