[Reader-list] “Prophecies”: talk by Prof CM Naim

[ravikant]

The Department of History is very pleased to invite you to a talk by 
Prof CM Naim on the 23rd of February.  The talk is entitled 
" “Prophecies” in South Asian Muslim Political Discourse: The Poems of 
Shah Ni’matullah Wali". 

*Time*: 2:30PM
*Venue*: Seminar room, ground floor, Social Sciences building

*Abstract*: Since at least 1850, the so-called “prophetic” poems of Shah 
Nimatullah Wali of Kerman (d. 1431) have been a fascinating element in 
the popular political discourse of South Asian Muslims. Originally only 
one, by the end of the 19^th  century there were three. Likewise, 
individual poems have gained verses as time has passed. These poems seem 
to appear every time there is a major crisis in the what I call the 
psychic world of South Asian Muslims. Their first known appearance in 
print followed the abject failure of the “Jihad” movement of Syed Ahmad 
and Shah Isma’il, followed by appearances after the failure of the 1857 
Rebellion, the dissolution of the Ottoman Caliphate and failure of the 
Khilafat and Hijrat movements, the 1947 partition, and the Indo-Pak war 
of 1972 and the end of ‘East Pakistan.” They have appeared again in 2010 
in Pakistan, and have found wide circulation on the Internet. My paper 
traces the evolution of these poems and offers some explanation for 
their effectiveness and popularity.