The British Empire and the Hajj: 1865–1956

John Slight

Published by Harvard University Press 2015

The British Empire and the Hajj

1865–1956

John Slight

https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674495029

Overview
Contents

About this book

The British Empire governed more than half the world’s Muslims. John Slight traces the empire’s complex interactions with the Hajj—the annual pilgrimage to Mecca—from the 1860s, when an outbreak of cholera led Britain to engage reluctantly in medical regulation of pilgrims, to the Suez Crisis of 1956. He gives voice to pilgrims and officials alike.

Reviews

This is an excellent book… It will be indispensable for anyone interested in the Hajj.
-- William Roger Louis Times Literary Supplement

[Slight] explores this important but largely neglected history of Hajj and does so by tracing British involvement with the regulation and performance of this Islamic ritual from early 1860s until the Suez Crisis of 1956… Based on a combination of archival and secondary sources, this is an unusually informative, meticulously researched and highly readable book… This book will prove to be a useful source of reference on the subject for future researchers and writers alike.
-- Muhammad Khan Muslim News

Impressively lucid, this is a ‘must-buy’ addition for anyone interested in the Hajj and Western involvement in it.
-- John Darwin, University of Oxford

The ambit of this book is formidable. The British were almost everywhere, globally, between the mid-nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries, and this book tells of their activities vis-à-vis the Hajj. Slight has done a wonderful job of making a huge subject transparent and understandable.
-- Eric Tagliacozzo, Cornell University

This is a wildly ambitious book, covering a mind-bogglingly complex array of geographies and periods, requiring deep familiarity with African, Middle Eastern, Indian, and Southeast Asian histories. Slight balances all of this with tremendous ease and an engaging style. He is among the very few scholars with the skill set needed to speak to scholars of the British Empire, the Islamic world, and global history with virtually equal authority. The result is the most wide-ranging and significant book on the colonial-era hajj to date.
-- Michael Christopher Low Journal of British Studies

This is a fascinating book, and particularly timely for those who ponder the nature of the West’s relationship with the Muslim world…This is a valuable, intellectually robust but still highly accessible work that does much to elevate our understanding of a truly significant phenomenon within the history of the British Empire. More importantly, Slight has done much to clarify our understanding and recognition of the inherently Islamic nature of that empire in significant respects.
-- Christian Tripodi American Historical Review

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. Contexts Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	25
2. Pilgrimage in the Mid-Victorian Era, c. 1865–1900 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	62
3. Pilgrimage in the Edwardian Era, 1901–1914 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	124
4. The First World War and the Hashemite Interregnum, 1914–1924 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	166
5. Britain and the Hajj under Saudi Control, 1924–1939 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	222
6. Hajj from the Far Ends of Britain’s Muslim Empire, 1924–1939 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	266
Epilogue: Hajj in the Time of War and Decolonization, 1939–1956 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	302
Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	316
Abbreviations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	323
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	325
Glossary Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	407
Archival Sources Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	411
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	427
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	431

Language: English
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Pages
- Main content: 456
Illustrations
- Other: 14 halftones, 4 maps, 1 table

eBook

Published: September 21, 2015
ISBN: 9780674495029