The Making of a Council: The Nadwat al-'^Ulama'

By Jamal Malik, Heidelberg/Bonn

Introduction
The end of the last century was marked by the development of
a new institutional infrastructure among representatives of
Muslim cultures in the Middle East as well as in South Asia. In
the wake of colonial rule, the ancient regime, a religious elite,
so-to-speak, and newly emerging groups of Muslim intellectuals
gradually established forums for religious scholars. Their cultural
articulations were, however, very much determined by the British
rule to which they were exposed. Hence their forums displayed
new values beyond those perpetuated by traditional society and
disseminated by its teachings. While the traditional syllabus pro
moted rational sciences {ma'qlt), these reformers - as they un
derstood themselves - advocated traditional quranic sciences
{manqlt), thereby going back to the roots of their religion. Sim
ilarly, their propagation of a trans-regional network was aimed at
reinforcing the concept of an Islamic umma. By referring to the
Nadwat al-'Ulamd, "Council of Religious Scholars", one of the
leading Islamic institutions during that period, I will attempt to
elaborate upon the institution-building process in an urban
colonial society. From a social-historical perspective, I will dis
cuss the various groups involved and their motives as well as the
new normative approach of the prime movers of the Nadwa dur
ing its formative phase.
' I am thankful for the suggestions made by Profs. Marc Gaborieau, Gail
MiNAULT and Francis Robinson as well as by the participants of the 3rd Interna
tional Conference: Intellectual Culture in Modern and Contemporary Islamic Histo
ry, Bonn, Dec. 5-8, 1990, on earlier drafts of this paper. I am also grateful for the
generous financial support of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft that made
possible the research from which this article is drawn.
The Making of a Council: The Nadwat al-'Ulam
61
So far historians have dealt with the Nadwa only peripherally
and have primarily mentioned Shibli Nu'mni (1857-1914), one
of the giants of Muslim historiography, in connection with the
Council.^ But he neither was the prime mover in the making of
such a new institution nor was he the integrating force during its
formative phase; he became secretary of the newly established
religious seminary ofthe Nadwa only in 1903, e.g., more than ten
years after the Council's inception in Kanpur, United Provinces.
There is, however, no doubt that it was due to his activism that
the Nadwa achieved an international reputation.
Some recent contributions suggest that Sayyid Muhammad 'Ali
Mongiri (1846-1927) was one of the leading religious figures com
mitted to the establishment of a Nadwa. This view is also pre
sented in the recently completed history ofthe Nadwat al-'Ulamd
(and other Nadawi sources),^ which style this mystic with charis
matic qualities as its founder {bni). In contrast to the contribu-
dons which regard Shibli as the central personality of the Council,
most sources with a Nadawi background suggest that Shibli's role
and contribution were somehow negligible and thus belittle his
intellectual standing. The reason for the tendentious historiogra
phy prevalent in the Nadawi sources can be regarded as a result
^ E.g., D. Lelyveld: Aligarh's first Generation. Princeton, New Jersey: Prince
ton University Press 1978, pp.244, 248; Aziz Ahmad: Islamic Modernism in India
and Pakistan. Oxford etc.: Oxford University Press 1967, pp. 109ff Francis Ro
binson : Separatism among Indian Muslims; the politics of the United provinces'
Muslims 1860-1923. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1974, passim.
' E.g., B.D. Metcalf: Islamic Revival in British India: Deoband, 1860-1900.
Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press 1982, pp.335ff.; M.S. Agwani:
Islamic Fundamentalism in India. Chandigarh : Twenty-First Century India Society
1986, pp.29ff ; Nadawi sources are: Muhammad al-Hasani: Strut Mawln
Muhammad 'Ali Mongiri, Bdni-e Nadwat al-'Ulam\ Karachi: Majlis NasharTyt-
e Islam n.d.; Muhammad Ishaq JalIs Nadawi/Shams TabTz Khn: Trikh Nad
wat al-'Ulam'. Lakhna': Maktabah-e dr al-'ulm 1983, Vols. I and II (official
history of the Nadwa). See also Muhammad al-HasanI: Piydm-e Nadwat al-
'Ulam. Karachi: Majlis Nashariyt-e Islam n.d.; Sayyid Sulaimn Nadawi:
Hayt-e Shibli. Lhawr: Maktabah-e 'Aliyah n.d., esp. pp.372ff ; Sayyid 'Abd
al-Hayy bin Fakhr al-DTn al-HasanT: Nuzhat al-Khawtir wa bahjat al-masmi'
wa al-nawzir, ed. Sayyid AbO al-Hasan 'Ali al-Hasani al-Nadawi, Karachi
1976, Vol. VIII, pp. 445-449 (Arabic); Sayyid Ab al-HASAN 'Ali Nadawi: Hayt-
e 'Abd abHayy. Karachi: Majlis Nashariyt-e Islam, 1985, pp. esp. 131-157;
Abdul Qayyum Nadwi: "Nadwat-ul-'Ulama", in: A History of The Freedom
Movement, Vol. II, part II. Karachi: Pakistan Historical Society 1961, pp. 424-
429.
62 Jamal Malik
of the struggle between the traditionalist and reformist scholars in
the Council.
There have been only more or less scattered arguments up to
now that the Council was a result of the efforts of some religious-
minded Government officials, 'Ulam, Sufis, and local notables
who wished to unite religious scholars and eliminate sectarian
differences, and whose aim was to fuse modern norms dissemi
nated in Aligarh with traditional teaching found in Deoband."
Likewise, little has been said so far with regard to the institution-
building process among reformist movements in general and the
Nadwa in particular. The recently published history of the
Nadwa does not even mention the potential secular forces factu
ally involved in this new endeavour. Hence, Nadawi sources
foster the impression that the Council was produced by an exclu
sively traditional scholarly religious culture. In contrast to these
views, this paper suggests that the social groups committed to the
setdng up of a Nadwa were mostly drawn from the new strata
which had developed in the wake of colonial rule as well as from
the religious elite which was struggling for its political and social
survival. In fact, they both sought the support of the Raj. It be
comes clear that tensions arose within the institution-building pro
cess as a result of the encounter with colonial structures when
different social and economic interests collided in this forum.
The Background
Awadh, and especially its capital Lucknow, had long been a
centre of Islamic learning, particularly in the rational sciences.'
Mysticism and syncretist thought were prominent in supporting
these sciences since manqlt had little influence in a Hindu-
See, e.g., S.M. Ikram: Modem Muslim India and the Birth of Pakistan.
Lahore: Institute of Islamic Culture 1977(3), pp.121 f; Metcalf: Revival,
pp.336ff.
* For an excellent introduction to Lucknowi culture, see 'Abd al-Hal!m
Sharar: Lucknow: The Last Phase of an Oriental Culture. Trans, and ed. by E.S.
Harcourt and Fakhir Hissain, Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press 1976. It is said
that already under Hindu rule, all books on rational sciences were published in
Lucknow; see Muhammad Bqir Shams: Lakhna' ki tahdhib. Karachi: Dr al-
Tasnif n.d., p. 21.
The Making of a Council: The Nadwat al-'Ulam
63
dominated culture. Shiite scholars played a crucial role in dissem
inating ma'qlt. The Persian scholarly tradition of Fath Ullah
Shirazi (d. 1588) eventually produced the Chishti Qutb al-Din
Sihalwi (d. 1691), who was one of the leading figures in this
scholarship.* The Sunnite religious establishment later known un
der the name of Farangi Mahall in Lucknow became the central
academic institution from the 18th century onwards, producing
hundreds of brilliant ma'qli scholars. They were taught on the
pattern of dars-e nizami established by Nizm al-Din Sihlwi
(d. 1748), who was initiated into the Qadiri order and was the son
of Qutb al-Din. His scholarly approach stood in contrast to the
curriculum set up by the Naqshbandi Shh Wali Ullah (1703-
1762) in Delhi, which gave prominence to manqltJ Due to its
relatively secular tradition, Sunni and Shiite scholars as well as
Hindus could enjoy the dars-e nizami. The representatives of the
Shiite Nawwabi court in Awadh could therefore instrumentalize
the Farangi Mahall, which produced scholars and bureaucrats for
the local courts and administration.* Parallel to its academic een
trality, Lucknow was also a commercial centre with a flourishing
economy.' Consequently, there was a considerable influx of com
mercial groups and artisans from the hinterland.
' See Manazir Ahsan Gilni : Pk o Hind kd nizam-e ta'lim o tarbiyat. Lhawr:
Maktabah-e Rahmaniyah n.d., Vol.1, pp.234ff Compare also Muhammad Bqir
Shams: Lakhna' ki tahdhib, pp.21f, and Saiyid Athar Abbas Rizvi: A Socio-
Intellectual History of the Isn 'Ashari Shi'is in India. New Delhi : Munshiram
Manoharlal 1986, Vol. II, pp.l96ff., esp. 207 ff
' See Francis Robinson: The 'Ulam' of Farangi Mahad and their Adab, in:
B.D. Metcalf (ed.): Moral conduct and authority. The place of ADAB in South
Asian Islam. Berkeley: University of Cahfornia Press 1984, pp. 152-183; G. M.D.
Sufi: Al-Minhaf Evolution of curricula in the Muslim educational institutions,
Lahore: Shaikh Muhammad Ashraf (repr.) 1981, pp. 60-76. Muhammad Rada
Ansri: Bni-e dars-e Nizmi. Lucknow: Nmi Press 1973. For the Naqshbandiya,
its dissemination and its branches, see now Marc Gaborieau/Alexandre
Popovic /Thierry Zarcone (eds.): Naqshbandis. Historical Developments and
Present Situation of a Muslim Mystical Order Istanbul: Institut Francais d'Etudes
Anatoliennes 1990. For an abstract ofthe history of Islamic scholarship in North
ern India, see Jamal Malik: Islamisehe Gelehrsamkeit in Nordindien, in: Periplus
1992, Mnster: LiL Verlag 1992, pp. 152-163.
