Conceptualizing Islamic Acculturation in Pre-Colonial Punjab

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this dissertation is to conceptualize the manner in which Islamic acculturation took place in the Punjab. To date, there has been little scholarly attention on Muslims in this region. Scholarship on the religious history of the region has focused exclusively on the Sikh communities. This study will not attempt an exhaustive history of Islamization amongst the indigenous population of the Punjab. Rather, it will examine various kinship groups in the region, like the Jat and Rajput, in order to explore the potential means by which they came to identify themselves as Muslims. The process of Islamization transpired in three general stages. First, said groups shifted from pastoral nomads to settled cultivators after the migration of Muslims to the Punjab. These migrants brought with them a form of Sufism steeped in Turco-Persian culture as well as innovations such as the Persian wheel for irrigation. Second, was their transition from subsistence cultivators to semi-feudal landowners as they expanded their holdings in the riverine tracts of the Punjab. This improved the economic and social fortunes of these clans that shared the riverine tracts that were increasingly dotted with Sufi lodges. In the third stage, ascendant social status and its resulting social mobility allowed the tribal groups to gradually associate themselves with Muslims in the political, economic, and religious order. In particular, this will be done through a textual analysis of literature, folk traditions, and historical chronicles pertaining to the region. This will provide a clear conceptualization of the distinctive factors that were instrumental in the gradual Islamic acculturation of various tribes and groups specific to the Punjab.