ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews three different reformist movements related to Muslim women in British India, and in so doing suggests new solidarities, both among Muslims and, implicitly, between "Muslims" as a putative whole and other communities, divisions where women have been a pre-eminent symbol. Many Indian writers and activists in nineteenth century British India made the subject of women a central topic in their programmes of cultural reform and redefinition, expressing this concern, through the newly available medium of print. The reformers of the late nineteenth century associated the picture of women with what came to be seen as the decadence of a nawabi life style, summed up by the female figure of the courtesan. The teachings of the ulema were meant to secure a better moral and material life for women and their families. Abul-ala Maududi elevation of domestic knowledge and skills went hand in hand with a new elaboration of women's difference.