* See J. R. I. Cole: Roots of North Indian Shi'ism in Iran and Iraq. Religion and
State in Awadh 1722-1859. Berkeley: University of Califomia Press 1988, pp. 50 f.,
142, 208.
' See William Hoey: A Monograph on Trade and Manufactures in Northern
India. Lucknow 1880.
64
Jamal Malik
Those coming to the centres of Nawwabi power for learning and
services often hailed from the decaying Shahjahanabad but came
mostly from qasbahs, administrative units and garrison posts of
the ruling regimes and centres ofthe Muslim military and service
gentry ofthe late 17th century. They had established an interme
diary economy in these towns, with particular products, services
and artisanry. Having accumulated considerable wealth during
service in the army and administration of the Mughal empire and
later of the regional states, the gentry had gradually developed
"Islamic subcentres", legitimized by the presence of tombs and
holy men. Here a tradition of services, religion and Islamic learn
ing was developed and perpetuated through the spiritual,
marriage and kinship patterns ofthe ashraf. The qasbah was thus
the prototype of the wealthy Islamic social environment. It had
become the proud watan,^ which was socially cohesive due to
traditional economic structures and social relations.
The Colonial Impact
Colonialism, of course, had a tremendous impact on the social
fabric of India. Not only were the economic spheres revolu
tionized, but social relations were changed as well and new social
sectors emerged." Some North Indian towns soon developed into
leading British commercial centres, and Kanpur, some miles
southwest of Lucknow, became the "first offshoot of the coastal
capital and industrial economy in the interior of the subconti
nent",'^ especially due to the newly established railway line. Ulti
mately Lucknow was ousted by this emerging commercial centre
and infrastructural junction. After the Rebellion of 1857, the de-
C. A. Bayly : Rulers, Townsmen and Bazaars. North Indian Society in the Age
of British Expansion 1770-1870. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1983,
pp. 46-52, 102, 111, 192 f.; Cole: Roots, pp.83, 87 et passim.
" See, e.g., Hamza Alawi: Die koloniale Transformation in Indien, Rckschritt
vom Feudalismus zum Kapitalismus, in: J.-H. Grevemeyer (ed.): Traditionale
Gesellschaften und europischer Kolonialismus. Frankfurt a.M. 1981, pp. 158-208;
Cole: Roots, pp. 253 ff ; Reinhard Schulze: Islamische Kultur und soziale Be
wegung, in: Peripherie (Bonn) No. 18/19 April 1985, pp.60-84.
'2 Bayly: Rulers, pp. 439 f; compare also V.T Oldenburg: The Making of
Colonial Lucknow 1857-1877. Prineeton, New Jersey: Prineeton University Press
1984, p.47, and District Gazetteers of the United Provinces , XIX, Cawnpure, p.75.
The Making of a Council: The Nadwat al-'Ulam
65
mands of the British Army, the main local investor and buyer,
facilitated the industrialisation of Kanpur. New skills and entre
preneurs were introduced and a new small scale bazaar parallel
to the local traditional economy connected with the artisanry of
the Islamic gentry gradually developed. European firms increased
in number, fostering new patterns of consumption and new de
mands, especially among the newly established urban local
groups: There were new goods for a new culture,'^ a culture which
had developed between modern and traditional societies. Not
only did the means and methods of production vary in each of
these social groups, in this increasingly complex society their re
spective cultural articulations differed as well.
Under colonial security policy, there was little room for public
and political life, no nationalist involvement and no large-scale
cultural and rehgious activity, for instance in Lucknow, where by
"1877 the task of restructuring the government and politics ... was
completed and was followed by a dull, quiescent, and stable pe
riod Hausmannism was prominent in moulding Indian cities,
and its aim was to stabilize and perpetuate British interests." Li
kewise, parallel to these structural changes and especially after the
Rebellion, the British Raj created groups of loyalists who could
control the native public, both in the rural and the urban sectors.'*
The making of colonial Kanpur was crowned in 1889 by the
establishment of the Upper India Chamber of Commerce and by
the introduction of the Council Act in 1892, with the objective of
organizing the social and administrative set-up more effectively.
In the same year, octroi was introduced and two years later re
placed by terminal tax." A new educational system envisaged for
" See Hoey: Monograph, pp.29fr. and Bayly: Rulers, pp.441 ff.
^ Oldenburg: Lucknow, p.XXI.
For the change of the urban topography see the classical work of A. D. King:
Colonial urban development: culture, social power and environment. Boston, London
1987; also E. Ehlers/Th. Krafft.
" SeeTH.R. Metcalf: The Aftermath of Revolt: India, 1857-70. Princeton 1965,
esp. pp. 134ff ; also C.A. Bayly: Local Control in Indian Towns - The Case of
Allahabad 1880-1920, in: Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 5/4 (1971), pp. 289-311 and
Francis Robinson: Consultation and Control: The United Provinces' Government
and its allies, 1860-1906, in: Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 5/4 (1971), pp.313-336.
" For Cawnpure see Imperial Gazetteer of India, Vol. IX, New Delhi, New
Edition, pp. 315-230. Octroi had already been introduced some years earlier in
Lucknow.
66 Jamal Malik
the newly emerging social groups, not only in Kanpur, was to
provide loyal as well as effective clerks and bureaucrats for the
urban colonial sector. This urbanization acted as a magnet: The
hinterlanders (qasbahwls) increasingly sent their children to
the new towns, since social mobility was, to them, only possible
there due to the deteriorating situation of the qasbahs after 1857.
The expansionist colonial power had decisively changed the tradi
tional pattern in the qasbah, and the commercial security of
British rule promoted the small town bania at the cost of artisans
and gentry, resulting in their decline. Political and administrative
changes and the deliberate support of Hindu landlords led to a
decrease of Muslim government employment; moreover, as in
1836, Persian was abolished as the official language.'* A new
infrastructure and new economic centres like Kanpur had thus
gradually weakened the position of the qasbahwls. The tradi
tional religious endowments, waqf, had increasingly come under
the pressure of British legislation." As a result of this disintegra
tion, a defensive but also a dynamic and innovative culture
emerged in the qasbah : here the avantgarde of the Muslim social
and political movements developed and produced a sense of the
"urgency of Muslim protestation of increasing backwardness."^"
Most of them were exposed to Christian missionary activities,
which did not only lead to the conversion of Hindustanis but
whose objective was to legitimize colonial rule, at least to some
believers in Britain. In order to be understood properly, the
Islamic avantgarde responded in the same way, with language
and methods it had learnt from the foreigners.^' Their constitu
ency was, however, the declining qasbah and its migrants to
urban centres. The ta'alluqdrs - more or less the representatives
ofthe restored and loyal aristocracy - played a pivotal role in this
process, though their main purpose was to show the British that
" For changes in the economic conditions of the Muslims in the U. P., see
Lance Brennan : The Illusion of Security: The Background to Muslim Separatism
in the United Provinces, in: Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 18/2 (1984), pp. 237-272.
" See G. C. Kozlowski : Muslim endowments and society in British India. Cam
bridge: Cambridge University Press 1985.
" Bayly: Rulers, pp.357, 354-56, 455 f., 190; see also Cole: Roots, pp.235,
285 f.
" For missionary activities, see Imdd Sbiri: Farangiyn kJl. Delhi 1979 (2),
pp. 76-98. For the Islamic literature produced during that time as well as its ob
jectives and functions, see op. cit., pp. 272-310.
The Making of a Council: The Nadwat al-'Ulama 67
"they were an enlightened aristocracy".^^ They supported edu
cational movements and Muslim journals, while know-how was
provided for them by new social groups, mostly Western-educated
intellectuals. However, these intermediary social groups found
themselves in a great dilemma. As the satirist Akbar Illhbdi
(1846-1921) remarked pointedly: "Our belly keeps us working
with the clerks / our heart is with the Persians and the Turks.""
Their leadership, their institutions and their Islamic learning
were, however, in no way traditional since their "belly was with
the clerks". Yet, their cultural articulation was deeply rooted in
tradition, i.e. Islam. The problem they faced was how to integrate
the modern and the traditional. While on the one hand the Aligarh
Movement reflected one such innovative attempt to overcome the
dilemma on the basis of primarily Western normative patterns,
the Deobandis tried, to a certain extent, to isolate themselves from
the British Raj. Another attempt still was made by the Ahl-e
Hadith. They were all mainly scripturalists.^" Their primary
addressee was, however, the colonial public rather than the tradi
tional, which was inward-oriented and adhered to traditional
structures and modes of communication, like mystical orders or
the peasant-oriented Barelwis."
In an increasingly complex urban society, a conscious approach
- as a worldview reflecting the particular social environment -
had become necessary. Scripturalism was one path toward this
articulation, and, as the new social groups thought, the only way
to cope with the "Western challenge". Their protagonists were the
product of the new system, intellectuals/scholars such as, e.g.,
" Th.R. Metcalf: Land, Landlords, and the British Raj. Berkeley: University
of California Press 1979, p. 318. For the talluqdrs ' role in education, see op. cit.,
pp.318-326, 352-362, for their habits, pp.341 ff For the change in the ta'alluq-
ddrs' power under British rule, see also Tn. R. Metcalf: The Oudh Talukdar:
From Raja to Landlord, in : R. E. Frykenberg (ed.) : Land Control and Social
Structure in Indian History. New Delhi: Manohar 1979(2), pp. 123-142.
" See R. Russell/K.Islam: Satirical Verses of Akbar Illhbdi (1846-1921),
in: Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 8/1 (1977), pp. 1-58, here p. 56.
" Scripturalistic in the sense of C. Geertz: Islam observed. London: Yale Uni
versity Press 1968.
The way in which the Barelwis still make considerable use of these traditional
modes of communication has been elaborated in S.Jamal Malik: The Luminous
Nurani. Charisma and Pohtical Mobilisation among the Barelwis in Pakistan, in:
Pnina Werbner (ed.): Person, Myth and Society in South Asian Islam. Social
Analysis, Adelaide, No. 28, 1990, pp. 38-50.
