Debt and Muslim self-making in late-colonial Bengal

Dasgupta, Ananya

doi:10.1080/19472498.2016.1143665

Cited by 3 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…James Caron and Ananya Dasgupta's articles shift attention from areas traditionally assumed to be the heartlands of Muslim South Asia to the “subaltern geographies” of the Indo‐Afghan borderlands and rural East Bengal; spaces that they argue enable radical cosmologies and “utopian liberation politics” (Caron & Dasgupta, 2016). In East Bengal, the intimate relationship between rural economies and popular forms of devotional life shaped more progressive Islamic interpretations of labour (Dasgupta, 2013; Uddin, 2016; Uddin, forthcoming). Dasgupta, referring to popular self‐improvement tracts aimed at producing the ‘ideal peasant,’ demonstrates how cultivation was transformed into a symbol of worship and the market a site of “deception” and “misrepresentation” of labour (Dasgupta, 2013).…”

Section: Network Of Islamic Socialismmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In East Bengal, the intimate relationship between rural economies and popular forms of devotional life shaped more progressive Islamic interpretations of labour (Dasgupta, 2013; Uddin, 2016; Uddin, forthcoming). Dasgupta, referring to popular self‐improvement tracts aimed at producing the ‘ideal peasant,’ demonstrates how cultivation was transformed into a symbol of worship and the market a site of “deception” and “misrepresentation” of labour (Dasgupta, 2013).…”

Section: Network Of Islamic Socialismmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some argued that as God was the owner of everything, and man simply the caretaker, the concept of private ownership was non‐existent or extremely limited (Banerjee, 2020; Uddin, 2016). Others like Hasrat Mohani made distinctions between “personal” and “private” property, arguing that while Muslims were allowed personal possessions, this did not include the gifts from God of air, water, and land, which were available for the common good (Dasgupta, 2013). Qasim Zaman asserts that Deobandi scholars Seoharwi and Popalzai did not support an absolute right to private property.…”

Section: Contradictions? God Class and Property In Islammentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They argued that land should be used for the wider benefit of the community, and the state should regulate the size of landholdings (Zaman, 2012). Although many Islamic Socialists upheld the right to private property, some believed zakat (charitable tax on wealth) to be the more powerful obligation, with the poor entitled to a share of the wealth of the rich (Dasgupta, 2013; Zaman, 2012). Seoharwi went further and argued that if conditions necessitated, the state could forcibly seize assets from the wealthy even if zakat was already paid.…”

Section: Contradictions? God Class and Property In Islammentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Others like Hasrat Mohani made distinctions between "personal" and "private" property, arguing that while Muslims were allowed personal possessions, this did not include the gifts from God of air, water, and land, which were available for the common good (Dasgupta, 2013). Qasim Zaman asserts that Deobandi scholars Seoharwi and Popalzai did not support an absolute right to private property.…”

Section: Contradictions? God Class and Property In Islammentioning

confidence: 99%

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Red Maulanas: Revisiting Islam and the Left in twentieth‐century South Asia

Uddin

2023

History Compass

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In the early 20th century, colonised people across empires rejected their status quo with visions and articulations of different emancipatory futures. The more radical and creative of these projects fused socialist thought with national, cultural or religious traditions. Grounded in ideas of equality, redistribution and common ownership, these visions offered futures of freedom beyond nationalism. Islamic Socialism was one of these revolutionary currents alongside Arab socialism, African socialism and Black Liberation Theology. The article reviews the historical scholarship on the relationship between Muslims and Left politics in 20th century South Asia and proposes Islamic Socialism as a new field of study. Some of the earliest articulations and enduring commitment to the politics of Islamic Socialism emerged from South Asia, yet the topic is not easily located in the existing scholarship on the region or elsewhere. Employing a diverse set of texts, I show how we can approach through three categories ‐ time, space, and ideas– and map out subaltern Islam as a future area of research. Existing studies have treated Islamic Socialism variously as crude readings of Islam and Marxism, an immemorial Islamic tradition, the intellectual product of theoretical congruence, or as a novel and creative experiment. Reflecting on its minor status in historiography, the article argues for the importance of Islamic Socialism in thinking beyond Islamic literalism and furthering our understanding of decolonisation experiments, everyday subaltern politics, and the possibilities for Marxism and Islam in the Global South.

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