Papers by Ayesha Qurrat ul Ain
Mankind Quarterly, 2024
Since the introduction of Darwin’s theory of evolution to the Muslim world, a multitude of respon... more Since the introduction of Darwin’s theory of evolution to the Muslim world, a multitude of responses have appeared ranging from outright rejection to attempts to reconcile the theory with Islamic beliefs. This essay introduces and critically analyzes one of the earliest Muslim reconciliatory responses to Darwin in colonial India. This response holds significant historical value and intrigues scholars and students alike. It offers a unique perspective on how early modern Indian Muslim scholars deliberated the issues it raised about faith, reason, and knowledge while re-orienting the classical disciplines of Kalam and Islamic philosophy. Shibli Nomani’s engagement with the Darwinian theory of evolution, stemming from his approach toward the revival of Ilm-e-Kalam in the age of science and empiricism, is a vital part of this historical narrative. Therefore, it is significant to evaluate his contribution to understanding how the conflict between religion and science triggered debates in Muslim epistemology and hermeneutics in early modern India and how Shibli tried to revitalize the Islamic theological approach accommodating the empirical foundations of science with the classical metaphysical foundations of Islamic knowledge. This paper argues that Shibli’s encounter with Darwin can be taken as a classic example showing how the reformist Muslim mind of colonial India perceived itself as a continuation of the historical process of safeguarding religion from external threats of disbelief and skepticism. Overall, this paper contributes to the ongoing conversation about the intersection of religion and science, highlighting the importance of considering diverse perspectives and fostering greater understanding.
Journal of Islamic thought and civilization, May 26, 2023
This article engages with the role of sacred architecture as an embodiment of the conflicts, with... more This article engages with the role of sacred architecture as an embodiment of the conflicts, within a Chinese Muslim ethnic minority group, determined by the dispute upon religious hegemony. Vernacular architecture of a minority group has significant socio-cultural implications and can serve as a tool to measure its integration in the mainstream society. Through an ethnographic study focusing upon the Hui, a Muslim minority community of Xi'an, in Communist China and their sacred architecture, it indicates that the architectural archetype of a mosque quite precisely concretizes the religious hegemony, intra group dissonance and acculturative or retentionist trends of Hui community. It demonstrates that certain architectural features, such as the presence or absence of minaret and dome or a Chinese styled roof with carved animals, in the mosque clearly mirror the loci of religious authority of its adherents. It proposes that architectural characteristics can play the role of preservers and charters of cultural identity of a minority group and can equivocally serve as symbols of retention or acculturation in the mainstream society. By applying a socio-architectural approach, it is meant to explore that how mosques architecture in today's China reflects the intra group dissonance of the Hui community and how shifting paradigms of religiously oriented hegemony are working to eradicate the Sino-Muslim historical architectural relics.
QIJIS (Qudus International Journal of Islamic Studies)
Hui rebellion (1862-1873) is depicted generally as the confrontation of Hui with the Qing state b... more Hui rebellion (1862-1873) is depicted generally as the confrontation of Hui with the Qing state but an exploration of the background of the uprising in the Shaanxi province and a keen look into the oral histories and compilations of local narratives of the devastation reveals that the reality was much more complex. The historical account of these rebellions produced the stereotype that Manchus and Hui had been in conflict throughout whereas this paper contends that the Qing reign can be comfortably divided into two distinct phases with respect to the behavior of Manchus towards the Hui minority. The first phase is marvelously peaceful and prosperous whereas the second is equally drastic and catastrophic. How did this sweeping shift occur? The answer to this logical query involves the third and most decisive component of the whole confrontation i.e. Han gentry and militia. We propose that Han officialdom played a crucial role in creating an ambiance of confrontation of Hui with the Q...
Journal of Islamic and Religious Studies
This article provides an insight into the project of deconstruction of Christianity by applying t... more This article provides an insight into the project of deconstruction of Christianity by applying the interpretation of Derrida’s deconstruction in the language of Christian theology. The focus of this paper is on Caputo’s work, which is known as the leading interpreter of Derrida’s deconstruction. It is explored that how Caputo’s project of deconstruction redefines Christianity and what remains of Christianity after that. This study analyses that the project of Deconstruction of Christianity by Caputo was based on the question that how to talk about God or how to be a Christian in the postmodern age. His response to these basic questions leads to a non-particular and non-theologized form of Christianity, which is not different from other (religions/worldviews), because Christianity which remains after the deconstruction, simply withdraws itself from the exclusivist ways/teachings, and the Bible is not an exception to that. Deconstructed Christianity is a religion, where God is dista...
