Strategies of Authority in Muslim South Asia in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

Bibliographic Data

ID3606559
AuthorsFrancis Robinson (0009-0007-3407-5114, Royal Holloway University of London, corresponding author)
Year2013
Volume47
Issue1
Pages1-21
Publication date2013-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueModern Asian Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0026-749X • E-ISSN: 1469-8099
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0026749x12000248
OpenAlexW2012934921
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited10

Starting from the position that authority is constantly a work in progress, this paper examines authority in Muslim South Asia at a time when Muslims felt the challenge of rule by another civilization. It examines the strategies in sustaining their authority: of religious leaders, of Unani hakims and of literary leaders. In all three areas there is a rejection of the Persianate Mughal past and an embracing of Arab models, of the Prophetic model, and in various ways a drawing on British models and British authority. The paper also looks at the strategies of the rulers noting, amongst other things, how the British drew heavily on Mughal models just as Indian Muslims were letting them go, and how, since independence, Muslim rulers have drawn on a mixture of Western, Arab and Prophetic sources. There is also a running discussion throughout the paper of the revolutionary shift towards rooting authority in society at large, and the development of techniques to do so

Ancient history · Civilization · Independence (probability theory · Political science · Position (finance · Sociology · South asia · Traditional authority · Asian Studies and History · History · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East

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