Tag: colonialism

Society & Culture

Macauley ke Bache: On Our Relationship to Urdu

The list of dead, white British men who lorded over the Subcontinent is long, but Thomas Macauley holds a special place among them. The archetypal British colonial administrator, Macauley was best known for his instrumental role in entrenching English into the cultural and epistemic life of the Subcontinent. In decreeing the supremacy of English as the language of power, and the displacement of traditional sciences and knowledges, Macaulay famously said: “We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern, — a class of persons Indian in blood and colour, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect.”  Continue reading Macauley ke Bache: On Our Relationship to Urdu

Traversing Tradition1 Comment
Bosnian

Dekonstrukcija zapadnih predstava o političkom islamu

Za zapadne posmatrače je nepoželjno postojanje političkog djelovanja sa metafizičkim referencama, jer je upečatljiva karakteristika savremenog doba to što je ono desakralizirano. Budući da je tako, islamsko političko djelovanje se, skoro po klišeu, posmatra u vezi sa bremenitim i analitički beskorisnim terminima kao što su „radikalizam“ i „fundamentalizam“. U najgorem slučaju, u vladajućim predstavama je politički islam – patologija. Paradigmatski primjer za to je teza … Continue reading Dekonstrukcija zapadnih predstava o političkom islamu

Traversing TraditionLeave a comment
Society & Culture

Colonialism and Gender Discourse: A Case Study on the Unique Case of the Ulema

The respectful attentiveness that has ever characterized the traditional attitudes of Muslims students before their teachers, male or female, is derived from the example of women as from the men who attended and served him [the Prophet ﷺ]. Shahr ibn Hawshab has narrated from Asma’ bint Yazid that she said: “I was holding the rein of ‘Adba, the she-camel of the Prophet ﷺ when [verses of the] surat al-Ma’idah [were] to him. Because of the heaviness of the revelation the camel’s leg (‘adud) was on the point of buckling (daqqa)”. [3] Continue reading Colonialism and Gender Discourse: A Case Study on the Unique Case of the Ulema

Traversing TraditionLeave a comment
Shorts

Colonialism, Islamic Reformers, and the Late Ottoman Period

The first half of the twentieth century was a dark time for Muslims. The scientific and technical dominance of the Europeans allowed them to strengthen their already tight stranglehold over Muslims lands. This was especially true in North Africa and the Levant, where Britain and France, and to a lesser extent, Italy, competed for influence…There were men and women, as there always are, who resisted this occupation of their lands with whatever means they had at their disposal. Among these was a certain Druze Prince named Shakib Arslan, an eminent Islamic thinker and reformer.  Continue reading Colonialism, Islamic Reformers, and the Late Ottoman Period

Traversing TraditionLeave a comment
Politics

Will ‘Hindutva’ Only Yield Oppression and Genocide?

India has witnessed another two  murders of Muslim men in a week. Asif Khan, a gym trainer from India’s Haryana state was lynched by a Hindutva mob while returning home after buying medicine. A week later, 17-year-old Mohammad Faisal died in police custody, sustaining heavy injuries after he was arrested for allegedly violating coronavirus restrictions. The incident took place while he was selling vegetables outside his home in the Uttar Pradesh district. These men are some of the hundreds of innocent men lynched or burned to death by a Hindu mob. As a victim of this hate, Faisal is the face of Hindutva state violence on Muslims. These killings have become normalized in a highly radicalized society, which often hails the murderers as “heroes.” [1] Continue reading Will ‘Hindutva’ Only Yield Oppression and Genocide?

Traversing Tradition2 Comments