The Sacred and the Secular: Bengal Muslim Discourses, 1871-1977

This study traces the emergence and development of a Muslim intelligentsia in Bengal and examines the tension between religious and secular perceptions which they experience in their social and political lives. It explores the various factors which have influenced the ideological position of the intelligentsia, such as ideas derived from their local Indian and trans-Indian linkages as well as contact with a colonial culture. It argues that while religion has always played an important role in the life of the intelligentsia its particular manifestation in political life is a recent phenomenon owing to colonial experiences as well as concerns about legitimacy in the post-colonial phase. It presents an in-depth account of the major discourses in nineteenth-and twentieth-century Bengal including controversies regarding language, identity and nationalism. "As an inter-disciplinary study in socio-political and intellectual history, this volume explores the experiences of a society where Islam forms a critical point of reference for both individual conduct and institutional development. However, an equally strong pull is exerted by socio-economic and other cultural considerations. It predicts that a tug of war between religious and secular forces will continue in the foreseable future in a bid to determine the nature of the state. The study observes that there is no monolithic Muslim world-view given the heterogeneity of the intelligentsia and the wide divergence in their interpretations of religious texts. It thus challenges stereotypes in the historiography of Muslim societies in claiming that there can be no monolithic understanding of ‘Islamic politics’ and ‘Islamic behaviour’ uniformly applicable to all Muslim peoples. "The distinctiveness of the study lies in its subject matter and the inter-disciplinary approach to it. The study has attempted to relate the ideological orientations of the intelligentsia to their social bases. It finds that the dominant ideology is determined to a large extent by the nature of the ruling elite, its social base as well as its educational and intellectual orientations." (jacket) [Tazeen Mahnaz Murshid is a Senior Associate Member at St. Antony’s College and holds a Senior Lecturership at the University of North London where she teaches South Asian Studies. Her books include A House Divided : the Muslim Intelligentsia of Bengal and Bangladesh.