Husain Ahmad Madani: The Jihad for Islam and India's Freedom

Makers of the Muslim World

by Barbara D. Metcalf

Maulana Husain Ahmad Madani (1879 – 1957) was a political activist, Islamic scholar, and supporter of Gandhi during the struggle for India’s independence. Humane and fiercely dedicated whether campaigning against the separation of Pakistan, or in favour of democracy and inter-religious peace, he brooked no nonsense and fought relentlessly for what he believed in. Spanning a lifetime of campaigning and controversy, Barbara Metcalf’s compelling biography draws from Madani’s letters and autobiographies, as well as detailed knowledge of the prevailing political climate, to create an intimate and revealing account of one of the most important men in the history of modern Islam.

Genres: Islam, India

192 pages, Hardcover

First published October 25, 2008

About the author

Barbara Daly Metcalf is a Professor Emeritus of History at the University of California, Davis. She is a specialist in the history of South Asia, especially the colonial period, and the history of the Muslim population of India and Pakistan. She previously served as the Dean of the College of Letters and Science at the University of California, Davis, and as the Alice Freeman Palmer Professor of History at the University of Michigan (2003-2009). She was the president of the Association for Asian Studies in 1994 and the president of the American Historical Association in 2010-11.