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Partisans of Allah

Partisans of Allah

Jihad in South Asia

Ayesha Jalal

ISBN 9780674047365

Publication date: 04/10/2010

The idea of jihad is central to Islamic faith and ethics, and yet its meanings have been highly contested over time. They have ranged from the philosophical struggle to live an ethical life to the political injunction to wage war against enemies of Islam. Today, more than ever, jihad signifies the political opposition between Islam and the West. As the line drawn between Muslims and non-Muslims becomes more rigid, Ayesha Jalal seeks to retrieve the ethical meanings of this core Islamic principle in South Asian history.

Drawing on historical, legal, and literary sources, Jalal traces the intellectual itinerary of jihad through several centuries and across the territory connecting the Middle East with South Asia. She reveals how key innovations in modern Islamic thought resulted from historical imperatives. The social and political scene in India before, during, and after British colonial rule forms the main backdrop. We experience the jihad as armed warfare waged by Sayyid Ahmad of Rai Bareilly between 1826 and 1831, the calls to jihad in the great rebellion of 1857, the fusion of jihad with a strand of anti-colonial nationalism in the early twentieth century, and the contemporary politics of self-styled jihadis in Pakistan, waging war to liberate co-religionists in Afghanistan and Kashmir.

Partisans of Allah surveys this rich and tumultuous history of South Asian Muslims and its critical contribution to the intellectual development of the key concept of jihad. Analyzing the complex interplay of ethics and politics in Muslim history, the author effectively demonstrates the preeminent role of jihad in the Muslim faith today.

Praise

  • Intelligent, erudite and timely. This is an important and compelling historical narrative that spans the depth and breadth of the history of Islam in South Asia. By far the best intellectual history of jihad, this work will greatly enrich the study of Islam, South Asia, and Islamic activism.

    —Vali Nasr, author of The Shia Revival: How Conflicts Within Islam Will Shape the Future

Author

  • Ayesha Jalal is Mary Richardson Professor of History at Tufts University.

Book Details

  • 400 pages
  • 5-1/2 x 8-1/4 inches
  • Harvard University Press

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