Hidden Caliphate: Sufi Saints beyond the Oxus and Indus

Waleed Ziad's book "Hidden Caliphate" explores the development of Muslim revivalist networks in Asia from the 18th to the 20th centuries, focusing on the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi Sufis, who fused Persian, Arabic, Turkic, and Indic literary traditions, mystical virtuosity, popular religious practices, and urban scholasticism to create a unified expression of Islam. The Mujaddidi "Hidden Caliphate" brought cohesion to diverse Muslim communities and continues to shape the Muslim world, with its institutional structures, pedagogies, and critiques influencing social movements from Turkey to Indonesia.

Format: Hardback
Length: 368 pages
Publication date: 28 January 2022
Publisher: Harvard University Press

Before the 20th century, Sufis established the most extensive Muslim revivalist network in Asia, creating a vibrant Persianate literary, intellectual, and spiritual culture while uniting a politically fragmented world. In a groundbreaking work that blends social history, religious studies, and anthropology, Waleed Ziad explores the development of Muslim revivalist networks across Asia from the 18th to the 20th centuries. At the heart of the story are the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi Sufis, who inspired significant reformist movements and provided effective social responses to the fracturing of Muslim political power amidst European colonialism. During a period of political turmoil, the Mujaddidis fused Persian, Arabic, Turkic, and Indic literary traditions, mystical virtuosity, popular religious practices, and urban scholasticism in a unified yet flexible expression of Islam. The Mujaddidi "Hidden Caliphate," as it was known, brought cohesion to diverse Muslim communities from Delhi through Peshawar to the steppes of Central Asia. And the legacy of Mujaddidi Sufis continues to shape the Muslim world, as their institutional structures, pedagogies, and critiques have influenced leading social movements from Turkey to Indonesia and among the Muslims of China.

By shifting attention away from court politics, colonial actors, and the conventional narrative of the "Great Game," Ziad presents a fresh perspective on Islamic sovereignty. At the same time, he underscores the Afghan Empire's pivotal role in sustaining this vast inter-Asian web of scholastic and economic exchange. Hidden Caliphate, based on extensive fieldwork in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan at madrasas, Sufi monasteries, private libraries, and archives, unveils the intricate connections and exchanges that characterized this period of Islamic revival and influence.

Weight: 724g
Dimension: 167 x 245 x 34 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780674248816