This piece of research is meant to investigate the interrelationship of Islam and Confucianism in... more This piece of research is meant to investigate the interrelationship of Islam and Confucianism in the history of Chinese Muslims concentrating upon the textual analysis of a Chinese Muslim tract written during Ming dynasty. We suggest that the Muslims enacted the Islamic principle of 'picking up the appropriate and shunning the improper'; thus they adopted and inculcated the Confucian ethical teachings and social values compatible to Islamic tradition into their intellectual framework and stayed isolated from the rituals contrary to the Islamic practices. By adopting this strategy they intelligently propagated the word of Islam among the Confucian audience emphasizing the ethical aspect of their tradition thus enacting the Quranic principle of doing Dawah by calling towards a common word. The analysis of the Chinese Muslim tract known as Qingzhen Jiao Shu will reveal the patterns of Chinese Muslim thought and divulge the tactics the Chinese Muslim authors adopted while prese...
Central Asia
This paper aims to apply the recent approaches of intercultural interactions between minority-maj... more This paper aims to apply the recent approaches of intercultural interactions between minority-majority groups upon the historical acculturative phases of Sino-Muslims. Muslims in China departed their ghettos during Yuan/Mongol reign (1279-1368A.D) and got acquainted with Chinese culture at larger scale hence we contend that it was the period of ‘transition shock’ for them, to apply Alder’s phrase; as they were not only familiarized with the Chinese society but also revisited their new identity amidst a new people thus underwent a process of change revising their ‘self-understanding’. This cultural shock later propelled them to ‘integration’ during Ming (1368-1644A.D) thus served as a tool of their integration in China. Taking the Berry’s model of acculturation, we suggest the early Mongol’s was a period of ‘contact’ between the two cultures i.e. Islam and China whereas late Mongol and early Ming was characterized with ‘conflict’ and finally Ming age was the period of ‘adaptation’..
Three types of academic sources are crucial for understanding the Hindu tradition in our times: a... more Three types of academic sources are crucial for understanding the Hindu tradition in our times: a) scriptures and the classical texts that are available mostly in Sanskrit b) works in the English language produced by orientalists, religious studies scholars, and some modern Hindu religious leaders themselves, and c) writings of colonial/post-colonial Hindu and Muslim scholars on Hinduism in Hindi/Urdu language that is understood by a vast majority of the population in South Asia. Many Hindu authors used to write on their religion in Urdu using the Perso-Arabic script in colonial India. Similarly, some Muslim authors also produced scholarly works on Hinduism in Urdu, which could open up better Hindu-Muslim understanding. However, Urdu ceased to be the medium of such writings when religion and language surfaced as two vital factors in national identity constructions in the changing sociopolitical milieu, a process through which the Urdu language became associated with Muslim culture a...
The freedom of religion in communist China is an ambiguous notion as the communist party understa... more The freedom of religion in communist China is an ambiguous notion as the communist party understands religion as a reminiscent of backwardness and simultaneously proclaims the freedom of religion in the country. Islam, religion practiced by Hui minority, is included among the recognized religions of China and its adherents are granted rights to follow it. This paper argues that the Communist party has employed a disguised policy of controlling religious belief through establishing state controlled religious organizations and imparting freedom to practice religion. The slow and steady mind-making through these institutions train Hui youth to withdraw from their religion and to facilitate this withdrawal, the previously extant correlation between Hui ethnicity and religion (Islam) has been eliminated by the state and Hui ethnicity has nothing to do with religious affiliation anymore. The data for this research has been collected through ethnographic research upon the Hui community of ...
ĪQĀN, 2020
Religion, language, and race have been among the most crucial factors behind the formation of var... more Religion, language, and race have been among the most crucial factors behind the formation of various national and communal identities in modern South Asian history. Just like the political division of British India, the complex interplay of these factors also culminated in a bifurcation of linguistic boundaries along the religious lines according to which Urdu became associated with Islam and Muslims. In contrast, Hindi became increasingly connected to the Hindu culture. These historical developments also affected the extent and nature of the academic materials on Hinduism in the Urdu language, which the present paper examines. The paper takes stock of different relevant materials. Then, it discusses how the changed socio-political realities quantitatively and qualitatively affected the works on Hinduism in the Urdu language as the majority of the Hindu scholars lost enthusiasm to write on their religion in Urdu considering its increased perception of being a Muslim language. Musli...
