AnyBook4Less.com	Find the Best Price on the Web Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Home  |  Store List  |  FAQ  |  Contact Us  |
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money Keyword AuthorISBN

Title: Ulama of Farangi Mahall and Islamic Culture in South Asia by Francis Robinson ISBN: 8-1782400-6-8 Publisher: Permanent Black Pub. Date: April, 2001 Format: Hardcover List Price(USD): $39.50

Your Country USA Canada United Kingdom Australia Austria Belgium France Germany Italy Netherlands Switzerland Currency AutoUSD CAD GBP EUR AUD CHF Delivery Only cheapest delivery All delivery options Include Used Books Are you a club member of: Barnes and Noble Books A Million Chapters.Indigo.ca

Average Customer Rating: 4 (1 review)

Rating: 4
Summary: Good but Robinson refuses to focus on all branches of FM
Comment: THESIS OF BOOK:The book by Francis Robinson is one of the first ones on the market that comprehensively sheds light on one of the most influential families of the Subcontinent that has a documented and validated history of more than fourteen centuries.

WHAT IS BOOK ABOUT: The book is about what Shibly Naumi calls "Our Cambridge of India". "The Farangi Mahall family of learned and holy men is remarkable in the history of India. Indeed, it would be in any society. Claiming descent from Ayyub Ansari, the host of the Prophet at Medina, through the 11th-century saint 'Abd Allah Ansari of Herat, their ancestors migrated to India in the early years of the Delhi sultanate"

"We know something of the lives of almost every male descendant of Qutb al-Din from the early 18th century to the mid-20th century. They are important in four main ways. They were scholars and teachers, the great consolidators on Indian soil of the rationalist traditions of Islamic scholarship derived from Iran".

"We can see how they responded to the challenges of Mughal, Nawabi and British rule, and subsequently to partition and independence. In the 18th and 19th centuries we can trace their movements as they sought service in the courts of Lucknow, Rampur Farrukhabad, Buhar (in Bengal), Arcot and Hyderabad"

ANALYSIS:Francis Robinson along with Barbara Metcalfe (University of California, Berkley) and Ira Lapidus have brought to life the real forces behind the Sufi movement in the Subcontinent explaining how Islam spread in the Subcontinent-not by Arab invasion but rather by the influence of the families of UP and other areas of the Subcontinent. The Ansari families of UP along with the Baradari families (Abbasi, Alvi Kirmani, Q\Kidwai, Siddiqui Qureshi and others) were responsible for the spread of moderate and educated Islam to the corners of the Subcontinent. Barbara Metcalfe spent about 5 years on Lucknow researching the Farangi Mahallis. Francis Robinson has spent a lifetime finding out and investigating the Farangi Mahallis. This level of research is absolutely fantastic and brings focus to one of the most prolific families of the subcontinent that wrote hundred of books on Islam

STRENGTHS OF THE BOOK: The strengths of the book include a positive historical perspective and thorough discussion of the Farangi Mahallis and a fantastic description of the life and workings of the educational system of the Subcontinent where Lucknow became the center and a magnet for Islamic Learning. The book, as Francis Robinson hopes, will allow other authors to build deeper research on Farangi Mahal

WEAKNESSES OF THE BOOK: Francis Robinson focuses on only one branch of the family-the one led by Maulana Abdul Bari and due to personal friendship with them he refuses to give credit to and or listen to other branches of the family that were instrumental in developing the system of education and service to the Muslims of not only Northern India but the entire Subcontinent. Francis Robinson totally ignores the contributions of the progeny of Mulla Hasan in the development and construction of Farangi Mahalli system. This criticism is shared by and espoused by and endorsed by the current leadership of Farangi Mahall in Lucknow which is frustrated by Dr. Robinson's attitude in ignoring some of the facts, and ignoring their opinions about the family tree. More details on FarangiMahal.com

"The book itself led the head of the family, Mawlana Jamal Miyan, to come to London from Karachi in 1976." This of course is not correct and Mr. Robbinson refuses to accept this inaccuracy and refuses to discuss the modalities and complexities of the transfer of leadership of the family

The book is a compilation of earlier works on the Farangi Mahlis by Canfield, Metcalfe, Allen, Shackle, Kolff and Robinson himself. Serious scholars of Farangi Mahal will have to wait a detailed discussion of and contribution to the history of India by the Ulama of Farangi Mahal.

The book does not adequately cover the historical growth and fall of Farangi Mahal or its true contributions to the Freedom Struggle of India during the Khilafat Movement and beyond. The books seems to be glossary of bibliographical references to other authors and what they have done, but does not address the growth and demise of the institutions or the contributions of the Ulama to the establishment and growth of Islam in the Subcontinent. The book does not pay proper tribute to the Ulama of Farangi Mahal for their contributions to the moderate strain of Islam that enveloped the entire Subcontinent by Sufi ideas, not Arab invasion. One had expected chapters on the famous sons of Farangi Mahal, but these were missing

It is hoped that in future renditions of the book, Mr. Robinson looks at all branches of the Farangi Mahallis and pays tribute to all the branches of the family

Moin Ansari (Hasan Moinuddin Ansari)-USA
s\o Hasan Jalaluddin Ansari

s\o Mohammad Moinuddin Ansari
progeny of Farangi Mahal and descendant of Abu Ayub Ansari