State Formation and the Establishment of Non-Muslim Hegemony

<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: justify;">Explores one of the most crucial factors </span><span style="text-align: justify;">leading to the non-Islamic paradigm in </span><span style="text-align: justify;">the political and social fabric of </span><span style="text-align: justify;">Punjab—the emergence of a Sikh ‘space’ </span><span style="text-align: justify;">from the time of advent of the gurus.</span><br style="text-align: justify;" /> <br style="text-align: justify;" /> <span style="text-align: justify;">This book examines the Punjab state under Maharaja </span><span style="text-align: justify;">Ranjit Singh and his rightful domination over the </span><span style="text-align: justify;">majority Muslim subjects.</span><br style="text-align: justify;" /> <br style="text-align: justify;" /> <span style="text-align: justify;">The conversion of Punjabis both from Hindu and </span><span style="text-align: justify;">Muslim backgrounds to Sikhism began to create </span><span style="text-align: justify;">problems for the Muslim elites in Punjab, even though </span><span style="text-align: justify;">Muslim and Sikh leaderships engaged with each other. </span><span style="text-align: justify;">The book traces how Ranjit Singh derived legitimacy </span><span style="text-align: justify;">from Muslim subjects in five crucial areas of </span><span style="text-align: justify;">governance: religion, justice, army, agrarian policy and </span><span style="text-align: justify;">the formation of new Muslim elites.</span><br /> <br /> </p>