skip to main content
Language:
Search Limited to: Search Limited to: Resource type Show Results with: Show Results with: Search type Index

Sayyids and Social Stratification of Muslims in Colonial India: Genealogy and Narration of the Past in Amroha

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 2020-07, Vol.30 (3), p.467-487 [Peer Reviewed Journal]

Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Royal Asiatic Society ;2020 This article is published under (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License. ;ISSN: 1356-1863 ;EISSN: 2051-2066 ;DOI: 10.1017/S1356186320000358

Full text available

Citations Cited by
  • Title:
    Sayyids and Social Stratification of Muslims in Colonial India: Genealogy and Narration of the Past in Amroha
  • Author: NIAZI, SOHEB
  • Subjects: 19th century ; Egalitarianism ; Ethnicity ; Ethnography ; Genealogy ; Genre ; Hindus ; Islam ; Koran ; Men ; Muslims ; Narration ; Narratives ; Political discourse ; Politics ; Provinces ; Race ; Scriptures ; Social classes ; Social history ; Social status ; Social stratification ; Traditions ; Urdu language ; Writing
  • Is Part Of: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 2020-07, Vol.30 (3), p.467-487
  • Description: While Islamic scriptures like the Quran and Hadith are often quoted to negate the existence of social stratification among Muslims, authors of genealogical texts rely on the very same scriptures to foreground and legitimise discussions on descent and lineage. In the South Asian context, several conceptions of hierarchy as practised by Muslims in north India evolved over the course of colonial rule and were deployed interchangeably by Sayyids. These were based on notions of race, ethnicity, respectability and nobility, and occupational distinctions as well as narratives that referred to the history of early Islam. This article contributes to the study of social stratification among South Asian Muslims by exploring the evolution of Urdu tarikh (historical texts) produced by Sayyid men in the qasbah of Amroha in the Rohilkhand region of the United Provinces during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Sayyid authors narrated the past through the medium of nasab (genealogy). While their texts place emphasis on lineage and descent to legitimise a superior social status for Sayyids, they also shed light on the changing social and material context of the local qasbah politics with the discourse on genealogy evolving into a form that engaged with social contestations.
  • Publisher: Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press
  • Language: English
  • Identifier: ISSN: 1356-1863
    EISSN: 2051-2066
    DOI: 10.1017/S1356186320000358
  • Source: ProQuest Central
Back to results list
INSPIRE LIBRARY - TON DUC THANG UNIVERSITY (84-028) 37 755 057 Feedback
19 Nguyen Huu Tho St. Dist.7, HCM thuvien@tdtu.edu.vn

Copyright © 2017 INSPIRE LIBRARY - TON DUC THANG UNIVERSITY

Searching Remote Databases, Please Wait