Islam in South Asia in a Modern Age 1707-1947: Theology and Ethics in Historical Perspective

Dear Colleagues,

This special edition of Religions calls for papers on modern Islamic thought in South Asia relating to the theme of historical reflections on theology and its entanglement with ethics. In particular, the editors seek scholarly pieces that highlight the diverse and multifaceted ways that Muslims have conceived of their changing relationship with the Islamic tradition before and during the rise of the British presence in South Asia. This will show how Islamic thought was already in flux before colonialism, as well as how colonial modernity virulently transformed and shaped traditional discourses already in motion. These contributions should deal with the diversity of Muslim traditions within the subcontinent, as well as changing conceptions of the self. Contributors should focus on what “Islam” meant for the subjects of their contributions and how—and against whom—did Muslims define their identity and construe ideas related to religion, politics, and society. Of particular interest are the kinds of ethics and traditional mores that inspired Muslims to affirm, protest or debate specific kinds of violence, inequity, and injustice.

Within the theological polemics that form the limits of discourse among Muslim scholars in South Asia, this issue of Religions tries to grapple with the ethical stakes of certain theological arguments. What kind of ethics came into being with the rise of new challenges, and how did scholars theorize the formation of an ideal Muslim deploying theological discourse in addressing those challenges? What kind of new institutions and technologies gave rise to novel ways of conceiving of Muslimness? We ask our contributors to outline the specific historical changes that accompanied what is typically seen as an unchanging “traditional” Islamic thought. We ask authors to think beyond the dichotomy of traditionalist versus modernist. How did Muslims use resources such as legal opinions (fatwa), Prophetic sayings (hadith), Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), Sufism (tasawwuf) and literary discourses to address relevant topics? Authors should pay specific attention to the affirmation or alteration of the discursive tools and methods employed, which in turn impacted their tradition.

Both within their own communities as well as their interactions within a wider socio-political milieu, Muslim conceptions of Islamic knowledge set the framework for their engagement with “Others” in a rapidly globalizing world from the 18^th century onwards. At the level of historical analysis, how did differences between Islamic and European conceptions of self, religion, and political theology form the contours of Muslim agency in colonial modernity? This can include the assumption of Orientalist tropes by Muslims themselves, their subversion of and resistance to colonial imposition, or even the development of intra-faith sectarian relations. Muslims in South Asia shaped new intellectual discourses to respond to modern challenges in the intellectual dialects of their own traditions. This Special Issue attempts to trace with historical specificity the actions and reactions of Muslim subjects as they navigated their entrance into broader conversations about the self, other, and their relationship with knowledge.

This Special Issue will try to capture a broad range of Islamic responses to modernity in South Asia that simultaneously feature the diversity of individuals and communities. These responses reckon with many issues such as continuity and change, the revival and reform of tradition, and the coexistence of the categories of traditional, modern and various other permutations of being Muslim.

Prospective contributors please inquire with an abstract under 300 words by 30 November, 2022(The paper submission deadline is 30 June, 2023). Articles should be between 8000 and 10000 words in length. 

Prof. Dr. Ebrahim Moosa
Guest Editor

Khan Shairani
Guest Editor Assistant

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Islam
• modernity
• Deoband
• Barelvi
• Salafi
• feminism
• Islamic ethics
• Islamic law
• tradition
• Ahl-i-hadith
• colonialism
• British India