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

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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 state of Hyderabad in which he raised a question about “Zayd’s” use of a registered letter (“regisṫarḋ khaṭ”) to notify his wife of their irrevocable … 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

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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, Ḥukūmat-i Ḥaidarābād (Orders from the office of the qażī of the city, from the start of year 1339 AH to the end of year 1350 … 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

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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 grand illustration celebrating judicial progress in the princely state of Hyderabad between 1911, when the last independent ruler, Niẓām Mir Osman Ali Khan (r. 1911–1948) … 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

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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 telling the story of Islamic legal change in South Asia under British rule, some sources lend themselves more easily and more willingly to narrative history. … Continue reading Breaking out of “Anglo-Muslim” hybrids, or the case for studying the princely states