140 101

Mehru Hasnain: "Cultural History of Muslims in India"

UE, 2 SSt., 5 ECTS.

Studienplancodes: MAK5

Termin: teilweise geblockt, 5.3.-30.4., jeweils Mo+Mi, 13:30-15:00, SR 1 TB

Unterrichtssprache: Englisch

Beschränkte Teilnehmerzahl: 24

ACHTUNG! Anmeldung erforderlich! Bitte melden Sie sich unter judith.starecek@univie.ac.at bis zum 5.3. unter Angabe von Matrikelnummer und Studienfach an!

The South Asian subcontinent is home to more than one and a half billion people. It is the site of fierce historical contest. The region is a treasure house of languages and religions, making its history and culture both rich and complex.

The purpose is to briefly introduce the first visitation of Islam in South Asia from the eighth century with a focus on the development of institutions influenced by Islam between 1500 and modern times.

The study includes a look at the political and cultural institutions established to make space for Muslim conquerors in South Asia. The contribution of Islam to the local way of life and the reaction of both Muslim and Hindu political leaders to the arrival and rule of Europeans. This leads to the partition of British India and the creation of Pakistan in 1947. The study concludes with a look at South Asia's Muslim community that totals about half a billion people in contemporary times.

Spoken by 35 million people in South Asia, Urdu is a language born in India but now the official language of Pakistan. The birth and growth of the Urdu language will be introduced by looking at traditional literature and modern Indian authors writing in Urdu both Hindu and Muslim.

List of Reading:

• Mehru Jaffer, The Book of Muhammad, Penguin, 2003
• Muzaffar Alam, The Languages of Political Islam: India 1200-1800. New Delhi: Permanent Black, 2004
• Barbara D Metcalf, Islam in South Asia in Practice, Princeton University Press, 2009
• Annemarie Schimmel, Islam in the Indian Subcontinent. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1980.
• Stanley Wolpert, Jinnah of Pakistan, New York: Oxford University Press, 1984.

Contents:

1. Introducing the Arabian Peninsula and the birth of Islam.
2. Islam branches out of the Arabian Peninsula from Mecca, Medina to Iran and Central Asia.
3. South Asia in the 8th century.
4. The relationship of Arabs, Persians and South Asians before the birth Islam
5. When Hinduism and Islam first meet in South Asia.
6. The defeat of Hindu rulers by Muslim armies.
7. Muslim mystics conquer local hearts in South Asia.
8. The birth of the Urdu language in the barracks of Muslim armies.
9. Muslim Turkic Dynasty of Delhi
10. Persian speaking Mongol warriors defeat Turkic rulers of Delhi to found the Mughal dynasty.
11. Arab and Persian Islam combine to give birth to Indian Islam.
12. The mystical branch of Islam and Hinduism.
13. Decline of Muslim rulers and the influence of European traders in South Asia.
14. From traders to colonialists: The British in South Asia.
15. The rise of nationalism by Muslim and Hindu South Asians against the British.
16. The end of British colonial rule, the division of South Asia, the birth of Pakistan in 1947 as a homeland for the Muslims of South Asia, and Islam in conemporary South Asia.
17. Examination