Shari'at and Muslim community in colonial Punjab, 1865–1885

Ivermee, Robert

Abstract

This paper argues that concerns for the government appointment of qazis, officers for the administration of Muslim law, and the greater application of shari'at critically shaped Muslim community formation in later nineteenth century Punjab. Between 1865 and 1885, Punjabi Muslim elites attested the necessity of qazis being appointed by government and Muslim law being administered in the colonial judicial system. With the support of Gottlieb Leitner, registrar of the Punjab University College, Muslim parties used the emergent associations of Punjab civil society, including the Anjuman-i-Punjab (Lahore) and Anjuman-i-Islam (Lahore), to assert the indispensability of religious law. In doing so, they challenged the Anglo-Indian decision to prioritize customary law in the Punjab and advanced the religious group as the basic social unit of Punjab society. In Punjab public spaces, the relevance of Islam was proclaimed, challenging the professed Anglo-Indian distinction between private and public, religious and secular spheres. However, demands for qazi appointment and the administration of shari'at problematize well-rehearsed arguments about the relationships between family, community, state and religion in colonial Punjab. Only through an enquiry into the two decades after 1865 may later political campaigns for the application of shari'at be understood.

Citation

Ivermee, R. (2014). Shari'at and Muslim community in colonial Punjab, 1865–1885. Modern Asian Studies, 48(4), 1068-1095. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X13000164

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 26, 2013
• Publication Date: Jul 1, 2014
• Deposit Date: Jul 14, 2016
• Journal: Modern Asian Studies
• Print ISSN: 0026-749X
• Electronic ISSN: 1469-8099
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 48
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 1068-1095
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X13000164
• Keywords: Shari'at, Muslim, Punjab, India, law, colonialism
• Related Public URLs: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X13000164