68 Jamal Malik
Shibli and Muhammad 'Abduh, who proclaimed islh (reform),
and who primarily sought its acknowledgement by the Western
power and who propagated new institutions with an exclusive
framework and little mass appeal. Their use of colonial media and
norms perpetuated and stabilized the new Islamic avantgardist
self-statement, thereby guaranteeing their claim of agency and
exclusivity, as with the other societies (anjumans) that had
sprung up like mushrooms. These "sala" reformers, who relied
on the ideals of early Muhammadan times, had two basic fea
tures: 1. The reorganization of education and instruction {ta'lim
and tarbiyat), which was a-political and 2. the reintroduction of
independent reasoning {ijtihd). They regarded the deposition of
the old forms of legitimation of power to be essential for a new
society, the Islamic society, the umma. This umma replaced the
old conception of God, who now had declined to being the centre
of social and religious discourse. In accordance with the dominant
Western worldview, Islam was ideologized, God became tran
scendent. Through this ideologization, it increasingly became pos
sible to shun the disunity overshadowing different schools of
thought,^* at least for the time being.
Yet, in order to gain legitimation from scholars and Sufis and
to mobilize representatives of the traditional sector, this avantgar
dist group had to transcend its own social exclusivity. But there
was no commonly accepted religious leadership, neither socially
nor from the point of view of confession: There was the majority
of traditional religious scholars who mostly had isolated themsel
ves from the dominant colonial public but were still powerful;
there was also a religious elite looking for integration with the
colonial sector in order to escape their imminent political and
social marginalization. Thus, drawing different groups with their
various interests and claims, from urban as well as rural societies,
into united religious or political action was not easy. The process
foreshadowed vigorous tensions. Consequently, the prime movers
of the Council had to develop a consensus broad enough to give
sufficient room for the projection of different worldviews held by
the different groups concerned.
There was thus on the one hand the increasingly insecure sit
uation ofthe qasbahwls. On the other hand there was the feel-
" See Reinhard Schulze: Islamischer Internationalismus im 20. Jahrhundert.
Leiden: Brill 1990, pp. 34 ff.
The Making of a Council: The Nadwat al-'Ulama
69
ing of disintegration of the intermediate social groups combined
with a newly emerging avantgardist self-statement. Out of this
constellation, a specific demand arose for a new forum of abstrac
tion. One of these forums was the Nadwat al-'Ulamd. As should
be evident from the remarks made above, its prime movers did
not belong to the realm of traditional religious scholars but were
intellectuals, government employees and a group of the religious
elite, whose ideology was integrationism, e.g., integrating
colonial norms into the traditional system. With the exception of
the religious elite, the representatives of the traditional sector
hardly participated in this struggle.
The Making of a Council
In some contributions on the Nadwa one may find the name of
a certain 'Abd al-Ghaffur (1855-?), deputy collector to the British
Government, who is regarded as the prime mover for the Nadwat
al-'Ulamd}''
This view is also held by the historian 'Abd al-Razzq Knpri
(1862-1947),2* who stated that in late 1891 he met his teacher
Hakim Sayyid Zuhr al-Islm (1858-1921)^9 from the qasbah
Fatehpur and Deputy 'Abd al-Ghaffur while making preparations
for a convention of the Anglo-Oriental Educational Conference
(AOEC) - one year before Shibli toured the Middle East to es
tablish his opinion about the declining Islamic educational sys
tem. Knpri writes that 'Abd al-Ghaffur proposed,
" See Aziz Ahmad: An Intellectual History of Islam in India. Edinburgh 1969,
p. 58; Shaikh Muhammad Ikram: Mawf-e kawthar. Lhawr: Idrah-e Thaqfat-e
Islmiyah 1984(12), p. 187. 'Abd al-Ghaffr was appointed Deputy Collector Kan
pur in January 1984; see History of Services of Officers (holding Gazetted Appoint
ments in the Government of India, Finance and Commerce Dept.), Corrected up
to 1st July 1895, Haiderabad Residency: Gov. Press 1897.
" For 'Abd al-Razzq Knpri, see Sulaimn Nadawi: Ydgdr-e raftagdn.
Karachi: Majlis Nashariyt-e Islam 1983, pp.357 ff.; Nuzhat, VIII, pp.250f
" Zuhr al-Islm Fatehpri was a student of Lutf Ullah 'Aligarhi (d. 1916) and
a khalifa of Fadl al-Rahmn Ganj Murdbdi (1793-1895). For a biographical
sketch of Fatehpri see J.Malik, in: Dictionnaire Biographique des Savants et
Grandes Figures du Monde Musulman Peripherique. Du XIX" Siecle a Nos Jours,
ed. by M. Gaborieau, N.Grandin, P.Labrousse, A. Popovic, CNRS: Paris (forth
coming); henceforth DBSGF.
70 Jamal Malik
"that for the purpose of rehgious reform {madhhabi islh) and
the propagation (ishd'at) of traditional oriental education as
well as for the preservation (tahqffuz) of Islam, a committee
shall be appointed and with the consultation of the 'Ulam this
religious organisation shall be established in Kanpur. It would
be appropriate if the committee was supported by the Conference
[AOEC] at its annual meetings for the time being. Therefore
a resolution to this effect should be moved. If it succeeds,
good and fine, if not, other possibilities are to be found."^"
However, the majority of the members of the AOEC's standing
committee - including Sayyid Ahmad Khn (1817-1898) - re
jected this proposition since it was obviously concerned with re
ligious and traditional rather than with English and modern edu
cation. Accordingly, such a proposal was not presented at the
meeting ofthe AOEC in December 1891. However, the idea was
pursued by 'Abd al-Razzq and others. They met at the house of
the deputy in Kanpur and decided to establish a committee com
prising some 'Ulam who taught in religious schools in the area
of Deoband and Kanpur. Thus, several religious scholars and
'Abd al-Ghaffr, the deputy collector, became the fountainheads
of this movement, and the initial step was followed by monthly
meetings in Kanpur for the next two years.^'
The sources available do not permit us to draw a precise picture
of these supposedly private meetings. One may assume, however,
that this formative phase was most crucial and important in find
ing and elaborating intersectional points among the various par
ticipants and interested parties. Hence, only a broad consensus
would have allowed the integration of the different individual
perceptions and expectations which could be projected onto this
new movement in all their varieties. This was important in order
to address positively the representatives of various schools of
thought and of social groups that had concentrated in Kanpur. It
was also most important for the creation of a collective identity
among a group that included avantgardists and scholars. Such an
identity would bring about particular functions for the individual
" 'Abd al-Ghaffr as quoted in Muhammad 'Abd al-Razzaq Knpri: Yd-e
Ayym. Hayderbd 1946, pp. 102f
" See Knpri: Yd-e Ayym, p. 103. Due to lack of source material, I could
not trace names of the participants at this stage of formation.
The Making of a Council: The Nadwat al-'Ulam 71
in a collective effort and would transcend social, religious as well
as economic barriers, at least ritually. As has been stated above,
the first members of the movement were mostly scripturalists and
thus most of them supposedly hardly adhered to religious sym
bolism, which may be considered an important vehicle for the
establishment of a collective identity. The need of the hour how
ever demanded the use of religious symbols and scholars and a
broad consensus, e.g., reestablishment of the Muhammadan era,
unity of Muslims and a reformed curriculum. Only in this way
could the traditional masses be addressed properly. Yet, the ad
vocates cautiously omitted the arena of political activism.
Nevertheless, the postulations of the Islamic advantgarde and
intermediary groups reflected their own particular social and po
litical environments and interests. They considered their own mi-
crocosmic conceptions to be the sole remedy for the welfare of
"declining" Islamic society, the qasbah. They also stressed the
necessity of uniting the upholders of Islamic tradition, the muqal
lids and ghair muqallids, who were busy imposing their respec
tive notions of Islam, and heavily criticized the traditional system
of education. Interestingly, they were capable of adopting We
stern institutions and developing them further without renouncing
their Islamic identity. At the same time a redisplacement of the
origins of European conceptions into the Islamic past helped to
protect them from the reproach of heretical innovation (bida")
condemned by traditionalists. In this way traditionalists could be
mobilized for the legitimation of new conditions as well.^^ Sub
sequently, the date for the first Nadwa meeting was agreed upon
in the house of a notable of Kanpur."
In order to gain some mass support, these intermediaries need
ed a commonly accepted personality representing the religious
elite who would unite different schools of thought and social
groups under one umbrella and who would argue for a new way
of disseminating and acquiring religious knowledge. In analogy
to the heterogeneity of the participants, a broad institutional
frame was to be established, a kind of meta-institution which
would call for unity and progress as well as for a new umma.
" This change of perception has been discussed in S.Jamal Malik: Islami
sierung in Pakistan. Untersuehungen zur Auflsung autoehthoner Strukturen. Wies
baden: Franz Steiner 1989, Ch. I, here p. 38.
" See KanpOri: Ydd-e Ayydm, p. 103.
