An Academic Review of The Muhammad Avatāra: Salvation History, Translation, and the Making of Bengali Islam by Ayesha A. Irani

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An Academic Review of The Muhammad Avatāra: Salvation History, Translation, and the Making of Bengali Islam by Ayesha A. Irani

SK. Umar Farooq
Dec 31, 2025 - 23:24
Updated: Jan 1, 2026 - 11:54

I Introduction: Framing a New Prophetology for Bengal

Book and Author: A Preliminary Contextualization

The book The Muhammad Avatāra: Salvation History, Translation, and the Making of Bengali Islam is a very significant academic work by Ayesha A. Irani, a prominent scholar with an interest in early modern Indo-Islamic literatures of Bengal and Arakan.¹ Published by Oxford University Press, this monograph is an analysis of the Nabīvaṃśa, a foundational Bengali epic from the 17th century.³ The author of this scholarly work, Ayesha A. Irani, is an Associate Professor of Asian Studies at the University of Massachusetts-Boston and holds a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania.¹ Her background as a specialist in this niche field underscores the academic nature of the book and distinguishes it from popular or non-academic discourse.

The Thesis of Nabīvaṃśa: A Literary Watershed in Vernacular Islam

At its core, Irani's book argues that Saiyad Sultan's Nabīvaṃśa is a literary milestone that fundamentally shaped the history of Islam in Bengal.³ Rather than as being a polemical treatise, the text represents a watershed moment in the multi-ethnic and cultural history of Islam by articulating Islamic ideas in a regional language, Bangla or Bengali, for the first time.³ This act of creative vernacularization was a deliberate effort by Sufi and pir-authors to disobey the linguistic hegemony of the Muslim elites, for whom Arabic and Persian were the canonical languages of religious discourse.⁴ The work therefore makes a significant contribution not only to the rich literary corpus of Bengal but also to a deeper understanding of how Islam became localized and rooted in the Indic culture of the early modern period.⁴ Irani's study is a "text-critical" analysis that reveals the sophisticated strategies of translation and adaptation used by this prominent Bengali intellectual to invite others to his faith.⁴

II. The Text, The Author, and The Setting

The Rise of Vernacular Literature and the Challenge to Linguistic Hegemony

The advent of Islam in Bengal brought with it a new set of religious concepts and a linguistic barrier. For centuries, the religious elite relied on Arabic and Persian texts, which were inaccessible to the vast majority of the local population.³ This created a linguistic cordon that separated elite Islam from the masses. The emergence of vernacular Islamic literature in Bangla from the sixteenth century onwards, as exemplified by the Nabīvaṃśa, was a powerful counter-movement. It was an act of both literary and religious rebellion by "pir-authors" and "rebel writers" who sought to make Islamic teachings comprehensible to the Bengali-speaking people.⁷ This literary shift was foundational to the process of Islamization, providing a medium through which the new faith could be articulated in a culturally resonant manner, ultimately allowing an Arabian prophet and his religion to inhabit the seventeenth-century Bengali landscape.⁴

Saiyad Sultan and the Role of the Pir-Author

Saiyad Sultan was a pivotal figure in this literary movement. His role as a pir-author—a mystic guide who also composed literary works—was central to the rooting of Islam in Bengal's easternmost regions.³ The success of this approach is closely tied to the socio-religious conditions of medieval Bengal. Sufi saints and their mystic orders played a dominant role in the spread of Islam by adopting a compassionate and egalitarian approach that stood in stark contrast to the hierarchical social stratification and caste system prevalent at the time.¹¹ The Sufis' liberal views and focus on brotherhood, love, and spirituality attracted non-Muslims, particularly those from lower castes who were socially and spiritually marginalized ¹²

The pre-existing Hindu relationship of guru-chela (teacher-disciple) found a natural parallel in the Islamic pir-muridi (mystic guide-disciple) tradition, which facilitated a deep sense of familiarity and trust.¹⁴ This cultural resonance, combined with the Sufis' practical contributions such as land clearing for agriculture and the establishment of khanqahs (spiritual hospices), created such an environment where the mystical and spiritual aspects of Islam could flourish.¹² In this context, the Pir-author's kind literary work was not merely an artistic work but an important tool of religious dissemination and community formation, translating abstract Islamic tenets into a relatable, local framework.

