Fifty Years in the East

There is a growing interest in investigating the views and works of Russian authors on Islam during the colonial period given the availability of archival material, translation works and a kind of institutionalisation of Islamic studies. Academic interest in numerous Muslim denominations, especially those settled in North Atlantic regions, such as the Isma[ilis, has benefitted from the community’s own multifarious efforts owing to its overall prosperity which can afford to sponsor teaching and research institutes. Such trajectories reflect diversity within the Islamic past and present besides discovering historical and theological authenticity. The rise of the Isma[ili middle class first in British India and then its expansion in Diaspora, owing to greater business opportunities offered by the Raj, is certainly a significant development in recent history. Featuring greater mobility and an efficient though no less rigorous organisation revolving around the person and office of the Living Imam—the Aga Khan—the Isma[ilis are often posited as role models in business and education, displaying rather apolitical attitudes towards their places of residence. Interestingly, these developments have allowed two parallel trends among them: appropriation of Islam in a universal sense, and, greater emphasis on denominational self-sufficiency, possibly inhibiting the very first trend.