Karen G. Ruffle
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807834756
- eISBN:
- 9781469602981
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807877975_ruffle.8
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter discusses Sayyid 'Abbas Sahib's move from Madras to the princely state of Hyderabad, the capital of the Sunni Asaf Jahi dynasty. 'Abbas Sahib was a renowned writer of marsiya poems ...
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This chapter discusses Sayyid 'Abbas Sahib's move from Madras to the princely state of Hyderabad, the capital of the Sunni Asaf Jahi dynasty. 'Abbas Sahib was a renowned writer of marsiya poems commemorating the Battle of Karbala. He came to Hyderabad seeking the patronage of the fifth Asaf Jahi Nizam, Afzal al-Dawlah Bahadur. The observance of Muharram has flourished in Hyderabad since the establishment of the Shi'i Qutb Shahi dynasty in 1512 ce. The mehndi mourning assembly has been celebrated with much enthusiasm in Hyderabad since the reign of 'Abdullah Qutb Shah, who commissioned the construction of the Alava-ye Qasem shrine in Yaqutpura, a neighborhood in the Shi'i section of the Old City. As he did in his former home city of Madras, 'Abbas Sahib discovered a reverence for Qasem and the mehndi ritual among the Shi'a of Hyderabad.Less
This chapter discusses Sayyid 'Abbas Sahib's move from Madras to the princely state of Hyderabad, the capital of the Sunni Asaf Jahi dynasty. 'Abbas Sahib was a renowned writer of marsiya poems commemorating the Battle of Karbala. He came to Hyderabad seeking the patronage of the fifth Asaf Jahi Nizam, Afzal al-Dawlah Bahadur. The observance of Muharram has flourished in Hyderabad since the establishment of the Shi'i Qutb Shahi dynasty in 1512 ce. The mehndi mourning assembly has been celebrated with much enthusiasm in Hyderabad since the reign of 'Abdullah Qutb Shah, who commissioned the construction of the Alava-ye Qasem shrine in Yaqutpura, a neighborhood in the Shi'i section of the Old City. As he did in his former home city of Madras, 'Abbas Sahib discovered a reverence for Qasem and the mehndi ritual among the Shi'a of Hyderabad.
Karen G. Ruffle
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807834756
- eISBN:
- 9781469602981
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807877975_ruffle.5
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This book is a multidisciplinary ethnographic study of how hagiographical texts and performance commemorating the Battle of Karbala shape both spiritual and everyday life and practice in an Indian ...
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This book is a multidisciplinary ethnographic study of how hagiographical texts and performance commemorating the Battle of Karbala shape both spiritual and everyday life and practice in an Indian Shi'i community. Devotional texts and ritual performances are integrally entwined, producing the desired effects of grief. More important, these performances also dynamically embody the social, ethical, and religious powers of the heroes of Karbala, transforming them into imitable exemplars. The hagiographical texts and ritual performance of the mourning assembly are forms of moral communication in which the imagination of Karbala and the family of Imam Husain generates shared sensibilities and an ethical worldview that orders the life of South Asian Shi'a. Both poetry and prose commemorating the sacrifice of Imam Husain and his family at the Battle of Karbala hold central places in the spiritual and everyday lives of the Shi'a in India and throughout the Islamic world.Less
This book is a multidisciplinary ethnographic study of how hagiographical texts and performance commemorating the Battle of Karbala shape both spiritual and everyday life and practice in an Indian Shi'i community. Devotional texts and ritual performances are integrally entwined, producing the desired effects of grief. More important, these performances also dynamically embody the social, ethical, and religious powers of the heroes of Karbala, transforming them into imitable exemplars. The hagiographical texts and ritual performance of the mourning assembly are forms of moral communication in which the imagination of Karbala and the family of Imam Husain generates shared sensibilities and an ethical worldview that orders the life of South Asian Shi'a. Both poetry and prose commemorating the sacrifice of Imam Husain and his family at the Battle of Karbala hold central places in the spiritual and everyday lives of the Shi'a in India and throughout the Islamic world.