72 Jamal Malik
The Mobilization of the Traditional Sector
The proven way to mobilize the religious elite was to motivate
especially the leaders from the qasbahs, the ideal of Islamic cul
ture. Accordingly, in 1892 it had been agreed upon by the prime
movers and activists in the establishment of a council that they
would invite all 'Ulam of Hindustan for the next annual meeting
of the Faid-e 'Amm, a prominent religious school in Kanpur, and
that this convention should be named "Nadwat al-'Ulamd"?'' The
name of the new institution unmistakably reminded one of the
Dr al-Nadwa in pre- and early Muhammadan times connecting
its members with the glorious past of Islam and giving them the
sense of exclusiveness and unity. Sufism, the integrative force in
South Asia, was a prominent means for addressing different
strata, not only the traditional sector. Thus, Sayyid Muhammad
'All Mongiri, a Hanafi Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi^' scholar and
" The Nadawi sources do not, however, mention the endeavours of 'Abd al-
Ghaffr but instead state twenty 'Ulam who agreed upon this plan and became
the first supporters and members ofthe Nadwat al-'Ulam; among them there was
one Farangi Mahalli and teacher in the Canning College - Muhammad Fadl Ullah
(d. 1894), a well known ma'qH scholar who was inclined to mystical practices
but who is said to have had little qualification in manqlt (see Nuzhat, VIII,
pp. 364 f), and some Deobandis - see also Sayyid Muhammad 'Ali Mongiri:
Redd Nadwat al-'Ulam' 1894. Knpr 1894, part I, pp.22f. (henceforth
Redd) ; in later Nadawi writings this number of twenty is reduced to fourteen,
leaving out, i.a., the representative of Farangi Mahall; see JalTs: Ta'rikh, I, p. 96
and al-Hasani: Sirat, p. 116. However, it seems to be too early at this stage of
research to suggest that "... there were no Farangi Mahallis with the Nadwat
al-'Ulam '.. ." F. Robinson: Problems in the History of the Farangi Mahad: Family
of Learned and Holy Men, in: Oxford University Papers on India, Vol. 1/2, Delhi
1987, pp. 1-27, here p.22). In fact, not only leading members of the Nadwa such
as the Qadiri Chishti Shaikh Shh Sulaimn Phulwrwi (d. 1935) were on good
terms with the scholars of this family. Some famous reformist Farangi Mahallis
were also among those who supported this reform movement in the very beginning.
Later 'Abd al-Wahhb (d. 1903) and his son 'Abd al-Bri could also be won over
for the Council. This suggests that the Farangi Mahallis cannot be regarded as
one monolithic block. There were different branches, reformists as well as tradi
tionalists, integrationists as well as isolationists. Similar divergencies can
be made out among the Deobandis, e.g., in the case of Ashraf 'Ali Thnawi
(d. 1941), who also supported the Nadwa in its formative phase. Indeed, he took
pains to carry out reforms for the Muslim middle class women.
It is important to note here that the Mujaddidi branch of the Naqshbandiya
was rather quietistic while the branch of Shh Wali Ullah subsequently became
more militant; see Hamid Algar: Political Aspects of Naqshbandi History, in:
The Making of a Council : The Nadwat al-'Ulam
73
khalifa of Fadl al-Rahmn Ganj Murdbdi (1793-1895), the
post-rebellion pir (see below), was nominated its administrator
general {nzim) over a period of many years.^* A brief introduc
tion to his career sheds some light on how and why he became
the leading figure in the shaping of a council.
Hailing from a qasbah near Kanpur, he claimed descent from
the Prophet. According to him he belonged to a silsilah reaching
back to 'Abd al-Qdir Jilni (d. 1166). He studied at the feet of
Lutfullh 'Aligarhi (d. 1916), the famous scholar of the post-re
bellion era and teacher of most of the new age scholars of that
time. Lutf Ullah himself originated from a qasbah as well. He
taught in the madrasah Faid-e 'Amm in Kanpur for several years
and was appointed mufti in Hayderabad in 1895. It is said that
he tried to acquaint religious scholars with the new philosophy
and strove to reform the old syllabus."
Another teacher of Sayyid Muhammad 'Ali was Mufti 'Inyat
Ahmad (1813-1863), teacher of'Aligarhi. He originated from the
qasbah Kakori near Lucknow and, like Lutf Ullah, served in the
colonial and princely judiciary as mufti and qadi, but later was
imprisoned due to some disputes with the British. After his release
he came to Kanpur where a madrasah - the Faid-e 'Amm - was
endowed on his behalf by the owner of the well-known Nizmi
press. Later, while on journey for hajj, 'Inyat Ahmad died as a
result of an accident, and his death is regarded as shahddat?^
According to his biographer, Mongiri soon developed an aver
sion towards rational sciences - for which the Farangi Mahallis
were well-known - and instead preferred Hadith, which was sup
ported by the Shh Wali Ullah line in Delhi. The early loss of his
Marc Gaborieau et al. (eds.): Naqshbandis, esp. pp. 134-136, and D.W. Damrel:
The Spread of Naqshbandi Political Thought in the Islamic World, in : op. cit., esp.
pp. 275-282.
" With their recourse to mystical ideas and orders, the new age groups probably
attempted to neutralize the achievements of the mysdcs of the 18th and 19th
centuries, as in the case of the Tariqa Muhammadiya; see J.S. Trimingham: The
Sufi Orders in Islam. Oxford: Oxford University Press 1971, Ch. IV and IX and
R. Schulze: Internationalismus, pp. 19-26.
" For Lutf Ullah, see J. Malik in DBSGF (forthcoming).
" For 'Inyat Ahmad Kkorwi, see al-Hasani: Sirat, p. 8, fn.2; Muhammad
Ishaq Bhatti: Fuqahd'-e Pk o Hind. Lhawr: Idrah-e Thaqfat-e Islmiyah
1984, Vol.2, pp. 244-247; Akhtar Rhi: Tadhkirah-e Musannifin-e dars-e nizmi.
Lhawr: Maktabah-e Rahmniyah 1978(2), pp. 177-184.
74 Jamal Malik
male ancestors and teachers might have created in him a sense of
deep desire for a leading figure. Hence, after having followed
different murshids for some time, he finally became murid and
khalifa of Fadl al-Rahmn, the leading Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi
Sufi saint from the qasbah Sandilah near Muradabad," then a
spiritual centre. The pir, himself a profound manquli scholar,
became shaikh and spiritual guide of most of the founder-mem
bers of the Nadwa, but his favourite khalifa was Sayyid
Muhammad 'Ali. Like many other qasbahwls, Fadl al-
Rahmn, too, had come under pressure ofthe banias - as a result
of British policy - and usually lived in debt, as did Lutf Ullah
'Aligarhi."" However, he was on very good terms with men like
the owner of the Nizmi press in Kanpur,"' representatives ofthe
newly emerging social groups.
After having completed his studies, Mongiri - he had been one
ofthe first students in the Faid-e 'Amm - taught in Kanpur in the
heydays of Christian missionary activity and was confronted by
their working methods. He also witnessed the growing disintegra
tion of traditional societies. He is said to have established the
Anjuman-e Tahdhib, a cultural society with the objective of bring
ing 'Ulam and the modern advocates, the jadid ta'limydflah
tabqah, closer to each other. This institution was represented by
religious scholars, notables and jurists, most probably very similar
to the Delhi based Anjuman-e Islam set up in 1876 or the An
juman-e Himdyat-e Islm. Sayyid Muliammad 'All's organisation,
however, soon died out, but he kept on struggling for Islamic
reform. Accordingly he started editing two journals, the "Man-
shr Muhammadi" in Kanpur for the next few years - with its
main office in Banglore from 1871 to 1884 - and the "Rislah-e
Ahmadiya". His assistant was a certain Chaudhari Maul Bakhsh
who translated English books for him. For theological dicussions
with Christian missionaries, the Sayyid had employed a certain
" See al-Hasani: Sirat, pp.l6f., 19-25, 28f. For Fadl al-Rahmn, see J.Malik
in DBSGF (forthcoming).
See Sayyid Ab al-Hasan 'Ali Nadawi: Tadhkirah-e Hadrat Mawln Fadl
al-Rahmn Ganj Murdbdi. Karachi: Majlis Nashariyt-e Islm 1985, pp. 19ff.,
52 f, 65 f; Shams Tabriz Khn: Sadr Yr Jang Khalil ab Rahmn Khn Sherwni.
Karchi: Majlis Nashariyt-e Islm 1981, p.49. Of course living in economically
desolate circumstances was for a sufi often regarded as a virtue.
Sayyid Muhammad 'Ali Mongiri as quoted in Nadawi: Fadl abRahmn,
p.97.
The Making of a Council: The Nadwat al-'Uiama 75
Munshi Nazir Alimad, a draughtsman from Lucknow, who later
was appointed chairman of the Bhopal Forest Department. Ac
quainted with Christianity, Mongiri started writing books and
pamphlets on how to meet the Western challenge in 1864. One of
his well-known contributions is Paighdm Muhammadi, which was
published in 1890. In this book, he stressed the need for an insti
tution which would organize the Muslims. The 'Ulam, he ar
gued, were not capable of reacting to Christian aggression
successfully because their 'ilm al-kalm (scholasticism) was out
of date. According to him the objective of its study had ceased to
exist. Therefore a new scholasticism was needed."^ In Islamic lit
erature, Sayyid Muhammad 'Ali - due to his persisting activism
- is styled a mujhid, affiliated with mujahidin of 1857 such as
Sayyid Ahmad Shahid and Hjji Imdd Ullh Muhjir Makki
(1817-1899), the shaikh of most reformist scholars. He is also
supposed to have caused trouble for the British Raj so that in the
eyes of the Indian government he was regarded as a bdghi (rebel).
He twice went to Mekka but later returned to settle in Mongir in
Bihar."^ It seems, however, that he was more inclined towards a
"live and let live" attitude vis-a-vis the British.
He was well acquainted with the methods and contents of
Christian missionary activities and probably was committed to
drawing Muslims into a united action on one platform. Mobilized
by the prime movers of the Nadwa - deputy collectors, commis
sioners, tradesmen, jurists as well as intellectuals - Sayyid
Muhammad 'Ali was thus established as a leading figure among
the traditional scholars and mystics at the ritual congregation of
" See Sayyid Muhammad 'A MongTri: Paighm-e Muhammadi, Dehli: Delli
Printing Works 1331 h. (2) (first printed 1308h.), p.320. The extent to which
Mongiri stood in contrast to the religious perceptions of Sayyid Ahmad Khn,
who himself was a descendant of a Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi family, will be dis
cussed in a subsequent contribution.
