Everyday Islamic Law and the Making of Modern South Asia
Everyday Islamic Law and the Making of Modern South Asia
Cite
Abstract
Beginning in the late eighteenth century, British rule transformed the relationship between law, society, and the state in South Asia. But qazis and muftis, alongside ordinary people without formal training in law, fought back as the colonial system in India sidelined Islamic legal experts. They petitioned the East India Company for employment, lobbied imperial legislators for recognition, and built robust institutions to serve their communities. By bringing legal debates into the public sphere, they resisted the colonial state’s authority over personal law and rejected legal codification by embracing flexibility and possibility. With postcards, letters, and telegrams, they made everyday Islamic law vibrant and resilient and challenged the hegemony of the Anglo-Indian legal system. Following these developments from the beginning of the Raj through independence, Elizabeth Lhost rejects narratives of stagnation and decline to show how an unexpected coterie of scholars, practitioners, and ordinary individuals negotiated the contests and challenges of colonial legal change. The rich archive of unpublished fatwa files, qazi notebooks, and legal documents they left behind chronicles their efforts to make Islamic law relevant for everyday life, even beyond colonial courtrooms and the confines of family law. Lhost shows how ordinary Muslims shaped colonial legal life and how their diversity and difference have contributed to contemporary debates about religion, law, pluralism, and democracy in South Asia and beyond.
-
Front Matter
-
Introduction: Life, Law, and Legal History
-
Part I Professionals
Elizabeth Lhost-
Interlude I: Rethinking Law, Religion, and the State
-
1
Becoming Qazi in British Bombay: Imperial Expansion, Legal Administration, and Everyday Negotiation
-
2
Creating a Qazi Class: Navigating Expectations between Company and Community
-
3
From Petitions to Elections: Islamic Legal Practitioners and the Exigencies of Colonial Rule
-
Interlude I: Rethinking Law, Religion, and the State
-
Part II Paperwork
Elizabeth Lhost-
Interlude II: Crown Rule in the Context of Noninterference
-
4
Personal Law in the Public Sphere: Fatwas, Print Publics, and the Making of Everyday Islamic Legal Discourse
-
5
From Files to Fatwas: Procedural Uniformity and Substantive Flexibility in Alternative Legal Spaces
-
6
Accounting for Qazis: Negotiating Life and Law in Small-Town North India
-
Interlude II: Crown Rule in the Context of Noninterference
-
Part III Possibilities
Elizabeth Lhost -
End Matter
Signed in as
Institutional accounts
- National Science & Technology Library
- Capital Medical University
Sign in
Personal account
- Sign in with email/username & password
- Get email alerts
- Save searches
- Purchase content
- Activate your purchase/trial code
- Add your ORCID iD
Purchase
Our books are available by subscription or purchase to libraries and institutions.
Purchasing informationMonth: | Total Views: |
---|---|
April 2024 | 1 |
August 2024 | 2 |
August 2024 | 2 |
August 2024 | 1 |
August 2024 | 1 |
August 2024 | 1 |
August 2024 | 1 |
August 2024 | 1 |
August 2024 | 2 |
August 2024 | 1 |
August 2024 | 1 |
August 2024 | 2 |
August 2024 | 2 |
August 2024 | 1 |
August 2024 | 2 |
August 2024 | 3 |
August 2024 | 1 |
August 2024 | 2 |
August 2024 | 1 |
August 2024 | 2 |
August 2024 | 1 |
August 2024 | 1 |
August 2024 | 1 |
August 2024 | 1 |
August 2024 | 1 |
October 2024 | 1 |
November 2024 | 1 |
November 2024 | 1 |
Get help with access
Institutional access
Access to content on Oxford Academic is often provided through institutional subscriptions and purchases. If you are a member of an institution with an active account, you may be able to access content in one of the following ways:
IP based access
Typically, access is provided across an institutional network to a range of IP addresses. This authentication occurs automatically, and it is not possible to sign out of an IP authenticated account.
Sign in through your institution
Choose this option to get remote access when outside your institution. Shibboleth/Open Athens technology is used to provide single sign-on between your institution’s website and Oxford Academic.
If your institution is not listed or you cannot sign in to your institution’s website, please contact your librarian or administrator.
Sign in with a library card
Enter your library card number to sign in. If you cannot sign in, please contact your librarian.
Society Members
Society member access to a journal is achieved in one of the following ways:
Sign in through society site
Many societies offer single sign-on between the society website and Oxford Academic. If you see ‘Sign in through society site’ in the sign in pane within a journal:
If you do not have a society account or have forgotten your username or password, please contact your society.
Sign in using a personal account
Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members. See below.
Personal account
A personal account can be used to get email alerts, save searches, purchase content, and activate subscriptions.
Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members.
Viewing your signed in accounts
Click the account icon in the top right to:
Signed in but can't access content
Oxford Academic is home to a wide variety of products. The institutional subscription may not cover the content that you are trying to access. If you believe you should have access to that content, please contact your librarian.
Institutional account management
For librarians and administrators, your personal account also provides access to institutional account management. Here you will find options to view and activate subscriptions, manage institutional settings and access options, access usage statistics, and more.