Hasan M Zulfiqar Qureshi Muslim

revivalism in 19th century India

Muslim revivalism in 19th century

India
If one thing links all Muslim reform in the 19th century it is a new awareness
of the need to act on earth in order to be saved, i.e. a new emphasis on jihad
broadly understood. Discuss.
Hasan M Zulfiqar Qureshi
St. Cross College, Oxford
Essay No. 4: February, 2015

Four generally applicable assertions can be made in relation to Islam in India

in the 19th century. First, that the 19th century witnessed the growth of
numerous Islamic reformist and revivalist movements who saw the need for
action in support of thought, in the absence of viable Muslim power; second,
that many of these revivalist trends, with certain exceptions, can be traced
to revivalist attempts of the 18 th century, and earlier, i.e. Shah Waliullah;
third, that these movements developed their activist nature primarily in
reaction to the encroachment of Western civilization, practices, ideas and
philosophy (e.g. rationality), imposed on India by British rule, coupled with
the perception that Islam was under attack; and fourth, that these
movements expressed their reformism in differing ways - ranging from new
theological interpretations of Islamic law and philosophy to efforts at armed
resistance under calls for jihad.

The 19th century saw a raft of societal, political and economic changes
in India brought about by British rule. From about the 1820s the long
established Muslim agrarian class began to be challenged by a rising class of
Hindu merchants and landed elite, supported by East India Company (EIC)
policies. Public Islamic law slowly came to be replaced with British Colonial

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Hasan M Zulfiqar Qureshi Muslim
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laws, and even personal (Anglo-Mohammedan) law was increasingly under

threat.1 The British further abrogated the Mughal revenue-free grants (waqf)
made to support religious institutions. Revenue re-organization under the
Permanent Settlement Act 1793, under Cornwallis, turned peasants into
indebted serfs. The change of language of public instruction from Persian to
English; the introduction of the western education system; Muslim reluctance
to use these western educational facilities; all led to a vicious cycle which left
Muslims less qualified, and thus less able to compete with Hindus for
administrative jobs.2 Further, the patronage given to Christian missionaries
by the British irked the Muslims who perceived it as open Christianization of
the land, although the British administration was generally secular in nature.
The annexation of Awadh (1856) and the failed mutiny of 1857-58 were the
death knoll for the last vestiges of viable Muslim political power in India.
These shocks made Indian Muslims ask where they fit into the new Indian
society. Increasingly the question focused around how an Islamic society
could survive under colonial rule and the increasing encroachment of
western civilization. Groups and movements of Indian Muslims came to
different answers to this question. Before I examine these responses, a note
on the term revivalism; I define the term in much the same way that Fuad
Naeem does as an analogue to terms such as tajdid, renewal, and
islah, rectification, both signifying the reassertion and reformulation in a
new situation, and sometimes new form, of ideas and practices essential to
the traditions which are under threat.3 The words revivalism and reform
are used interchangeably.

1 Ahmed, Aziz. Islamic Movements in India and Pakistan 1857-1964 (London, 1967), 19

2 Ibid, 26

3 Naeem, Fuad S. Sufism and Revivalism in South Asia: Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanvi of
Deoband and Mawlana Ahmed Raza Khan of Bareilly and their paradigms of Islamic
revivalism, The Muslim World (Vol. 99: 2009), 437

