Khandan-i-Ijtihad: Genealogy, history, and authority in a household of ‘ulama in modern South Asia

AbstractRevisiting the debate on how Islam's ‘learned men’ (‘ulama) have sustained their religious authority through changing historical circumstances, this article offers a longue durée account of the so-called ‘Khandan-i-Ijtihad’: a family of renowned scholars and jurists who have held scholarly and popular precedence within South Asia's Shi‘i clerical networks for some 250 years. Instead of analysing the ‘ulama as a corporate group or a class of religious professionals, this article examines the ‘ulama as members of households (khandan, khanwadah) and emphasizes the important role of family lineage and inherited social influence as conduits of clerical leadership. Tracing both the genealogical succession and the vocational enterprises of this family over several generations, the article proposes a framework for understanding an individual scholar's relationship with the collective household, arguing that a cleric's own reputation (hasab-va-nasab) rests on a mingling of ancestral pedigree and personal achievement, with the stature of individual and household perpetually affirming and reinforcing each other in the making of Islamic clerical authority. Furthermore, the article establishes the importance of the ‘ulama-biography (tazkirah) as itself a mechanism for actively sustaining the relevance of contemporary ‘ulama, by perpetually memorializing their ancestors.

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Migration and the Forging of a Scholarly Community

Circuits of Faith ◽

10.11126/stanford/9780804798358.003.0005 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Michael Farquhar

Keyword(s):

Twentieth Century ◽

Middle East ◽

South Asia ◽

East Africa ◽

Religious Authority ◽

Scholarly Community ◽

Staff Members ◽

Symbolic Resources ◽

Large Numbers

This chapter explores the role of large numbers of non-Saudi staff members at the Islamic University of Medina (IUM) from the early 1960s to the 1980s, and considers the part that they played in the remaking of Wahhabi religious authority. It argues that until the mid-twentieth century, the relatively parochial and insular nature of the Wahhabi scholarly milieu meant that Wahhabi scholars lacked the kinds of symbolic resources that would be required to launch such an ambitious missionary project. It then traces the trajectories that brought migrants from across the Middle East, Africa, South Asia and beyond to work at the IUM. It argues that, by bringing diversified reserves of spiritual capital — including qualifications acquired in venerable centers of learning like al-Azhar — these migrants lent legitimacy to the new effort to extend the Wahhabi mission to broad audiences beyond the kingdom’s borders.

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The priest and the parson of Hartlepool: Protestant-Catholic conflict in a nineteenth-century industrial town

British Catholic History ◽

10.1017/bch.2016.8 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 33 (1) ◽

pp. 115-134

Author(s):

Jonathan Bush

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

Religious Conflict ◽

Important Case ◽

Structural Forces ◽

Industrial Town ◽

Longue Duree ◽

Longue Durée

This article examines the role of Protestant-Catholic conflict in the English town of Hartlepool, a hitherto unknown centre of religious conflict during the nineteenth century. It will demonstrate how a combination of unique structural forces and the conduct of religious ministers created a culture which, in terms of ferocity and longevity, rivalled other sectarian centres in Britain. It also provides an important case study for examining the role of Catholics themselves in generating anti-Catholicism. It therefore has important implications for understanding the nature of religious conflict, how it develops, and how it is sustained over thelongue durée.

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The Role of Languaging in Creating Zones of Proximal Development (ZPDs): A Long-Term Care Resident Interacts with a Researcher

Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement ◽

10.1017/s0714980810000644 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 29 (4) ◽

pp. 477-490 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Sharon Lapkin ◽

Merrill Swain ◽

Paula Psyllakis

Keyword(s):

Long Term Care ◽

Proximal Development ◽

Term Care ◽

Développement Cognitif ◽

Longue Duree ◽

Longue Durée

RÉSUMÉ“Cet article traite de la question: Quel est le rôle du <languaging> (la mise en mots) – l’élaboration et l’organisation des processus mentaux supérieures par la langue – dans les zones émergents de développement proximales (ZDPs) co-crée par deux adultes ? » Les deux adultes sont Mike, un résident dans un établissement de soins de longue durée, et un chercheur. Un zone proximale de développement (ZPD) est un processus continu cognitive/affective dans lequel l’apprentissage et le développement se produisent quand les participants interagissent. Ce processus est medié par le langage. Grâce à une analyse microgénétique d’extraits representatifs selectionnés à partir de 11 seances, nous illustrons comment les interactions entre Mike et le chercheur ont crée un contexte affectif et positif qui offre des possibilités multiples de ZDPs à émerger. Comme les ZDPs émergent, nous observons comment le <languaging> rassemble les composantes cognitives et affectives essentielles afin que le développement du participant peut continuer. Au fil du temps, Mike récupère l’expertise perdu et entreprend de nouveaux défis cognitivement complexes. Les résultats pour Mike comprennent à la fois le développement cognitif et un meilleur amour-propre.

