The Epistolary Activities of Hajji Imdadullah Makki (d.1899)
A presentation by Sohaib Baig
Thursday, November 12, 201511:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Sohaib's presentation focuses on the epistolary activities and religious discourse of Hajji Imdadullah Makki (d. 1899), a Sufi leader who fled from North India to the Ottoman Hijaz after the 1857 mutiny. From Mecca, he maintained a strong and steady correspondence through mail with his Indian disciples, who belonged to a wide spectrum of often fiercely competitive religious movements in British India. He examines at least two maktubat collections that were later compiled and published by Imdadullah’s disciples. These epistolary records are an important source for understanding how he struggled to maintain control over his Indian students from such a long distance, and yet, for almost half a century. Some of his disciples engaged in heated polemics against each other on questions of normativity, heretical innovation, and prophetology; these letters help provide a glimpse into the complex thinking and calculations that were involved as he tried to prevent his trans-oceanic tariqa from collapsing by resorting to different tactics, including participating in the burgeoning Indian publishing industry. The letters also shed light on the ways in which his Indian disciples negotiated his positioning in Mecca and distance from India as an opportunity for asserting their own authority even as they claimed allegiance to him. Through an analysis of the themes that surface in these letters, as well as the complex afterlife these letters assumed as his disciples published them, Sohaib uncovers the cross-oceanic dynamics that challenged Imdadullah in maintaining his authority and reconciling his warring disciples with each other.