Constructing Bangladesh

Religion, Ethnicity, and Language in an Islamic Nation

Sufia M. Uddin

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Year: 2006
• Print ISBN: 9781469615196, 9780807830215
• eBook ISBN: 9780807877333
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Indian & South Asian History

Highlighting the dynamic, pluralistic nature of Islamic civilization, Sufia M. Uddin examines the complex history of Islamic state formation in Bangladesh, formerly the eastern part of the Indian province of Bengal. Uddin focuses on significant moments in the region’s history from medieval to modern times, examining the interplay of language, popular and scholarly religious literature, and the colonial experience as they contributed to the creation of a unique Bengali-Islamic identity.

During the precolonial era, Bengali, the dominant regional language, infused the richly diverse traditions of the region, including Hinduism, Buddhism, and, eventually, the Islamic religion and literature brought by Urdu-speaking Muslim conquerors from North India. Islam was not simply imported into the region by the ruling elite, Uddin explains, but was incorporated into local tradition over hundreds of years of interactions between Bengalis and non-Bengali Muslims. Constantly contested and negotiated, the Bengali vision of Islamic orthodoxy and community was reflected in both language and politics, which ultimately produced a specifically Bengali-Muslim culture. Uddin argues that this process in Bangladesh is representative of what happens elsewhere in the Muslim world and is therefore an instructive example of the complex and fluid relations between local heritage and the greater Islamic global community, or umma.

Index

Abraham, 87; Abrahamic tradition, 47

Abu Ma‘shar, 28

Adam, 36

Adda, 144

Ādellāye hānifiẏ, 81. See also Naīmuddīn, Muhammad

Adi Brahma Samaj, 84. See also Brahma Samaj; Naba Bidhan; Sen, Girish Chandra; Sen, Keshab Chandra

Adivasi, 133, 145, 152

Ahl-i-Hadith, 46, 56, 80–81

Ahmad, Mirza Ghulam, 56

Ahmad Ambethwi, Khalil, 58. See also Deoband

Ahmadi, 178

Ahmadiyya, 56

Ali, Karamat, 54–55, 62. See also Taiyuni movement

Ali, Khan Jahan, 37, 147. See also Sufis

Ālpanās, 127

American Presbyterian missionaries, 77

Amir, 165

Angel Gabriel (Jibril), 36, 37, 102

Anti-British activities, 54

Arabia, 26

Arabic language, 7, 17, 18, 28, 29, 35, 38, 39, 44, 63, 67, 69, 72, 76–80

passim, 90, 91, 93–102

passim, 109, 113–14, 125, 181

Arab nationalism, 163

Ashraf Muslims, 25, 27, 28, 30, 38, 40, 53, 69, 115, 180. See also Non-ashraf Muslims

Avatar, 33. See also Syncretism

Awami League, 122, 126, 133, 138, 139, 140, 144–45, 152, 162, 169, 170, 182, 202 (nn. 22, 24). See also Sheikh Hasina; Sheikh Mujib

Azam, Ghulam, 170. See also Jama‘at-i-Islami

Azerbaijan, 185

Al-‘Aziz, Shah ‘Abd, 46, 55, 92–93

Babur, 20

Bagha, 30, 61

Bāhās, 46, 56–57, 61–68 passim, 74–75, 81, 114, 198 (n. 59)

Bakhtiyar, Muhammad, 19

Balkhi, Shah Sultan, 37, 147

Bangabandhu, 121. See S...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword by Carl W. Ernst and Bruce B. Lawrence
• Acknowledgments
• Note on Transliteration
• Introduction
• One: Islamic Themes in Premodern Bengali Literature and Life
• Two: Nineteenth-Century Religious Reform Movements
• Three: Breaking New Ground and Transgressing Boundaries
• Four: Bengali or Bangladeshi?: The Conflict between Religious and Ethnic Nationalisms
• Five: The Contested Place of Nation in Umma and Globalizing Efforts
• Epilogue. Competing Visions of Community
• Appendix
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index