Sharīʿa translated? Persian documents in English courts

Abstract

In the Mughal empire of South Asia (16th-19th centuries), the majority of people encountered law in the form of Persian-language legal documents, including documents recording orders, transactions, and the adjudication of disputes. Distinct from Arabic and Sanskrit-language jurisprudential texts, such documents offer us insights into the everyday landscape of law in an Islamic empire where Muslims were not in the majority. Persian documents also formed a key locus for European traders encountering law in early modern South Asia, in their quest for trade deals and tax relief. When the English East India Company acquired political power, Persian-language legal documents in familiar and novel forms continued to be produced, acquired and presented as evidence in the colonial courts. Using the concept of legal translation, this article argues that Persian legal documents from Mughal and colonial South Asia offer us opportunities for studying how sharīʿa was localized, not once, but twice, in the landmass at the centre of the Indian Ocean world.