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The Modernists
The origins of the Aligarh modernist school of thought lie in early 19 th
century Delhi, which was a hub of reformist thought, hosting the famous
Waliullah seminary. In the early 1800s there began a slow deterioration of
relations between Indian Muslims and their British rulers. Though there were
ideological attacks on Muslim society, such as the encroachment on Muslim
law mentioned above, which angered many Muslims; this also allowed an
interaction with western modernist interpretations of concepts and
institutions,4 helping foster modernist trends in Muslim thinking. However,
the anger was still present, as the very nature of India was changing under
the British. This is evidenced by Shah Abdul Aziz Dehlavi (d. 1823),
Waliullahs eldest son, declaring India dar-ul-Islam under the Marathas, but
dar-ul-harb under the British.5 The Ulama, including Shah Abdul Aziz, and his
disciple Maulana Abdul Hayy (d. 1886), led the ideological defence,
condemning the imposition of British law over Hanafi law. 6 Despite this, Aziz
Ahmed contentiously argues that the fundamentalist-reformist Mujahideen
movement under Syed Ahmed Barelwi (d. 1831), -heavily influenced by Shah
Abdul Aziz, and supported by Waliullah house scions Abdul Hayy and Shah
Ismail Shaheed (d. 1831)-, which could be termed the first modern religious,
political and military Indian Muslim movement, was directed primarily at the
Sikhs and not the British.7 He evidences this ambivalent attitude towards
the British by the fact that some of the Waliullah house members were

4 Aziz, 26

5 Ibid.

6 Ibid, 20

7 Ibid.

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employed by the EIC and called for loyalty to the British unless and until they
interfered with the religious freedom of Muslims.

Despite this debate, it is evident that there was an adoption of certain

scientific, bureaucratic and philosophical concepts by Muslims, proving that
there was not a total rejection of western institutions.8 Scholars such as
Karamat Ali Jawnpuri (d. 1873), another Shah Abdul Aziz disciple, argued that
modern scientific knowledge is sourced from the Greeks through the Arabs to
the Europeans, and besides, all knowledge itself is from God, as evidenced
from the scientific ayats in the Quran therefore it is not wrong to study the
western sciences. Thus, despite grievances of British domination, western
institutions, specifically those which were of a scientific or educational nature
were cheered as the success of progress; progress which the Muslims had
forsaken for so long.

It was this modernist strain of thought which led the reform agenda from the
fore. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (d. 1898) thought that as long as Muslims had the
space to practice their religious freedoms, there was no need to rise against
the British. Further, if the British werent present, the Hindus would gain
ascendancy, as the Muslims were too weak to take back power. He
understood the failure of the Mutiny in this context, during which he
remained loyal to the British. According to Sir Syeds realpolitik loyalism, the
British were here to stay, and the Muslims needed to find ways to survive
and prosper under them.9 To continue in India, the Muslims needed to
reinvent themselves using modern institutions to better their intellectual and
practical capabilities. His notion of jihad was different to Ahmed Barelwis. To
Sir Syed, jihad meant organized social action on behalf of the Ummah. 10
Thus, his urgent priority was the modern education of young Muslims.
8 Ibid, 21

9 Ibid, 34

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Aligarh11 was roughly modeled on the Oxbridge system; English-medium,

non-denominational, and a fort of liberal ideas, the scientific study of
subjects, humanism, a fresh look at history, and pragmatism in politics. 12
Despite this however, Sir Syed wanted his students to stay in India, and not
to lose their identity; showing that he wanted modernization, not necessarily
Anglicization. Yet, he also saw a problem in that there was the danger of his
students losing their inherent faith in the discourse of the modern sciences,
because there was no framework for them to reconcile the two.

Thereafter he attempted to resolve the two; his new interpretation of

Islam, propagandized mainly through his Tahzib al-akhlaq journal, combined
Waliullahs fundamentalism with his own modernist version of theology. 13
His interpretations were highly controversial,14 yet made significant progress
in attempting to reconcile western ideas and sciences with Islamic tenets. He
asserted that Quranic revelation and natural law are identical; 15 therefore
they cannot be contradictory. Whilst disregarding the medieval law schools,
he explained erstwhile physical events in the Quran and Hadith, as
metaphors; for example, the al-Isr wal-Mirj as a dream. He also criticized

10 Lelyveld, David. Aligarhs first generation: Muslim solidarity in British India (Princeton,
1978), 146

11 Classes began in 1875-78

12 Lelyveld, 118-128

13 Aziz, 40

14 David Lelyveld describes Sir Syed as stuck between two civilizations,

neither of whom accepted him fully; Lelyveld, 106

15 Ibid, 43

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the practice of authenticating hadith by isnad only, as this is based on the

reliability of individuals, and advocated an emphasis on matn (rational
criticism of the narration itself).16

