Britain’s Muslim Empire

From the late nineteenth century, a number of British statesmen, officials, officers and commentators referred to Britain as ‘the greatest Mohammedan power’, citing the fact that Britain ruled over the largest number of Muslims in the world, more than any other Muslim or non-Muslim power. Although India formed the cornerstone of these claims, by 1920, British imperial rule extended across much of what came to be known as the Muslim world, from Africa through the Middle East to South and Southeast Asia. Moreover, British labor policies from the mid-nineteenth century were responsible for the establishment of new Muslim communities in places such as Trinidad, Guyana, Mauritius and Fiji. But what did it mean in practice for Britain to govern those whose faith was Islam? This paper will explore this question by utilizing a comparative approach in analyzing the wide variety of areas in which imperial authorities engaged with Islamic practice. These fields of interaction included the employment of religious figures by the colonial state, the religious experiences of Muslim soldiers in colonial armed forces, the practice of law, awqaf endowments, the regulation of mosques, the Hajj, Sufi saint's shrines, and religious education. In the political sphere, Britain co-opted local Muslim political leaders into the imperial system, especially in Nigeria, India and Malaya. While the policies pursued by the British were often particular to the circumstances of a specific territory, there was extensive borrowing of concepts and practices between colonial states. In all these areas, Muslims, working inside and outside colonial state structures, played a crucial role. Critically, however, this was far from a co-operative endeavor. The paper will finally survey how this empire was contested by figures whom resisted British rule, in print and by force of arms, and, in turn, how British forces countered such resistance with extensive violence.