“Major turning points for Shiʿi Islam in modern South Asia: Princely states, partition, and a revolution,” in Chiara Formichi (ed), Routledge Handbook on Islam in Asia (London: Routledge, 2021), 138-153 (original) (raw)

This chapter considers three turning points of Shi'i Islam in South Asia in order to provide a (limited) sense of the state of the field. My point of departure shall be the deposition of Wajid ʿAli Shah (r. 1847– 1856), the final King of Awadh, in 1856. This political act was not only one of the sparks leading to the uprising against British rule in the subcontinent revolt of 1857 (also known as the “Mutiny”), but also brought an end to the Shiʿi state of Awadh, a wealthy and powerful patron of Shiʿi institutions, scholarship, and art. As a consequence, Shiʿi communal life began to coalesce around voluntary associations and other models of leadership throughout Northern India. The next major turning point to be considered here is the Partition of the Subcontinent in 1947. While leading scholars stayed behind in what became India, many popular (and often “esoterically- minded”) preachers migrated to Pakistan, trying to carve out new Shiʿi spaces in the state that was envisioned as a homeland for India’s Muslims. These voices were eventually challenged after a new generation of reformist- minded religious scholars (ʿulama) returned from their studies in Najaf, Iraq to Pakistan. A final turning point is the Iranian Revolution of 1979, which caused significant internal cleavages in both India and Pakistan. Politicized scholars who embraced Iran’s revolutionary ideology became pitted against those who rejected such readings of the faith. More importantly, however, the rise to power by the Shiʿi clergy in Iran opened a new and painful chapter of Shiʿi– Sunni sectarianism in South Asia.