The Image of the First Caliph and the Bengal Muslims Psyche through Unconventional Sources: The Colonial Milieu

Abstract

The 19th century social awakening in Bengal accommodated a historicist trend that tried to resolve contemporary social problems with a reference to the past.Though late- starters, a part of the Bengali Muslim intelligentsia began to tread on the same path. They invoked the ideals of Sharia, Hadith &Sirat tradition in vernacular. Most of the times, the aim was a mix of two complimentary objectives. First, they tried to unify the Ummah through a process of social reformation. Secondly, they wanted to present a glorious picture of the Islam to counter the contemporary Hindu & Christian propaganda. A number of the Muslim intelligentsia took the medium of Sirat and other form of Islamic literature to express the high tradition of Islam and its ideals which were represented through the biographical works on the Prophet and the “KholafayeRasedin”. This paper seeks to represent and analyze the different forms of Bengali Islamic literature centered on the life of Abu Bakr, the first Caliph.1Our main aim is to highlight a more comprehensive picture of Bengali Muslims’ psyche by analyzing the above stated unconventional sources in its proper historical setting.