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The Sufis played an important role in shaping the politics and society of the Afghan dominion. Based on the contemporary and near-contemporary Sufi texts, including the tazkiras (biographical dictionaries), this chapter seeks to take into account the political role of the Sufis. It discusses the kings’ devotion towards the Sufis, who served as legitimizers of the political authority. It notes several examples of the bestowal of kingship by the Sufis and their participation in the military campaigns. It also refers to a changing political scenario, even as the account is linked to the grand narrative on Sufism in medieval India. Though the Sufis generally respected each other’s area of control, their desire for power and prestige in the wilayat brought them in conflict with the rulers. In such cases, the Sufis had the option of migrating to some other territory where their status was recognized or miracles performed to establish their supremacy and authority.

This book explores the history of the Kidwais, a small but well-known family in Awadh who lived in a little village called Masauli and its neighbouring areas in Bara Banki district in the United Provinces. It focuses on the pluralism and multiculturalism that defined the family’s public and private lives, as well as the nature and strength of the social ties that have united them and the social effects of these ties. The book situates Wilayat Ali Kidwai (1885–1918) and his family in the qasbas, where literature, music, and poetry flourished and the fusion of cultures took place. It also examines the communal aspect of qasba life, together with its manifestations in religion, fairs, rituals and festivities, inter-community relations, and the routines of daily life. Finally, it explains the impact of popular culture on assimilative thought and liberal convictions, focusing on ‘composite culture’ and ‘pluralism’.

The men of Masauli and Baragaon used to be great storytellers, but people rarely talk about them nowadays. The family archives were destroyed when police conducted raids at the height of non-cooperation in Bara Banki district in the United Provinces. Rafi Ahmed Kidwai did not leave any account of his life. Wilayat Ali Kidwai lived during the formative years of the fight for nationalism, which intensified in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in part due to the printed word. Wilayat Ali witnessed events in the Balkans that pushed Muslims into the mainstream of Indian nationalism. Wilayat Ali died in July 1918 due to cholera, leaving behind his twenty-eight-year-old wife and five children.

Wilayat Ali Kidwai and his group belonged to a new social group among Muslims in Awadh. The group, which was influential in parts of the United Provinces, downplayed religion as an impediment to nationality, emphasized processes of interaction and linkages, and stressed the importance of cultural similarities. This chapter examines the rough terrain in Bara Banki district, traces the roots of Wilayat Ali Kidwai and his family, and looks at how the turbulence in 1857 affected the Kidwais and many others in their immediate surroundings. It also explores the outburst of political and intellectual energy in the form of a wide range of books, journals, and newspapers, as well as the role of various associations and societies that facilitated contacts between writers, poets, publicists, editors, and reformers. In the qasbas, the search for new ways of reasserting and maintaining the Muslim or Hindu identity and culture was less conspicuous.

The Kidwais were part of the Islamic service gentry and operated beyond the local boundaries. They transmitted ilm-e deen (knowledge of Islam) through khanqahs, mosques, and madaris and provided a local Muslim as well as a secular leadership. Hindu-Muslim consciousness was heightened by nascent revivalist assertions and the temple-mosque dispute in 1855 at Hanumangarhi in Ayodhya. Nevertheless, pluralism played a key role in Awadh, particularly at the qasba level. Qasba society seldom got polarized along the lines of religion. As a unique entity, the qasba enhanced its solidarity with the help of the gentry’s patronage and the common man’s veneration of Muslim shrines and holy men. The qasbas shaped Lucknow, with the Hindus and Muslims engaging in friendship and cooperation. Wilayat Ali Kidwai and his group moved from the sites of piety and devotion to Rudauli, some parts of which were characterized by anarchy at the time of Awadh’s annexation.

In 1877, Awadh was annexed to the neighbouring North-Western Provinces, which heightened the anxieties of Lakhnavis. This despite the fact that the ensuing changes had little effect on their city’s position vis-à-vis Allahabad, the new capital. Lucknow, British India’s fourth largest city, soon became the centre of political activism. Compared to Allahabad which was bustling with intense political activity, Lucknow was a benign city. This is where Wilayat Ali Kidwai’s children grew up. The educated professional classes and some wasiqadars lost political power and privileges after the annexation of Awadh. From 1885 to 1905, Lakhnavis constituted the majority of Muslim delegates in the United Provinces.

This chapter focuses on the caliphate of al-Mutawwakil. It discusses the accession of al-Mutawwakil after the death of al-Wāthiq. The first years of al-Mutawwakil's witnessed the demise of all the members of the clique except Wasif and Sīma. The demise of some members of the clique gave al-Mutawwakil power. This signified a dramatic turn in power at the caliphal court wherein an Abbasid walī al-،ahd was nominated after forty-five years. The elimination of the old scribe elite also paved the way for the appointment of al-Mutawwakil's two sons as successors and as governors of the central and western provinces of Iran. Al-Mutawwakil's reign also marked the most extensive phase of building at Samarra. During his reign, he built the al-Mutawwakkiliyya to mark the successful break of Muslim from the domination of Turkish commanders that had marred the previous generation. It also served as a foundation in the tradition to al-Mu،tasim's establishment of Samarra. While the caliphate of al-Mutawwakil flourished, his reign also faced factions and conflicts. The restoration of the wilāyat al،ahd and the long-term rise of ،Ubyad Allāh, al-Fath and their non-Turkish military allies led to the factional conflict and to the assassination of al-Mutawakkil.

This chapter provides a systematic overview of Islamic State (IS) video production, highlighting its key features, organization, and role in the group’s full-spectrum propaganda effort. To do so, the chapter combines a quantitative, descriptive analysis of overall video production (in terms of production volume and quality), with a qualitative analysis of the major “scripts”—that is, frequent standardized combinations of spoken and visual components constructing micro-narratives that partake of IS’s broader propaganda message. Mainstream media has contributed to establish IS’s videos as “instant icons” that shape the dominant visual representation of IS and Islamism more generally among Western populations.