Islamic modernism between colonialism and orientalism: Al-Manar’s intellectual circles and Aligarh’s Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College, 1898–1914

This chapter explores two main issues in relation to the trajectory of al–Manar–M.A.O. College connections. The Ottoman–Syrian born Muhammad Rashid Rida, al–Manar is publishes regularly, and is one of the most important intellectual outlets of Islamic modernism around the world. Indicative of the Indian subcontinent’s connectivity with Egypt is Rida’s depiction of both regions as equivalent, considering them as the world’s most prominent Muslim intellectual centers. It is in this historical moment that M.A.O. College became an educational model for al–Manar’s intellectual circles, as well as a site of engagement between Islamic modernists from the Mashriq, European orientalists, and British colonial officials. This shift entailed a process of legitimizing the college among the journal’s readers, which entailed a divergence from al–Afghani’s polemic against the Aligarh Movement. In other words, al–Manar’s view of the M.A.O College is informs by its view of British colonialism and European orientalism.