Nostalgia in the re-construction of Muslim identity in the aftermath of 1857 and the myth of Delhi Cover Image

Nostalgia in the re-construction of Muslim identity in the aftermath of 1857 and the myth of Delhi
Nostalgia in the re-construction of Muslim identity in the aftermath of 1857 and the myth of Delhi

Author(s): Daniela Bredi
Subject(s): History
Published by: KSIĘGARNIA AKADEMICKA Sp. z o.o.

Summary/Abstract: On July the 28th 1859, Sayyid Ahmad Khan, scion of a noble family of Delhi, addressed a gathering of 15,000 Muslims in a mosque of his native city, to thank Queen Victoria for her proclamation of a general amnesty after the end of the so called “Mutiny” of 1857-8. The imperative of the day was to lead his defeated and demoralized community from a policy of opposition to the British to one of acquiescence and participation, in order to wean the British government “from its policy of suppression to one of paternalism”. Realizing that Indian Muslims, if they wished to participate in the political process, had to come to terms with Western political culture and make themselves acceptable to the new rulers, he started a process of re- -construction of Indo-Muslim identity. In this process, Indo-Muslim intellectuals produced a large amount of writings based on a selection of images of the past, building a specific Indo-Muslim “cultural memory”.

  • Issue Year: 2009
  • Issue No: 11
  • Page Range: 137-156
  • Page Count: 20
  • Language: English