Inside a Madrasa

Knowledge, Power and Islamic Identity in India

Arshad Alam

• Publisher: Routledge India
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9780367001209
• eBook ISBN: 9781000083668
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

While there exists scholarly works on madrasas in India during medieval times and the colonial period, there is hardly anything on the conditions of madrasas today, and those are by and large based on secondary literature and not grounded in detailed empirical investigation. This work, through ethnographic study undertaken at two madrasas in Mubarakpur in Uttar Pradesh, shows how Indian madrasas represent a diverse array of ideological orientations which is mostly opposed to each other's interpretation of Islam. If madrasas are about the dissemination of Islamic knowledge, then they also problematize and compete over how best to approach that knowledge; in the process they create and sustain a wide variety of possible interpretations of Islam. This volume will be of interest to scholars and researchers interested in the study of Islam and Indian Muslims. Since it is multidisciplinary in approach, it will find space within the disciplines of sociology, social anthropolgy, history and contemporary studies.

1
History and the Present in Mubarakpur: The Ethos¹

Mubarakpur is a qasba/small town located in the administrative district of Azamgarh, eastern Uttar Pradesh. From the district headquarters of Azamgarh, Mubarakpur is at a distance of around 11 km towards the north. According to the 2001 census, the total population of the qasba was 51,080;² although during the time of the field work in 2004, local estimate of the population was around 70,000. The qasba is predominantly Muslim and, according to its residents, Muslims comprise around 80 per cent of the total population. In the 2001 census, the literacy rate of the qasba was 49 per cent,³ male literacy being 56 per cent and female literacy rate 43 per cent, which compares unfavourably with the overall district literacy rate of 56.15 per cent.⁴ In terms of spatial division, the qasba is divided into 25 municipal wards, having an income of

20 lakh per annum. The total voter strength of the qasba is around 31,000.⁵

To the outside world, Mubarakpur is a ‘Muslim area’. On my way to this ‘Muslim area’, I came to know that it is also referred to as mini-Pakistan. But this outsiders’ perception of Mubarakpur, as I would come to know eventually, was not only misleading, but said more about the people who called it mini-Pakistan rather than about Mubarakpur itself. Indeed it is not unusual for a city or a section having sizeable Muslim population to be designated as another mini-Pakistan. However, as one enters Mubarakpur, one cannot escape the Islamic symbolism with which the qasba is replete. Even before the actual habitation area starts, one is greeted by the imposing building of Madrasa Ashrafiya. In the main qasba itself, there are a number of madrasas, mosques and imambaras. While some of them are around a century old, others are much more recent, and still more are in the process of being constructed. The Islamic symbolism can also be discerned at the local tea shops where Islamic/Muslim calendars and posters announce the dates of important religious occasions. To add to this sense of coming to a ‘Muslim area’ is the sheer absence of women from the streets. The occasional woman one sees is always accompanied by some male relative; in some cases, they are seen in small groups, but never alone and never unveiled.

Moreover, in mundane conversations, one also comes to know that Mubarakpuris take great pride in recalling that the area that they inhabit was once known as the Shiraz of the East.⁶ As a continuation of Islamic predominance, they stress the fact that Mubarakpur is known as the birthplace of various Islamic scholars who earned great fame not only in India but also abroad. More contemporaneously, they talk of various madrasas that the qasba has and about their popularity which attracts students from all over India. It is this pride of belonging to the qasba which also reflects in the title ‘Mubarakpuri’, which some notables of the qasba, particularly those belonging to the older generation, append to their names.⁷ Religious significance is also underlined in the local history of the qasba. In popular memory, the establishment of the qasba is associated with a Sufi saint of neighbouring Manikpur, whose descendants settled in the qasba and gave it the present name.⁸ Going further down in history, the people of Mubarakpur are proud to state that Islam came very early in this area, around the fifth century, and relate it to the exploits of Salar Masud Ghazi,⁹ who on his way to Bahraich had stopped in a place called Bhagatpur, just eight miles north of Mubarakpur. For the people of Mubarakpur, the grace (baraka) of these early ‘holy men’ of Islam, still pervades the area.

However, as colonial history notes, this self-perception of the people of Mubarakpur is not reciprocated by official records. The Gazetteer of Azamgarh notes that ‘no references are made to it (Mubarakpur) in the Mohammedan history’.¹⁰ This sense of being ignored has also been a source of complaint of one of the more famous Mubarakpuris, who agonizingly notes that ‘Mubarakpur has hardly been mentioned for its achievements’.¹¹ The ‘achievements’ that Athar Mubarakpuri is talking about has to do, among other things, with the presence of men of religious learning in the qasba who contributed to the strengthening of various schools of Islam present in this area. Among others, Athar Mubarakpuri mentions the name of Abdur Rahman,¹² who went on to become the foremost proponent of the Ahl e Hadis, not only in the qasba but also internationally.

