Miniature Qur’ans in the First World War
Religious Comforts for Indian Muslim Soldiers
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/post.35862Keywords:
Qur’an, First World War, Indian soldiers, Muslims, religionAbstract
During the First World War Muslim soldiers from India made up a significant part of the British forces. Attempts to satisfy the soldiers' religious needs became a British strategy to maintain military discipline among the soldiers in Europe and to avoid public unease and discontent in colonial India. Based on archival material, this article examines how the British tried to identify the religious needs of the Indian soldiers and how letters written by Muslim soldiers emphasized the importance of the Qur'an. The article further explores how the Indian Soldiers' Fund became an important charity which procured and distributed miniature copies of the Qur'an and how prominent persons in India and Europe donated scriptures to Muslim soldiers. Although the soldiers' uses of the miniature scriptures remain uncertain, the books were given iconic functions to represent religion and identities in a time when the British national honour was threatened.
References
Primary sources
British Library, UK
A Report on Kitchener Indian Hospital Brighton by Col. Bruce Seton, I.M.S. 1915. Mss Eur F143/82.
General correspondence about matters relating to Indian hospitals in England, 1914–1916. Mss Eur F143/66.
Fifth Report of the Indian Soldier’s Fund, for the period 1st January, 1918, to July, 1919. Mss Eur F120/10.
Indian Mail Censor, Indian Expeditionary Force (A), France. 1915, Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France, Volume 1, June 1915–August 1915, 9 August. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/4.
John Stanley’s vouchers. 1916. 26 January. Mss Eur F120/84.
Judicial and Public Department Files. 1914. File 4031, The European War. IOR/L/PJ/6/1327.
Letter from an Oraksai Pathan (France) to a friend (India). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France, Volume 1, December 1914–April 1915, 26 February. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/1.
Letter from Abdullah Khan (France) to Haidar Shah (Campbellpore). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France. Volume 1, September 1915–October 1915, 19 September. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/6.
Letter from Akbar Khan (K.I.H., Brighton) to Hav. Yakub Khan (Jalandhar). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France. Volume 1, September 1915–October 1915, 22 September. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/6.
Letter from Ali Khan (K.I.H., Brighton) to Pawam Ali (Rawalpindi). 1915. Copies of extracts from censored Indian mails, March–June, May. Mss Eur F143/83.
Letter from Ameer Ali to Walter Lawrence. 1915. 23 March. Mss Eur F143/67.
Letter from Ashraf Khan (K.I.H, Brighton) to Mira Khan (France). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France. Volume 1, September 1915–October 1915, 10 October. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/6.
Letter from Bakhsh Khan (at the front) to Pir Sahib Lal Badshah (Jhelum). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France, Volume 1, September 1915–October 1915, 4 October. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/6.
Letter from a friend (Paharpur) to Shah Jahan Khan (France). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France, Volume 1, September 1915–October 1915, 12 September. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/6.
Letter from Firoz Khan (at the front) to Jem. Said Muhammad Khan (Jhelum). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France. Volume 1, September 1915–October 1915, 13 October. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/7.
Letter from Gulbadin (France) to Huzrat Shah (Kohat). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France, Volume 1 September 1915–October 1915, 14 September. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/6.
Letter from James Willcocks to Headquarters Indian Corps. 1915. 4 April. Mss Eur F120/15.
Letter from J.P. Hewett to Colonel Strachey, India Office. 1915. 27 August. IOR/L/MIL/7/17264.
Letter from J.P. Hewett to Pardey Lukis. 1915. 5 February. Mss Eur F120/16.
Letter from J.P. Hewett to Pardey Lukis. 1915. 18 February. Mss Eur F120/16.
Letter from J.P. Hewett to Walter Lawrence. 1915. 26 March. Mss Eur F143/67.
Letter from J.P. Hewett to Walter Lawrence. 1915. 6 April. Mss Eur 143/67.
Letter from J.P. Hewett to Walter Lawrence. 1915. 22 April. Mss Eur F143/67.
Letter from Khadim Ali (Pavilion Hospital, Brighton) to Jabar Khan (Indian Convalescent Home, Boulogne). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France, Volume 1, October 1915–November 1915, 17 October. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/7.
