Mr Hamza Surbuland

I am completing an MA Arts (Research) in the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute. I am interested in the study of normative Islamic political thought, Islamic history and Islamic law – specifically questions of coercion and spiritual ethics in Islamic politics. I previously graduated with a BA (Hons) in Political Science from the University of Queensland (2019).

A Historical Comparison of Maududi and Hallaq: Religion, State and Political Theology in Mughal India

This thesis examines different approaches to moral coercion and social order in Muslim political ethics. I compare Maulana Maududi’s statist Islamism paradigm with Wael Hallaq’s nonstatist Islamic governance paradigm, with reference to Mughal India. Using recent revisionist scholarship, I analyse Mughal sources in relation to religion, state and political theology. I find that Mughal political culture more closely reflects the model of ethical cultivation and religious pluralism offered by Hallaq, and thus offers a more persuasive way of understanding Muslim political practice.

Ultimately, I contend that better appreciation of Hallaq’s model offers a more thoroughly non- statist understanding of political Islam.