Britons defined their own superiority as the middle ground between Hindu and Muslim extremes

Evidence

The third aspect of pre-1857 conditions that mitigated British Islamophobia was the model of tolerance some Britons saw as instrumental to Mughal success. For instance, long after Mughal political power had evaporated, Anglican bishop Reginald Heber reported in his Indian travelogue (1828) that “the fierce Mohammadans” only had begun to question British control because Britons had disrespected the Mughal court. The same year, Walter Hamilton in his gazetteer of India stumped for a respectful Mughal policy, “The most rational course appeared to be, to leave the king’s authority exactly in the state in which it was found, and to afford the royal family the means of subsistence…not unsuitable to a fallen but illustrious race.” A quarter century later, Edward Thornton noted in his gazetteer, “The feelings of deference for the throne of Delhi extended to provinces very remote from the seat of its former grandeur, and to Hindoos not less than to Mahomedans. It was in fact universal.” Undoubtedly, this transcommunal respect must have struck some Britons in India as evidence of toleration’s advantages, just as Locke and others promoted at home. — Peter Gottschalk and Gabriel Greenberg, Common Heritage, Uncommon Fear, 57 (#qualifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: British rule deliberately fanned caste and communal divisions in India; British colonial ideology consolidated the essentialized idea of Islam as a homogeneous threat; While these Americans and Britons avoided any suggestion that someone, drawn by a positive characteristic of the religion, might willingly accept Islam, others argued that, if there had been a good reason for South Asians to convert, it reflected less the value of Islam than the deficits of Hinduism, specifically caste prejudice and the proscription of widow remarriage. Reverend John Takle – a New Zealander working as a missionary in Bengal – used the most recent ‘scientific’ evidence that tracked intermarriage between Muslim and native races to supposedly prove a long-standing conclusion. In 1911 he stated, ‘The anthropometric survey made by government proves conclusively that the vast majority of the Mohammedans in India are converts from among the depressed Hindu communities.’ (+1 more)

Related

• Mughal religious tolerance tempered some British Islamophobia before 1857 (similarity 0.92)
• South Asian Muslims held distinct views from their British rulers (similarity 0.85)
• Diminished Muslim threat let British observers admire Mughal culture despite Orientalist negative stereotypes. (similarity 0.84)
• While these Americans and Britons avoided any suggestion that someone, drawn by a positive characteristic of the religion, might willingly accept Islam, others argued that, if there had been a… (similarity 0.82)
• British India feared pan-Islamism later than America did (similarity 0.81)
• Britons in India, unlike Americans, faced an active (if exaggerated) Muslim threat to their political order, yet both shared convictions regarding Islam’s coercive proselytizing and violent spread. (similarity 0.80)
• British anti-Muslim prejudice outlasted the 1857 rebellion by decades. (similarity 0.79)
• Colonial demography fueled fears that Islam would eclipse Hinduism in Bengal. (similarity 0.79)
• British Islamophobia was weak pre-1857 partly because Muslims posed no threat. (similarity 0.79)
• Colonial observers attributed conversions to Hindu deficiencies rather than Islam’s appeal. (similarity 0.79)
• Britons in India refashioned inherited Islamophobia to serve colonial governance needs (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• While these Americans and Britons avoided any suggestion that someone, drawn by a positive characteristic of the religion, might willingly accept Islam, others argued that, if there had been a… #exemplifies (0.75)
• British colonial ideology consolidated the essentialized idea of Islam as a homogeneous threat #expands (0.70)
• Mughal religious tolerance tempered some British Islamophobia before 1857 #qualifies (0.55) — Peter Gottschalk and Gabriel Greenberg, Common Heritage, Uncommon Fear, 57