Islam and the European Empires

At the height of the imperial age, European powers ruled over most parts of the Islamic world. The British, French, Russian, and Dutch empires each governed more Muslims than any independent Muslim state. European officials believed Islam to be of great political significance, and were quite cautious when it came to matters of the religious life of their Muslim subjects. In the colonies, they regularly employed Islamic religious leaders and institutions to bolster imperial rule. At the same time, the European presence in Muslim lands was confronted by religious resistance movements and Islamic insurgency. Across the globe, from the West African savanna to the shores of Southeast Asia, Muslim rebels called for holy war against non-Muslim intruders. Islam and the European Empires presents the first comparative account of the engagement of all major European empires with Islam. Bringing together fifteen of the world's leading scholars in the field, the volume explores a wide array of themes, ranging from the accommodation of Islam under imperial rule to Islamic anti-colonial resistance. A truly global history of empire, the volume makes a major contribution not only to our knowledge of the intersection of Islam and imperialism, but also more generally to our understanding of religion and power in the modern world. A monumental, comprehensive, and lucid contribution to scholarship, providing the first comparative account of the engagement of the European empires with Islam. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, the question of how best to govern the religious affairs of Muslims became a central concern of all imperial powers. Despite the differences among regions and empires, the European encounters with Islam in imperial contexts were in many ways similar. This detailed yet clear account is a masterly survey of the entire sweep of the European empires and Islam-a towering landmark in the subject. Wm. Roger Louis, University of Texas at Austin Encompassing five modern empires, and showing the multivalence of imperial debates on Islam no less than Muslim debates on empire, this much needed volume fills a long-empty place on the historian's bookshelf. Together the chapters reveal Europe's empires as a nexus of administrative, military, and epistemic forces in dynamic interplay with Muslims in the concrete and Islam in the abstract, Nile Green, UCLA David Motadel's volume brings together leading international scholars of Islam and empire in what is a fascinating addition to the growing literature on comparative world history. C. A. Bayly, University of CambridgeIntroduction ; I. ISLAM AND IMPERIAL RULE ; 1. The Russian Worlds of Islam ; 2. British Imperial Rule and the Hajj ; 3. The Dutch Empire and the Hajj ; 4. Islam and the French Empire in North Africa ; 5. Islam and Imperialism in East Africa ; II. ISLAM AND ANTI-COLONIAL RESISTANCE ; 6. Anti-Imperialism and the Pan-Islamic Movement ; 7. Islam and Resistance in the British Empire ; 8. Religious Revolts in Colonial North Africa ; 9. Mobilisation of Muslims in the Caucasus ; 10. Islamic Resistance in the Dutch Colonial Empire ; III. ISLAM AND COLONIAL KNOWLEDGE ; 11. Debates on Islam in Imperial Germany ; 12. Islam in British Imperial Thought ; 13. French Colonial Knowledge of Maraboutism ; 14. Islam and the European Empires in Japanese Imperial Thought