Exposition of Islamic Culture in India

Introduction

Make an exposition of Islamic culture in India as it was established under the rule of the Delhi Sultanate and Mogul Empire.

South Asia is home to more than 360 million Muslims, more than a third of the world's total. The majority of the populations of Pakistan and Bangladesh are Muslim (98 and 87 percent, respectively), as are 12 percent of Indians, almost all Maldivians, and tiny fractions of Sri Lankans and Nepalese.

The Mughal dynasty (1526-1857), is theoretically more secular and Indianized than the preceding sultanate, nevertheless named Muslim theologians to high-government positions. Most of these rulers never identified themselves with India, despising its climate, religion, and people. The Islam in Iran and the Ottoman Empire (1453-1922), Indian Islam was saved from bureaucratization and state control by Indian pluralism. Most importantly, Islam came to India when the latter already possessed a developed civilization with well-structured peasant and village communities, urbanization, organized religions, and sociopolitical systems. Today, South Asia has all the principal varieties of Islam: scholasticism, Sufism (Islamic mysticism), scholastic-Sufi synthesis, Islamic modernism, and reformist or militant Islam. An appraisal of all the varieties is essential for an understanding of South Asian Islam (Arjomand, pp.7-33).

The Sultanate Period (1192-1526)

As Ghaznavid power declined, it gave way to the reign of other "slave kings," which included the dynastic succession of the Ghorids (1192-1290), the Khaljis (1290-1320), and the Tughluqs (1320-1398), culminating in the Lodi (1451-1526) dynasty. The Sultanate period, which lasted from the late twelfth to the early sixteenth centuries, began with the invasion of India by Muiz al-Din Ghori, who was of Turkish origin. Unlike Mahmud of Ghazni, who came to India clearly to plunder and loot, Ghori, and his descendants, aimed to establish political control which manifested itself as the Delhi Sultanate.

The sultanates created a relatively stable political structure during this period, while the ultimate political authority rested with the Turkic sultans who, at least nominally, displayed Islam as their religious and political ideology. Among the populace, the religion of Islam meant something different. It was not synonymous with power or political dominance, and mostly grew among the poor. In fact, in the multifaceted social structure that developed in the midst of this complex period, it was acknowledged within the Muslim populace that the ulama held a religious authority that could not be subordinated or abrogated by the sultan, be the a local or noble sultan. Instead, sultans attempted to legitimize their rule by acknowledging the authority of local ulama and particularly of Sufi saints.

It should be noted that during this period, there was a creative, cultural melding of traditions, which resulted in systems of military cooperation strong enough to head off the powerful Mongol advance, agrarian management systems that would survive well into the British colonial period, and an artistic and architectural synthesis so compelling that its creations still draw tourists to India today. Through the medieval period, Muslim intellectuals, Sufis, artisans, and travelers in general were attracted to South Asia from all parts of the Muslim ...