Letter from Major Spencer to the Under Secretary of State for India, India Office. 1915, 8 February. IOR/L/MIL/7/17264.
Letter from Maulvi Sarir Din (K.I.H., Brighton) to Razi Khan (Marseilles). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France, Volume 1, September 1915–October 1915, 2 October. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/6.
Letter from Naik Sher Muhammad Khan (Pavilion Hospital, Brighton) to Sepoy Khan Badshah (France). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France, Volume 1, October 1915–November 1915, 11 November. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/7
Letter from Nizam-ud-Din (Brighton Pavilion) to a friend (Punjab). 1915. Copies of extracts from censored Indian mails, March–June 1915, 28 April. Mss Eur F143/83.
Letters from officers of the Indian Soldiers’ Fund, subcommittee of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, mainly about providing comforts for Indian hospitals, 1914–1915. Mss Eur F143/67.
Letter from Palak Khan (K.I.H., Brighton) to Zawar Khan (South Waziristan). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France. Volume 1, September 1915–October 1915, 23 September. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/6.
Letter from Pardey Lukis to J.P. Hewett. 1914. 4 February. Mss Eur 120/16.
Letter from Pardey Lukis to the Secretary to the Government of India, Army Department. 27 January. IOR/L/MIL/7/17264.
Letter from P.D. Agnew to the Under Secretary of State of India. 1915. 22 March. IOR/L/MIL/7/17264.
Letter from P.D. Agnew to the Assistant Military Secretary, India Office. 1915. 15 March. IOR/L/MIL/7/17264.
Letter from Raba-ud-Din (hospital in England) to his uncle (France). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France, Vol. 1, Apr 1915–May 1915, 23 April. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/3.
Letter from Rahm Ali Khan (Lady Hardinge Hospital, Brockenhurst) to Choudhri Khan. 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France, Volume 2, December 1915–Jan 1916, 30 December. IOR/L/MIL/5/826/1.
Letter from Sabir Din (K.I.H., Brighton) to Hafiz Sadir Din (at the front). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France. Volume 1, September 1915–October 1915, 22 September. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/6.
Letter from Said Ali to Faqir Khan (Egypt). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France, Volume 1, October 1915–November 1915, 5 October. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/7.
Letter from Shah Nawaz Khan (at the front) to Doctor Sahib Khan (Pavilion Hospital, Brighton). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France. Volume 1, September 1915–October 1915, 22 October. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/7.
Letter from Sohbat Khan (K.I.H., Brighton) to Sabar Amin (Boulogne). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France. Volume 1, September 1915–October 1915, 28 October. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/7.
Letter from Sub. Mir Dast (K.I.H., Brighton) to Jem Yar Guhlam (France). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France. Volume 1, September 1915–October 1915, 14 October. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/6.
Letter from Sub. Mir Dast (K.I.H., Brighton) to Sepoy Abdul Rahim (France). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France. Volume 1, October 1915–November 1915, 16 October. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/7.
Letter from Sultan Jahan of Bhopal to Major R.J. Blackhan, C.I.E., V.H.S. Joint Secretary, St. John Ambulance Association, Delhi. 1915. 19 January. IOR/L/MIL/7/17264.
Letter from Talib Husain (Ind. Mil. Depot, Milford) to Abuzar Khan (at the front), 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France, Volume 1, September 1915–Oct 1915, 24 September. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/6.
Letter from the Indian Soldiers’ Fund to Walter Lawrence. 1915. 2 February. Mss Eur F143/67.
Letter from unknown Pathan (at the front) to Sepoy Bahram Khan (hospital in England). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France. Volume 1, September1915–October 1915, 31 October. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/7.
Letter from Viceroy Hardinge to Walter Lawrence. 1915. 14 April. Mss Eur F143/73
Letter from Viceroy Hardinge to Walter Lawrence. 1915. 8 June. Mss Eur F143/73.
Letter from Viceroy Hardinge to Walter Lawrence. 1915. 14 September. Mss Eur F143/73.
Letter from Waris Khan (at the front) to Pir Sahib Mehr Ali Shah (Golra, Rawalpindi). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France. Volume 1, September 1915–Oct 1915, 20 September. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/6.
