A ‘Muslim Jacobin’? Ahmad Khan and the Eurocentric Pitfalls of ‘Inclusive’ History

Late in April 1794, Ahmad Khan, a young traveler from India, arrived in Paris. He submitted a petition in Persian to the Committee of Public Safety, which was translated into French by Pierre-Marie Ruffin, a dragoman who taught Oriental languages at the Collège de France. Claiming to be one of the four sons of the Nawab of Broach, who had been ousted by the British twenty years previously, Ahmad Khan was granted the benefit of ‘hospitality’ by the Committee. Was Ahmad Khan therefore a ‘Muslim Jacobin’, as recently claimed by historian Ian Coller? Rather than religion, I suggest the main issue here is language and that the key to understanding Ahmad Khan’s dealings with the Committee is factoring in Ruffin’s role as translator. The case of Ahmad Khan thus raises important questions about the issues at stake in globalising the field, revealing how the well-intentioned project of peopling the French Revolution with a more diverse set of characters can paradoxically reinforce persistent Eurocentric biases.