Male Anger and Female Malice: Emotions in Indo-Muslim Advice Literature

Abstract

This article proceeds in three steps. First it draws out some possibilities for a study of emotions and discusses how advice literature can be used as a source, not only for feeling rules, but also for emotion knowledge, which sets the framework for the possible perception and expression of emotions. Second it places advice literature in early twentieth century India in its historical context, looking notably at the different traditions for giving advice, from which authors drew: moral philosophy, the Sufi tradition and legal sources. Third it focuses on two sermons on anger which one of the most prolific Urdu writers, the reformer and Sufi Ashraf Ali Thanawi, addressed to a male and a female audience respectively.