Historical and Religious Landscape of 17th-Century Bengal

The seventeenth century in Bengal was characterized by a rich atmosphere of religious and cultural syncretism.¹¹ This period saw the coexistence and blending of Hindu and Muslim beliefs and practices, often reflected in shared worship of figures like the pirs.¹³ The religious terrain was complex, with multiple faiths vying for influence. Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava missionary activity, in particular, was at its zenith, while the influence of Buddhists was in decline.¹¹ This created a unique challenge for Saiyad Sultan: how to articulate the pre-eminence of Islam and its Arabian prophet in a land where monotheism was not the only religious paradigm and where multiple religious affiliations were the norm.¹⁰ The Nabīvaṃśa directly addresses this challenge by engaging with and selectively appropriating elements from the local religious landscape, rather than merely introducing a foreign faith.

III. Interpreting the Prophet: The Avatara as a Hermeneutic Strategy

The Concept of Avatara in a Syncretic Framework

The central and most sensitive aspect of Irani's book is its examination of how the Nabīvaṃśa interprets the prophetic personality of Prophet Muhammad through the avatara concept.³ It is essential to understand that this is not a contemporary theological debate but an academic analysis of a historical literary ideology. The book reveals that Saiyad Sultan's use of the term avatara, which in Hindu tradition refers to the descent of a deity into a mortal form, was a sophisticated strategy of translation and transculturation.⁴ The poet used this familiar contribution to make the unique nature of the Prophet Muhammad intelligible to the Bengali people. By presenting Muhammad as a figure with a cosmic, divinely ordained role, akin to a heroic or sacred descent, Saiyad Sultan constructed a hermeneutic model that resonated deeply with the local populace. This approach allowed the Nabīvaṃśa to invite its readers to the faith by drawing parallels to a religious worldview they already understood, demonstrating that a new faith did not require a total rupture with their cultural past.¹⁹

The Prophet of Light and Love: Nūr Muhammad as an Ontological Principle

The Nabīvaṃśa's explanation of the Prophet's personality is not limited to the avatara concept alone; it is also deeply rooted in the Sufi philosophy of Nūr Muhammad, or the "Light of Muhammad".¹⁰ This theological principle posits the Prophet's essence as a pre-eternal, cosmos light, the first creation of God, from which all other things were created. In the Nabīvaṃśa, this concept of the Prophet as the "ontological principle of light and love" serves as a powerful bridge between Islamic prophetology and the Bengali cosmos.¹⁰ This portrayal of the Prophet as a main, divine, crucial aligns with a mystical and spiritual understanding of creation and existence that would have been more accessible to a populace steeped in Sufi and other esoteric traditions.²⁰ The narrative shows that in his very spiritual core, the Prophet combined the essences of all previous prophets and sacred figures, providing a compelling justification for his role as the final and most detailed of messengers.²⁰

Descriptive Thematic Elements in Saiyad Sultan’s Nabīvaṃśa

Irani's book provides a detailed analysis of how the Nabīvaṃśa constructs an "Indo-Islamic Salvation History for Bengal" by systematically trans-culturating and recasting key Islamic narratives and figures within a local, Puranic framework.¹⁰ The following table illustrates this process of translation and adaptation.