Meeting of the General Committee. 1915. Proceeding of the General Committee, Book No. 1, Indian Soldiers’ Fund. 6 January. Mss Eur F120/1.
Meeting of the General Committee. 1915. Proceedings of the General Committee, Book No. 1, Indian Soldiers’ Fund. 17 February. Mss Eur F120/1.
Meeting of the General Committee. 1915. Proceedings of the General Committee, Book No. 1, Indian Soldiers’ Fund. 3 March. Mss Eur F120/1.
Meeting of the General Committee. 4 April 1915. Proceedings of the General Committee, Book No. 1, Indian Soldiers’ Fund. Mss Eur F120/1.
Meeting of the General Committee. 1915. Proceedings of the General Committee, Book No. 2, Indian Soldiers’ Fund. 18 August. Mss Eur F120/2.
Meeting of the General Committee. 1915. Proceedings of the General Committee, Book No. 2, Indian Soldiers’ Fund. 20 October. Mss Eur F120/2.
Order book No. 1. 1916. Indian Soldiers’ Fund. 29 December. Mss Eur F120/46.
Report about the Pavilion Hospital by Major C.L. Williams. 1915–1916. Mss Eur F143/81.
Report from John Hewett of the Convalescent Depots after his visit to the front in France. 1915. 27 July. Mss Eur F143/67.
Report from Walter Lawrence to Kitchener. 1915. 21 July. Mss Eur F143/65.
Report from Walter Lawrence to the Secretary of State for War, Arrangements made for Indian Sick and Wounded in England and France. 1916. 8 March. Mss Eur F143/65.
Report of the First Six Months’ Work [Indian Soldiers’ Fund], for the period 1st October, 1914, to 31st March, 1915. 1915. Mss Eur F120/6.
Report of the Ladies’ Committee, report by Gertrude A. Brailey. 1916. Indian Gift House, Brighton. Mss Eur F143/81.
Second Report of the Indian Soldiers’ Fund, for the period 1st April, 1915, to 20th November, 1915. 1915. Mss Eur F120/7.
Telegram for the Viceroy. 1915. 6 March. IOR/L/MIL/7/17264.
Telegram from the Viceroy. 1915. 30 January. Mss Eur F120/16.
The Lady Hardinge Hospital, report by Lt. Colonel F.F. Perry. 1916. Mss Eur F120/14.
Third Report of the Indian Soldiers’ Fund, for the period 21st November, 1915, to 30th November, 1916. 1916. Mss Eur F120/8.
British Newspaper Archive, UK
Birmingham Daily Post. 1915. “A Mission Hospital in Turkey.” 26 October.
Birmingham Daily Post. 1915. “The King and the Indian Army.” 29 December.
The Burnley News. 1915. “Turks’ Terrible Losses.” 11 September.
Cambridge Independent Press. 1910. “Cambridge Moslim Association.” 17 June.
Daily Record. 1914. “Begum of Bhopal.” 21 October.
Dundee Courier. 1914. “Indian Chief’s Loyalty and Devotion.” 12 November.
East Anglian Daily Times. 1909. “Mr. Ameer Ali and the Privy Council.” 10 December.
Edinburgh Evening. 1915. “Waistcoat Pocket Korans.” 8 October.
Evening Express. 1915. “Waistcoat Pocket Korans.” 13 October.
The Graphic. 1915. “His Majesty’s Moslem Subjects in England: The Woking Gathering for the Eid-ul-Fatr Festival.” 27 August.
Liverpool Daily Post. 1915. “From India’s Coral Strand.” 12 April.
The Liverpool Echo. 1915. “Koran Distributed to Raise Morale of Turks.” 10 September.
Surrey Mirror. 1915. “The Hospital Ship ‘Loyalty’.” 12 January.
The Sphere. 1916. “Wounded Indians in France and England.” Newspaper-cuttings relating to the First World War. 26 February.
The Sphere. 1915. “Sacred Books of the East for Indian Soldiers.” 30 October.
Wellington Journal. 1908. “Indian Moslems.” 9 May.
Western Mail. 1915. “Princely Gifts.” 12 April.
