The Ismailis In The Colonial Era: Modernity, Empire And Islam

Book Summary

Beginning in the early nineteenth century, the Nizari Ismailis grew from a minor, legendary sect within Islam to a small yet highly organized temporal and religious movement executing far-ranging political and economic clout. Much of this remarkable change was due to increased diplomatic relations between the British Empire, and lates the British Commonwealth, and the Nizari Ismaili movement. Based on extensive archival research, Marco van Grondelle examines the events that led to the modernization and successful cooptation of this comparatively small branch of Shi'a Islam. He confronts several key questions regarding the interaction between movements in contomporary Islam and what might be termed "the West." Particularly significant is his dissection of how the British government effectively coopted a Muslim group for the mutual benefit of both former and latter British foreign and colonial policy. Van Grondelle investigates the actions that shaped the Ismailis' relationship with London and the social and political conditions that determined their later contact. He also examines how this strange coexistence fully matured, considering some of the personal, institutional, and cultural complications that upset a delicately evolving relationship.

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