Local and Translocal Flows of Anti-Theosophical Ideas in the Indian Ocean World

Based on newly uncovered documents, this study reframes the anti-Theosophical debate in Basra (1928–1936) as a trans-local intellectual and political struggle rooted in the British Indian Ocean world. It highlights the interplay between Jewish and Muslim actors, such as Isaac Nathan and ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib al-Hāshimī, as well as global Jewish networks and local cultural dynamics. Rather than reactionary, the opposition to Theosophy represented a conservative engagement with modernity. The conflict exposed competing visions of modernity, rationalist versus esoteric, and fostered unexpected intercommunal alliances. It demonstrates how local developments shaped and were shaped by global discourse, emphasizing their mutual entanglement.