This article maps the intricate topography of the ostensibly unified but veritably fractured Muslim search for identity in contemporary West Bengal. More specifically, it engages in a comprehensive, qualitative, interpretive investigation of the performance of two linguistically distinct Muslim literary traditions (Bengali and Urdu) in determining the context in which the community negotiates and asserts its identity. The interplay between ‘religion’, ‘nation’ and ‘region’ in the consciousness of Muslim literati and its implications for the religious/secular dimension of Muslim identity is researched in a quest to interrogate how and why the uniqueness of the West Bengal case, derived from history, still holds true. Literature and language, this article clearly confirms, serve as powerful tools for identity construction.
AhmedRafiuddin (1996) The Bengal Muslims 1871–1906: A Quest for Identity. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
2.
AhmedRafiuddin (2001) ‘Introduction: The Emergence of the Bengali Muslims’. In AhmedRafiuddin (Ed.) Understanding the Bengal Muslims: Interpretative Essays (pp. 1–21). New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
3.
AhmedSufia (1996) Muslim Community in Bengal 1884–1912. Dhaka: The University Press.
4.
AlamMuzaffar (2004) The Languages of Political Islam in India 1200–1800. Delhi: Permanent Black.
5.
BetaabIshrat (2005) ‘Bangal me Jadeed Urdu Afsana’. In SaazShahidAhmedImtiaz (Compilers) Maghribi Bangal ka Sheri wa Nasri Adab (pp. 277–81). Calcutta: Nasir Isbat wa Nafi Publications.
6.
BoseSugataJalalAyesha (2004) Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
7.
ChakrabartiAsim Pada (1993) Muslim Identity and Community Consciousness: Bengal Legislative Politics 1912–36. New Delhi: Minerva.
8.
ChakrabortyAshoke Kumar (2002) Bengali Muslim Literati and the Development of the Muslim Community in Bengal. Shimla: Indian Institute of Advanced Studies.
9.
ChatterjiJoya (1998) ‘The Bengali Muslim: A Contradiction in Terms? An Overview of the Debate on Bengali Muslim Identity’. In HasanMushirul (Ed.) Islam, Communities and the Nation: Muslim Identities in South Asia and Beyond (pp. 266–80). Delhi: Manohar.
DasguptaRahul (2009b) ‘Panchas Bachharer Nirbachita Uttar Upanibeshik Bangla Upanyaser Abhidhan 1984–94’. In Bara Swapna Chhota Kagaj, Bhashanagar Boi Mela (pp. 292–309). Calcutta: Deep Prakashan.
12.
DeAmalendu (1982) Islam in Modern India. Calcutta: Maya Prakashan.
13.
DeAmalendu (1995) ‘The Social Thoughts and Consciousness of the Bengali Muslims in the Colonial Period’, Social Scientist, 23(4–6): 16–37.
14.
DeDhurjati Prasad (1998) Bengal Muslims in Search of Social Identity 1905–47. Dhaka: The University Press.
15.
EatonRichard M. (1997) The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier 1204–1760. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
16.
FirdausGhazala (2005) ‘Qurbani ka Bakra: Ek Jaeza’. In SaazShahidAhmedImtiaz (Compilers) Maghribi Bangal ka Sheri wa Nasri Adab (pp. 427–8). Calcutta: Nasir Isbat wa Nafi Publications.
17.
Gati Sahitya Sammelan Smarak (2008) Kolkata: Natun Gati.
18.
GhazaliUmar (2005) ‘Maghribi Bangal me Urdu Nazm Azadi ke Baad’. In SaazShahidAhmedImtiaz (Compilers) Maghribi Bangal ka Sheri wa Nasri Adab (pp. 92–104). Calcutta: Nasir Isbat wa Nafi Publications.
19.
HasanMubashar (2011) ‘Democracy and Political Islam in Bangladesh’. South Asia Research, 31(2): 97–117.
20.
KhanZillur R. (1985) ‘Islam and Bengali Nationalism’, Asian Survey, 25(8): 834–51.
21.
LucknaviSaliq (1998) Bangal me Urdu Nasar ki Tareekh. Calcutta: West Bengal Urdu Academy.
22.
MondalSekh Rahim (1994) Dynamics of Muslim Society. New Delhi: Inter-India Publications.
23.
MurshidTazeen M. (1995) The Sacred and the Secular: Bengal Muslim Discourses 1871–1977. Calcutta: Oxford University Press.
24.
RoyAsim (1983) The Islamic Syncretistic Tradition in Bengal. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
25.
RoyAsim (2001) ‘Being and Becoming a Muslim: A Historiographic Perspective on the Search for Muslim Identity in Bengal’. In BandopadhyayShekhar (Ed.) Bengal, Rethinking History: Essays in Historiography (pp. 167–229). New Delhi: Manohar.
26.
ShibliAlquama (2005) ‘Kabile Tahseen Kavish’. In SaazShahidAhmedImtiaz (Compilers) Maghribi Bangal ka Sheri wa Nasri Adab (pp. 7–8). Calcutta: Nasir Isbat wa Nafi Publications.
27.
StewartTony K. (2003) ‘In Search of Equivalence: Conceiving the Muslim–Hindu Encounter through Translation Theory’. In EatonRichard M. (Ed.) India’s Islamic Traditions 711–1750 (pp. 363–87). New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
28.
TaqiYousuf (2005) ‘Maghribi Bangal me Urdu Shayri Azadi ke Baad’. In SaazShahidAhmedImtiaz (Compilers) Maghribi Bangal ka Sheri wa Nasri Adab (pp. 19–24, 29–30 & 159). Calcutta: Nasir Isbat wa Nafi Publications.
29.
UddinSufia (2006) Constructing Bangladesh: Religion, Ethnicity and Language in an Islamic Nation. New Delhi: Vistar Publications.
30.
ZafarShireen (2005) ‘Pervez Shahidi ki Nazm Sherwani’. In SaazShahidAhmedImtiaz (Compilers) Maghribi Bangal ka Sheri wa Nasri Adab (p. 422). Calcutta: Nasir Isbat wa Nafi Publications.
