syed vahiduddin

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Islamin India: Studies and Commentaries. Volume II: Religion and Religious Education. byChristian W. TrollReview by: Gail MinaultPacific Affairs, Vol. 60, No. 1 (Spring, 1987), pp. 127-129Published by: Pacific Affairs, University of British ColumbiaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2758855 .

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Book Reviewsaccording oregion, anguage,religion, aste, ribe,ndsubdivisions here-of.Calman's story ftheSrikakulamNaxalite movement-of onegroupoftribesmenn one district f one Indian state-is a good illustrationofhow (if not,why) "sparks" from acqueries in India do not setoff prairiefires,"but quickly reach social fire-breaksnd are easily extinguishedbypolice acting n thenameofthe aw.However, acting in the name of the law is not in India the preservesolelyofthepolice. Where aws in favour f the poor are passed, butnotimplemented, cting n thenameof the aw and calling on governmentsandpolice to act nthename ofthe aware strategems pen tothepoorandorganizers f thepoor. Theirdemands, ven wherethey re accompaniedby measuresofviolence,are forgovernments o keep theirpromises,tohonour their deological commitments,o practicewhat theyprofess, ohonour the constitution nd theirparties' programs, nd to enforce ndabide bythe aw. These are legitimatedemands. Because they re legiti-mate, they an be made forcefully. ecause they an be made forcefully,democraticgovernmentsre likely to take them seriously.Calman con-cludes, from his studies of the Shramik Sanghatana and Boomi Senamovements f Maharashtra, hatthese strategems re likely to be moreproductive fresults or hepoorthanviolent hallengesto egal authoritythat nvite egal and easyrepression.Notmuchmoreproductive, o be sure.But, as a good political scientist,Calman knows that,forthosewhochallenge governmental oweras well as thosewhoexercise t, politics sthe rtof thepossible. Myonlyserious riticism fhiswork sthatCalmanmight have substituted orsome of the details of the movements ulleraccounts oftheir ocial and politicalcontexts.Macquarie University, ustralia ROBERT W. STERN

ISLAM IN INDIA: STUDIES AND COMMENTARIES. VolumeII: Religion andReligious Education. Edited by Christian W. Troll. New Delhi:VikasPublishing House (distributed yAdventBooks, New York).1985. xx, 315 pp. US$40.00.THIS VOLUME IS THE SECOND in a series ditedbyChristianTroll, whohas recently rought ut a thirdvolume (Delhi: Chanakya Publications,1986) and is planning a fourth.Any ibrary oncentrating n Islamic orSouth Asian studieswill findthesevolumes useful dditions.Like manycollectionsof articles, the presentvolume is uneven inquality. Itsgreatvirtue s thatthe vastmajority f theauthors re IndianMuslims, nd so one gets fair dea of the tate f the rtof slamic studiesin India by reading through heir ontributions. he volume is dividedinto two parts; n thefirst, welve rticlesdeal with spectsof religion ndreligious education n Indian Muslim history, nd in the econd there reseveralreviews frecent tudieson Indian Islam.The impact of Hindu society n Indian Muslims s studiedby KhwajaAhmad Faruqi in an article hat ttempts o span the ntire areer f slamin India. The result s a superficial urvey, ut one whichcontains somefascinating ata onsyncreticituals nd customs mong Muslims n North

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PacificAffairsIndia. AnwarMoazzam examines ndian Muslim attempts t self-defini-tion, avoiding the standard division into syncretistsnd separatistsbyoutliningwhat hecalls the three I"s thatMuslimintellectuals oughttodefine: 1) the"ideal situation"forMuslimsin the future;2) the "ideol-ogy" eadingto that ituation, nd (3) the ideal Muslim"who,armedwiththat deology, ould create hat ituation. t is an intriguing ormulation,but unfortunatelyhe rticle s much toobrief owork utall theramifica-tionsof the author'sargument.Paul Jacksoncontributes commentary n theKhair al-Majalis, acollectionofteachings f thefourteenth-centuryufi,nasiruddinChiraghDehlavi. This example of sufimalfuzat iteraturewas editedby KhaliqAhmad Nizami. Jacksonnotonlyilluminates sufi ifeand religiousout-look,but lso examinescritically he cholarlywork f Nizamiboth nthisarticle nd in hisreview,n parttwo, f Nizami'swork n thehistoryftheChishtis,Tarikh-iMasha'ikh-i Chisht Delhi: Idarah-i Adabiyat-iDelhi,reprinted 980).The resurgenceftheChishti ufi rdern Delhi inthe atefifteenthenturys thesubjectofa solid, if notvery nalytical, rticlebyIqtidarHusain Siddiqui.Perhapsthebest rticle n thebook is thatbyMuhammadIshaq Khanon Islam inKashmir, n which he deals withthehistorynd contemporarysurvival fsyncreticituals nd practices haracteristicf Kashmiri slam.PeterHardy'sarticle, Abul Fazl's Portrait f the Perfect adshah," is anexampleof hishistoriographicalpproach. He concludesthatAbul Fazl'sAkbarNama and Ain-i Akbaridid not containa politicalphilosophyforMughal India, but comprised, ather, a puff or pal." Hardy'sprose salliterative nd chatty, arrying ne enjoyable though ratherdifficultmaterial.The editor,Christian Troll, contributes translation f fiveletters yMaulana Muhammad Ilyas (1885-1944),thereligious eaderoftheTablighi Jama'at, very ffective uslimmissionary rganization.Heintroduceshis translationswith a briefbut informative istory fIlyas'ideas and his movement.This is an important rticleforunderstandingcurrentmovements oward slamic purificationnd proselytization.

