Islamic Movements in India

Moderation and its Discontents

Arndt-Walter Emmerich

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781000706727
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: History of Religion

This book analyses the emerging trend of Muslim-minority politics in India and illustrates that a fundamental shift has occurred over the last 20 years from an identity-dominated, self-serving and inward-looking approach by Muslim community leaders, Islamic authorities and social activists that seeks to protect Islamic law and culture, towards an inclusive debate centred on socio-economic marginalisation and minority empowerment.

The book focuses on Muslim activists, and members and affiliates of the Popular Front of India (PFI), a growing Muslim-minority and youth movement. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork undertaken since 2011, the author analyses recent literature on Muslim citizenship politics and the growing involvement of Islamist organisations and movements in the democratic process and electoral politics to demonstrate that religious groups play a role in politics, development, and policy making, which is often ignored within political theory. The book suggests that further scrutiny is needed of the assumption that Muslim politics and Islamic movements are incompatible with the democratic political framework of the modern nation state in India and elsewhere.

Contributing to a more nuanced understanding of how Islamic movements utilise various spiritual, organisational and material resources and strategies for collective action, community development and democratic engagement, the book will be of interest to academics in the field of political Islam, South Asian studies, sociology of religion and development studies.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• Acknowledgements
• List of abbreviations and acronyms
• Introduction
• 1 Islamic movements and the secular state in India
• 2 Muslim citizenship politics and the Popular Front of India
• 3 Framing Muslim victimhood: The politics of grief and protection
• 4 Hindu self-defence against Muslim “troublemakers”
• 5 Islamic pragmatism and legal education: Appeal of the Popular Front of India
• 6 Value politics, illiberal agendas and modernity in India
• 7 Conclusion: Has secular politics failed?
• Glossary
• Index