Muslim Capitalism by Danish Khan
This book offers a history of Muslim capitalism in colonial India by examining Gujarati Muslim trading communities within the political economy of Bombay. Challenging a historiography dominated by global and transnational approaches, it shows how Muslim merchants were embedded in local institutions, legal regimes, and commercial networks of business. Through court records, legislative debates, commercial disputes, and family archives, it introduces the concept of the Muslim Divided Family as an alternative framework for understanding Muslim mercantile organization alongside the Hindu Undivided Family, and how colonial law transformed family property, waqf administration, inheritance, and religious authority, while revealing the uneven ways in which colonial governance accommodated different commercial communities. By placing Muslim merchants at the centre of debates on capitalism, law, and community, it offers a fresh interpretation of economic life in colonial South Asia and contributes to wider discussions on legal pluralism, corporate personality, and the relationship between religion and commerce.
'This book fills a gap that, for decades, surprisingly enough, has affected South Asian studiesIt accounts for the specificity of the Bombay-based Muslim capitalists during the Raj from the points of view of their economic influence, legal ethos and political role. It relies on a variety of primary sources in an inter disciplinary perspective combining the methodology of the historians, lawyers, sociologists and political scientists.' Christophe Jaffrelot, King's College, London
Danish Khan is a Historian at University of Oxford. His research interests lie in Economic and Legal History, South Asia Studies, Trade Networks, Islamic Studies, Urban History, Colonial Bombay, Capitalism. He has more than fifteen years of experience as a journalist and columnist in UK and India. He has co-authored Escaped: True Stories of Indian Fugitives in London (2021).
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781009787420 |
| Title | Muslim Capitalism |
| Author | Danish Khan |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| Year published | 2026-10-31 |
| Number of pages | 235 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |