The Changing World of a Bombay Muslim Community 1870-1945

Drawing on family papers written in Urdu and English, this work explores the culture that led to the eager response to reform and change on the part of an influential group of Muslims of Bombay in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Issues that exercised reformists all over India — the need for female education, child marriage, the meaning of purdah, the importance of exercise and good health, as well as political issues such as the Muslim stand on the Indian National Congress, are discussed animatedly in these documents, often by the women who were the subjects of such reform. The study thus focuses on the views expressed by the actors themselves, and emphasizes the outward-looking perspective of a merchant community. The rich archival material provides a significant contribution to our understanding of the Muslim reaction to political and social change, often seen as a stereotypical rejection of modernity. The book is of great contemporary interest: it reveals how societies begin to change as new avenues open up to them, social, economic, or political. The text is enriched by over twenty photographs depicting the individuals and circumstances of those days.
About the Author
Salima Tyabji was educated at the universities of Bombay and Oxford, taught for a short time at school and university in Bombay, and then worked with the Oxford University Press in Delhi, specializing in history and art history. She lives in Delhi and amongst her many passions are gardening, classical music, reading (Urdu and English), and generally having fun. EPUB
ISBN (MOBI) : 978–93–83175–07–9
ISBN (PDF) : 978–93–83175–08–6