LIBRARY This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Abstract Contested Identities and the Muslim Qaum in northern India: c. 1860-1900

Using primarily published sources in Urdu from the second-half of the nineteenth century, my thesis presents evidence with regard to north Indian Muslims, which questions the idea of a homogenous, centralising, entity. at times called the Muslim community. qaum, ummah or nation. Using a large number of second-tier publicists' writings in Urdu, the thesis argues that the self-perceptions and representations of many Muslims. were far more local. parochial, disparate, multiple, and highly contested. The idea of a homogenous, levelling, sense of collective identity. or an imagined community, seem wanting in this period. This line of evidence and argumentation, also has important implications for locating the moment of separatism and identity formation amongst north Indian Muslims, and argues that this happened much later than has previously been imagined. Based on this, the thesis also argues against an anachronistic or teleological strain of historiography with regard to north Indian Muslims of this period. The main medium through which these arguments are debated, is through the Urdu print world, where a large number of new sources have been presented whic