Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Muslim Civilization in India


Ikram, S.M. Muslim Civilization in India. New York: Columbia University Press, 1969. Print.
·      
“Rise of Regional Kingdoms” in India during the fifteenth century p. 79
o   Fall of Delhi Saltanate in fifteenth century which led greater degree of autonomy between kingdoms
o   Islam and Muslim culture spread during this time of turmoil
o    “Delphi was the one major center of Islamic culture and religion”
·      IX. The Interaction of Islam and Hinduism p.123
o   Evidence does not support the theory that Muslims spread by warfare there were low Muslim populations in cities where Muslims held power
o   In Bengal, Muslims missionaries converted people who were considered outcastes or low castes in Hindu society into Muslims (because Islam emphasizes equality)
o   In Bengal during the twelfth century, the Pala dynasty supported Buddhism while the Sena dynasty in the twelfth century supported Hinduism.  During this time of unrest, Muslim missionaries converted people in Bengal to Islam.
o   “Moreover, [Muslim missionaries] very frequently transferred ancient Hindu and Buddhist stories of miracles to Muslim saints, fusing the old religion into the new on a level that could be accepted by the masses.” P.124
o   Fourteenth century: Islam spread all over India p.125
§  Caused the development of regional languages, creation of Indo-Muslim music
o   Fifteenth century in India: surge in devotional poetry
o   Two versions of Hinduism in the 14th and 15th century India: One accepting of Islam and the other making changes to “withstand” Islam p.126
o   Early religious leader in India during the fifteenth century: Kabir
§  Born into a Muslim family in India
§  “religious radical who denounced with equal zest the narrowness of Islamic and Hindu sectarianism” p.126
§  “accepted some Hindu ideas and tried to reconcile Hinduism and Islam” p126
§  Kabir’s message especially appeared to lower castes of Hindus who liked the egalitarian message of Islam
§  “true seeker after God, and did his best to break the barriers that separated Hindus and Muslims” p.127
§  Saint in Hinduism for finding a path to God for the low and high castes
§  Look up more information on Kabir!
o   Guru Nanak (1469-1539), religious leader in India p.127
§  Founded the Sikh religion
§  Nanak’s goal: Uniting Islam and Hinduism
§  Kabir was Nanak’s spiritual leader
§  Sikh scriptures are mostly sayings by Nanak
o   Dadu (1544-1603), religious leader in India p.127-128
§  In Kabir sect
§  “The early Hindu followers on Dadu were not disturbed by the knowledge that he was a Muslim by birth, but later ones were” p.128
o   Key Point: “The metamorphosis which the life story and teachings of Kabir and Dadu have undergone is not merely the work of those who were anxious to secure their heroes high lineage and a link with Hinduism; it is symptomatic of the general movement of separation that became common in both Islam and Hinduism in the later centuries. As Muslims grew more orthodox, they turned away from men such as Kabir and Dadu, while Hindus accepted them as saints, but forgot their Islamic origns.” P.128
o   Poet saints Namadeva and Tukaram in Hinduism were influenced by Islam p.128
o   Indian Muslims with Hindu practices reflects “incomplete change from the old way of life” p.130
o   “More than religious beliefs, Indian Islam retain certain characteristic features of Hindu society which, if not religious in themselves, certainly had been given religious sanction.” P.131
o   Muslims adopt Hindu cultural practices:
§  Early marriages
§  Widow not allowed to remarry
§  Social ceremonies (births, deaths, marriages) followed Hindu customs/origins
o   1030 Al-Biruni wrote about the Muslim and Hindu interaction before Muslims ran conquests in India—said that Muslims and Hindus were opposite in all aspects p.131
o   Lack of interaction between Muslims and Hindus during the first three centuries of Muslim rule (no conscious effort to get to know the other group) p.131
o   Hindus and Muslim lived in separate communities and did not marry each other p.132
o   “The tenacity with which attempts continued to be made to establish links between the two religions is a dominant theme in the cultural history of the Mughals, the new group who entered India at the beginning of the sixteenth century.” P132 (LOOK UP MUGHAL INFLUENCE on Islam and Hinduism)
·      Mughal Empire in India (1526-1858) p. 134
o   Islamic rulers
·      XI. The Age of Akbar
o   Success of Akbar, third Mughal ruler
§  Builder of Mughal empire
§  Continued Bairam Khan’s policy of vicious conquest p.144
§  Created Mughal administrative system in India p.146
§  Policy of toleration towards Hindu
Background:
o   In previous Turkish dynasties, Hindus were not allowed to participate in government nor did many want to under Muslim rulers
o   In Khaljis Dynasty (1290 to 1320): Hindu converts to Islam could take high office.
