Ismailism and Islam in Modern South Asia : Community and Identity in the Age of Religious Internationals

This book explores the evolution of a Shia Ismaili identity and crucial aspects of the historical forces that conditioned the development of the Muslim modern in late colonial South Asia. It traces the legal process that, since the 1860s, recast a Shia Imami identity for the Ismailis, and explicates the public career of Imam Aga Khan III amid heightened religious internationalism since the late-nineteenth century, the age of 'religious internationals'. It sheds light and elaborates on the enduring legacies of questions such as the Aga's understanding of colonial modernity, his ideas of India, restructured modalities of community governance and the evolution of Imamate-sponsored institutions, key strands in scholarship that characterized the development of the Muslim and Shia Ismaili modern, and Muslim universality vis-à-vis denominational particularities that often transcended the remits of the modular nation and state structure. Cover Ismailism and Islam in Modern South Asia Title Copyright Contents Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Glossary Note on Transliteration Introduction The postnational, the denationalized and the cosmopolitan Religious internationals and cosmopolitanism: The religious, the secular and Ismaili subjectivity Religious authority and the question of articulation Outline of chapters Endnotes 1 The Khoja Ismailis and Legal Polemics: Religion and Customs in Nineteenth Century Bombay The broad contours of the colonial episteme Unravelling religious attitudes Antinomies of socio-religious standardizations: Customs and religious traditions A question of commonalities: Social base, vocabularies and modalities Conclusion Endnotes 2 The Howardian Moment: Morality, Aryanism and Scholarship The historical backdrop The reformist rhetoric The Defendants’ response I: The moral claims of the Shia The Defendants' response II: Morality and the 'Aryan' Ismailis Conceptualizing an epistemological entity: Production and institutionalization of knowledge Conclusion Endnote 3 Pan-Islamism and an Asiatic Spirit: Postnational Subjectivities in an Age of ‘Transition’ Conceptualizing ‘transition’: Community development and national efficiency India beyond India: ‘Transition’ and postnational sensibilities Pan-Islamism and the quest for an Asiatic ethos: ‘Spiritual force’, reason and an ethical community A question of reception Conclusion Endnotes 4 The Hazir Imam, Ismailism and Islam in Late Colonial South Asia On leadership and languages of identification Ecumenism and the liberal quest I: Reform and identity in Bombay Ecumenism and the liberal quest II: Aga Khan III and a Muslim identity in South Asia Conclusion Endnotes 5 The Importance of Being Ismaili: Religious Normativity and the Ismaili International in the Age of Global Assemblages Conferring on normativity: Ismailism and Islam in the twentieth century Carriers of normativity: Visions and institutions Conceptualizing an Ismaili international Conclusion Endnotes Concluding Reflections Endnotes Select Bibliography Primary Sources A. Manuscripts and Archival Documents The British Library The Cambridge University Library Archives of the League of Nations, The United Nations Archives, Geneva Maharashtra State Archives National Archives of India The Norwegian Nobel Institute The Parliamentary Archives of the United Kingdom Politisches Archiv des Auswärtigen Amts (The Political Archives of the Federal Foreign Ministry, Germany) B. Published Primary Sources (official publications, memoirs, speeches, publications of individuals and organizations etc.) C. Law Cases and Judgements Printed Secondary Works, Dissertations and Theses Index Explores The Evolution Of A Shia Ismaili Identity In Modern South Asia And Traces The Genealogies Of Conceptual Categories And Institutions That Conditioned The Historical Process-- The Khoja Ismailis And Legal Polemics: Religion And Customs In Nineteenth Century Bombay -- The Howardian Moment: Morality, Aryanism, And Scholarship -- Pan-islamism And An Asiatic Spirit: Postnational Subjectivities In An Age Of 'transition' -- The Hazir Imam, Ismailism, And Islam In Late Colonial South Asia -- The Importance Of Being Ismaili: Religious Normativity And The Ismaili International In The Age Of Global Assemblages. Soumen Mukherjee. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. This book explores the evolution of a Shia Ismaili identity and crucial aspects of the historical forces that conditioned the development of the Muslim modern in late colonial South Asia, while remaining sensitized to the transregional and internationalist dimensions of this trajectory. "Explores the evolution of a Shia Ismaili identity in modern South Asia and traces the genealogies of conceptual categories and institutions that conditioned the historical process"-- Provided by publisher