Mankind Quarterly, 2014
Islam in China has been known as Q?ngzh?n jiao for many centuries. With this name granted by impe... more Islam in China has been known as Q?ngzh?n jiao for many centuries. With this name granted by imperial decree, Muslims were given freedom to practice their religion like other Chinese inhabitants. Mosques were established with the imperial decrees inscribed on the stone steles kept in the mosques. The inscriptions on these steles produced a unique kind of literature, specific to the Chinese context and voicing both Chinese state policies and Muslim aspirations. The inscriptions follow the Qura’nic principle of presenting Islam to others by calling them towards Kalimah sawa, or ‘the common word’. The research presented in this article shows how the authors of the stone stele inscription on the Xi’an Great Mosque adhered to this principle by highlighting the commonalities between Islam and Chinese religious traditions.
Trames. Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences, 2015
Language plays a pivotal role in the integration of a minority within a host majority culture and... more Language plays a pivotal role in the integration of a minority within a host majority culture and thus the linguistic trends may serve as indicators of acculturation of a community aptly as proposed by Kim (1984). This research focuses upon investigating the change in communication patterns of Chinese Muslims to explore the extent of their integration in Chinese society during history and today. The cultural interactions between the communities belonging to different languages result in the lexical integration of languages and the emergence of exclusive lingua franca as well, as it happened in the case of Chinese Muslims. This language contact resulted in orthographic exchanges as well as 'cultural borrowing' through code-switching initially and borrowing loanwords with phonological and morphological adaptation afterwards. The data for this research has been collected from the locale of Xi'an Muslim community through participant observation, extensive interviews and personal communications. The archival data has been consulted for historical information and the qualitative methodology is applied to analyse the collected information. It concludes that bilingualism and acculturation are inversely correlated in the case of the Chinese Muslim minority.
In the vein of many Western scholars of comparative religions, Wilfred Smith also realizes the di... more In the vein of many Western scholars of comparative religions, Wilfred Smith also realizes the difficulty implicated in defining religion but he is unique in daring to call for discarding religion, arguing that the concept is inadequate. According to him, the inadequacy of the concept leads to the intellectual dilemma of the relation between many religious traditions and the One Ultimate Reality, the historical change and abiding truth, the world and God. The solution to such a dilemma is to revise the categories of intellectual discourse in the field of theology/religious studies and move towards a better alternative. These alternatives should aim to depict human religious life in a more adequate and universal way. Hence, Smith suggests splitting the esoteric and exoteric dimensions of religion and proposes for them the categories of faith and cumulative tradition respectively. Primarily, this research seeks to explore the significance of Smith’s critique of religion as well as the...
This research focuses upon tracing the acculturative trends of the Hui Muslim community in Xi'... more This research focuses upon tracing the acculturative trends of the Hui Muslim community in Xi'an. It suggests that the existence of Muslims in China is a dialectical process between the adaptation to the Chinese culture and the retention of essentially Islamic religious traits. It is exclusively based upon ethnography and aims to investigate qualitatively the patterns of acculturation/retention of the Hui in the light of four socio-religious variables, i.e. identity, dietary habits, religious festivals and life passage rituals, social networking and marital homogamy. This is a small scale qualitative research based on participant observation, interviews, and an analysis of historic, archival, and documentary material. The sample consists of Hui people of Xi'an both from within and outside the Muslim Quarter without any restriction of age and gender. The archival and qualitative data is derived from the iconography and fieldwork in Xi'an between November 2011 and December...
INTRODUCTIONIslam had been introduced to China since 8th century A.D, to accept the historically ... more INTRODUCTIONIslam had been introduced to China since 8th century A.D, to accept the historically authentic claims and it was followed by the emergence of Muslim communities in various regions of China particularly in southern and Northern parts. Each Muslim community evolved in different circumstances and exhibited unique behaviors towards their host culture and society(Dillon, 2013; Gladney, 2003). When Islam stepped into the Chinese lands, there were three traditions constituting the religious framework of Chinese society i.e. Confucianism , Daoism3 and Buddhism. Confucianism and Daoism together smeared the panorama of Chinese religious life since ancient times as Confucianism provided the doctrinal grounds and intellectual foundations to the religious activities of imperial China and Daoism served as institutionalized religion by conducting ceremonies and performing rituals. These rituals were justified by Confucian ideology indeed. For example, the idea of emperor being the son ...