" See al-Hasani: Sirat, pp.32, 48f, 63ff ; compare also Imdd Sbiri: Jl,
pp.188, 198 f., 310, 370 f However, Mongiri's participation in the mujhidiix move
ment is not unequivocal. As is suggested, he was concerned with the intemal rather
than the external jihd and with combatting missionaries (see Nuzhat, vol. VIII,
pp. 446 f.) ; his mundzarah activity did not necessarily imply a reluctance towards
or rejection of religious and social change among Muslims. On the contrary, com
batting the missionaries etc. necessitated a clear tendency towards reform. Similar
features can also be made out for Sayyid Mumtz 'Ali; see Gail Minault: Sayyid
Mumtaz AU and 'Huquq an-Niswan\ An Advocate of Women's Rights in India in
the late Nineteenth Century, in: Modern Asian Studies, 24/1/1990, pp. 147-172.
76 Jamal Malik
dastrbandi at Faid-e 'Amm in Kanpur in 1894."'' The mobiliza
tion of a part of the traditional sector had thus succeeded. The
original movers, however, faded out ofthe later historiographical
contributions of the Nadawis.
It is interesting to note what kind of arguments Sayyid
Muliammad 'Ali put forward in order to appeal to religious as
well as secular scholars and notables etc. In the first Redd of
the Nadwat al-'Ulamd, he elaborated upon three reasons for es
tablishing a council:"'
1. He argued that the majority of the young generations were
dissolute (awdrah) and dispersed (parishdn). While some parents
had realized the necessity for English, they did not care about
religious education, causing ignorance about Islam among their
children. Others preferred religious schools, the syllabi of which
were, however, outdated.
2. Religious schools had preserved Islamic culture but had
ceased to produce great scholars who would carry on the Islamic
tradition. There were two kinds of students, he argued. Firstly,
those who gave up study for economic reasons and looked for a
job. They were neither scholars nor skilled workers and were ig
norant about scholastic and religious principles because the cur
rent curriculum was overloaded with ma'qlt. Hence, their time
in school was wasted. Secondly, those graduates who were ig
norant about worldly affairs and worked as preachers etc. for a
few rupees. They were neither trained in the study of the quran
{qurn ke 'ulm) [manqlt] nor did they have sufficient knowl
edge of Arabic, although Arabic is "our religious and national
language" {hamdri madhhabi awr qawmi zabn). Therefore con
temporary religious scholars could neither adequately lead the
masses in religious matters, which in turn had a bad impact on
their image, nor could they prevent people from abandoning
Islam. Only if they had the qualities of the 'Ulama-e salaf, ac
quainted with contemporary requirements, could they reestablish
the glory of Islam.
3. The ghost (bala) of discord (nafaq bahami) among the
'Ulam had not only produced an ugly picture of Islam, it had
also weakened and ridiculed it and thereby strengthened the
enemy. Therefore scholars had to shun their differences and unite.
" See KNPRt: Yd-e Ayydm, pp.103 ff.; Redd, pp.22f
" For the following, see Redd, pp. 10-16.
The Making of a Council: The Nadwat al-'Ulam
77
The Sayyid thus became the spokesman of those who regarded
Islam to be in danger and who identified themselves as ashraf
regarding Arabic as their own language. He had become the sym
bolic leader of those who looked for a reform, islh, in respect of
contents as well as in form and who strove for reestablishing the
ideals of the qasbah. The desire for this religious reorganization
was, however, popular merely among those who were more or less
exposed to colonial rule, the Islamic avantgarde and a small re
ligious elite, e.g. integrationists.
The first Ndzim-to-he next elaborates the objectives of the
council. He categorically states that the Nadwa is not founded for
political or national {mulki awr pohtikal) purposes but purely for
the reform ofthe educational system and the abolition of disunity.
Since the evil lay in the educational system, books as well as the
way of teaching {tarz-e ta'lim) had to be changed. Tarbiyat (in
struction/cultivation) was as important as ta'lim (education).''*
Only with these a-political statements was he able to mobilize
notables and government employees etc., who were rather loyal
to the British. In fact, the motives of the Indian civil servants, for
example, were mostly "mundane and career oriented" in an en
vironment where everything had become controlled by municipal
regulations resulting from a comprehensive and deep "penetration
of Indian society by Western ideas."'"
At the dastrbandi, Sayyid Mushtaq 'Ali from Naginah/Baj-
nor, a teacher in the Madrasah Islamiyah Faidbd,'** was nomi
nated to tour the country in order to inform scholars about the
Nadwa and to hear their opinions. Taking along a letter of intro
duction - probably the first document of the Council - and acting
on behalf of the Nadwa members, he met important scholars, in
India as well as in the Hijaz. The document emphasized the need
for reforming the syllabus and stated that religious scholars were
usually {'awm ki nazron men) regarded as isolated from worldly
affairs, ignorant {be waq'at) and useless {be kr). The letter cer
tainly propagated the unity of the 'Ulam under the Nadwa.
" See Redd, pp. 16-17.
Oldenburg: Lucknow, p.XX.
Sayyid Mushtaq 'Ali had leamed at the feet of reputed Deobandi as well as
Saharanpuri scholars; see Jalis: Trikh, I, pp. 100-103; also al-Hasani: Sirat,
p. 118f. For the following statements, see al-Hasani: Sirat, pp.119 and Redd,
pp. 10-16.
78
Jamal Malik
Interestingly, the author ofthe document - Mongiri - regarded
the opinion of the colonial public and of those criticizing tradi
tional norms to be the opinion of the people in general {'awm).
Thus, he affirmed the British critics, who in 1871 had proclaimed
that in indigenous schools
"there is no mental training, nothing in fact which can be
called education. Regularity, order, method are all neglected
... The eyes learn to recognize, and the hand to form the
Persian characters. Words are then committed to memory;
and this is nearly all the instruction that the teacher wishes
to impart or the pupil to receive.'""
Mongiri's attempt to reform the traditional institutions of knowl
edge displays new norms and reflects the fact that the represen
tatives of the movement were communicating primarily with the
colonial sector rather than with the traditional public. This is evi
dent from the fact that his perceptions and his social environment
were very much determined by the religious elite which was
integrated into the colonial establishment: e.g., his teachers were
muftis in the colonial set-up; his murshid and he himself were on
very good terms with the new entrepreneurs (e.g., press), govern
ment officials (e.g., deputy commissioners, etc.) and reformers
(e.g., Anjuman-e Tahdhib); thus, his main addressee was the
colonial public (e.g., mundzarah), the criticism of which he had
embraced and the methods of which he used for the purposes of
a council.
As could be expected, the findings of Sayyid Mushtaq 'Ali's
journey legitimized the new movement: decaying madris and
disunited 'Ulam, an overall decay (tanazzul) among spiritual
leaders, religious scholars and students as well as among sdt,
lack of scholarship and moral decline among students. Western
domination in the fields of trade, industry and agriculture as well
as the service sector. All this was, according to his findings, due
to the Muslims' own negligence (ghaat), ignorance {be-Hlmi),
" R. Griffith to C. A. Elliott on 30th August 1871, in : Selections from the Records
of the Government of India. Home Department, No. CCV, Home Department
Serial No. 2: Correspondence on the Subject of the Education on the Muhammadan
Community in British India and their Employment in the Public Service Generally,
Calcutta 1886, p. 192.
The Making of a Council: The Nadwat al-'Ulam
79
laziness (susti) and a-religiousity {be-dim)? Again, the state
ments show a receptivity to colonial criticism.
Obviously, the report did not intend to point out decay in the
restored aristocracy: Sayyid Mushtaq 'Ali did not mention, e.g.,
the ta'alluqdrs who, although engaged in philantropic competi
tion, were often morally weak while "a central feature of their life
style was a quest for marks of British favor"." Thus, negative
examples of the intermediary sectors were simply not taken into
consideration in the striving for modernity and reform in Islam.
The strategy was not to attack the representatives of the new social
environment, the religious elite and the intermediary groups, but
to approach them very positively and pragmatically. After all, it
was these sectors which supported the new movement morally
and financially. However, the focus was laid on the "decaying"
traditional society and its rural hinterland, the qasbahs,, the legit
imation for which was implicitly derived from such statements as
those of Mr. R.Griffith, cited above.
The aims of the new movement were now broad enough for a
consensus. Accordingly, all scholars who had been consulted by
Sayyid Mushtaq 'Ali subscribed to this new movement: Shibli in
Aligarh as well as Imdd Ullh in Mekka." The support of the
authorities in Mekka was crucial, since it would legitimize the
reform struggle from the Islamic heartland. The support of Imdd
Ullh, the popular post-rebellion pir, turned out to be of partic
ular use because he had been an activist in the Rebellion and had
been initiated into several Sufi orders. His khulafd and muridn
are said to have run into thousands."
Zdhiri (exoteric) as well as bdtini (esoteric) scholars were now
" See Redd, pp. 20-22. The issue of discipline and moral education had been
raised by the British in 1887 and a new policy was envisaged by the Home De
partments. See Selections from the Records of the Government of India. Home
Department, No. CCLXV: Papers Relating to Discipline and Moral Training in
Schools and Colleges in India. Calcutta 1890, pp. 1-18.
" Metcalf: Land, pp. 341 f, 352, 366f
" The number of subscribers amounted to 74; see Redd, pp. 24-27. For the
names of all subscribers, see Redd, pp. 118-128.
" Imdd Ullh is regarded to have been one of the militant forces during the
Rebellion. He was the fifth Imm ofthe movement of Shh WaU Ullh and in
1859/60 had migrated to Makka to lead the movement from exile. For Imdd
Ullh, see Imdd Sbiri: Jl, pp. 4-10, 15f, 183f.; Rahmn 'Ali; Tadhkirah,
pp.122-124; Nuzhat, VIII, pp.80-82; B. Metcalf, in: DBSGF, Voll (in print).
