Weekend Scholarship Roundup

SCHOLARSHIP ROUNDUP On Islamic Law In "Changes in Islamic Legal Culture in Customary Marriage at Uluan Musi Community" (Journal of Population and Social Studies 32 (2024)), Syahril Jamil (Universitas Islam … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup

Weekend Scholarship Roundup

SCHOLARSHIP ROUNDUP On Islamic Law Zak Leonard reviews Elizabeth Lhost's (UCLA) Everyday Islamic Law and the Making of Modern South Asia (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2022) in … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup

Conclusion: Why the princely states? Why now? What’s next?

By Elizabeth Lhost During my time as guest blogger this month, I’ve demonstrated how sources from the Indian princely states can help historians overcome the binaries, dichotomies, and oppositions that … Continue reading Conclusion: Why the princely states? Why now? What’s next?

Dekan Lā Ripōrṫ: Familiar genres, unfamiliar stories

By Elizabeth Lhost For my final essay this month, I’ve selected the Deccan Law Reports for analysis. Law reports are a familiar genre for many legal historians, and the Deccan … Continue reading Dekan Lā Ripōrṫ: Familiar genres, unfamiliar stories

Naql-i Rejisṫarḋ khaṭ: Letters, postcards, and telegrams as sources of law

By Elizabeth Lhost In March 1950, Muḥyī-ud-dīn Ṣāḥib sent a request to the dār al-iftāʾ (office for issuing fatwās, judicial opinions) of the Ṣadārat al-ʿĀliya (ecclesiastical department) of the princely … Continue reading Naql-i Rejisṫarḋ khaṭ: Letters, postcards, and telegrams as sources of law

Farāmīn-i Niẓāmat: Looking at legal layers in a royal decree

By Elizabeth Lhost The first farmān (order) (pictured below) in a volume titled Farāmīn-i Niẓāmat-i dār al-qażāʿ-yi balada, min ibtidāʿ–yi sana-yi 1339 H li-ghāyata-yi sana-yi 1350 H, daftar-i Senṫral Rikārḋ, … Continue reading Farāmīn-i Niẓāmat: Looking at legal layers in a royal decree

Raftār-i Taraqqī-yi ʿAdālat: Rethinking “progress” in the history of Hyderabad’s Āṣafī Courts

By Elizabeth Lhost Like a good social scientist, I begin with a diagram. Mir Basit Ali Khan’s Urdu-language Tārīkh-i ʿAdālat-i Āṣafī (History of the Asafi Courts) (1937) opens with a … Continue reading Raftār-i Taraqqī-yi ʿAdālat: Rethinking “progress” in the history of Hyderabad’s Āṣafī Courts

Breaking out of “Anglo-Muslim” hybrids, or the case for studying the princely states

By Elizabeth Lhost Sources matter, especially for the study of history. They determine the stories we tell, the perspectives we portray, the experiences we recover. Yet when it comes to … Continue reading Breaking out of “Anglo-Muslim” hybrids, or the case for studying the princely states