Abstract
AbstractWhile Islamic scriptures like the Quran and Hadith are often quoted to negate the existence of social stratification among Muslims, authors of genealogical texts rely on the very same scriptures to foreground and legitimise discussions on descent and lineage. In the South Asian context, several conceptions of hierarchy as practised by Muslims in north India evolved over the course of colonial rule and were deployed interchangeably by Sayyids. These were based on notions of race, ethnicity, respectability and nobility, and occupational distinctions as well as narratives that referred to the history of early Islam. This article contributes to the study of social stratification among South Asian Muslims by exploring the evolution of Urdutarikh(historical texts) produced by Sayyid men in theqasbahof Amroha in the Rohilkhand region of the United Provinces during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Sayyid authors narrated the past through the medium ofnasab(genealogy). While their texts place emphasis on lineage and descent to legitimise a superior social status for Sayyids, they also shed light on the changing social and material context of the local qasbah politics with the discourse on genealogy evolving into a form that engaged with social contestations.
Highlights
All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over an Ajami nor does an Ajami have any superiority over an Arab; a White has no superiority over a Black nor does a Black have any superiority over a White, except by piety and good action
Practitioners of Islam, have always had to confront the various forms of regional and social differentiations that characterise Muslim societies. These social differentiations reveal tensions in the discourse on the practice of Islam as (Muslim) authors deploy the normative tradition of Islamic egalitarianism to rationalise social inequalities and hierarchies
Several practices and conceptions from within the lexicon of the Islamicate4 world reflect an engagement with notions of hierarchy and social stratification as practiced by Muslim communities.5 ʽIlm-al nasab is one such practice whose origins lie in pre-Islamic Arab society but which continues to shape and justify social stratification in contemporary Muslim societies
Summary
All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over an Ajami nor does an Ajami have any superiority over an Arab; a White has no superiority over a Black nor does a Black have any superiority over a White, except by piety and good action. /), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, Downloaded from phrtotpvisd:/e/dwwthwe.coarmigibnraildgweo.orkrgi/scporoep. EIPrlyadcditreeds.s: 54.161.248.77, on 02 Nov 2021 at 14:17:29, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambdriodig: e .o. r g /c o/rSe / t e rm s .
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