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Response to Henry Heller’s ‘The Longue Durée of the French Bourgeoisie’

Historical Materialism ◽

10.1163/156920610x512462 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 18 (2) ◽

pp. 117-122 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

William Beik

Keyword(s):

Early Modern ◽

Social Relations ◽

Class Conflict ◽

Early Modern France ◽

Modern France ◽

Longue Duree ◽

Longue Durée

Beik criticises Heller’s mechanical view of the dynamic role of the bourgeoisie in the rise of capitalism in early-modern France. While they agree that the primary class-conflict was between the nobility and the peasantry, Beik stresses the slow emergence of genuine capitalist social relations and the cooptation of the bourgeoisie by a monarchical state which was still propping up the feudal regime, whereas Heller views mercantile activity and production increases as evidence of rising capitalism.

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Architecture of the longue durée: Vittorio Gregotti’s reading of the territory of architecture

Architectural Research Quarterly ◽

10.1017/s1359135515000408 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 19 (2) ◽

pp. 161-174

Author(s):

Lejla Vujicic

Keyword(s):

Second World War ◽

Natural Environments ◽

World War ◽

Architectural Discourse ◽

History Of ◽

Longue Duree ◽

Longue Durée ◽

The University ◽

Second World

In the post-Second World War period, Italian architects opened up a debate on the role of history and time in architectural discourse that resulted in multiple interpretations of historical time in their work. Vittorio Gregotti, one of the main protagonists of the discussion, offered an interpretation of time based on an assemblage of intellectual tendencies, from phenomenology to structuralism and the history of the longue durée. This paper traces ideas that Gregotti developed in his less known and as-yet un-translated texts such as Il territiorio dell’architettura from 1966 as well as in his project for the University of Calabria from 1972. In these, Gregotti makes an original contribution to the problem of history in relationship to urban and natural environments.

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The Longue Durée in Filipino Demographic History: The Role of Fertility Prior to 1800

Environment, Trade and Society in Southeast Asia ◽

10.1163/9789004288058_007 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 78-95

Keyword(s):

Demographic History ◽

Longue Duree ◽

Longue Durée

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Transculturation as Commemoration: Fernando Ortiz, the Cuban longue durée, and the Role of Columbus

The Post-Columbus Syndrome ◽

10.1057/9781137439895_2 ◽

2014 ◽

pp. 21-39

Author(s):

Fabienne Viala

Keyword(s):

Fernando Ortiz ◽

Longue Duree ◽

Longue Durée

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Mourning and Glory: Toward Affective Histories of Violence in Africa over la Longue Durée

Emotions History Culture Society ◽

10.1163/2208522x-00101006 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 113-136

Author(s):

Richard Reid

Keyword(s):

Violent Conflict ◽

Processes Of Change ◽

African History ◽

The Past ◽

New Frontier ◽

Longue Duree ◽

Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries ◽

Longue Durée ◽

Modern Era

The study of emotions in African history is in its infancy, although it is expanding rapidly as a new frontier in scholarly work on the modern era. Considering the violent tumult experienced by the continent over the past two centuries, it seems apposite to begin to explore the role of emotions in the experience and interpretation of those processes of change, which are ongoing at the time of writing. This paper represents an attempt to contribute to the emerging historiography on emotions history in Africa. It is specifically concerned with the power of melancholy, mourning and memory in the context of war and other forms of violent conflict. The paper seeks to adopt a longue durée perspective, encompassing the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, though the bulk of the source material is located in the colonial and postcolonial periods and this is reflected in the weight of the analysis. The analysis itself is concerned with both individual and collective interpretations of the violent past, but the central focus is an assessment of how states and societies mourn the dead; and how they develop processes and systems of socio-political control and memory based on experiences of profound loss and bitter discontent, as well as of supposed military triumph.

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