Islam in South Asia: 1707-PresentFall 2012

Course Code: ISLA 421

Hours: TR 10:05am-11:25am
Classroom: 1085 Dr. Penfield Rm. 002

Instructor: Prof. Pasha M. Khan
pasha.m.khan@mcgill.ca
Office: Morrice Hall Rm. 312
(514) 398-4400 ext. 09863

Office Hour: T 2:30pm-3:30pm or by appointment

This seminar-style course will present students with a survey of the political, cultural, and
linguistic history of South Asia from the death of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb to the
present, with a particular focus on the Muslims of South Asia and their influence. Special
attention will be given to the perception of the eighteenth century as a period of decadence
and decline; the history of poetry, visual art, and music; Islamic religious movements; the
relationship of Islam to other thought systems; gender; and minority politics.

Required Texts:
Metcalf, Barbara. A Concise History of Modern India. Cambridge: Cambridge U.P., 2006.
Pritchett, Frances. Nets of Awareness. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994.
Jalal, Ayesha. Self and Sovereignty. New York: Routledge, 2000.

All of these texts are available at the McGill Bookstore (3420 McTavish Street).

All other readings (listed in the course schedule) will be made available to you via
MyCourses. If you do NOT have access to the MyCourses page for this class, please notify me
A.S.A.P.! Note as well that the list of readings is tentative, and texts may be added or
subtracted according to the needs of the course as it develops. Please pay attention to
announcements in class and to class emails.

It is highly recommended that you also buy the following text in addition to the required
texts listed above:

Talbot, Ian. Pakistan: A Modern History. London: C. Hurst, 2009

Grading Scheme:

Class Participation 30% Participation in class discussions makes up a
significant portion of your grade. Please come to
class and engage in the discussion!

Comments on
MyCourses Forums
10% Students should post their brief thoughts (no more
than a paragraph) biweekly on the forum that is to
be made available on the MyCourses page for the
site. They should be posted by 11pm the night before
class. These will form much of the basis of the class
discussion.

Minor Research Paper 10% 5-7 pages, due Oct. 18

Major Research Paper 30% 20-30 pages, due Dec. 4

Presentation 20% Nov. 13-Nov. 29 In your presentation, you will
teach a half-hour lesson on a topic to be chosen
from the course topics for the modern period. A
script or bullet-point notes for the presentation
must be handed at the beginning of the class
following the presentation.



Class Schedule:
Week 1 *EIGHTEENTH CENTURY*

Sept. 6 INTRODUCTION

Readings (in class):
"Islamicate" in Hodgson, Marshall G. S. The Venture of Islam.
Week 2

Sept. 11 The Eighteenth Century: An Era of Decline?

Readings:
Metcalf 28-44
Sarkar, Jadunath. Condition of the People in History of Aurangzib. Vol. 5.
Bombay: Orient Longman, 1973.
Perlin, Frank. The Problem of the Eighteenth Century in The Eighteenth
Century in Indian History.

Recommended:
Alam, Muzaffar. Introduction to Crisis of Empire in Mughal North India.
Delhi: OUP, 1986.

Sept. 13 SHAH WALIULLAH

Guest lecturer: Asif Iftikhar

Readings TBA
Week 3
Sept. 18 VAISHNAVISM AND ISLAM

Readings:
Flood, Gavin. An Introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge: Cambridge U.P.,
1996. Ch. 6
Busch, Allison. Poetry of Kings: The Classical Hindi Literature of Mughal India.
New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. (Selections)
Rasln, hulm Nab. Ras-prabodh in The Hindi Classical Tradition: A Braj
Bh Reader. By Rupert Snell. London: School of Oriental and African
Studies, 1991.