Islamic education is the subjectof two articles.One, by QeyamuddinAhmad,discussestrendsnMuslim education,particularlyhetraditionalcurriculum-the dars-inizami-and its modification n modern ndia.Qeyamuddin is keptfrom ny original conclusions bythe factthat hisarticle is a summaryof a work by Maulana Manazir Ahsan Gilani(1882-1956).A.R. Saiyidand MuhammadTalib contribute case study fIslamic learning,whichmustbe a study ftheDeoband madrasa, lthoughtheypurposelydo not specify hename of the nstitution. he article ssomewhat uperficial, lthoughit makes thesignificant bservation hatthose nvolved n this nstitution egardthepresentpolitical context nIndia similarly o thewaytheir ncestorsviewedpolitical conditions nBritish ndia.The remaining rticles reof ess nterest,s are thereviewsnpart wo,withthenotableexception fSyedVahiduddin'strenchantxamination fS.A.A. Rizvi'sbooks on Shah Waliullah and Shah AbdulAziz.Finally,M.ZuberQureshi providesa bibliography fmanuscripts ontained n the128



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Book ReviewsLibrary f Hazrat Pir Muhammad Shah in Ahmedabad, research id to avaluable collection forreligious scholars.University f Texas at Austin, U.S.A. GAIL MINAULT

THE DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY AND THE ECONOMY OF BENGAL,1630-1720.By Om Prakash. Princeton,New Jersey: rincetonUni-versity ress.1985.xii,291 pp. US$38.50.OM PRAKASH'S BOOK is most significant or he history f Bengal, ofAsia generally, nd oftheDutch East India Company.The Dutch, like other Europeans, initially went to Asia in search ofspices,which edthem ofocusparticularly pon the ndonesian archipel-ago. Butsoon theAsian-Europeantrade n spiceswas at least equalled in

importance y the Company's intra-Asian rade,which made otherprod-uctsand areas rise n importance.Amongthesewas Bengal, one ofAsia'smain centresforthe manufacture f textiles, s well as other valuableproducts, uchas raw silk, opium and saltpetre.Because Bengal had a permanently avourable alance of tradewiththeCompany,which had no productsof sufficiently igh quality and lowprice to close the trade gap, it was necessaryforthe Dutch to importprecious metals into Bengal, wheretheywere immediately urned ntoMughal coins. These precious metalscame from everalregions, hemostimportant sian sourcebeing Japan. Thus, toexplicate the ignificance fBengal in theCompany's trade nd the ignificance f theCompany n theeconomyof Bengal, Prakash's analysis rangesfromEurope to east Asia.His first hapter, The Company nAsian Trade," analyses therole ofbullion,the pice monopolyand the ntra-Asian rade.His second ooks attheCompanyin Bengal,where testablished tsfirst actoryn the 1630s.This chapterhas much nterestingmaterial n the conomic,political andadministrativeystems fBengal towhich theCompanywas obliged toadapt itself.Chapter three,"The Bengal Trade: Long-Term Trends,"assessesthe mport nd exporttrade, tsvalue, therole oftheEnglishEastIndia Companyas a competitor o theDutch East India Company,andcorruption mong the atter's mployees,which "also contributedignifi-cantly othegrowingfinancial nd otherproblemsfacedfrom bout 1670onward" p. 83). The commercial rganization f theBengal trade,nclud-ing theCompany'sown role as a manufacturer,s thetopicof thefourthchapter.Chapters ive nd six ookatthe ntra-Asianrade, hefirstoncen-trating n Japan,the econd on the ndonesianArchipelago, ndian coas-tal trade nd Persia.Chapterseven ooks at the tradewithEurope,whichbecameparticularly mportant rom he1670sonwards, s theCompany'sintra-Asia tradestagnatedand dramaticchanges in European fashionopened up a vast market orBengal's textiles.Chapter ight, The Companyand theEconomy,"attemptsn overallassessment f the ignificance ftheCompany's operationfor he conomyofBengal. Here Prakash is requiredtomake somerather aring leaps ofanalysisfrom ragmentarynddoubtful vidence, ut histentativeonclu-sions confirmhe ignificancefhis work.He shows thatwhileEuropehad

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