Traditional Islamic Figure/Narrative	Bengali/Indic Counterpart in Nabīvaṃśa	Significance in Saiyad Sultan's Narrative
Original Couple (Ādam and Hawā)	Māric-Mārijāt, a pair that resembles Śiva-Pārvatī	Establishes the foundation of a shared, primordial history that is both Islamic and Indic.¹⁰
Iblis (Satan)	Hari, the Fallen Prophet, an Avatāra who descended into disgrace	Reinterprets the figure of evil in a familiar framework, making the struggle against temptation and adharma (unrighteousness) relatable to a new audience.¹⁰
Prophet Muhammad	The Avatara	Positions the Prophet as a divinely guided, heroic figure whose coming is part of a cosmic, recurring cycle of divine intervention, not a radical break from the past.³
Prophets of the Qur'ān	Purāṇic Predecessors of Ādam	Aligns the Islamic prophetic chain with the local Puranic tradition, integrating Islamic figures into a pre-existing sacred history.¹⁰

From Mecca to Bengal: Reimagination of Historic Salvation through the Purāṇa-Korān Model

The literary and theological strategies employed by Saiyad Sultan, as meticulously detailed by Irani, culminate in a unique "Purāṇa-Korān" model of salvation history.¹⁰ This is the model does not reject the traditional Islamic narrative but rather reframes it as a continuous, divinely guided process that incorporates local, Indic traditions. By drawing parallels between Islamic figures and Hindu archetypes, the Nabīvaṃśa created a narrative that was simultaneously Islamic and intrinsically Bengali.¹⁹ The way of approach allowed Saiyad Sultan to invite others to his faith not by demanding a complete rejection of their past, but by showing that Islam was the natural culmination of their own history and spiritual yearnings. The conversion, in this context, was presented not as a radical break but as a naturalizing process grounded in a new, unified story of salvation.¹⁹ This very brilliant synthesis of faith and culture played a critical role in the widespread acceptance and consolidation of a Bengali Islamic identity.

IV. Strategies of Translation and Transculturation Translation as Qur’ānic Exegesis and Literary Appropriation

Irani's book identifies Saiyad Sultan's work as a masterpiece example of "creative translation".¹⁶ This process went far beyond a simple linguistic transfer of words from Arabic and Persian into Bangla. Instead, it functioned as a form of Qur'ānic exegesis, in which the core messages and narratives of Islam were reinterpreted and recontextualized to be culturally intelligible to a Bengali audience. ¹⁰

The Nabīvaṃśa is a very strong and perfect example of literary appropriation, where the author strategically adapted existing narrative genres, such as the Arabo-Persian Tales of the Prophets, and wove them into the fabric of a tradition. Recasting Sacred Narratives: The Case of Ādam, Iblis, and Purāṇic Predecessors.

A key aspect of this trans-culturation is the sacred figures and narratives to fit the local cosmology. As previously cited, the recasting Nabīvaṃśa portrays the real couple, Ādam and Hawā (Eve), as Māric-Mārijāt, a pairing reminiscent of the Hindu deities Śiva and Pārvatī.¹⁰ Similarly, the demonic figure Iblis is reimagined as Hari, a fallen avatāra, which frames the central conflict of good versus evil in a way that resonates with the Indic understanding of a cosmic struggle between forces of dharma and adharma.¹⁰

These literary choices were not random; they represent a conscious hermeneutic model that transformed an Arabian prophetology into an Indo-Islamic one. By creating this narrative continuity, Saiyad Sultan provided his audience with a familiar cultural framework for understanding the new faith. It was a sophisticated and deliberate act of "entextualizing conversation," in which the very process of reading, engaging with, and encouraging the text became an act of spiritual and cultural alignment.¹⁰

Making Conversion a Naturalizing Process: Narrative, Identity, and Faith

The profound effect of the Nabīvaṃśa was that adopting a new faith felt like a natural extension of one's existing identity, rather than a jarring and complete break from the past.¹⁹ This was achieved by subtly "co-opting Hindu culture while simultaneously adapting the Qur'ān to the culture of Bengal's rural masses".¹¹ The book's analysis demonstrates how this process of transculturation, which wove together "Musalmāni and Hinduāni Traditions," allowed for the creation of a distinctively Bengali Muslim community.¹⁰

The Nabīvaṃśa was not just a work but a foundational document for the identity of a people, who are in a faith that spoke their language, their cultural memory. This process emphasized a compassionate approach to religious propagation, prioritizing cultural integration and narrative continuity.