Other
The Moslem World: A Quarterly Review of Current Events Literature, and Thought among Mohammedans and the Progress of Christian Missions in Moslem Lands. 1916. “The Koran at the Front for Moslem Troops.” Volume VI. Number 1. London: The Nile Mission Press.
The Publishers’ Circular and Booksellers’ Record. 1915. “‘The Koran’ at the Front: A Glasgow Edition Welcome by Our Moslem Troops,” Volume 103 (July to December). London: Office of thePublishers’ Circular.
Secondary sources
Authority of the Government of India. 1923. India’s Contribution to the Great War. Calcutta: Superintendent Government Printing.
Basu, Shrabani. 2015. For King and Another Country: Indian Soldiers on the Western Front, 1914–1918. New Delhi: Bloomsbury.
Delacour, J. 1956. “Obituaries: Alfred Ezra.” Ibis 98: 135–136.
Gardet, L. 2012. “Du???.” In Encyclopaedia of Islam, edited by P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and W.P. Heinrichs. http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/dua-COM_0195
Her Highness Nawab Sultan Jehan Begum. 1926. Hayat-I-ShahJehan: Life of Her Highness the Late Nawab ShahJehan Begum of Bhopal, C.I., G.C.S.I. (Translated by B. Ghosal). Bombay: The Times Press.
India and the War, with an Introduction by Lord Sydenham of Combe, 1915. London: Hodder and Stoughton.
Leigh, M.S. 1922. The Punjab and the War. Lahore: Superintendent, Government Printing.
Morton Jack, George. 2006. “The Indian Army on the Western Front, 1914–1915: A Portrait of Collaboration.” War in History 13(3): 329–362. https://doi.org/10.1191/0968344506wh344oa
Omissi, David E. 2012. “Sikh Soldiers in Europe During the First World War, 1914–1918.” In Sikhs Across Borders: Transnational Practices of European Sikhs, edited by Knut A. Jacobsen and Kristina Myrvold, 36–50. London: Bloomsbury.
———. 2007. “Europe Through Indian Eyes: Indian Soldiers Encounter England and France, 1914–1918.” English Historical Review 122(496): 371–396. https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/cem004
———. 1999. Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldiers’ Letters, 1914–1918. Basingstoke: Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-27283-9
———. 1998. “‘Martial Races’: Ethnicity and Security in Colonial India 1858–1939.” In Recruiting, Drafting and Enlisting: Two Sides of the Raising of Military Forces, edited by Peter Karsten, 101–128. New York: Routledge.
———. 1994. The Sepoy and the Raj: The Indian Army, 1860–1940. London: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-14768-7
Pati, Budheswar. 1996. India and the First World War. New Delhi: Atlantic.
Patiala and the Great War: A Brief History of the Services of the Premier Punjab States. 1923. London: Medici Society.
Robinson, Catherine. 2015. “Indian Soldiers on the Western Front: The Role of Religion in the Indian Army in the Great War.” Religions of South Asia 9(1): 43–63. https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.v9i1.23964
———. 1996. “Neither East nor West: Some Aspects of Religion and Ritual in the Indian Army of the Raj.” Religion 26: 37–47. https://doi.org/10.1006/reli.1996.0003
Roy, Kaushik. 2013. “Race and Recruitment in the Indian Army: 1880–1918.” Modern Asian Studies 47(4): 1310–1347. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X12000431
Roy, Kaushik, ed. 2011. The Indian Army in the Two World Wars. History of Warfare Number 70. Leiden: Brill.
Sastri, V.S. Srinivasa. 1916. Self-Government for India under the British Flag. Allahabad: Servants of Indian Society.
Tai-Yong, Tan. 2005. The Garrison State: Military Government and Society in Colonial Punjab, 1849–1947. London: Sage.
Van Osselaer, Tine. 2014. “Missing in Action? Religion in the Great War: A Historiographical Survey of Belgium and the Netherlands.” Trajecta 23: 239–254.
Van Koski, S. 1995. “Letters Home, 1915–16: Punjabi Soldiers Reflect on War and Life in Europe and Their Meanings for Home and Self.” International Journal of Punjab Studies 2(1): 43–63.
Visram, Rozina. 2016. Ayahs, Lascars and Princes: The Story of Indians in Britain 1700–1947. New York: Routledge.
