ABSTRACT
This chapter is a textual and ethnographic examination of how Bihishti Zewar, an early-twentieth-century Islamic theological text written in Urdu for women by Ashraf Ali Thanawi in India, is now used over a century later in Leicester, by a historically migratory postcolonial Gujarati community. This research into Gujarati women's engagement with Bihishti Zewar will also reveal women's different tactical uses of the text today. The Gujarati community in Leicester is very literate, and one of my first ports of call was the daily Qur'n classes that the women attended, held in each other's homes, during school hours. The original text has travelled across the globe, entering new spaces and domainsincluding that of the Gujarati community in Leicester that is the focus of this research. In its original Indian context Bihishti Zewar was a tactical attempt to strengthen Muslim character and identity to resist British domination.
