Shi'a Islam in Colonial India Religion, Community and Sectarianism [Paperback]

This book traces the history of Indian Shi'ism through the colonial period toward independence in 1947.Interest in Shi'a Islam has increased greatly in recent years, although Shi'ism in the Indian subcontinent has remained largely underexplored. This book traces the history of Indian Shi'ism through the colonial period toward Independence in 1947. It shows how, as a consequence of religious activism, a Shi'a sectarian identity developed that existed separately from its Sunni counterparts. In this way, the painful birth of modern sectarianism was initiated, the consequences of which are very much alive in South Asia today. The book makes a significant contribution to the global history of Shi'ism, and to understandings of inner-Islamic conflicts in the colonial and post-colonial worlds.Interest in Shi'a Islam has increased greatly in recent years, although Shi'ism in the Indian subcontinent has remained largely underexplored. This book traces the history of Indian Shi'ism through the colonial period toward Independence in 1947. It shows how, as a consequence of religious activism, a Shi'a sectarian identity developed that existed separately from its Sunni counterparts. In this way, the painful birth of modern sectarianism was initiated, the consequences of which are very much alive in South Asia today. The book makes a significant contribution to the global history of Shi'ism, and to understandings of inner-Islamic conflicts in the colonial and post-colonial worlds.Interest in Shi'ism Islam has increased greatly in recent years, although Shi'ism in the Indian subcontinent has remained largely underexplored. Focusing on the influential Shi'a minority of Lucknow and the United Provinces, a region that was largely under Shi'a rule until 1856, this book traces the history of Indian Shi'ism through the colonial period toward Independence in 1947. Drawing on a range of new sources, including religious writing, polemical literature, and clerical biography, it assesses seminl³&