The War Office. 1922. Statistics of the Military Effort of the British Empire during the Great War. London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office.
Watts, James W. 2006. “The Three Dimensions of Scriptures.” Postscripts: The Journal of Sacred Texts and Contemporary Worlds 2(2–3): 135–159.
British Library, UK
A Report on Kitchener Indian Hospital Brighton by Col. Bruce Seton, I.M.S. 1915. Mss Eur F143/82.
General correspondence about matters relating to Indian hospitals in England, 1914–1916. Mss Eur F143/66.
Fifth Report of the Indian Soldier’s Fund, for the period 1st January, 1918, to July, 1919. Mss Eur F120/10.
Indian Mail Censor, Indian Expeditionary Force (A), France. 1915, Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France, Volume 1, June 1915–August 1915, 9 August. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/4.
John Stanley’s vouchers. 1916. 26 January. Mss Eur F120/84.
Judicial and Public Department Files. 1914. File 4031, The European War. IOR/L/PJ/6/1327.
Letter from an Oraksai Pathan (France) to a friend (India). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France, Volume 1, December 1914–April 1915, 26 February. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/1.
Letter from Abdullah Khan (France) to Haidar Shah (Campbellpore). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France. Volume 1, September 1915–October 1915, 19 September. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/6.
Letter from Akbar Khan (K.I.H., Brighton) to Hav. Yakub Khan (Jalandhar). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France. Volume 1, September 1915–October 1915, 22 September. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/6.
Letter from Ali Khan (K.I.H., Brighton) to Pawam Ali (Rawalpindi). 1915. Copies of extracts from censored Indian mails, March–June, May. Mss Eur F143/83.
Letter from Ameer Ali to Walter Lawrence. 1915. 23 March. Mss Eur F143/67.
Letter from Ashraf Khan (K.I.H, Brighton) to Mira Khan (France). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France. Volume 1, September 1915–October 1915, 10 October. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/6.
Letter from Bakhsh Khan (at the front) to Pir Sahib Lal Badshah (Jhelum). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France, Volume 1, September 1915–October 1915, 4 October. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/6.
Letter from a friend (Paharpur) to Shah Jahan Khan (France). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France, Volume 1, September 1915–October 1915, 12 September. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/6.
Letter from Firoz Khan (at the front) to Jem. Said Muhammad Khan (Jhelum). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France. Volume 1, September 1915–October 1915, 13 October. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/7.
Letter from Gulbadin (France) to Huzrat Shah (Kohat). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France, Volume 1 September 1915–October 1915, 14 September. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/6.
Letter from James Willcocks to Headquarters Indian Corps. 1915. 4 April. Mss Eur F120/15.
Letter from J.P. Hewett to Colonel Strachey, India Office. 1915. 27 August. IOR/L/MIL/7/17264.
Letter from J.P. Hewett to Pardey Lukis. 1915. 5 February. Mss Eur F120/16.
Letter from J.P. Hewett to Pardey Lukis. 1915. 18 February. Mss Eur F120/16.
Letter from J.P. Hewett to Walter Lawrence. 1915. 26 March. Mss Eur F143/67.
Letter from J.P. Hewett to Walter Lawrence. 1915. 6 April. Mss Eur 143/67.
Letter from J.P. Hewett to Walter Lawrence. 1915. 22 April. Mss Eur F143/67.
Letter from Khadim Ali (Pavilion Hospital, Brighton) to Jabar Khan (Indian Convalescent Home, Boulogne). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France, Volume 1, October 1915–November 1915, 17 October. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/7.
Letter from Major Spencer to the Under Secretary of State for India, India Office. 1915, 8 February. IOR/L/MIL/7/17264.
Letter from Maulvi Sarir Din (K.I.H., Brighton) to Razi Khan (Marseilles). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France, Volume 1, September 1915–October 1915, 2 October. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/6.
Letter from Naik Sher Muhammad Khan (Pavilion Hospital, Brighton) to Sepoy Khan Badshah (France). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France, Volume 1, October 1915–November 1915, 11 November. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/7
Letter from Nizam-ud-Din (Brighton Pavilion) to a friend (Punjab). 1915. Copies of extracts from censored Indian mails, March–June 1915, 28 April. Mss Eur F143/83.
