The Muhammad Avatāra

Salvation History, Translation, and the Making of Bengali Islam

Inbunden, Engelska, 2021

AvAyesha A. Irani,University of Massachusetts Boston) Irani, Ayesha A. (Associate Professor of Asian Studies, Associate Professor of Asian Studies

1 419 kr

Beställningsvara. Skickas inom 5-8 vardagar. Fri frakt för medlemmar vid köp för minst 249 kr.

In The Muhammad Avatara, Ayesha Irani offers an examination of the Nabivamsa, the first epic work on the Prophet Muhammad written in Bangla. This little-studied seventeenth-century text, written by Saiyad Sultan, is a literary milestone in the multi-ethnic, multi-cultural history of Islam, and marks a significant contribution not only to Bangla's rich literary corpus, but also to our understanding of Islam's localization in Indic culture in the early modern period. That Sufis such as Saiyad Sultan played a central role in Islam's spread in Bengal has been demonstrated primarily through examination of medieval Persian literary, ethnographic, and historical sources, as well as colonial-era data. Islamic Bangla texts themselves, which emerged from the sixteenth century, remain scarcely studied outside the Bangladeshi academy, and almost entirely untranslated. Yet these premodern works, which articulate Islamic ideas in a regional language, represent a literary watershed and underscore the efforts of rebel writers across South Asia, many of whom were Sufis, to defy the linguistic cordon of the Muslim elite and the hegemony of Arabic and Persian as languages of Islamic discourse. Irani explores how an Arabian prophet and his religion came to inhabit the seventeenth-century Bengali landscape, and the role that pir-authors, such as Saiyad Sultan, played in the rooting of Islam in Bengal's easternmost regions. This text-critical study lays bare the sophisticated strategies of translation used by a prominent early modern Muslim Bengali intellectual to invite others to his faith.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2021-03-31
Mått236 x 157 x 33 mm
Vikt780 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor456
FörlagOUP USA
ISBN9780190089221

Tillhör följande kategorier

Islam inom Filosofi och religion
Antropologi inom Samhalle och politik
Asiens historia inom Historia och arkeologi
Religion: allmänt inom Filosofi och religion

Acknowledgments A Note on Transliteration and Other Conventions A Map of Medieval Bengal and Arakan 1. The Prophet of Light and Love: N=ur Muhammad in Bengal's Mirror A Historical Overview of Ca.t.tagr=ama Islamic Bangla Literature and Islamization Literary Portraits of the Author Inscribing Islam in the Bengali Religious Landscape N=ur Muhammad as the Ontological Principle of Light and Love The Islamic Cosmogony of Obm Later Developments in Islamic Bengali Cosmogonical Discourse Cosmogony, Translation, and Conversion 2. Text, Author, and Authority: The Nab=iva.m'sa and the Making of Islamic Community Genre and Performance The Structure of the Nab=iva.m'sa's Salvation History The Critical Edition of the Nab=iva.m'sa vis-à-vis the Manuscript Tradition Author and Authority in the Making of Islamic Community 3. Translation and the Historiographic Process: The Work of a Text in the Making of Bengali Islam The Terms of Translation Translation as Qur)q=anic Exegesis The Representation and Transculturation of Musalm=ani and Hindu=ani Traditions Translation as Entextualizing Conversion A Hermeneutic Model of Muslim Missionary Translation Frontier Literature 4. A New Prophetology for Bengal: Pur=a.na-Kor=an Salvation History An Indo- Islamic Salvation History for Bengal The Original Couple, M=aric- M=arij=at or 'Siva- P=arvat=i The Pur=a.nic Predecessors of =Adam The Account of =Adam, the First Man Righteous 'Si's and Islam's Triumph over Hindu=ani Adharma Evil Iblis as Primal Guru of the Hindu=ani Clans Translation as Renewal, Subversion, and Manipulation 5. Hari the Fallen Prophet: An Avat=ara's Descent into Disgrace In the Shadow of Gau.r=iya Vai.s.navism Recasting the Acts of Kcr.s.na The Polemics of the Tale of Kcr.s.na An Islamic Reappraisal of Vai.s.nava Theology Messianic Intersections of the Avat=ara and Nab=i Missionary Translation as Creative Iconoclasm 6. Ascension and Ascendancy: Constructing the Prophet for Bengal The Nab=iva.m'sa's Ascension Narrative in the Perso- Turkic Mi]cr=aj Tradition The Prophet as God's Beloved The Prophet as Perfect Phakir The Prophet as Intercessor The Historiographer and Legitimation Conclusion: Historiography, Translation, and Conversion Appendix: Distribution of Manuscripts of the NV in Various Bangladeshi Archives Works Cited Index

Ayesha Irani's carefully researched study shows how a monumental Bengali epic, Saiyad Sultan's Nabīvaṃśa, became canonical for Bengali Muslims between the mid-1600s and the late 1800s, just when that community was becoming consolidated. Exploring how the epic subtly co-opted Hindu culture while simultaneously adapting the Qur'an to the culture of Bengal's rural masses, this book will be essential reading for students of both religious studies and South Asian history.