Ebook: Ashraf into middle classes : Muslims in nineteenth-century Delhi

This study takes religion not as a given but asks about the universe of alternative identities - gender, territorial, class, descent, and language, which all shape a person's sense of belonging to a specific community. It also considers the development of the middle classes, the ashraf, as they began to distinguish themselves not only from commoners but also from the nobility who were held responsible for the disaster of 1857.