Notwithstanding the paucity of early references to Mubarakpur, a sense of its establishment may be derived from the history of its neighbouring district of Mau. Mau was part of a jagir that was gifted to Jahan Ara by her father, Emperor Shah Jahan. It was Jahan Ara who built a katra or market place in the town of Mau.¹³ This market place served as a trading centre for the silk produced in the area. Mubarakpur may have served as a centre for cotton and silk weaving and trade. The eastern limits of the Sharqi Sultanat, whose capital Jaunpur was known for silk and cotton production, included present Mubarakpur. It must be noted, however, that as a producer for silk and cotton textiles, Mubarakpur ranked much below its neighbours like Mau and Muhhamadabad. The only exclusive mention of Mubarakpur in the Gazetteer is for being a producer of special mix of cotton and silk fabric called tasar silk.¹⁴

Administratively, the area of Mubarakpur came under the suzerainty of the British East India Company much earlier as compared with other areas of United Provinces. Under the Treaty of Friendship, Nawab Sadat Ali Khan of Awadh surrendered Ruhelkhand, Etawah, Kanpur, Fatehgarh, Allahabad, Azamgarh, Basti and Gorakhpur to the East Indian Company in November 1801.¹⁵ These areas were made part of Gorakhpur the same year by the East India Company. In 1832, when a new district of Azamgarh was formed, Mubarakpur was joined with it and a new collector was appointed. In 1813, the population of the qasba was estimated at between 10,000 and 12,000 comprising various labouring and service sections and those dependent on the expropriation of surplus.¹⁶ According to the Gazetteer, one-fourth of the population consisted of Muslim weavers. The important elements of the qasba were the zamindars, weavers, trader and moneylenders. In 1881, the population rose to 13,157 (9,066 Muslims and 4,091 Hindus).¹⁷ Among the principal divisions recorded were 143 landholders and 1,877 weavers. By 1901 the population was estimated to be 15,433, with 11,442 Muslims and 3,991 Hindus.¹⁸

Muslims therefore, have had a substantial presence in the history of the qasba. Among Muslims, it has been the weavers who have always been the numerical majority and have given this qasba an identity of its own. More requires to be said about the weavers and the particular way in which their own history has been linked up with the history of the qasba. That will be taken up in a later section. For the time being, let us continue with the relationship that the people have with the qasba. The present-day qasba is divided into 12 muhallas and its various divisions form the 25 municipal wards of the qasba¹⁹. It is interesting to note that the names of the muhallas carry some religious significance. Thus the Pura Sufi mohalla is said to be named after a Sufi Bahadur who is said to have captured a fort during the rule of Shahjahan.²⁰ Similar reasons are ascribed for the naming of other mohallas. The area of the qasba is roughly nine sq. km and is densely populated. The main road to the qasba starts from what is called the Roadways Chauraha and goes all the way up to the end of the qasba, roughly dividing it into two.²¹ There are no separate areas that can be demarcated as residential spaces or markets, but it is in the middle of the qasba that one finds the maximum number of shops. The Pura Rani mohalla therefore serves as the economic fulcrum of the qasba. Mubarakpur is famous for saris and the shops in Pura Rani sell these to buyers from Gujarat, Varanasi, Mumbai, etc.²² (Although the shops are open throughout the day, most of the business happens during the evenings.) Other areas of Mubarakpur do not have the same number of shops as the central area so that bazaar (market) here means the centre of the city. But this in no way should lead to the conclusion that this area is exclusively a space for economic exchange. In fact, most of the shops are housed on the ground floors of what are otherwise normal households. The family resides on the first or second floor, while the ground floor serves a number of functions, including that of being a shop. Often this shop also serves as a space for social interaction. It is here that guests are welcomed, refreshments are served and local politics discussed. Often the shop owner is assisted by a bevy of close family members, brothers or sons, which leaves him free to engage in conversations of social importance. He would be consulted by the less experienced family members prior to any sale, but will be directly involved in any sale involving substantial amount, which is the case during the festival season. During these times, the guests do not expect him to be too involved in conversation, or if the shopkeeper really gets busy, they would simply leave.

Not all shops, however, are housed within family quarters. For some, residence and place of work are separated. But even here, the ideal type of market relations is typically absent. Shop floors in these cases too often serve as a space for meeting friends and are an important place to talk about the affairs of the qasba. Mubarakpur, therefore offers a contrast to the typical representation of modern cities, where the place of work and residence are supposed to be physically separated. In the Indian context though, Mubarakpur shares this feature of mixed space use with most other small towns. An average trader here need not imagine himself as performing different roles suiting different situations. Here a shopkeeper is simultaneously a friend or a father, thus not compartmentalising his social relationships or himself. Economic and social relationships go hand in hand and the same physical space can be used for a variety of purposes.

This, however, is not to suggest that all spaces are permeable and fluid in the qasba. Rather there are fixed social boundaries when it comes to relations of gender. We have already referred to the physical segregation of gender space. Women are considered to be the ‘jewel’ of the household (ghar ki zeenat). Their place ‘properly’ speaking, is within the house, and like ‘jewels’ their preciousness is underlined by keeping them hidden from public gaze. Accordingly, the houses in the qasba are invariably divided into male and female spaces. A male guest will be entertained in a room just near the entrance. Those who cannot afford a room exclusively for this purpose, often entertain guests in the room that also serves as their work room for embroidering saris or working at the loom. If there is a man present in the house, women seldom answer the door. In the absence of men, women are not supposed to open the door and talk to men who are not related (ghair mahram) and visitors just have to choose another time. One of the ways in which the goodness of women is measured here relates to her not being seen in public spaces, such as the market. So although sari is a women’s dress, women are not seen buying it for themselves, rather it is the men of the house who buy it for them. Women of course have the choice of either accepting or rejecting the selections made by the men of the household. Except du...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• List of Tables
• List of Maps and Plates
• Glossary
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1. History and the Present in Mubarakpur: The Ethos
• 2. Knowledge, Power and Politics
• 3. Institutionalising 'Authentic' Islam
• 4. The Financial Organisation of Islamic Piety
• 5. The Madrasa and its Hinterland
• 6. The Madrasa Regime and its Effects
• 7. The Enemy Within
• Conclusion
• Appendix I: Constitution of Madrasa Ashrafiya
• Appendix II: Curriculum of Madrasa Ashrafiya
• Bibliography
• About the Author
• Index