Volume-II, Issue-IV, May 2026
Novel Insights A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Multidisciplinary Research Journal |
Volume-II, Issue-IV , May 2026 |
The Cosmopolitan Islam: Trans-national Ideological Interactions in Colonial Bengal Seema Ahmed, Assistant Professor of English Literature, Lokepara Mahavidyalaya, Birbhum, West Bengal, India Email: seemaahmed14@gmail.com |
Received: 28.05.2026 | Accepted: 29.05.2026 | Published Online: 31.05.2026 |
Page No: | DOI: 10.69655/novelinsights.vol.2.issue.04W.0 | |
Abstract | ||
Islam in Bengal in the first half of twentieth century is the outcome of the confluence and interaction of ideas from multiple transnational locations such as Turkey, the peninsula and Iran (Persia). The global capitalist modernity under the colonial rule and the international politics pre- and post- WW-I resulted in the globality of ideas between India, the Arab countries and the West. The Khilafat movement in India occasioned the native intelligentsia to fight for the preservation of the Caliphate positioning them in global political and religious networks. The Muslim intellectual history at the time is marked by an expansive and transnational orientation while also giving birth to multiple, often contradictory positions. Bengal was no different from wider Indian subcontinent. Syed Ameer Ali, like the Ali brothers, advocated for the Caliphate whereas poet Nazrul Islam, Iqbal and Barkatullah welcomed the abolition of the Caliphate by Kemal Ataturk. Apart from this political trans-territorial influence, the cultural impact of the transnational interaction with Persia was immense in Bengali literature. The political and cultural modernity spearheaded by Ataturk and Persian poets instigated rethinking of political and cultural positions in Bengal of the young Muslim thinkers associated with the Muslim Sahitya Samaj (MSS) who started a movement called Emancipation of the Intellect (Buddhir-Mukti Andolan). This paper proposes to examine how this globality of ideas shaped Bengali Muslims’ idea of self, socio-cultural identity and political discourse. The paper would discuss the writings of Syed Ameer Ali, Kazi Nazrul Islam and Kazi Abdul Wadud (member of MSS) to understand the transnational confluence of ideas leading to a vibrant public discourse on Bengali Muslim identity, Islam and its role in modern society. Keywords: Cosmopolitan Islam, Bengali Muslim modernity, Intellectual history, Colonial Bengal | ||