The Muhammadi Movement and its Impact Upon Modern Muslim Identities in South Asia

Author: S. Akif Irfan

The decline of the Mughal Empire beginning in the eighteenth century and its eventual replacement by the British Raj in the nineteenth century resulted in major disruptions to power structures, economic patterns of production, and lifestyles. These cataclysmic shifts drove the proliferation of several major movements amongst South Asian Muslims which collectively shaped modern Muslim identities across the Indian subcontinent. This paper will focus upon one such group, the Tariqah-i Muhammadiyah (Muhammadi) movement, and explore how its response to modern challenges during the nineteenth century was formative for Muslims living in South Asia. In particular, this paper will explore the intersection of the movement with key catalysts of modern identity formation such as the creation of a reformist religious organization that sought to disrupt traditional religious institutions and customs; the use of mass communication achieved through the printing press; the publication of texts in vernacular Urdu rather than the court or scholarly languages of Persian or Arabic; the formulation of an anti- imperial model of resistance; and ultimately the characterization by the British Empire of the Muhammadis as religious fanatics and more generally of Muslims as being foreign to India.