§  During the Mughal empire, Hindus learned Persians and participated in the Mughal government p. 148
§  “Thus by Akbar;s time many of the traditional difficulties had been removed, and he was able to take full advantage of the changes in outlook on both sides.  One example of this was his enunciation of the principle of sulahkul, or universal tolerance, by which he accepted responsibility for all sections of the population, irrespective of their religion….That tow of his most famous officials, Man Singh, viceroy of Kabul and Bengal, and Tobar Mal, his revenue minister, were Hindus, was an indication not of his desire to show his tolerance but his freedom to choose able associates wherever they might be found.” P.148-9
§  “Beyond administrative acts, Akbar showed his sympathies with Hindu culture by patronizing the classical Indian arts, providing scope once more for painters, musicians, and dancers of the old tradition.” P.149
§  Akbar adopted Hindu art elements into the architecture of his buildings .149
·      XII. Religion at Akbar’s Court
o   Akbar began rule as an orthodox Muslim p156
o   Made many royal decrees (on marriage, etc.) that Muslims believed went outside the realm of Islam p.164
o   Attempted synchronism of Hinduism and Islam p.165
Additional info from Wikipedia: “[Akbar] began a series of religious debates where Muslim scholars would debate religious matters with Hindus, Jains, Zoroastrians and Portuguese Roman Catholic Jesuits. He treated these religious leaders with great consideration, irrespective of their faith, and revered them. He not only granted lands and money for the mosques but the list of the recipients included a huge number Hindu temples in north and central India, Christian churches in Goa.”
·      XIII. The Orthodox Reaction
o   Failure of Akbar’s religious policies: “The inability of Hindus and Muslims to evolve a common spiritual brotherhood was the result of the basic fact that to the Hindus the Muslims were (and are) untouchables.  P.170
o   Influence/Response of Shaikh Ahmad: “His forceful and eloquent letters addressed to the leading nobles at Jahangir’s [Akbar’s son] court calling on them to rise in defense of Islam and uphold the dignity of their religion have great power and effectiveness.” P.170
o   Ahmad grew to hate Akbar’s policies and non-Muslims because they took power and reverence away from Islam p.171
o   “Thus, as men like Shaikh Ahmad appealed to the upper classes to maintain the Faith through their political power, men like Sayyid Sultan took the Prophet’s message to the common people.  Both appeals explain the resurgent power of Islam in the century following Akbar’s experiments.” P.174
·      XIV. The Age of Splendor
o   Dara Shukoh wrote Majma-ul-Bahrin (The Mingling of Two Oceans) in 1655 that drew parallels between Islamic Sufism and Hindu Vedantism.  After long thoughtful scholarship, Dara concluded that monotheistic Hinduism and Islamic Sufism shared the same truths.  P187-8
·      XV. Aurangzeb (1618-1707)
o   Sixth Mughal ruler in India
o   Pious Muslim follower p.189
o   Greatly enlarged India to include present-day East Pakistan p.208
o   Abandoned religious toleration of the previous rulers
o   Patronage given to Islamic scholars p. 204
·      XVII. Economic and Social Development under the Mughals
o   Upper class Hindus enjoyed same material luxuries as the Mughals p.231
o   Though it is assumed that Hindus only converted to Islam during the Mughal rule, Muslims also converted to Hinduism.  At the time of Shah Jahan, Hindus married Muslim girls to convert them to Islam.  P233
o   Mughals tried to stop the Hindu practice of burning the widowed wife at her husband’s funeral.  Manucci issued a decree in 1663 that officials would never let a Hindu women be burnt again. P.236
·      XVIII. The Arts
o   Literature:
§  The primary language in Mughal courts was Persian and the secondary language was Hindi. P.243
o   Painting: Preponderance of Hindu painters in the Mughal courts p.248
·      See XIX. A Century of Political Decline: 1707 – 1803 for how the Mughal empire declined
·      XX. The Beginning of a New Era: 1803-1857
o   Last Mughal Emperor exiled out of India in 1858
o   “The Islamic Revival in Bengal”:
§  Sufi missionaries spread Islam in Bengal during the 13th and 14th centuries
§  Response: Strong Hindu revival by Vaishanavite leaders (p.283)
§  Nineteenth century revival of Islam in Bengal due to local reformers (p.283)
§  “The significance of this religious revival in Bengal in the nineteenth century has generally been overlooked, but there is no doubt that it gave new life to Islam.  The emphasis on strict religious observances, the denunciation of participation in Hindu practices, and the call to an austere life safeguarded the community in a time of a political weakness.” P.286
o   “Seeds of Separation” p.290
§  “Yet while some British policies led to a worsening of communal relations, it is only fair to note that they would not have had much effect if the soil had not been congenial.  During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the relations between Hindus and Muslims were generally peaceful, but it was because of the dominance of a third power, and not because of the integration of the two social groups.  The two communities had coexisted—generally in harmony, often in friendship, occasionally in conflict—but had never coalesced.”
Note: Look up Syed Ahmad Khan (1817-1898): Muslim philosopher in Indian fought for the higher status of Urdu language
·      XXI. Conclusion:
o   Context for Indo-Islam Culture:
§  Islamic religious in heritance
§  Turkish origin of many rulers
§  Influence of Persian culture
§  Indigenous culture of India and Afghanistan that entered Islam

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