Volume 5 of The New Cambridge History of Islam examines the history of Muslim societies from 1800 to the present. Francis Robinson, a leading historian of Islam, has brought together a team of scholars with a broad range of expertise to explore how Muslims responded to the challenges of Western conquest and domination across the last two-hundred years. As their articles reveal, the social, economic, political and historical circumstances which influenced these responses have, in many different parts of the world, empowered Muslim societies and encouraged transformation and religious revival. The volume offers a fascinating glimpse into the local dimensions of that revival and how regional connections have been forged. Synthesising the academic research of the past thirty years, as well as offering substantial guidance for further study, this book is the starting-point for all those who wish to have a serious understanding of modern Muslim societies.

Why some Indian Muslims under British rule should have organised politics on a communal basis is one of the most important problems in the history of the subcontinent. Insistence on a separate Muslim political identity led eventually to the foundation of Pakistan and many of the troubles which have beset the area since Independence. The separate Muslim front in Indian politics was led and supported mainly by men from the United Provinces. The first period of effective separatist politics ended in 1923. This book examines the circumstances in which the separate Muslim front was built up and crumbled away in this period, and then analyses the different groups which at various times supported it. Dr Robinson argues that Muslim separatism was fostered by the political needs of the British, of the Muslims and of the Indian National Congress.

Volume 5 of The New Cambridge History of Islam examines the history of Muslim societies from 1800 to the present. Francis Robinson, a leading historian of Islam, has brought together a team of scholars with a broad range of expertise to explore how Muslims responded to the challenges of Western conquest and domination across the last two-hundred years. As their articles reveal, the social, economic, political and historical circumstances which influenced these responses have, in many different parts of the world, empowered Muslim societies and encouraged transformation and religious revival. The volume offers a fascinating glimpse into the local dimensions of that revival and how regional connections have been forged. Synthesising the academic research of the past thirty years, as well as offering substantial guidance for further study, this book is the starting-point for all those who wish to have a serious understanding of modern Muslim societies.