ABSTRACT
Islamic contestations in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are marked by the emergence of the Dar-ul-Ulum of Deoband, the Nadwat-ul-Ulama, the Aligarh Movement, the spread of pan-Islamic tendencies, the ascendance of fundamentalisms of different shades, and the struggles of devotional Sufic Islam to safeguard its traditions and religious practices. The chapter introduces Abdur Rahman’s works to the world outside Urdu circles, for understanding a modern Muslim appreciation of India’s Islamic traditions through medieval centuries. Even though Abdur Rahman was following the tradition of scholarship established by Allama Shibli and Sulaiman Nadwi, many of his formulations on the early history of Islam in India show striking similarities with Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi’s (1914–99) interpretations in his multi-volume history of Islam in Urdu, Tarikh-i-Dawat-wa Azimat.
