European University Institute Library

Under empire, Muslim lives and loyalties across the Indian Ocean world, 1775-1945, Michael Francis Laffan

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

mapsillustrations

index present

non fiction

Under empire

bibliography

1309045424

Michael Francis Laffan

Columbia Studies in International and Global History

Muslim lives and loyalties across the Indian Ocean world, 1775-1945

"Islam under Empire offers new insights into the interwoven histories of Muslim communities of the central and southern latitudes of the Indian Ocean, travelling from east to west and back again from the 1770s to the end of the Second World War. It shows how hybrid bodies of people who were often termed 'Malay' by British observers-from the Moluccas to Ceylon and Cape Town-negotiated their status under shifting imperial circumstances-Dutch, British, and even Japanese-and for a time with reference to an idealized empire in the form of the Ottoman state and its Egyptian and Arabian provinces. The book argues that while western imperial formations sought affirmations of loyalty from their far-flung Muslim subjects in the name of evenhanded benevolence, their supplicants sought local autonomy in matters of faith, and the freedom of movement and thought so often denied their ancestors, whether as slaves and exiles of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), soldiers brought to Ceylon, and yet "Arabs" seeking a place to call home in the Indies. Grounded in biographies of several forced migrants such as Imam Abdullah (a.k.a. Tuan Guru), their descendants and fellow Muslims, Islam under Empire is a history of Muslim communal belonging on the world stage, showing the lineaments of a shared oceanic history that culminated in several discrete nationhoods, and with perhaps surprisingly little reference to the subcontinent by which that ocean is known"--, Provided by publisher

From the Spice Islands to the place of sadness -- Shaping Islam at the Cape of Good Hope -- Sanguinary attacks and unruly passions -- Friends firm and warm -- Other Malays, other exiles -- Between shrinking Kandy and distant Istanbul -- For queen, country, and caliph in Africa -- Seven pashas for Ceylon -- A caliph for greater Java -- For Arabs, Arabic, and the community -- Pan-Islam, nationalism, pan-Asianism -- Forgotten jihad