THE OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES

ATLAS OF SOCIAL AND INTELLECTUAL HISTORY OF THE MUSLIM WORLD

     The Oxford Centre for Islamic studies has initiated a four
year project of international academic collaboration concerned
with a study of the social and intellectual roots of Muslim
civilization on South Asia. The specific goal is to research and
publish an atlas, with supporting text, of the intellectual
history of Islam in South Asia from the 13th to the 19th
centuries. The project, which began in Autumn, 1991, under the
direction of Dr. Farhan Nizami, Director of O.C.I.S is supported
by grants form the Leverhulme Trust, the Mellon Foundation, and
the Faysal Islamic Bank. Oxford University Press (New York) have
made a formal commitment to publish the atlas. The atlas is
slated to be the first in a seven-volume series to be published
by Oxford University Press on the social and intellectual history
of Muslims. Each volume of the atlas series is to be devoted to
a specific region of the Islamic World.

     The central theme of the Atlas is the spread and development
of Islamic cultural and intellectual life on the Subcontinent. 
While there are a number of existing works concerned with Islam
in the region, to date, none have comprehensively examined such
themes as the transmission of ideas and beliefs, the importance
of Haj, the development of sects, the development and diffusion
of schools of law and sufi orders, the spread of political ideas
and concepts, the rise, spread, and interlinkages of reformist
and revitalization movements, the spread and development of
languages and literature, and the transmission of artistic forms
and ideas, across the entire Subcontinent. The atlas will consist
of approximately twenty-five main maps. accompanied by analytic
text, and supplemented by inset maps and tables. The major themes
to be researched and depicted are as follows:

CENTRES OF EDUCATION AND LEARNING

     The emergence and influence of the major centres of Islamic
Learning in South Asia will be investigated. Special attention
will be paid to madrasahs (religious colleges) and khanqahs
(mystic training centres). Each of the major centres of learning
will be identified, charts will establish links between them,
prominent personalities associated with them will be listed,
their influence in the evolution and dissemination of Muslim
theological, philosophical, political and social thought will be
presented, an their role in the spread of Islam analyzed.

THEOLOGICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL MOVEMENTS
     
     The origins, development, spread, impact and interaction of
various theological-philosophical traditions in South Asia will
be researched. Special attention will be paid to contributions
made from the region in the areas of commentaries on the Qur'an
and the Hadith, and treaties on mysticism and jurisprudence.

Sufi Orders

     This section will deal with the origins, development and
diffusion of major mystic brotherhoods in South Asia. The links
between the various orders will be depicted and major centres of
sufi activity and their influence will be identified. The
periodic overlapping between different sufi orders on the one
hand and between the ulama (religious scholars) and the sufis on
the other, which has important implications for an understanding
of the nature and thought of the religious and intellectual
elite, will be studied.

SCHOOLS OF LAW

     This section will depict the growth of the Hanafi school of
law in South Asia. The other schools of law with fewer followers
such as Ja'fari and Shafi'i will also be examined. Major centres
for the study of fiqh will be identified, linkages between
different schools and individual scholars in South Asia and
beyond will be presented, and important works on fiqh will be
identified. The extent to which the shari'ah was enforced in
South Asia during different periods of time will be discussed in
the text.

MODES OF TRANSMISSION OF KNOWLEDGE AND CULTURE

     This key section will complement almost all the others
above. It will deal with various modes through which interchange
of ideas has taken place between Muslims in South Asia and the
rest of the Muslim World. This will include the mapping of Haj
and trade routes, local shrines, major migrations of Muslims into
the region, the "movements" of important texts into and out of
the region, travel of religious education or spiritual training,
etc.

RELIGIOUS, SOCIAL AND POLITICAL MOVEMENTS

     The rise of religious, social and political movements among
South Asian Muslims, from medieval times to the end of the
nineteenth century, and their links with ideas and trends
elsewhere in the Muslim World, will be the primary focus of this
section. Since many philosophical and theological movements in
Islam have been intimately connected with politics, a major
portion of the research under this section will concentrate upon
identifying the links between these two.

     The project requires the co-operation of historians,
cartographers, and computer experts. Computer software is
currently being developed which will co-ordinate raw data and
provide a major research tool for preliminary analysis. The core
team based at Oxford consists of six researchers, and a carto-
graphic and computer consultant. Academic consultants to the
project include Professor C.E. Bosworth, of the University of
Manchester, Professor Roy Mottahedeh of Harvard University, and
Albert Hourani, of St. Anthony's College. Though the project is
based at Oxford, the distribution of books, manuscripts, and
other source material requires the involvement of scholars in
India, Pakistan, and the United States. The Atlas Project has
established a North American base at Havard University, consis-
ting of two research fellows conducting research under the
supervision of Havard's Committee on Islamic Studies. In India
and Pakistan, local research teams, responsible for regional
source materials, are currently being established.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies
St. Cross College
Oxford OX 1 3 STU
Great Britain
Tel: (44) 865-725077
Fax: (44) 865-248942