He spent energy on lengthy refutations, in the light of reason, of

western claims about Islam, explaining practices such as jihad and slavery in
the historical context of the Prophets time. Christian Troll points out that Sir
Syeds unswerving reliance on a full-fledged theological rationalism and
naturalism or aql, makes the Qur'an lose its central and decisive place as
the only witness to the true God, 17 while the faith which the Qur'an
demands is not rational in the sense of being built on the evidence of
reason.18 This is a denunciation which Sir Syeds orthodoxy-inclined Ulama
critics also relayed.

Later, Sir Syed became aware of possible Hindu domination in the

British introduced representative institutions; coining the idea of political
separatism, which later formed the basis of the two-nation theory. The school
of modernist thought did enjoy success in its objective of removing the
historical and cultural baggage which had built up around the core principles
of Islam during the previous centuries, without resorting to fundamentalism.
Sir Syeds most important contribution to revivalism was that he allowed
generations of young Muslims to give a new importance to these core
principles in the light of the challenge of modernity.

16 Chiragh Ali, Sir Syeds colleague, offered even more radical and
speculative modernist theories. Later, Mohsin-ul-Mulk, the successor to Sir
Syed retained the modernist interpretative spirit, but retreated from the
speculative theories.

17 Troll, Christian. Sayyid Ahmed Khan: a reinterpretation of Muslim Theology (New Delhi,
1978), 221-222

18 Ibid, 220

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Deoband
Education as the answer to the challenges of the day was not only the
purview of the modernists. The Darul-Ulum Deoband had been established
a decade prior to Aligarh by Muhammad Qasim Nanautvi and Rashid Ahmad
Gangohi, who were students of pre-Mutiny Delhi, belonging to the tradition of
the Waliullah seminary. The primary institution of the movement was the
seminary itself.19 Contrary to pre-colonial times when the madrassa was not
a capital I teaching institution, Deoband, taking its cue from European
educational establishments, constructed a curriculum focussed, bureaucratic,
Sharia-centric, Urdu-medium seminary where the focus was to be upon the
study of Hadith in the classical sense, with no modern subjects. 20 The
Deobandis, being distrustful of the colonial authorities, only sourced funding
from charitable donations.21 Though there is evidence that students
respected the Sufi tradition and celebrated the Sheikhs, Deobandi thought
was disapproving of non-Islamic practices such as the celebration of
mawlid and urs, and the undue attention on dargahs and intercession-
innovations which they attributed to the Shia and Hindus.

The primary purpose of Deoband was therefore to use education as a

means of facilitating Muslims to be Muslims without political power, being
wholly separate from the state.22 To this end, Deoband involved itself in the
rigorous training of Ulama who would devote themselves to the propagation

19 Metcalf, Barbara. Traditionalist' Islamic Activism: Deoband, Tablighis, and Talibs, ISIM
paper (ISIM, Leiden: 2002), 4

20 Ibid, 5

21 Metcalf, Barbara. Islamic Revival in British India: Deoband, 1860-1900 (Princeton, 1982), 98

22 Ibid, 87-96

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of Islam to the individual. This new, professionalized, consolidated class of

Ulama, in a time when Muslim political power was largely non-existent, was
different to the historical class of Ulama under political authority, who were
trained to fulfill state functions. The new class of Ulama was not accountable
to political authority; in their direct relationship with the masses as teachers,
scholars and prayer leaders they espoused their own version of Islam,
without instruction or control by a Muslim state. At Deoband itself, fatwas
were issued on questions of Islamic directives in light of newly emerging
contextual circumstances.23 The dissemination of thought in writing was
given precedence, and books on how to organize the Muslims life, such as
Bahishti Zewar by Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi, became hugely popular. In this
endeavor, new technologies such as printing presses and railroads were
employed to the full to reach the masses. The Deobandis were competing in
a market of religious ideas to prove themselves the best protectors of Islam.
Metcalf calls this a new corporate identity of competition for the loyalties of
Muslims.24