V. Scholarly Contribution and Critical Reception

Filling a Scholarly Gap: The Importance of Irani's Text-Critical Study

Ayesha A. Irani's work is a good contribution to the field of South Asian and Islamic studies for its singular focus on a text that has been "little-studied" outside the Bangladeshi academy and remains "almost entirely untranslated".³ By proving a detailed text-critical analysis, Irani has shed new light on the decisive role of literature in the localization of a global faith. Her study provides a rich resource for scholars seeking to understand the historical processes of Islamization and the unique nature of religious syncretism in Bengal.³

Appraisal by Leading Scholars: Richard M. Eaton and Tony K. Stewart

The academic review of The Muhammad Avatāra is ensured by the endorsements of scholars in the field. Richard M. Eaton, a celebrated historian of Islam in Bengal, praises the book as "essential reading for students of both religious studies and South Asian history," noting its detailed account of how the Nabīvaṃśa became a canonical text for Bengali Muslims.¹¹ Tony K. Stewart, another prominent voice, lauds Irani's "miraculous hermeneutic virtuosity" in the text's theological and rhetorical strategies.¹⁹ These professional assessments ensure the book as a serious and authoritative academic work.

Disentangling Academic Analysis from Public Discussions: A Note on Irani’s Identity and Related Themes

In the broader public sphere, the term "Muhammad Avatāra" may be associated with polemical or popular debates, such as those concerning the purported prophecy of Prophet Muhammad as the Kalki Avatar in certain Hindu scriptures or the historical age of his wife, Aisha.²¹ It is vital to note that these discussions, which often occur in internet forums and YouTube videos, are entirely separate from Ayesha A. Irani's academic work.³ Her book is not a religious tract or a contribution to these modern theological debates. Instead, it is a historical and literary study of a specific seventeenth-century text and its role in a particular cultural context. The book's use of the term avatara is an analytical tool to describe Saiyad Sultan's narrative strategy, not a contemporary faith claim. A sensitive review of the book requires this clear distinction, isolating Irani's scholarly analysis from unrelated and often contentious public conversations.

VI. Conclusion: A Sophisticated Synthesis of Faith and Culture

The Muhammad Avatāra by Ayesha A. Irani is a meticulously researched and highly valuable academic study. The book's central contribution is its deep-seated analysis of the Nabīvaṃśa by Saiyad Sultan, the first epic on the life of Prophet Muhammad in the Bengali language. This text served as a crucial instrument for the localization of Islam in Bengal, defying the elite linguistic norms of Arabic and Persian and making the faith accessible to a new audience. The book demonstrates that the Nabīvaṃśa's reinterpretation of the prophetic personality of Muhammad, particularly through the use of the avatara concept and the Sufi doctrine of Nūr Muhammad, was a sophisticated act of cultural translation. This process of transculturation, which wove together Indic and Islamic narratives, transformed conversion from a radical break into a naturalizing process.

The enduring value of The Muhammad Avatāra lies in its masterful demonstration of how religion is not a static set of doctrines but a dynamic cultural force that adapts and evolves in new environments. Irani's work is an indispensable resource for understanding the complex history of religious syncretism in South Asia, the role of vernacular literature in shaping religious identity, and the profound impact of Sufi traditions on the spread of Islam. By providing a scholarly lens into a previously understudied but pivotal text, the book enriches the fields of Islamic studies, religious history, and South Asian studies, offering a nuanced perspective on the vibrant and multifaceted nature of global Islam.

About the author:

SK. Umar Farooq is a student of Darul Huda Islamic University, YSR Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh, India. He is currently studying in the Department of Aqeedah and Philosophy at DHIU and is also pursuing a degree in Political Science from IGNOU.