ABSTRACT
The introduction clarifies how this book contributes to the study of Islam in the eighteenth century in the context of the Indian environment through analyzing ʿAndalīb’s thought. It lays the foundation for the discussions in the chapters that follow by illustrating the Shuhūdī/Wujūdī controversies about unity. It concentrates on the reception of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s terminology and the influence of his mystical point of view concerning the Prophet through the development of the notion of the perfect man, the Reality of Muḥammad and the Light of Muḥammad. After considering the activities of ʿAndalīb’s contemporaries through the lenses of their perspectives toward Shiʿa/Sunni sectarian polemics and indigenous religious beliefs, their teachings can be seen as emphasizing the restoration of the sharīʿa and the imitation of prophetic morality. The introduction also presents an overview of theories on the study of Islam in South Asia during the eighteenth century and develops the discussion concerning the proponents and opponents of the decline paradigm. Situating this book among recent studies, it rejects the notion of the decline of Islam as well as the notion of neo-Sufism, but it benefitted from the effectiveness and productivity of discussions on these themes to understand the Ṭarīqa-yi Khāliṣ Muḥammadiyya.