Letters from officers of the Indian Soldiers’ Fund, subcommittee of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, mainly about providing comforts for Indian hospitals, 1914–1915. Mss Eur F143/67.
Letter from Palak Khan (K.I.H., Brighton) to Zawar Khan (South Waziristan). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France. Volume 1, September 1915–October 1915, 23 September. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/6.
Letter from Pardey Lukis to J.P. Hewett. 1914. 4 February. Mss Eur 120/16.
Letter from Pardey Lukis to the Secretary to the Government of India, Army Department. 27 January. IOR/L/MIL/7/17264.
Letter from P.D. Agnew to the Under Secretary of State of India. 1915. 22 March. IOR/L/MIL/7/17264.
Letter from P.D. Agnew to the Assistant Military Secretary, India Office. 1915. 15 March. IOR/L/MIL/7/17264.
Letter from Raba-ud-Din (hospital in England) to his uncle (France). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France, Vol. 1, Apr 1915–May 1915, 23 April. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/3.
Letter from Rahm Ali Khan (Lady Hardinge Hospital, Brockenhurst) to Choudhri Khan. 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France, Volume 2, December 1915–Jan 1916, 30 December. IOR/L/MIL/5/826/1.
Letter from Sabir Din (K.I.H., Brighton) to Hafiz Sadir Din (at the front). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France. Volume 1, September 1915–October 1915, 22 September. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/6.
Letter from Said Ali to Faqir Khan (Egypt). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France, Volume 1, October 1915–November 1915, 5 October. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/7.
Letter from Shah Nawaz Khan (at the front) to Doctor Sahib Khan (Pavilion Hospital, Brighton). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France. Volume 1, September 1915–October 1915, 22 October. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/7.
Letter from Sohbat Khan (K.I.H., Brighton) to Sabar Amin (Boulogne). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France. Volume 1, September 1915–October 1915, 28 October. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/7.
Letter from Sub. Mir Dast (K.I.H., Brighton) to Jem Yar Guhlam (France). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France. Volume 1, September 1915–October 1915, 14 October. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/6.
Letter from Sub. Mir Dast (K.I.H., Brighton) to Sepoy Abdul Rahim (France). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France. Volume 1, October 1915–November 1915, 16 October. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/7.
Letter from Sultan Jahan of Bhopal to Major R.J. Blackhan, C.I.E., V.H.S. Joint Secretary, St. John Ambulance Association, Delhi. 1915. 19 January. IOR/L/MIL/7/17264.
Letter from Talib Husain (Ind. Mil. Depot, Milford) to Abuzar Khan (at the front), 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France, Volume 1, September 1915–Oct 1915, 24 September. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/6.
Letter from the Indian Soldiers’ Fund to Walter Lawrence. 1915. 2 February. Mss Eur F143/67.
Letter from unknown Pathan (at the front) to Sepoy Bahram Khan (hospital in England). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France. Volume 1, September1915–October 1915, 31 October. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/7.
Letter from Viceroy Hardinge to Walter Lawrence. 1915. 14 April. Mss Eur F143/73
Letter from Viceroy Hardinge to Walter Lawrence. 1915. 8 June. Mss Eur F143/73.
Letter from Viceroy Hardinge to Walter Lawrence. 1915. 14 September. Mss Eur F143/73.
Letter from Waris Khan (at the front) to Pir Sahib Mehr Ali Shah (Golra, Rawalpindi). 1915. Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France. Volume 1, September 1915–Oct 1915, 20 September. IOR/L/MIL/5/825/6.
Meeting of the General Committee. 1915. Proceeding of the General Committee, Book No. 1, Indian Soldiers’ Fund. 6 January. Mss Eur F120/1.
Meeting of the General Committee. 1915. Proceedings of the General Committee, Book No. 1, Indian Soldiers’ Fund. 17 February. Mss Eur F120/1.
Meeting of the General Committee. 1915. Proceedings of the General Committee, Book No. 1, Indian Soldiers’ Fund. 3 March. Mss Eur F120/1.
Meeting of the General Committee. 4 April 1915. Proceedings of the General Committee, Book No. 1, Indian Soldiers’ Fund. Mss Eur F120/1.
