Monsoon Islam: Trade and Faith on the Medieval Malabar CoastBetween the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, a distinct form of Islamic thought and practice developed among Muslim trading communities of the Indian Ocean. Sebastian R. Prange argues that this 'Monsoon Islam' was shaped by merchants not sultans, forged by commercial imperatives rather than in battle, and defined by the reality of Muslims living within non-Muslim societies. Focusing on India's Malabar Coast, the much-fabled 'land of pepper', Prange provides a case study of how Monsoon Islam developed in response to concrete economic, socio-religious, and political challenges. Because communities of Muslim merchants across the Indian Ocean were part of shared commercial, scholarly, and political networks, developments on the Malabar Coast illustrate a broader, trans-oceanic history of the evolution of Islam across monsoon Asia. This history is told through four spaces that are examined in their physical manifestations as well as symbolic meanings: the Port, the Mosque, the Palace, and the Sea. |
Other editions - View all
Monsoon Islam: Trade and Faith on the Medieval Malabar Coast Sebastian R. Prange Limited preview - 2018 |
Monsoon Islam: Trade and Faith on the Medieval Malabar Coast Sebastian R. Prange Limited preview - 2018 |
Monsoon Islam: Trade and Faith on the Medieval Malabar Coast Sebastian R. Prange No preview available - 2019 |
Common terms and phrases
Aden Ali Rajas Arabia Arabic Architecture Asian Beckingham trans Brahmins Calicut Cambridge University Press Cannanore Cheraman Perumal China Chinese Cochin commercial context cultural Defrémery and Sanguinetti Delhi diasporas Duarte Barbosa economic Fath al-mu’in Friedman eds Geniza Gibb and Beckingham global Goitein and Friedman Hindu History Ibn Battutah India Traders Indian Ocean Indian Ocean trade instance Islamic law Jewish jihād Kerala khutbah king Kodungallur Kollam legend Makhdūm Malabar Coast Malabar’s Muslims Mālik Mappila maritime trade medieval Mithqāl monsoon Asia Monsoon Islam mosques Muslim Muslim communities Muslim merchants Muslim trading nisbah Ottoman pepper trade Persian political Ponnani port cities Portuguese Prange Pyrard de Laval qādi Rasulid region religious role Sanguinetti eds shahbandar ships sixteenth century slaves social Society sources South India Southeast Asia Sufi Sufism sultan tradition Travels of Ibn Tuhfat al-mujahidin ulamā Voyages d’Ibn Batoutah western Indian Ocean world of Monsoon Yemen Zamorin Zayn al-Din