Alphabet Poems and other Urdu Religious Booklets

Orsini, Francesca

Abstract

Religious booklets formed a substantial part of the boom in commercial publishing and print culture in nineteenth and early-twentieth north India, cheaply available and widely reprinted by multiple publishers. This essay considers two popular texts that allow us to trace some of the range and of the linguistic and emotional contours of this production. Alif Be alphabet poems gesture towards the earlier history of Muslim oral traditions in north India. Short Wafātnāma verse narratives on the death of the Prophet Muhammad, conversely, were most likely produced by authors connected to Sunni reform movements and sought to focus their devotion on the Prophet alone.

Citation

Orsini, F. (2023). Alphabet Poems and other Urdu Religious Booklets. International journal of Islam in Asia, 3(1-2), 128-153. https://doi.org/10.1163/25899996-20230015

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 23, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Sep 14, 2023
• Publication Date: Sep 14, 2023
• Deposit Date: Jan 18, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 18, 2024
• Journal: International Journal of Islam in Asia
• Print ISSN: 2589-9988
• Electronic ISSN: 2589-9996
• Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 3
• Issue: 1-2
• Pages: 128-153
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/25899996-20230015
• Keywords: popular Urdu, Muslim devotion, alphabet poems, death of the Prophet Muhammad
• Publisher URL: https://brill.com/view/journals/ijia/3/1-2/article-p128_6.xml