Indian Muslim Minorities and the 1857 Rebellion

Ilyse R. Morgenstein Fuerst is Assistant Professor of Religion at the University of Vermont. She has previously published in peer-reviewed journals and her research deals with Islam in South Asia, historiography and the development of theories of religion. She received an MTS from Harvard Divinity School and a PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Introduction
Religion, Rebels, and Jihad
Theoretical Framing
A Note on Language
Chapter Outline 1
1. The Company, Religion, and Islam
Religion before Rebellion
“Watershed Moment”: the Great Rebellion
Greased Cartridges and Chapatis: the Anxiety of
Religious Conspiracy
Muslim Memories of the Great Rebellion
Conclusions
2. Suspect Subjects: Hunter and the Making of a
Muslim Minority
Bound to Rebel: Making Muslims a Minority
Indian Musalmans and Hunter: Author of Empire
Laws, Literalism, and All Muslims: Hunter’s Claims
Favorable Ruling, Unfavorable Interpretation
Conclusions
3. “God save me from my friends!”: Syed Ahmad Khan’s
Review on Dr Hunter
Sir Syed on the Great Rebellion
An Academic Rejoinder to Indian Musalmans
A Legalism of His Own: Sir Syed on Hunter’s Use of
Islamic Law
On Muslim Loyalty
On Literalism, Wahhabism, and Jihad
Conclusions
4. Rebellion as Jihad, Jihad as Religion
Defining Jihad
Making Muslims Jihadis
Jihad in Imperial India and the Great Rebellion
Conclusions
Conclusion Religion, Rebels, and Jihad: Legacies and
Ongoing Impact
Epilogue 1857 from Today’s Vermont