This research intends to examine the intersection of secularism and traditional religion in the l... more This research intends to examine the intersection of secularism and traditional religion in the lives of Buddhist people of Myanmar who revere a proclaimed secular leader Aung San SuuKyi as Bodhisattva. It suggests that Aung Saan Suukyi is a unique instance of personality cult where a secular leader attracts followers with her charisma without calling off their traditional religious affiliation. It employs the model suggested by Sarah Hunter which ascribes six traits to the personality cults including ideology (nationalism), the ideal leader (closeness to masses), frequent communication through media, relating oneself to great men in history through lineage or political legacy, Naming places after the leader’s name, life of cult after death of founder etc. It concludes that her charisma was created because of her heroic struggle in the chaotic situation of Myanmar in the twentieth century. Her selfless struggles and the ideology of liberation of her people portrayed her as the perso...
Journal For the Study of Religions and Ideologies, Feb 25, 2015
This research focuses upon tracing the acculturative trends of the Hui Muslim community in Xi'an.... more This research focuses upon tracing the acculturative trends of the Hui Muslim community in Xi'an. It suggests that the existence of Muslims in China is a dialectical process between the adaptation to the Chinese culture and the retention of essentially Islamic religious traits. It is exclusively based upon ethnography and aims to investigate qualitatively the patterns of acculturation/retention of the Hui in the light of four socioreligious variables, i.e. identity, dietary habits, religious festivals and life passage rituals, social networking and marital homogamy. This is a small scale qualitative research based on participant observation, interviews, and an analysis of historic, archival, and documentary material. The sample consists of Hui people of Xi'an both from within and outside the Muslim Quarter without any restriction of age and gender. The archival and qualitative data is derived from the iconography and fieldwork in Xi'an between November 2011 and December 2014. Applying Gans' definitions of acculturation and assimilation, this paper concludes that the Hui are acculturated in the Han society but not assimilated, as they exhibit retention of ethnic religious traits.
Īqān, 2020
Three types of academic sources are crucial for understanding the Hindu tradition in our times: a... more Three types of academic sources are crucial for understanding the Hindu tradition in our times: a) scriptures and the classical texts that are available mostly in Sanskrit b) works in the English language produced by orientalists, religious studies scholars, and some modern Hindu religious leaders themselves, and c) writings of colonial/post-colonial Hindu and Muslim scholars on Hinduism in Hindi/Urdu language that is understood by a vast majority of the population in South Asia. Many Hindu authors used to write on their religion in Urdu using the Perso-Arabic script in colonial India. Similarly, some Muslim authors also produced scholarly works on Hinduism in Urdu, which could open up better Hindu-Muslim understanding. However, Urdu ceased to be the medium of such writings when religion and language surfaced as two vital factors in national identity constructions in the changing sociopolitical milieu, a process through which the Urdu language became associated with Muslim culture and religion. As a result, the number of Urdu works on Hinduism decreased sharply after British India's partition along religious lines. Nevertheless, this body of Urdu literature is an essential part of the history of modern Hinduism. Keeping this in view, we have produced a comprehensive thematic bibliography of Urdu works on Hinduism, including books, dissertations, and journal articles, which would help preserve the history of the indigenous study of Hinduism in modern times.
Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies, 2015
This research focuses upon tracing the acculturative trends of the Hui Muslim community in Xi'an.... more This research focuses upon tracing the acculturative trends of the Hui Muslim community in Xi'an. It suggests that the existence of Muslims in China is a dialectical process between the adaptation to the Chinese culture and the retention of essentially Islamic religious traits. It is exclusively based upon ethnography and aims to investigate qualitatively the patterns of acculturation/retention of the Hui in the light of four socio-religious variables, i.e. identity, dietary habits, religious festivals and life passage rituals, social networking and marital homogamy. This is a small scale qualitative research based on participant observation, interviews, and an analysis of historic, archival, and documentary material. The sample consists of Hui people of Xi'an both from within and outside the Muslim Quarter without any restriction of age and gender. The archival and qualitative data is derived from the iconography and fieldwork in Xi'an between November 2011 and December 2014. Applying Gans' definitions of acculturation and assimilation, this paper concludes that the Hui are acculturated in the Han society but not assimilated, as they exhibit retention of ethnic religious traits.
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Papers by Ayesha Qurrat ul Ain