No Longer a Nawab: The Making of a New Hyderabadi Muslim
Channel: British Library
Date: 2021-08-25

A History of the New Hyderabadi Muslim Identity with historian Afsar Mohammad

The Police Action of 1948 in the princely state of Hyderabad (India) had resulted in an endless violence, displacement and trauma as thousands of Muslims were either killed or were forced to migrate to far off places. This particular period of history also witnessed a new generation of young Muslim men and women who defined themselves as ‘new Muslims.’ Who was this ‘new Muslim’ and how do we understand the diverse discourses of such a new category?

Responding to this question, this talk focuses on various transformations in the city of Hyderabad that demonstrate paradigmatic shifts in religious and gender discourses. Using various works of short fiction written by a Hyderabad-based writer Nelluri Kesava Swamy and the oral testimonies of the witnesses of the Police Action, Afsar Mohammad discusses how the post-1948 generation of Muslims had redefined their religious and political life.

Considering various debates in the post-colonial South Asia and radical changes in the larger Islamic world, he argues that the Muslims of Hyderabad of the late 1940s complicate the questions of Muslim being and belongingness, and introduce us to a new framework for understanding a modern Muslim identity.

Afsar Mohammad teaches in the Department of South Asian studies at the University of Pennsylvania, USA. His previous work The Festival of Pirs: Popular Islam and Shared Devotion in South India (Oxford University Press, USA, 2013) has generated a debate about various modes of locally produced living Islam and Hindu-Muslim exchanges in South India. He is now working on a new book using various literary and oral historical sources as related to the Police Action of Hyderabad of 1948.

The British Library is a charity. Your support helps us open up a world of knowledge and inspiration for everyone. Donate today: https://support.bl.uk/