80 Jamal Malik
among the supporters of the Nadwa movement. It had thus
gained considerable following. Of course there were many govern
ment employees and "seculars" represented as well: of the 52
Hindustanis visited by Sayyid Mushtaq 'Ali, one half were lawy
ers, representatives of commercial groups operating in urban
centres and notables, while the other half was composed of teach
ers of religious schools and Sufis. Most of them hailed from com
mercial and cultural centres like Bombay and Bhopal, and the
qasbahs of the U.P. except Lucknow.'" Strangely enough, Sayyid
Mushtaq 'Ali did not consult scholars from and in Lucknow,
apparently ignoring Farangi Mahall deliberately. One may as
sume that the representatives of the Nadwa aspired to become
successors to the well-known Farangi Mahall - and indeed, they
were to become the successors of this Lucknowi seminary.
After having received the blessings of important scholars and
Sufis as well as representatives of the higher ranks of government
employees and transurban traders, the way was open for legal
activism. At the first convention of the Nadwa, the Municipal
Commissioner of Kanpur, tradesmen, religious as well as secular
scholars, journalists and barristers-at-law were present. It was a
sign of success and quite a new experience that representatives of
different schools of thought had joined. Next to Hanafi scholars,
salas, such as Muhammad Ibrahim Arwi (d. 1901), a student
of Nadhir Husain Delhawi, Ahl-e Hadith, such as the Lahori
newspaper editor Muhammad Husain Batalawi (d. 1920), and
Shiites, such as Ghlm Hasnain Kintri (1831-1918), as well as
scholarly intellectuals such as Shibli from Aligarh, etc., were pres
ent." A large group among the participants came from Fatehpur,
" See Redd, pp. 122-27. Also, none of the "seculars" came from Kanpur. Due
to lack of sources, I could not trace the reasons for this.
" See KanpOri: Yd-e Ayydm, pp. 103ff Ibrahim Arwi had established the
Madrasah Ahmadiyah in Arah, which had been running on a modern basis since
1890, with a modern curriculum and English; see Nuzhat, VIII, pp.4f For
Muhammad Husain Batalawi see Nuzhat, VIII, pp. 427 f; Metcalf: Revival,
pp.212f, 285, 289, 292. ForGhlm Hasnain Kintri, see Nuzhat, VIII, pp.347f.
- About sixty-two 'Ulam participated, most of them teachers {mudarris) and
sayyids, few traditional doctors (hakims), notables (ra'as and khdns), muftis and
teachers in the formal education system, primarily originating from Kanpur, Aligarh
and Allahabad, Bhopal and the qasbahs and cities in the vicinities. Of another
200 participants, most were religious scholars (45), ashraf (25), huffz (15),
khans/ ra'as/ mirs (19/16/12 = 47), lawyers/mu/w/ifs (13/22 = 35) and other
govemment employees, traders and merchants as well as journalists and students.
The Making of a Council: The Nadwat al-'UIam
81
Allahabad, Etawah, Lucknow, Farrukhabad and Aligarh, mostly
towns which had been affected negatively by the colonial industry
set up in Kanpur.'* The new experience of trans-confessional
unity was possible only because confessions and religiousity had
been replaced by ideology.
The success was, according to Nadawi sources, due to the
struggle of Sayyid Muhammad 'Ali, which was later regarded as
karmat by his biographer. Hence, "the meeting-hall was illumi
nated by the bright and pure faces of the 'f/Zawa"." Lutf Ullh
'Aligarhi as the most senior scholar presided over the meeting.
Yet, there were many representatives of the traditional sector who
did not attend the meeting, e. g. the Barelwis, most of the Farangi
Mahallis and most of the Deobandis with their leading anti-
sala, Mahmd al-Hasan (1850-1921).'*
Traditional religious scholars, scholars from the new edu
cational system and intellectuals gave speeches. Resolutions and
a constitution were passed and four suggestions read out by Shi
bli." The speeches delivered by most of the participants reflected
their insecurity and frustrations on the one hand and their ambi
tions for acknowledgement by the British on the other. The
speeches also shed light on the new normative approach and the
social dilemma articulated in this new meta-institution. Broad
consensual demands like the updating of traditional education
and the unity of the 'Ulam were necessary to establish and re
affirm a collective identity. Emphasis was, however, laid on the
study of Arabic, interpretation (tafiir) and a new 'ilm al-kalam
in order to counter the Christians and to disseminate Islam, which
was redefined by these intermediaries. Consequently, local rites
" See Bayly: Rulers, pp.441 f
" al-Hasani: Sirat, pp. 125f
More than 80 of those invited did not participate due to distance or religious
commitments. For their names and some of their reasons see, Redd, pp. 149-
156. This suggests that the traditional scholars could not be regarded as one mon
olithic block even if they belonged to the same scholarly or family tradition.
" The constitution was comprised of 26 points. Among others, the establishment
of an administrative council was suggested and the position of 'Ulam was ele
vated vis--vis others, the office of the ndzim was defined and the procedure for
meefings, income and expenditure elaborated. The four issues raised were: 1.
Reform of the then current religious curriculum. 2. Presence of the chairmen of
religious schools in the annual meetings of the Nadwa. 3. Organizafion of religious
schools under a few great Dar al-'Ulm such as Deoband, Faid-e 'Amm, and
Madrasah Ahmadiyah Arab. 4. Support for the Faid-e 'Amm. See Redd, pp. 70-74.
82
Jamal Malik
and rituals, the early Nadawis argued, had to be abolished and a
new communication structure had to be established since only a
very small minority, especially in the rural areas, were literate.
Furthermore, the bad influences {nuqsan) of English education
on Hindustanis were to be pilloried and its failures recognized.*"
The notions concerning a new Islamic education to tackle the
new challenges provide a good example of how the early Nadawis
saw their environment.*' Criticism of contemporary traditional ed
ucation {manqlt) was as necessary as the idealization of the
early Muhammadan prophetic times {salaf) as propagated by the
al-Manr group in order to establish the new self-statement ofthe
avantgarde/religious elite and to legitimize its new perceptions.*^
In the following we shall therefore particularly refer to statements
of the Sayyid concerning his views on a new institution of Islamic
learning.
Traditional Education Criticized and a New Normative Approach
On the occasion of a meeting of the Nadwa's administrative
council in 1895, Sayyid Muhammad 'Ali advocated the estab
lishment of a dr al-ift in order to cope with the social dynamics
ofthe day, emphasizing the need for ijtihdd.^^ His plan was appre
ciated by the influential Athar 'Ali (d. 1907), a notable of the
qasbah Kakori,*" and subsequently was accepted by all partici-
> See al-Hasani: Sirat, pp. 127 f.; Redd, pp. 40-41.
" As stated above, their commitment was focussing on tarbiyat and ta'lim,
ijtihd and the rejection of political activism, quite in line with the sala move
ment and with the Mujaddidi tradition.
" See, e.g., Habib al-Rahman Khn SherwnT: 'Ularrid'-e salaf. Karachi: Dar
al-Ish'at (repr.) 1979, which was a product of the aspirations of the Nadwa to
bring to light contributions of the salas. The Nadawis did not, however, distin
guish who was a salaf ; obviously not only the khulafd but also subsequent tradi
tionalists, scholars and sufis were meant. Similarly, Muhammad 'Abduh, when
talking about salaf, the community of the elders, used the term "more generally
to refer to the central tradition of Sunni Islam in its period of development". See
Albert Hourani : Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age. Oxford : Oxford University
Press 1962, p. 149.
" See Jalis: Trikh, I, pp.l37f.
" Athar 'Ali was an influential ta'alluqdr, a recognized lawyer and the presi
dent of the Anjuman-e ta'alluqdrn-e Awadh. He was murid of Fadl al-Rahmn.
Generously he spent money on the conventions of the Nadwat al-'Ulam, was a
The Making of a Council: The Nadwat al-'Ulam 83
pants present. Sayyid Muhammad 'Ali also proposed the estab
lishment of a Dar al-'ulm under the supervision of the Nadwa.
He had two issues in mind:*'
1. The creation of an elite group of scholars particularly well
versed in scholastics who would counter un-Islamic criticism and
rituals and defend Islam successfully. They were to be excellent
in fiqh and their fatw and regulations were to be binding.
2. The acquaintance of religious scholars with contemporary
problems so that they would solve them in the light of Islam.
The plan envisaged by him for a religious seminary comprised
all spheres of life and still forms the basis of the Ddr al-'Ulm of
the Nadwat al-'Ulamd :
The religious seminary was to be a complete microcosm, an
ideal Islamic world in an otherwise hostile and non-religious en
vironment. He envisaged separate quarters for teachers and stu
dents - one room per individual - with a dining-hall for students
and their teachers, etc. The students were to be responsible for
cleaning their rooms and keeping them pure. An Islamic uniform
for students and the idea of engaging in all activities conjointly
and at the same time - in a body - was regarded most important
to bring about a collective identity. The concept of punctuality
was regarded as part of this new identity. After midday prayers,
all students were to engage in sports; both the intellectual and
physical faculties were to be supported and developed. Moreover,
each and every student had to learn a handicraft (funun-e
sand'iyah) for his livelihood (kasb-e halaf), according to his nat
ural talents and abilities (ruhjdn awr mundsabat). Monthly discus
sions {Simposiums) on morality were to be held in a hall particu
larly built for that purpose and there was to be equality among
rich and poor students concerning food, subsistence and dress.
Students hailing from rich families would have to pay for their
own subsistence while the poorer ones would be compensated by
supporting force in the cause of the movement and was one ofthe first to send his
son to the Dar al-'Ulm of the Nadwa set up some years later. It is worth nodng
that many Kakorwis, most of them ta'allugddrs , businessmen and government
employees, gave unmitigated support to the Nadwa, e.g. Ihtishm 'Ali Kkorwi
(d. 1943), who valued qasbah culture and knew that the new forces had to be
challenged. For Athar 'Ali and Ihfishm 'Ali see J. Malik in DBSGF (forthcom
ing).
