Devotional Islam and Politics in British India

Indian Muslims in the 19th century lived in an era of great political, social and economic change brought about by colonial rule. North Indian scholars of the Islamic sciences attributed the Muslim loss of political power to moral weaknesses within their own community. This study examines the ways in which one important school of theologians attempted to shape the renewal of their community, and is based on a close examination of the works of its leading scholar, Ahmed Riza Khan Barelwi.