Tomb, Tome, and Throne: Islam in South Asia

Instructor: S. Shiraz Ali

Class Time: MW 8:30am-9:50am

Smith-Buonanno Hall 101

South Asia is home to more Muslims than any other region. This course asks how that came to be, and what being Muslim on the subcontinent has meant over a millennium. We read about saints and the shrines built over their tombs; rulers and the jurists who advised them; poets who praised God—and sometimes complained to him—in Persian, Urdu, and Panjabi verse; and women who built mosques and took Sufi vows. We follow reform movements, colonial courts, and modern states that argue over who speaks for Islam. The readings combine scholarship with sources in translation: a princess’s memoir, the conversations of a saint, an emperor’s letters, the report of a street riot, and court cases—and we learn, as students of religion, to read each on its own terms. No prior study of Islam or Asia is required.