Sept. 20 TURMOIL IN DELHI, FLORESCENCE IN AWADH

Readings:
Cheema, G.S. The Forgotten Mughals. Delhi: Manohar, 2002. (Selections)
Irvine, William, and Jadunath Sarkar. in Later Mughals. New Delhi:
Munshiram Manoharlal, 1971. Ch. 13: Nadir Shah in Delhi
Saud, Mirz Muammad Raf. Poems in The Golden Tradition: An
Anthology of Urdu Poetry. By Ahmed Ali. New York: Columbia University
Press, 1973.
Mr, Mr Muammad Taq. Poems in The Golden Tradition: An Anthology of
Urdu Poetry . By Ahmed Ali. New York: Columbia University Press, 1973.
Week 4
Sept. 25 LIBRARY SESSION

Sept. 27 PASHTUNS, PUNJAB, AND SUFISM

Readings:
Gannon, Kathy. Pashtuns key to regions past, future. The Seattle
Times, August 19, 2009. sec. Politics and Government.
Sarkar, Jadunath. Fall of the Mughal Empire. Calcutta: M.C. Sarkar, 1942-52.
(Selections)
Hujweri, Ali Usman. Kashf ul-Mahjub. Trans. R.A. Nicholson. London:
Luzac, 1936. (Selections)
Rizwi, Abbas. A History of Sufism in India. Vol. 2. Delhi: Munshiram
Manoharlal, 1983. (Selections)
Bullhe Shah. Bullha, who knows who I am?
Week 5 *NINETEENTH CENTURY*

Oct. 2 THE BRITISH IN INDIA

Readings:
Metcalf 44-68
Bose, Sugata and Ayesha Jalal. Modern South Asia. New York: Routledge,
2004. (Selections)

Oct. 4 FORT WILLIAM AND BRITISH ATTITUDES TO INDIA

Readings:
Metcalf 80-83
Faruqi, Shamsur Rahman. Chapter 1: History, Faith, PoliticsOrigin
Myths of Urdu and Hindi in Early Urdu Literary Culture and History.
New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Kidwai, Sadiqur Rahman. Chapter 1.2: Fort William College in Gilchrist
and the Language of Hindoostan. New Delhi: Rachna Prakashan, 1972.

Week 6
Oct. 9 PERFORMING GENDER IN LITERARY WORKS

Readings:
Naim, C. M. Homosexual (Pederastic) Love in Pre-Modern Urdu Poetry
in Urdu Texts and Contexts. Delhi: Permanent Black, 2004.
Petievich, Carla. Doganas and Zanakhis: The Invention and Subsequent
Erasure of Urdu Poetrys Lesbian Voice in Queering India. Ed. Ruth
Vanita. New York: Routledge, 2002.
Dakkani ghazals and Reht poems in When Men Speak as Women: Vocal
Masquerade in Indo-Muslim Poetry. Trans. Carla Petievich. New Delhi:
Oxford University Press, 2007.

Oct. 11 SYED AHMAD BARELWI

Guest lecturer: Asif Iftikhar

Readings TBA
Week 7
Oct. 16 RANJIT SINGH AND THE SIKHS

Readings:
Metcalf 83-85
Khullar, K. K. 1980. Maharaja Ranjit Singh. New Delhi: Hem Publishers.
(Selections)
Hasrat, Bikrama Jit. 1977. Life and Times of Ranjit Singh. Hoshiarpur: V.
V. Research Institute Book Agency. (Selections)


Oct. 18 WAJID ALI SHAH AND DECADENCE, GHALIB AND HIS TIMES

Minor Research Paper DUE

Readings:
Pritchett Ch. 1
Sharar, Abdul Halim. "Lucknow: The Last Phase of an Oriental Culture
in Lucknow Omnibus. New York: OUP, 2001. (Selections)
Pati, Biswamoy. The 1857 Rebellion. New Delhi: OUP, 2007. Ch. 2

Week 8
Oct. 23 THE 1857 REBELLION

Readings:
Metcalf 92-123
Pritchett Ch. 2-3
Sayyid Ahmad Khan. The Causes of the Indian Revolt.

Oct. 25 CHANGING WORLDVIEWS

Readings:
Pritchett 11-12
Nazir Ahmad. The Repentance of Nussooh. Delhi: Permanent Black, 2004.
(Selections)
Week 9

Oct. 30 WOMENS EDUCATION; COURTESAN CULTURE

Readings:
Oldenburg, Veena Talwar. 1990. Lifestyle as Resistance: The Case of the
Courtesans of Lucknow, India. Feminist Studies 16 (2): 259287.
Ashraf Ali Thanwi. Perfecting Women. Trans. Barbara Metcalf. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1990. (Selections)
Rokeya Sakhawat Hosein. Sultanas Dream.

