Syed Mahmood and the transformation of Muslim law in British India.

摘要

The British colonial administration in India transformed Muslim law in the nineteenth century through the three concurrent processes of translation, legislation, and adjudication. Although Indian Muslims were gradually displaced in their traditional position as interpreters of that law in the role of muftis, discerning and applying the shari'ah according to Hanafi principles of fiqh, they nonetheless played a vital role in the transformation of Muslim law. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Muslim participation became more noticeable and significant as they moved into increasingly influential positions in the British judicial administration. Syed Mahmood (1850-1903) was a pioneer in this movement, being one of the first Indian Muslims to study law and become a barrister in England, being the first non-European member of the Allahabad Bar, and being the first Indian Muslim appointed to any High Court in British India. During his tenure as judge of the High Court at Allahabad, he wrote numerous judgments on matters of civil law, including matters which the British regime had determined were to be governed by Muslim law, or rather, by the amalgam of Muslim and English law called "Anglo-Mohammedan law" into which it had been transformed. He understood certain aspects Muslim law, especially criminal law and laws of evidence, to have been abrogated by British law in India, but stoutly resisted the incursion of English law and promoted the acceptance of Muslim law as the customary law in other areas. His critique of the British administration of justice in India and his persistent independence of thought while serving on the High Court brought him into conflict with his fellow judges. He was eventually forced to resign in 1892, but his recorded judgments in the Indian Law Reports continued to provide an authoritative exposition of Muslim law for succeeding generations of jurists. In addition to elucidating the transformation of Muslim law, the study of Syed Mahmood's life and writings reveals how some Muslims in India were working as active agents to construct a new kind of knowledge of their culture under British colonial domination.