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CSAS Kavita Datla Memorial Lecture | Muslim Religious Ideas and Identities in Mughal North India

Muzaffar Alam, George V. Bobrinskoy Professor of South Asian Languages, University of Chicago
Friday, April 16, 2021
4:30-6:00 PM
Room 1010 | 10th Floor Event Space Weiser Hall Map
What was a Muslim’s religious identity? What were the factors that influenced and shaped the making of his identity? Immediate, pragmatic, or deep historical and ideological? In my lecture I will first mention in brief how the markers of Muslim identity underwent change in the early phases of their evolution. I will then consider in some depth the role of the religious ideas in its formation in Mughal India. The discussion will be with special reference to the debates between the two major Sufi orders of the time, the Chishti and the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi, on some religious doctrines, ‘narrow’, sectarian or a non-sectarian and ‘pluralistic’. I will also consider some examples from the history of post-Mughal religious and political ideas.

This event is cosponsored by the U-M Global Islamic Studies Center.

Muzaffar Alam is George V. Bobrinskoy Professor of South Asian Languages at the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations, the University of Chicago. He is a historian with field specialties in medieval and early modern South Asian Muslim religious and political cultures. His research interests also include comparative history of the Islamic world (as seen from an Indian perspective).

He has held visiting research and teaching positions in several academic institutions in Europe and America. His major publications include The Crisis of Empire in Mughal North India (1986, New Oxford India Perennial Edition, 2013); The Languages of Political Islam in India: c. 1200–1800 (2004); Indo-Persian Travels in the Age of Discovery: 1400-1800 and Writing the Mughal World: Studies in Political Culture (co-authored with Sanjay Subrahmanyam, 2007 and 2013).

Registration for this Zoom lecture is required: https://umich.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJItdO-rqjkjGdfZv5nOF7U-zjCpdEegd-ir

If you are a person with a disability who requires an accommodation to attend this event, please reach out to us at least 2 weeks in advance of this event. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary as some accommodations may require more time for the university to arrange.
Building: Weiser Hall
Event Type: Lecture / Discussion
Tags: Asia, Islam
Source: Happening @ Michigan from Center for South Asian Studies, International Institute, Global Islamic Studies Center, Medieval and Early Modern Studies (MEMS), Asian Languages and Cultures, Department of History

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The International Institute’s centers sponsor numerous conferences, lectures, exhibits, and cultural performances throughout the year. These events are designed to educate the university community and the public about global issues and inspire discussion and dialogue. 

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