" For the following, see al-Hasani: Sirat, pp. 146-154 and Jalis: Tarikh, I,
pp. 139-151.
I h
84
Jamal Malik
the madrasah. So far the ideas were reminiscent of the Aligarh
College.** But in deviation from Aligarh's perception, etiquette
(dddb) - dress, eating and living - in the proposed Ddr al-'Ulum
had to be Arabic.
Matching these new external arrangements for the development
of an urban elite group, a new refined curriculum would address
the inner world of the students. For the polishing of the soul and
refinement of the hidden truth (tazkiyah-e btin) the Sayyid,
while elaborating on the new syllabus some months later sug
gested the reading of parts of two books concerning mysticism,
the Ihy 'Ulm al-Din by Ghazzali (d. 1111) and the 'Awrif
al-Ma'rif hy Suhrawardi (d. 1234).*' The study of tafsir and
hadith was regarded as most important as well, and Arabic and
knowledge of the geography of Islamic countries was considered
essential. Regular discussions on current political or/and histori
cal issues were to be held and the examinations had to be extraor
dinarily difficult. After a successful examination the graduate
would receive a 'aba, a "woollen cloak ... usually of a black
colour with stripes ... worn by dervishes or faqirs."** According
to Mongiri
"the purpose of these suggestions is that our educated
youngsters should be religiously minded enough to influence
society. They should develop bravery, courage and spirit as
well as high-mindedness which can only be acquired in a Dr
al-'Ulm where all these things are magnificently celebrated
(nihyat shn awr shaukat ke sth). In the field of religious
sciences ('ulum-e diniyah), particularly scholastics, the high
est perfection is the need of the hour in order to fight agno
sticism (ilhad) and materialism (ddhriyat), with full commit
ment and strength."*'
Expenditures for such an extraordinary plan would, according to
Sayyid Muhammad 'Ali, amount to about 1 Mio Rs, approxi
mately 6 Mio Rs at present.
" See David Lelyvield: Aligarh, esp. Ch. III.
" Both mystical scholars had tried to reconcile mysticism with orthodoxy and
their works were famous in the Sufic field. Both of them had also been very closely
connected with the courts, contrary to most of the sufis of that time.
J. T. Platts : A Dictionary of Urdu, Classical Hindi and English. Lahore : Sang-
e Meel Publicafions 1983 (first 1911), p. 758.
" Sayyid Muhammad 'Ali as quoted in al-Hasani: Sirat, pp. 151 f.
The Making of a Council: The Nadwat al-'Ulam
85
These were very revolutionary ideas for a scholar and mystic
who otherwise tended towards quietistic ideals. One may indeed
rightly doubt the originality ofthe proposals documented above;
it seems somehow problematic to attribute them unequivocally to
Mongiri, and in fact one may make out instances of plagiarism:
Abu al-Kalm Azd, the famous journalist and politician, argued
that Shibli had sent to Mongiri a blueprint for the proposed Dar
al-'Ulm to the effect that the Sayyid should publish it for dis
cussion.'" As will be seen, Shibli's handwriting can clearly be
discerned in the following "primarily Arabic curriculum" {musaw-
wadah), which Sayyid Muhammad 'Ali introduced at the annual
meeting ofthe Council in Bareilly in April 1896:"
After giving a short history of the development of the religious
curriculum in Hindustan, the Sayyid in "his" outline advocated a
school with different academic levels. He proposed twenty
sciences to be taught, of which only six were new or modified. He
also substantiates these innovations:
1. History, 2. principles of linguistics (usul-e lughat), 3. Quran
recitation {tajwid), 4. prosody ('ard), 5. conduct and refinement
of the soul {sulk wa tahdhib al-nafs), 6. secrets of Quranic in
junctions {asrdr-e ahkm).
Inter alia Ibn Khaldn's Muqaddima and Ta'rikh al-Khulafa
by al-Suyti (d. 1505) were added to the subject of history be
cause, according to the proposal, it was history that would rees
tablish the glory of Islam. The 'Ulam were being ridiculed be
cause, it was reasoned, of their ignorance of Islamic history which
in turn had decreased their self-confidence. Regarding the science
of the secrets of Quranic injunctions, the author said that they
would lead faith {imn) from mere imitation {taqlid) to inquiry
and certainty {tahqiq) and in this way the heart would become
absolutely satisfied and assured {itmindn-e qalb kmil darjah ho
jt hai). According to the proposal, this was paramount because
in the wake of independent reasoning and freedom, people only
believed what they experienced {ma'lm). The study ofthe other
subject matters would help in enhancing the love of God and his
" Compare Kalm Azd in al-HiLL, Kalkutta, Vol. 4/9-10, March 4 & 11th
1914, p. 177.
Certainly, Nadawi sources give the impression that the following elaboration
was alone Mongiri's. See al-Hasani: Sirat, pp. 153-160; JalIs: Tarikh, I, pp. 139-
153.
86 Jamal Malik
Prophet as well as strengthen moral behaviour and thus develop
other faculties than intellect. Emphasis was also laid on new
philosophy, a new astronomy and a new historiography.
The Sayyid named only very few new books for study. In math
ematics and geography, e.g., he did not suggest a single book,
and politics and economics were not even mentioned in the new
curriculum, although their importance was often stated. The early
Nadawis argued that neither were these subjects popular in tradi
tional schools nor were relevant books easily available in Urdu.
However, as a first glance at contemporary publications reveals,
most of the literature dealt with religion, linguistics, law and
philosophy. From 1886 up to at least the end of the century, an
increase of Urdu publications particularly in historical studies
and natural sciences as well as in morals can be noted. These were
not seldomly translations from European languages.'^ Thus one
might speculate that Mongiri (or Shibli?) was not really aware of
the existence of discussions of new sciences in Urdu. It can also
be opined, as some Nadawis did, that Western society had devel
oped new sciences according to their particular worldview (spirit)
which did not necessarily suit the Muslim mind. Accordingly, it
was important to develop analogous Islamic sciences.
This outline of a new religious institution very much reflected
sala perceptions - the background of which was the islh move
ment in the Middle East. Curiously enough, the proposal also
bears surprising similarities with the regulations of Canning Col
lege in Lucknow founded in 1864. This college was a mani
festation of the partnership between the colonial power and its
local allies. It was "endowed by ta'alluqdars, managed by solici
tous bureaucrats, and staffed by European teachers" and aimed
at the dissemination of Western knowledge among the represen
tatives of higher local as well as colonial societies. Different ward
institutions were established and were designed to "superintend
the moral training and the instruction of the pupils" and to im
prove social and moral habits. Being an elite college with a board
ing-house and a "rigorous routine with a mixture of bookish in
struction, physical training, and worship, with time allowed for
See Selections from the Records of Ihe Government of India. Home Depart
ment, Reports on the Publications issued and Registered in the Several Provinces of
British India during the year(s) 1882-1898. Calcutta 1883-1899; here only the
"North-Western Provinces and Oudh".
The Making of a Council: The Nadwat al-'Ulam 87
dressing in the proper uniform for each occasion", emphasis was
laid on "regularity, obedience, morality, punctuality and dil
igence in the pursuit of knowledge"." These seemed to be quite
new normative approaches in an otherwise traditional hinterland.
Naturally the suggestions for this proposed curriculum were
extensively discussed in the assembly but no real consensus in the
form of a new curriculum came about, even in the next decades.
In 1925, Habib al-Rahmn Khn Sherwni (1867-1950), an
avantgardist par excellence, complained that nothing had been
done so far to reform the syllabus.'" Obviously, these ideas did
not correspond to the convictions of the majority of the 'Ulam.
The views of one major representative of the Nadwat al-
'Ulamd, Sayyid 'Abd al-Hayy (1869-1923), on the curriculum
should round out the discussion on the making of the council."
The background of Sayyid 'Abd al-Hayy's criticism of the preva
lent educational system was the MusHm decline he witnessed in
and around Delhi in 1894, after he had completed his studies."
Like most of his contemporaries he also regarded Muslims them
selves to be responsible for their decline. Frustrated about Muslim
culture in general and about quarrels in his family in particular,
he had set up an organization which would bring peace as well
as dynamic innovations to his local environment. Soon he turned
to reformist movements, and the Nadwa provided him with a
fertile basis for his activism.
In one of his severa! academic contributions, he analysed re
ligious education as it had developed through the ages and dis
tinguished different epochs of curricular development. Many of
his arguments as developed in the al-Nadwa article were clearly
derived from earlier elaborations by Shibli, who is also quoted
" Oldenburg: Lucknow, pp.238-241. Compare also Metcalf: Land, pp.319-
322 et passim.
See Shams Tabriz Khn: Sadr Ydr Jang, p. 151. For Sherwni, see J.Malik
in DBSGF (forthcoming). The problem in setting up an integrated curriculum may
have lain in the quarrels between the factions around Shibli and Mongiri and his
successors.
" Sayyid 'Abd al-Hayy, a descendant of the Shh Wali Ullh line, was the
assistant of Sayyid Muhammad 'Ali for many years and later became the Ndzim
of the Council. For him, see M. Gaborieau in DBSGF, Vol. I (in press).
The decline is documented in his book Dehli awr us ke atrdf, ed. by Sdiqah
DhakkT, Lhawr: Maktabah Khalil (repr.) 1979; see also Sayyid 'Abd al-Hasan
'A Nadami: Haydt-e 'Abd al-Hayy, pp. 117-130.
