Oudh Bequest

The Oudh Bequest is a waqf[1] which led to the gradual transfer of more than six million rupees from the Indian kingdom of Oudh (Awadh) to the Shia holy cities of Najaf and Karbala between 1850 and 1903.[2] The bequest first reached the cities in 1850.[3] It was distributed by two mujtahids, one from each city. The British later gradually took over the bequest and its distribution; according to scholars, they intended to use it as a "power lever" to influence Iranian ulama and Shia.[4] The attempts by the British to disburse the Oudh Bequest was one of the principle causes of the rise of the Society of Islamic Revival in 1918.[5]

  1. ^ Algar, Hamid (January 1980). Religion and State in Iran, 1785–1906: The Role of the Ulama in the Qajar Period. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520041004. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  2. ^ Litvak, Meir (1 January 2001). "Money, Religion, and Politics: The Oudh Bequest in Najaf and Karbala', 1850–1903". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 33 (1): 1–21. doi:10.1017/S0020743801001015. JSTOR 259477. S2CID 155865344.
  3. ^ Nakash, Yitzhak (16 February 2003). The Shi'is of Iraq. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691115753. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Meir3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Tripp, Charles (2007). A History of Iraq. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. 30–59.