Metcalfs argument of the Deobandi Ulama taking an inward turn

towards individual Muslim revitalization in the face of the challenges of
modernity has been criticized by Zaman, 25 who cites the continuing
involvement of Ulama in the public sphere. However, both are correct, as
Metcalf primarily examined the Deobandis in the latter half of the 19 th
century, whilst Zaman focused his analysis on the early 20 th century.
Between these two periods the Deobandis began to take an increasing

23 Metcalf, Barbara. Traditionalist' Islamic Activism: Deoband, Tablighis, and Talibs, ISIM
paper (ISIM, Leiden: 2002), 5

24 Ibid, 6-7

25 Zaman, Muhammad Q. The Ulama in Contemporary Islam: Custodians of Change

(Princeton, 2002)

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interest in politics to further their agenda of a revitalized and purified Islam.

Up until their entry into politics in the 1920s though, the Deobandis wanted
very little to do with politics.

Deobandi thought has not only replicated itself with thousands of seminaries
across the Muslim world, but has also manifested itself in a number of
splinter groups whose ideological reasonings can be traced back to
Deoband, but whose brand of revivalism is very different. The Ahl-i Hadith
adopted a more extreme, elitist, sectarian and intolerant version of Deobandi
fundamentalism; rejecting the medieval law schools altogether, focusing on
Quran and Hadith only. Their vehement anti-Sufism and literate
interpretation of Islam distinguishes them from the traditional Deobandis and
places them closer to Salafis. Deobandi thought has also been instrumental
in the rise of groups such as the Tablighi-Jamaat, an apolitical organization
focused on proselytization to the individual; and later, Abul A'la Maududis
politicized Jamaat-i Islami.

The Barelwis
The origins of Barelwi (or the Ahl-i Sunnat wa Jamaat) thought also lie
in early 19th century Delhi. However, in contrast to the modernists and
Deobandis, the Barelwis were not a product of a move towards revival, but a
force against it.26 Barelwi thought formed around its Hanafi scholar-founder
Ahmad Riza Khan of Bareilly (d. 1921) who argued that Islam is the product
of its evolution over the centuries, inclusive of its cultural additions. This
then was an argument for the preservation of Sufi tradition in the face of the
return to fundamental Islam of the Deobandis. The Barelwis thus emphasised
traditional and customary Islamic practices such as mawlid, urs, taaviz
26 Sanyal, Usha. Devotional Islam and politics in British India: Ahmed Riza Khan Barelwi and
his movement 1870-1920 (New Delhi, 1999), 3-11

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bringing them into constant conflict with Deobandis and the Ahl-i Hadith.
This focus on customary practices endeared the Barelwis mainly to the
largely illiterate rural population of colonial India, whose daily practice of
Islam was far more religiously convoluted when compared to the high and
purified Islam espoused by the revivalist Sunni Ulama. In contrast with the
Deobandis, the Barelwis did seek a reconnection of the Muslims with political
power, later leading to them supporting the Pakistan movement. Their
relationship with the colonial authorities was also largely non-
confrontational.27

Thus far the discussion has been limited to broadly the Sunni sphere.
However, there was a significant revivalist trend amongst the non-Sunnis as
well.

Shiism
It is known that there were individual Shias in the wider reform
movement, e.g. in Waliullahs school; but there were also movements of
reform amongst the communities of Twelver, Ismaili and Bohra themselves.
Shia power centers had always been present across India, Shias being
prominent at the Mughal courts too. 28 They also felt the effects of the loss of
power and the challenges of colonial rule in the 19 th century. The British, in
Lucknow, courted Shii mujtahids in an attempt to offset the influence of
Sunni Ulama. The Khoja Ismailis especially had a close link with colonial
power, as their leader the Aga Khan (d. 1881) had cemented his leadership
position through their help.29 Aga Khan III (d. 1957) would later amend,

27 Ibid, 55

28 Robinson, Francis. Introduction: The Shia in South Asia, Journal of the Royal Asiatic
Society (Vol 24, No. 3: 2014), 354

