Overview

"The idea of jihad is central to Islamic faith and ethics, and yet its meanings have been highly contested over time. They have ranged from the philosophical struggle to live an ethical life to the political injunction to wage war against enemies of Islam. Today, more than ever, jihad signifies the political opposition between Islam and the West. As the line drawn between Muslims and non-Muslims becomes more rigid, Ayesha Jalal seeks to retrieve the ethical meanings of this core Islamic principle in South Asian history.Drawing on historical, legal, and literary sources, Jalal traces the intellectual itinerary of jihad through several centuries and across the territory connecting the Middle East with South Asia. She reveals how key innovations in modern Islamic thought resulted from historical imperatives. The social and political scene in India before, during, and after British colonial rule forms the main backdrop. We experience the jihad as armed warfare waged by Sayyid Ahmad of Rai Bareilly between 1826 and 1831, the calls to jihad in the great rebellion of 1857, the fusion of jihad with a strand of anti-colonial nationalism in the early twentieth century, and the contemporary politics of self-styled jihadis in Pakistan, waging war to liberate co-religionists in Afghanistan and Kashmir.""Partisans of Allah"" surveys this rich and tumultuous history of South Asian Muslims and its critical contribution to the intellectual development of the key concept of jihad. Analyzing the complex interplay of ethics and politics in Muslim history, the author effectively demonstrates the preeminent role of jihad in the Muslim faith today."

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9780674028012

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Reviews

While discussion of Islam tends to focus on the Arab world, Jalal makes a compelling case for paying attention to south Asia, where a Muslim minority has had a long and complex relationship with other communities--each period of history seeing a shift in ideas of jihad...One thing that Partisans of Allah makes clear is that religious discourse within Islam fluctuates widely, and is entwined with geopolitics...An erudite and thought-provoking study of the interplay of religion and politics, with some particularly interesting things to say about the history of south Asian Muslims' focus on the outer husk of religion, often to the detriment of inner faith. -- Kamila Shamsie The Guardian (06/21/2008)

Author Information

Ayesha Jalal is Professor of History at Tufts University.

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