88
Jamal Malik
but not mentioned by Sayyid 'Abd al-Hayy." While at the begin
ning of curricular development, he stated, emphasis was placed
on fiqh and usul-e fiqh, later, with the shift of power from Delhi
to Lucknow, rational sciences witnessed a triumph. This Lucknow
tradition, however, emphasized subjects fostering a penetrating
glance (im''dn-e nazr) and the faculty of contemplation or con
sideration (quwwat-e mutdla'ah) as well as the subjective faculties
ofthe students. But these subjects did not, according to him, lead
to a comprehensive {kaml) knowledge in certain areas but never
theless brought about great scholars. Thus, the present curriculum
failed because firstly it supported the faculty of contemplation or
consideration to the detriment of acquiring knowledge {tahsil-e
fann). This had led the students to extreme sympathy for scepti
cism {ihtiml afrini) at the cost of excellence in one subject. Sec
ondly, there were too many books on logic and few on tafsir,
literature and Arabic, while thirdly, the books on logic only dealt
with general issues or philosophical questions. Therefore, stu
dents were not able to concentrate on crucial problems concerning
logic itself Fourthly, subject matters like history, geography,
knowledge of Quranic miracles and other important subjects were
totally neglected. Sayyid 'Abd al-Hayy concluded that the present
curriculum was devoid of books on hadith and literature, in short,
there was too little of manqlt and too much of ma'quldt.
The point that is striking is that some scholars - and even
salafis - attempted to weaken ma'qlt at the cost of manqlt
which would, according to the founders of the Nadwat al-
'Ulam, purify the souls and create real Muslims imbued with
comprehensive knowledge. The identification of the early
Nadawis, Hke Sayyid Muliammad 'Ali and Sayyid 'Abd al-Hayy,
with the Delhi tradition stood, however, in contrast to the rational
approach advocated by, e. g., Farangi Mahall, Shibli and others.
The existing traditional rationalist scholarly culture thus became
the target of manqli scholars who legitimized their standpoint by
referring to a sherifian descent, to Naqshbandi-Mujaddidis and
to Shh Wali Ullh and his followers and by idealizing their in
tellectual achievements and their unifying postulations as well as
" For the following, see Sayyid 'Abd al-Hayy: Hindstn ke nisdb-e dars men
waqtan f waqtan ki'yd inqilb hu'en hain?, in: al-Nadwa, Vol. 6/1, Feb. 1909,
pp. 3-17. He later elaborated on this important issue. His contribution was pub
lished under the title al-Thaqdfat abislmiya fil-Hind. Dimashq 1958.
The Making of a Council: The Nadwat al-'Ulama
89
(implicitly) their anti-colonial struggle. Neither the deputy collec
tors nor the commissioners nor Shibli were ashraf, nor were they
affiliated to the jihd movement, nor were they very much inter
ested in overemphasising Quranic sciences. And the tussle of
manqlt and ma'qlt is, I assume, reflected in the following
years in the Nadwat al-'Ulam
As a recent contribution states, Nadwa was established as a
comprehensive institution based on "heart and intellect" {qalb o
dimgh), one that aimed at the integration of "the heart with the
sciences and the sciences with the heart" because knowledge
{'ilm) and heart {qalb) had become increasingly disunited.
Again, the dominant colonial criticism was constantly accepted.*"
Conclusion
A new breed of representatives of specific walks of life can be
made out by the end ofthe 19th century who were not only dis
satisfied with and frustrated by their traditional social and
economic as well as intellectual environment. They also showed
a latent readiness toward integration with colonial society: the
qasbahwls afraid of the deprivation of their gentry status, the
religious elite andpir-bhais isolated from the politically dominant
urban colonial system, especially after 1857, scholars and intel
lectuals and the new culturally 'disoriented' social groups who
represented the intermediary culture, the deputy collectors, ta'al-
luqddrs. Khan Bahadurs and landlords, competing for British
sympathies. Hence, the new movement was supported by social
" Several issues may be important in this context: the different scholarly cul
tures of Lucknow and Delhi which fought for intellectual hegemony, the spiritual,
kinship and marriage pattems prevalent among these traditions as well as the
proximity (socio-economic and political) to colonial power. Also it may be pointed
out here that Shibli, although stressing the need for more manqlt, was rather
concerned with a new 'ilm al-kalm, which was heavily criticized by most of the
'Ulam. This would only underline his pragmatic approach vis--vis the religious
establishment for which he was known.
" Muhammad al-Hasani: Piydm, pp.35 37.
' As Anthony MacDonnell, secretary to the govemment, had said in 1887,
British education policy was primarily concerned with literary instruction. But due
to the purely secular character of Western leaming and emancipation of thought,
the problem of standards of discipline had arisen. See Selections from the Records
of the Govemment of India. Home Department, No. CCLXV, op. cit., pp. 11 f.
90 Jamal Malik
groups that were very much part of the new culture but it was
manned by those who stuck to the ideals of the declining qasbah.
They all wanted to articulate their culture audibly in a newly
arranged urban environment which, based on new social relations
and new economic structures, may have promoted an advanced
cognitive development. The result of this cognitive interaction was
a gradual change from a habitual or traditional self-definition to
a modern self-statement among these Muslims. Accordingly, this
new self-statement demanded a new institutional structure. The
mobilization of the religious elite was, however, a conditio sine
qua non. A consensual identity as personified by the charismatic
figure of the Sayyid who later settled in Mongir was thus instru-
mentalized for the new programmatics. However, the desired
solidarity did not transcend the microcosm of the Nadwa; it was
confined to its limits, and even here there emerged massive prob
lems, discernible in the tensions between intellectuals and tradi
tional scholars during the next years. The consensus was ob
viously still not broad enough and many representatives of the
traditional urban and especially of the traditional rural sector did
not subscribe to the new movement, the prime mover of which
was a deputy collector. In fact, the Barelwis turned out to be the
strongest opponents of this urban reformist movement. However,
very soon the economic and social power of the new intermediary
groups and the connections of the intellectuals with the colonial
media took over the task, at least for a short while. Accordingly,
in the tradition of its origins, the Nadwat al-'Ulamd was domi
nated by the rationalist, cognitive approach advanced by Shibli,
an Islamic avantgardist, not an 'lim in the strict sense. Accord
ing to Sayyid Sulaiman Nadawi (d. 1953), he was "the first ... to
answer in their [the orientalists' and critiques' of Islam] way
(tariqah) and their method (uslub)".^^ In other words, the Nadwa
was an elitist avantgardist movement primarily concerned with
integration with the colonial public and secondarily with a change
in Islamic scholarship and the unity of religious scholars. In fact,
the innovations brought forward by the Nadawis did not aim at
changing the new urban structure per se to which the members of
the Council and its prime movers saw themselves exposed to and
to which they partially belonged socially. Even if Nadawi sources
" Sulaimn Nadaw!: Haydt-e Shibli, p.47.
The Making of a Council: The Nadwat al-'Ulam
91
persist in arguing that the council had an impact on the entire
national life {milli zindagi) of the Muslims {waqf, translations of
the Quran, supervision of religious education in formal schools,
time for congregational prayer, etc.)*^ there is no doubt that these
achievements produced no structural changes. Notwithstanding
the social embedding of the prime mover 'Abd al-Ghaffur, the
traditional forces - the qasbahwls and the religious elite -
around the quietistic Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi tradition, with sher
ifian and Wali Ullahi descent as well as the protagonists of
manqlt could finally assert their own interests. They gradually
gained ground most probably because of their strong ties with
traditionally accepted leaders and patterns of social and religious
discourse. They took on the charge with the chairmanship of the
well-known historian Sayyid 'Abd al-Hayy in 1915, a charge
which is - apart from a short interlude - held by his descendants
up to the present day. Indeed, as reading ofthe official history of
the Nadwa itself suggests, what was once to be an open council
for religious scholars seems thus to have become a family affair.*^
However, with the help of an extensive mission {da'wa) and
through the inter-Muslim communication that has been pursued,
the Nadwat al-'Ulam was gradually able to establish its links
with trans-national Islamic institutions like the Islamic World
League.
" See al-Hasani: Piym, pp.10, 24f
" See Shams Tabiz Khn: Trtkh, II.
Traditionalistische und neohinduistische Gedanken in
dem bengalischen Roman Bhnumati (1900) von
NabIn'candra Sen.'
Von Hans Harder, Heidelberg
1. NabIn'candra Sen (1846-1909) war seinerzeit ein berhmter
und vielgelesener Autor der bengalischen Literatur; heute ist sein
Werk weitgehend in Vergessenheit geraten. Vieles spricht dafr,
da er bei der Verbreitung neohinduistischen Gedankenguts in
Bengalen eine bedeutende Rolle spielte. Unter diesem Aspekt
scheint darum auch heute die Beschftigung mit seinem Werk
lohnend. - Nach einer kurzen Einfhrung zu Autor und Werk
mchte ich in diesem Aufsatz einige im Kontext Neohinduis
mus" relevante Passagen aus NabIn'candras^ lyrischem Roman
Bhnumati (1900)^ bersetzen und zeitgeschichtlich einzuordnen
versuchen.
2. NabIn'candra stand, wie viele seiner literarischen Zeitgenos
sen (z.B. Bankim'candra Cattopdhyy), als Deputy Collector
im Dienst der englischen Kolonialregierung. Im Zuge seiner
Amtsausbung wurde er hufig versetzt, u. a. auch nach Puri, wo
er mageblich an den damaligen Reformen der Rathaytr betei
ligt war. Daneben bereiste er verschiedene Teile Indiens.
Der Schriftsteller NabIn'candra war in erster Linie Poet; als
solcher befate er sich durchweg mit religisen und patriotischen
Themen. Seine spteren Kritiker erkennen seine Bedeutung fr
seine Zeit an, sind sich aber auch darin einig, da seine dichte -
Ich danke herzlich Herm Privatdozent Dr. Rahul Peter Das (Universitt
Hamburg) fr die Anregung zu diesem Aufsatz und fr seine zahlreichen Hinweise
und kritischen Bemerkungen, die in die vorliegende Fassung eingegangen sind.
' Von hier an benutze ich, wie in der bengalischen Sekundrliteratur blich,
nur noch den Vornamen des Autors NabIn'candra Sen.
' Nabin'candra racanbali, 4 Bde., Hg. Sntikumr Ds'gupta, Haribandhu
Mukh'tI; Kalikt, 1381 b.. (1974); Bd.l, 1-64.