29 Ibid, 355

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Hasan M Zulfiqar Qureshi Muslim
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remove and replace certain traditions of the Khojas to construct a narrative

geared towards his own semi-divine status.30 Successive Aga Khans used the
close royal connection with the British to consolidate their community in
India, prospering in the process.31

If some Shii used access to power to safeguard their interests, others

without this access began to reassert their own distinctiveness as a rallying
cry. Syed Dildar Ali Nasirabadi (d. 1820), of Awadh, constructed a narrative
which was anti-Sunni, anti-Sufi, and theologically pro-reason. Marisyas grew
popular as a means of expression of Shii belief and heritage. This
distinctiveness often led to antagonism with Sunnis, seen in the practice of
tabarra (the cursing of the first three Khulafur-Rshidn).32 The opposed
revivalism of Indian Sunnis and Shias widened the divide between the two
during the 19th century.33 In their reform agendas, Indian Shias were
supported by Iranian revivalist movements;34 and there is also emerging
evidence of the influence of Indian Shii revivalism on the wider Shia world. 35
Later 20th century reform would continue among the Twelver Shia of India,
seeking to protestantise Shiism, adapting Imam Hussains message in an
activist and anti-colonial light.36

30 Ibid, 357

31 Ibid, 355

32 Ibid, 355, 358

33 Ibid, 357

34 Ibid, 358

35 Ibid, 359

36 Ibid, 355-356, 358

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Hasan M Zulfiqar Qureshi Muslim
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The Ahmadiyya
The emergence of the Ahmadiyya is somewhat of an anomaly, as the
movement grew less out of a desire to reform Islam in the face of
colonialism, and more out of the pressures of localized post-Mutiny era
religious competition in north-western India, being moulded by the ideas of a
single individual, into a mutated version of Islam. 37 Though we may ascribe
the emergence of the Ahmadiyya to the general atmosphere of revivalism, it
would be difficult to call it reform in the conventional sense, as the
Ahmadiyya went far further and changed some of the most basic tenets of
Islamic theology; with their finished product rejected by almost all the rest of
Muslim world. Mirza Ghulam (d. 1908) began his career by debating powerful
Christian and Hindu missionary polemics in Punjab. 38 Soon though, he began
to preach of himself being the prophesized Mahdi, a minor prophet, and an

incarnation of Isa and Krishna. Thus, he became a denier of both the

finality of Prophethood an absolute core tenet of Islam-, and the ascension

of Isa , which inevitably led to conflict with mainstream Islam. He also

forbade any use of jihad against the British,39 leading to claims that he was a
British concoction to divide Indian Muslims. After his death, the Ahmadiyya
split into two groups, the Qadiyanis, and the Lahori group. Two aspects of this
movement have kept it alive until the present day; disciplined organization
and vigorous proselytization.40

37 Friedmann, Yohanan. Prophecy continuous: Aspects of Ahmadi religious thought and its
medieval background (Berkeley, 1989), 1-4

38 Ibid, 4-8

39 Ibid, 2

40 Ibid, 11-17

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Hasan M Zulfiqar Qureshi Muslim
revivalism in 19th century India

Most of the reformist movements above were centered in northern

India. Here, a short discussion of developments in Bengal and South India
follows.

Bengal
On revivalism in Bengal, there is considerable debate as to the nature
and success of the movements.41 Rafiuddin Ahmed42, early on, largely played
down the role of revivalists in Bengal, whilst Asim Roy offers an attempt at a
revisionist analysis. Roy points to important figures such as Titu Mir, Haji
Shariatullah and Dudu Miyan, but is also critical of their revivalist trends,
terming this and their jihad, futile responses in the struggle against the new
order.43 Roy is also critical of the reduction by some scholars of Bengali
revivalism into compartmentalized categories of social, economic and
political.44 Yet the impact of non-religious factors in popularizing the Faraizi
movement and their advocacy of jihad, cannot be ignored. Neither can socio-
economic factors of colonial/zamindar oppression which led to Titu Mirs
activism. 19th century Bengal had its own peculiar social conditions and rich
culture which helped it foster a unique strain of revivalism, but not wholly
disconnected from wider trends; molded also by Bengals alternate (to North
India) experience of Islamisation.