Meeting of the General Committee. 1915. Proceedings of the General Committee, Book No. 2, Indian Soldiers’ Fund. 18 August. Mss Eur F120/2.
Meeting of the General Committee. 1915. Proceedings of the General Committee, Book No. 2, Indian Soldiers’ Fund. 20 October. Mss Eur F120/2.
Order book No. 1. 1916. Indian Soldiers’ Fund. 29 December. Mss Eur F120/46.
Report about the Pavilion Hospital by Major C.L. Williams. 1915–1916. Mss Eur F143/81.
Report from John Hewett of the Convalescent Depots after his visit to the front in France. 1915. 27 July. Mss Eur F143/67.
Report from Walter Lawrence to Kitchener. 1915. 21 July. Mss Eur F143/65.
Report from Walter Lawrence to the Secretary of State for War, Arrangements made for Indian Sick and Wounded in England and France. 1916. 8 March. Mss Eur F143/65.
Report of the First Six Months’ Work [Indian Soldiers’ Fund], for the period 1st October, 1914, to 31st March, 1915. 1915. Mss Eur F120/6.
Report of the Ladies’ Committee, report by Gertrude A. Brailey. 1916. Indian Gift House, Brighton. Mss Eur F143/81.
Second Report of the Indian Soldiers’ Fund, for the period 1st April, 1915, to 20th November, 1915. 1915. Mss Eur F120/7.
Telegram for the Viceroy. 1915. 6 March. IOR/L/MIL/7/17264.
Telegram from the Viceroy. 1915. 30 January. Mss Eur F120/16.
The Lady Hardinge Hospital, report by Lt. Colonel F.F. Perry. 1916. Mss Eur F120/14.
Third Report of the Indian Soldiers’ Fund, for the period 21st November, 1915, to 30th November, 1916. 1916. Mss Eur F120/8.
British Newspaper Archive, UK
Birmingham Daily Post. 1915. “A Mission Hospital in Turkey.” 26 October.
Birmingham Daily Post. 1915. “The King and the Indian Army.” 29 December.
The Burnley News. 1915. “Turks’ Terrible Losses.” 11 September.
Cambridge Independent Press. 1910. “Cambridge Moslim Association.” 17 June.
Daily Record. 1914. “Begum of Bhopal.” 21 October.
Dundee Courier. 1914. “Indian Chief’s Loyalty and Devotion.” 12 November.
East Anglian Daily Times. 1909. “Mr. Ameer Ali and the Privy Council.” 10 December.
Edinburgh Evening. 1915. “Waistcoat Pocket Korans.” 8 October.
Evening Express. 1915. “Waistcoat Pocket Korans.” 13 October.
The Graphic. 1915. “His Majesty’s Moslem Subjects in England: The Woking Gathering for the Eid-ul-Fatr Festival.” 27 August.
Liverpool Daily Post. 1915. “From India’s Coral Strand.” 12 April.
The Liverpool Echo. 1915. “Koran Distributed to Raise Morale of Turks.” 10 September.
Surrey Mirror. 1915. “The Hospital Ship ‘Loyalty’.” 12 January.
The Sphere. 1916. “Wounded Indians in France and England.” Newspaper-cuttings relating to the First World War. 26 February.
The Sphere. 1915. “Sacred Books of the East for Indian Soldiers.” 30 October.
Wellington Journal. 1908. “Indian Moslems.” 9 May.
Western Mail. 1915. “Princely Gifts.” 12 April.
Other
The Moslem World: A Quarterly Review of Current Events Literature, and Thought among Mohammedans and the Progress of Christian Missions in Moslem Lands. 1916. “The Koran at the Front for Moslem Troops.” Volume VI. Number 1. London: The Nile Mission Press.
The Publishers’ Circular and Booksellers’ Record. 1915. “‘The Koran’ at the Front: A Glasgow Edition Welcome by Our Moslem Troops,” Volume 103 (July to December). London: Office of thePublishers’ Circular.
Secondary sources
Authority of the Government of India. 1923. India’s Contribution to the Great War. Calcutta: Superintendent Government Printing.
Basu, Shrabani. 2015. For King and Another Country: Indian Soldiers on the Western Front, 1914–1918. New Delhi: Bloomsbury.
