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In South Asia, specifically, the British ruled over one of the largest Muslim populations in the world. Upon coming into contact with such a population, the British Empire forged a uniquely Muslim identity for the local believers. This was, in part, due to the way the British periodized South Asian history into an “ancient” Hindu one and a Muslim “medieval”one. Under the system, the British period was classified as “modern” (Ali 385). Debate rages on concerning the utility and legitimacy of these labels themselves. Problems with these labels range from the connotations coupled with the word ‘medieval’ to the implications related to equating colonization and modernization. The term medieval itself is quite controversial. Historians writing in journals relating to the time period have asked whether the term is a “tyrannous construct” or an “alien conceptual hegemony” (Ali 382). This is because the label was originally developed during the study of European history to mark the period in between the fall of the Roman Empire and the fall of Constantinople.

Such classifications done by the British throughout their long rule paved the way for a more cohesive Muslim identity. In the eighteenth century, this seemed unlikely. Muslims who hailed from Afghan, Turk, Persian, or Arab roots did not find their Muslim identities especially salient. Mughal courts divided not into Hindu or Muslim factions but Persian and Turkish ones. Converts to the religion outside of courtly life, the majority of the Muslim population in the Subcontinent, too were more focused on their regional and lingual cultural identities-whether that be Bengali, Punjabi, Sindhi, or, Gujarati.