Khwaja Hasan Nizami. Emotions for the Nation, the Muslim Community, and the Sufi Shrine

Khwaja Hasan Nizami (1878-1955) was a Sufi of the Chishti Islamic order, a Delhi author and journalist during the Indian independence movement, who advocated the ecstatic Sufi mystic practices, as much as the demure religious laws. He supported the Islamic tablighi-mission and the pan-Islamic movement, while promoting, at the same time a joint Indian nation of Hindus and Muslims.
In his various engagements with the Sufi, the Muslim and the Indian communities Khwaja Hasan Nizami commanded partly contradictory emotions. Which emotions and emotional norms were at play in each case and which strategic purpose did they serve? How can the strongly present religious sentiments and their social role be grasped? Should one question the concept of a necessarily coherent subject, in view of the apparently contradictory emotional codes, propagated by the author? To what extent do emotions serve to connect those, otherwise different discourses, in which Khwaja Hasan Nizami participated?
By analysing the highly emotional style used by Khwaja Hasan Nizami in his work in order to appeal to his audience, it will be demonstrated how emotions are represented in language and how they are evoked with the use of the written word. With this analysis conclusions will also be drawn regarding the role of emotions in community forming processes.
Based on Khwaja Hasan Nizami’s extensive work this project aims to interpret emotional tensions, their norms and expressions within the work of one particular actor with a background of changing social structures, in which identity, ideals and influences were negotiated.