1. Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient
  2. Research
  3. Overview of Main Research Programme
  4. Trajectories of Lives and Knowledge
  5. Missionaries, Scholars, Politicians and Journalists: Life Trajectories and World Views of the Brothers Kheiri

Life paths and knowledge

Dr. Heike Liebau

This research centers on the intertwined lives and changing world views of the South Asian Muslims Abdul Jabbar Kheiri (1880-1958) and Abdul Sattar Kheiri (1885-1945). Originating from Delhi, the brothers carried out political, religious, journalist, pedagogical and scholarly activities in South Asia, the Middle East and Europe. By taking a comparative approach, the project focuses on their respective networks and explores the world views of the two brothers, both in their constant entanglement as well as in their individuality. Their life trajectories will be placed into a global context of political changes, crises and wars during the first half of the 20th century and related to the growing national movement in India and the partition in 1947. A major question concerns how the Kheiris positioned themselves with regard to the British Empire, Europe and Germany, and how they developed their views on the role of Islam as a religious and political category in Europe and South Asia. Another aim is to consider the reception of and reactions to their ideas, both during their life time as well as later.