The Mappilas

41 Roy, Asim. Impact of Islamic revival and reform in colonial Bengal and Bengal Muslim
identity: a revisit, Journal of South Asian Studies (Vol. 22, Special Issue: 1999) 41-44

42 Ahmed, Rafiuddin. The Bengal Muslims, 1871-1906: a quest for identity (Delhi, 1996)

43 Roy, 56

44 Ibid, 41

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revivalism in 19th century India

Perhaps even more uniquely than in Bengal, Islam in South India developed
on a different path to Islam in North India. Any mention of South Indian
Muslim revivalism immediately brings to mind the Mappilas of Malabar.
Conflict with the Portuguese shaped the historical experience of the
Mappilas, turning them from coastal traders to an inland agrarian people,
engendering in them a deeply militant strain of Islam. 45 The Mappilas strain
of Islamic thought development thus fused their unique and somewhat
isolated social experience with Europeans and Hindus, with their
understanding of the use of violence in Islamic law. 46 Denied economic
independence by high-caste Hindu landowners (through taking of janmam
rights), they developed a frontier mentality.47 For the Mappilas, their
understanding of jihad was central. Jihad became a central obligation, taking
on a cultural significance. Martyrdom in battle, or becoming a shaheed was
encouraged as an ideal by the tannals (religious functionaries).48 This
ritualized conception of shahadat was less a by-product of jihad, as most
Muslims understood it, but became not dissimilar to the kamikaze pilots of
Imperial Japan. Revivalist trends amongst the Mappila can also be sourced to
their experience with Muslim Mysore, under whom they denied janmam to
Hindu overlords, by giving taxes directly to the state.49 Later, when the
British attempted to reverse this, a series of ritual and suicidal attacks took
place against them and upper caste Hindus, called the Moplah Outrages. In
the early 20th century, Mappila activism would turn into a full scale uprising

45 Dale, Stephen F. Islamic history on the South Asian Frontier: the Mappilas of Malabar, 1498-
1922 (Oxford, 1980), 29-36

46 Ibid, 107-119

47 Ibid, 119-152

48 Ibid

49 Ibid

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Hasan M Zulfiqar Qureshi Muslim
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against colonial authorities, largely devoid of any relation to events

elsewhere in North India. Thus, Mappila revivalism does not have its roots in
18th century Dehlavian reformism, and must be understood through their
cultural experiences over the centuries.

Conclusion
This essay has discussed the differing responses to colonialism, modernity
and the loss of power of the main revivalist movements of the 19 th century.
Two aspects could not be discussed due to the essays limited scope. The
first, being the interaction between the movements and their intellectual
rivalries which has played a part in cementing ideologies. Metcalf 50 makes
some progress in this regard. Second, the impact of Indian Sufism on the
above movements has also not been discussed. Fuad Naeem provides an
interesting argument about the influences of Sufism on the revivalist thought
of both Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi of Deoband and Maulana Ahmed Raza
Khan of Bareilly.51

Concluding, based on the analysis of the main revivalist movements, the four
general assertions made at the beginning of this paper seem to hold true.
What linked most of the 19 th century revivalist movements was an
understanding of the changing world of modernity, and a need to respond by
reforming Islam to meet its challenges in the absence of political power.
Their understanding of jihad however, was markedly different.

_________________________________________________

50 Metcalf, Barbara. Islamic Revival in British India: Deoband, 1860-1900 (Princeton, 1982)

51 Naeem, Fuad S. Sufism and Revivalism in South Asia: Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanvi of
Deoband and Mawlana Ahmed Raza Khan of Bareilly and their paradigms of Islamic
revivalism, The Muslim World (Vol. 99: 2009), 435-451

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revivalism in 19th century India

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