184 Claudia Preckel
Muḥsin and Muḥammad Bashīr Sahsawānī, were still able to publish
their books indicates that Ṣiddīq Ḥasan Khān’s deposition was rooted
in a conflict within the ruling family.
5. Ṣiddīq Ḥasan’s Patterns of Translation, Abridgement
and Distribution of Manuscripts and Books
After he had married Shāh Jahān Bēgum in 1871, Ṣiddīq Ḥasan Khān
actively started to buy books and manuscripts from Arab countries.
For this purpose, he sent his book agents to the most important cities
of the Islamic world, for example Cairo, Istanbul, Mecca and Medina.^73
Their duty was to gather writings by certain Arab authors like Ibn
Taymiyya, Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī (d. 1505), ʿAlī al-Qārī (d. 1606) and
al-Shawkānī. In Bhopal, the books were copied, translated into Persian
or Urdu, abridged or commentated. Some of them were simply trans-
lated and distributed in Bhopal under Ṣiddīq Ḥasan’s name. It might
be assumed that this strategy was carried out with the full approval
of Ṣiddīq Ḥasan. Ṣiddīq Ḥasan probably did not work on the manu-
scripts himself, since he conducted his official duties as the Nawwāb.
It is unrealistic to assume that he wrote his almost 300 works all by
himself. The system of patronage at that time also supported the pub-
lication of books under the name of the ruler. It must have been a great
honour for a scribe to see a work that he had translated or commentat-
ed published under the Nawwāb’s name. At the courts of the princely
states, the role of the scribes who wrote the manuscripts (in most cases
in Persian) and prepared the textbooks should not be underestimated.
Especially in Bhopal, where four printing presses existed, the scribes
held important positions.^74 Ṣiddīq Ḥasan showed great confidence in
the staff of the publishing houses in Bhopal. Thus, he also appointed
some of them his “agents” (Arabic/Urdu: nāʾib) and sent them abroad
to buy or copy Arabic manuscripts for him. Scribes even functioned
as intermediates between the indigenous (Muslim) elite and the colo-
nial power, because they often served as private secretaries of members
73 Other cities visited by his agents included Alexandria, Aden, Tunis, Bombay
(Mumbai) and Delhi. For a complete list of his visits, see Luqmān, al-Sayyid
Ṣiddīq Ḥasan al-Qannawjī, pp. 58–59.
74 For the role of scribes in South Asia, see Pollock, Sheldon I.: Literary Cultures
in History. Reconstructions from South Asia, Berkeley 2003, esp. pp. 163–165 et
passim.
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