Guney Asya'da matbaa ve İslami modernizm: Nigar dergisi aracılıgıyla urduca matbaa alanının incelenmesi (1922-1947)

This thesis is an attempt to understand Islamic modernism in light of print media in colonial South Asia. The area of focus is reformist ideas and their dissemination through the Urdu print media. The analysis is based on the study of the Nigār magazine. Nigār was edited by Niyaz Fatehpuri. Fatehpuri was one of the prominent Muslim reformers who strongly advocated for the reinterpretation of Islam in light of reason and rationality. Fatehpuri used Nigār to disseminate his ideas on religion. The timeline of the study is 1922-47. 1922 marks the start of Nigār, and in 1947, India gained independence from British rule. Print culture played an essential role as a vehicle for modernization in colonial South Asia. Printing presses were introduced as early as the 1840s and spread across multiple cities and towns in the Indian subcontinent in the following decades. Religious tracts were first among the documents to be reproduced as 'ulamā took over the role of guardians of Islam. This was a result of the consolidation of British rule, which resulted in the extinction of the state structure of Islamic authorities. The 19th century witnessed the growth of a number of revivalist and reform Islamic movements, seeing itself under the image of Western modernity. Fatehpuri found himself close to the ideas and spirit of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, whose philosophy based on naturalism asked for the reconciliation of Islam with science. Print played a huge role in disseminating these reformist ideas. The study attempts to analyze how Niyaz, through Nigār, navigated through the colonial society in which 'ulamā held a strong base. Urdu print was a critical medium of creative expression during the late 19th and 20th centuries. Against the backdrop of colonial rule and the emergent nationalism with various manifestations, we see a transformation in Muslim political and social life and the emergence of a community consciousness. The research is an attempt to understand this Muslim consciousness. It will do so by following the debates in Nigār in the decade (1937-47) leading up to the partition. The decade witnessed extreme political polarization. The thesis also investigates the notion of a unified Indian Muslim identity by analyzing the competing ideas of nationalism. The thesis attempts to contribute to genres of social history, partition studies, religious studies, and print studies.