Delacour, J. 1956. “Obituaries: Alfred Ezra.” Ibis 98: 135–136.
Gardet, L. 2012. “Du???.” In Encyclopaedia of Islam, edited by P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and W.P. Heinrichs. http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/dua-COM_0195
Her Highness Nawab Sultan Jehan Begum. 1926. Hayat-I-ShahJehan: Life of Her Highness the Late Nawab ShahJehan Begum of Bhopal, C.I., G.C.S.I. (Translated by B. Ghosal). Bombay: The Times Press.
India and the War, with an Introduction by Lord Sydenham of Combe, 1915. London: Hodder and Stoughton.
Leigh, M.S. 1922. The Punjab and the War. Lahore: Superintendent, Government Printing.
Morton Jack, George. 2006. “The Indian Army on the Western Front, 1914–1915: A Portrait of Collaboration.” War in History 13(3): 329–362. https://doi.org/10.1191/0968344506wh344oa
Omissi, David E. 2012. “Sikh Soldiers in Europe During the First World War, 1914–1918.” In Sikhs Across Borders: Transnational Practices of European Sikhs, edited by Knut A. Jacobsen and Kristina Myrvold, 36–50. London: Bloomsbury.
———. 2007. “Europe Through Indian Eyes: Indian Soldiers Encounter England and France, 1914–1918.” English Historical Review 122(496): 371–396. https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/cem004
———. 1999. Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldiers’ Letters, 1914–1918. Basingstoke: Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-27283-9
———. 1998. “‘Martial Races’: Ethnicity and Security in Colonial India 1858–1939.” In Recruiting, Drafting and Enlisting: Two Sides of the Raising of Military Forces, edited by Peter Karsten, 101–128. New York: Routledge.
———. 1994. The Sepoy and the Raj: The Indian Army, 1860–1940. London: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-14768-7
Pati, Budheswar. 1996. India and the First World War. New Delhi: Atlantic.
Patiala and the Great War: A Brief History of the Services of the Premier Punjab States. 1923. London: Medici Society.
Robinson, Catherine. 2015. “Indian Soldiers on the Western Front: The Role of Religion in the Indian Army in the Great War.” Religions of South Asia 9(1): 43–63. https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.v9i1.23964
———. 1996. “Neither East nor West: Some Aspects of Religion and Ritual in the Indian Army of the Raj.” Religion 26: 37–47. https://doi.org/10.1006/reli.1996.0003
Roy, Kaushik. 2013. “Race and Recruitment in the Indian Army: 1880–1918.” Modern Asian Studies 47(4): 1310–1347. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X12000431
Roy, Kaushik, ed. 2011. The Indian Army in the Two World Wars. History of Warfare Number 70. Leiden: Brill.
Sastri, V.S. Srinivasa. 1916. Self-Government for India under the British Flag. Allahabad: Servants of Indian Society.
Tai-Yong, Tan. 2005. The Garrison State: Military Government and Society in Colonial Punjab, 1849–1947. London: Sage.
Van Osselaer, Tine. 2014. “Missing in Action? Religion in the Great War: A Historiographical Survey of Belgium and the Netherlands.” Trajecta 23: 239–254.
Van Koski, S. 1995. “Letters Home, 1915–16: Punjabi Soldiers Reflect on War and Life in Europe and Their Meanings for Home and Self.” International Journal of Punjab Studies 2(1): 43–63.
Visram, Rozina. 2016. Ayahs, Lascars and Princes: The Story of Indians in Britain 1700–1947. New York: Routledge.
The War Office. 1922. Statistics of the Military Effort of the British Empire during the Great War. London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office.
Watts, James W. 2006. “The Three Dimensions of Scriptures.” Postscripts: The Journal of Sacred Texts and Contemporary Worlds 2(2–3): 135–159.
Published
2019-03-26
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Myrvold, K., & Johansson, A. (2019). Miniature Qur’ans in the First World War: Religious Comforts for Indian Muslim Soldiers. Postscripts: The Journal of Sacred Texts, Cultural Histories, and Contemporary Contexts, 9(2-3), 194-221. https://doi.org/10.1558/post.35862