Nov. 1 RELIGIOUS REFORM; DEOBANDIS; AHMADIS

Readings:
Metcalf 123-167
Metcalf, Barbara. Islamic Revival in British India: Deoband, 1860-1900.
Princeton: Princeton U.P., 1982. (Selections)
Friedmann, Yohannan. Prophecy Continuous. Berkeley: U. of California
Press, 1989. (Selections)
Week 10 *TWENTIETH CENTURY*

Nov. 6 LANGUAGE DEBATES

Readings:
Jalal Ch. 3
Brass, Paul R. Language, Religion and Politics in North India. New York:
Cambridge U.P., 1974. (Selections)
King, Christopher: One Language, Two Scripts. Bombay: OUP, 1994.
(Selections)

Nov. 8 THE KHILAFAT MOVEMENT AND THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE

Readings:
Jalal Ch. 5
Minault, Gail. The Khilafat Movement. New York: Columbia U.P., 1982.
(Selections)
Ram Prasad Bismil. Sarfaroshi ki tamanna.
Week 11



Nov. 13 IQBAL, JINNAH, AND THE IDEA OF PAKISTAN

Student presentation

Readings:
Lahore Declaration
Selections from the poetry of Muhammad Iqbal
Jalal, Ayesha. The Sole Spokesman. New York: Cambridge U.P., 1985.
(Selections)
Wolpert, Stanley. Jinnah of Pakistan. New York: OUP, 1984. (Selections)

Nov. 15 PARTITION

Student presentation

Readings:
Jalal Ch. 9
Amrita Pritam. Today I Say to Waris Shah.
Ustad Daman. Partition.
Manto, Saadat Hasan. Toba Tek Singh.

Week 12

Nov. 20 MODERN MUSIC

Student presentation

Readings:
Qureshi, Regula. Sufi Music of India and Pakistan. New York, Cambridge
U.P., 1986. (Selections)
Sanyal, Ritwik and Richard Widess. Dhrupad: Tradition and Performance in
Indian Music. Burlington: Ashgate, 2004. (Selections)
Peter Manuel. The Popularization and Transformation of the Light-
Classical Urdu Ghazal Song. in Gender, Genre, and Power in South Asian
Expressive Traditions. Ed. Arjun Appadurai, Frank J. Korom, Margaret A.
Mills. Philadelphia: U. of Pennsylvania Press, 1991.

Nov. 22 BHUTTO AND BANGLADESH

Student presentation

Readings:
Talbot, Ian. Pakistan: A Modern History. London: C. Hurst, 2009. Ch. 7
History of Bangladesh, Van Schendel (Selections)

Week 13

Nov. 27 ZIA UL-HAQQ AND THE BLASPHEMY LAW

Student presentation

Readings:
Talbot, Ian. Pakistan: A Modern History. London: C. Hurst, 2009. Ch. 9
Ustad Daman. My Country Has Two Allahs.
Gabriel, Theodore. Christian Citizens in an Islamic State. Burlington:
Ashgate, 2007. (Selections)
Gualtieri, Antonio. Conscience and Coercion. Montreal: Guernica, 1989.
(Selections)
Naim, C.M. Islamic Adl in Orakzai. Outlook Magazine. Apr. 23, 2009.
Habib Jalib. Political Advisor.
Pushpa Vallabh. Selected poems.

Nov. 29 HINDU NATIONALISM AND INDIAN MUSLIMS

Student presentation

Readings
Jaffrelot, Christophe. Hindu Nationalism. Delhi: Permanent Black, 2007.
(Selections)
Ghassem-Fachandi, Parvis. Pogrom in Gujarat. Princeton: Princeton U.P.,
2012. Ch. 3
Week 14

Dec. 4 Major Research Paper DUE



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