Nationalist Spirits of Islamic Law after World War I: An Arab-Indian Battle of Fatwas over Alcohol, Purity, and Power

Abstract

In 1922, one of the most famous Muslim scholars of modern times, the Syrian-Egyptian reformer Rashīd Riḍā, published in his journal a detailed fatwa in defense of alcohol. He did so in reaction to an obscure Indian jurist's fatwa that had warned Muslims not to use alcoholic products. On the surface, the authors of the fatwas appeared to be principally concerned with the right way to interpret sacred laws of purity and pollution. However, this article reveals that their disagreement had much to do with differing approaches to the politics of independence. Their divergence is intriguing because the cities where they lived, Cairo and Bombay, had just experienced the convulsions of anti-British consumer boycotts. And it emerged at a time when anti-imperial Muslim activists from the Middle East and South Asia were rallying together for a pan-Islamic cause—to prevent the final collapse of the caliphate. These movements swayed both Riḍā and his rival, who may well be described as Muslim nationalists. Yet they embraced radically different strategies for independence. One aimed for national purity, the other for national power. This discrepancy led to the battle of fatwas—a forgotten battle that is worth remembering because it suggests some of the difficulties that Muslim jurists of Arab or Indian ancestry faced during the interwar period when they tried to turn Islamic law into an effective nationalist discourse.

Can Muslims Drink? Rumi Vodka, Persianate Ideals, and the Anthropology of Islam

“…That wine and much more remain forbidden in Iran and Afghanistan aggravates these feelings, constantly pricking migrants, refugees, and exiles like me, Ofran, Ammar, and Sina, who came to the Netherlands in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2020s, respectively. As Leor Halevi, a historian of Islamic law, argues (2020), one’s political stance strongly influences one’s position in contestations over alcohol, purity, and power, in our case resulting in an opposition to Islamic law itself. The facts of enduring ties with and longing for one’s country of birth, whether imagined or material or both, additionally explain the popularity of Wine Shop the Philosopher’s wine bottles, which ship to Austria, Germany, Sweden, and France.…”