Karen G. Ruffle
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807834756
- eISBN:
- 9781469602981
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807877975_ruffle
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This study of devotional hagiographical texts and contemporary ritual performances of the Shi'a of Hyderabad, India demonstrates how traditions of sainthood and localized cultural values shape gender ...
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This study of devotional hagiographical texts and contemporary ritual performances of the Shi'a of Hyderabad, India demonstrates how traditions of sainthood and localized cultural values shape gender roles. The author focuses on the annual mourning assemblies held on 7 Muharram to commemorate the battlefield wedding of Fatimah Kubra and her warrior-bridegroom Qasem, who was martyred in 680 ce at the battle of Karbala, Iraq, before their marriage was consummated. She argues that hagiography, an important textual tradition in Islam, plays a dynamic role in constructing the memory, piety, and social sensibilities of a Shi'i community. Through the Hyderabadi rituals that idealize and venerate Qasem, Fatimah Kubra, and the other heroes of Karbala, a distinct form of sainthood is produced. These saints, the author explains, serve as socioethical role models and religious paragons whom Shi'i Muslims aim to imitate in their everyday lives, improving their personal religious practice and social selves. On a broader community level, the author observes, such practices help generate and reinforce group identity, shared ethics, and gendered sensibilities. By putting gender and everyday practice at the center of her study, the author challenges Shi'i patriarchal narratives that present only men as saints and brings to light typically overlooked women's religious practices.Less
This study of devotional hagiographical texts and contemporary ritual performances of the Shi'a of Hyderabad, India demonstrates how traditions of sainthood and localized cultural values shape gender roles. The author focuses on the annual mourning assemblies held on 7 Muharram to commemorate the battlefield wedding of Fatimah Kubra and her warrior-bridegroom Qasem, who was martyred in 680 ce at the battle of Karbala, Iraq, before their marriage was consummated. She argues that hagiography, an important textual tradition in Islam, plays a dynamic role in constructing the memory, piety, and social sensibilities of a Shi'i community. Through the Hyderabadi rituals that idealize and venerate Qasem, Fatimah Kubra, and the other heroes of Karbala, a distinct form of sainthood is produced. These saints, the author explains, serve as socioethical role models and religious paragons whom Shi'i Muslims aim to imitate in their everyday lives, improving their personal religious practice and social selves. On a broader community level, the author observes, such practices help generate and reinforce group identity, shared ethics, and gendered sensibilities. By putting gender and everyday practice at the center of her study, the author challenges Shi'i patriarchal narratives that present only men as saints and brings to light typically overlooked women's religious practices.
Shadaab Rahemtulla
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- March 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198796480
- eISBN:
- 9780191837753
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198796480.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter explores the Qur’anic commentary of the Indian intellectual Asghar Ali Engineer. After providing some historical and biographical background, it unpacks his interpretive method. The ...
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This chapter explores the Qur’anic commentary of the Indian intellectual Asghar Ali Engineer. After providing some historical and biographical background, it unpacks his interpretive method. The chapter argues that there is an intrinsic connection between, on the one hand, Engineer’s hermeneutical prioritization of the Qur’an over other Islamic texts and, on the other hand, his sharp criticism of clerical authority. The chapter also critiques certain essentialist tendencies in his exegesis; examines his (generally) holistic approach to social liberation, bringing together questions of class, gender, and pluralism; and pays attention to the Battle of Karbala (680), which is a key paradigm in his liberationist discourse. The chapter ends by scrutinizing three pervasive themes in Engineer’s writings: (a) secularism, (b) modernism, and (c) peace.Less
This chapter explores the Qur’anic commentary of the Indian intellectual Asghar Ali Engineer. After providing some historical and biographical background, it unpacks his interpretive method. The chapter argues that there is an intrinsic connection between, on the one hand, Engineer’s hermeneutical prioritization of the Qur’an over other Islamic texts and, on the other hand, his sharp criticism of clerical authority. The chapter also critiques certain essentialist tendencies in his exegesis; examines his (generally) holistic approach to social liberation, bringing together questions of class, gender, and pluralism; and pays attention to the Battle of Karbala (680), which is a key paradigm in his liberationist discourse. The chapter ends by scrutinizing three pervasive themes in Engineer’s writings: (a) secularism, (b) modernism, and (c) peace.
