Liberal Islam is dead in India. And to blame are not just conservative mullahs but also 바카라left-wing intellectual Muslims paraded as the community바카라s liberal heart바카라. That is the provocative hypothesis of the book, which seeks to offer a 바카라much-needed corrective바카라 and 바카라a way out of the crisis바카라.
The volume is divided into two sections. The first comprises the author바카라s assessment of the problem, where he makes some pertinent points: drastic reforms must not be externally imposed on Indian Muslims as it could foment a fundamentalist backlash; certain interpretations of Islamic theology which do not make space for the secular need to be discarded; and the disenchantment with the immutability of mainstream Islam is prompting many Muslims to renounce their faith. The second part features statements of scholars, students and activists regarding the malaises afflicting Islam and the need for diverse reforms.
It is important, however, to unpack the assumptions in the title. Is liberal Islam really dead? And if yes, who killed it? While the author deftly summarises the problems plaguing Islam as it is practiced in most of the world and those peculiar to Indian Muslims, he falters when it comes to his central thesis. Based on anecdotal snippets, he harks back to the post-Partition era as the halcyon days of Muslim liberalism. 바카라It was somewhere circa late sixties that we lost our way and are still struggling to find it,바카라 he adds. One could perhaps marshal evidence for such a characterisation, but the book doesn바카라t.
Contradictions in the text further undermine his claims. For instance, a couple of chapters after decrying 바카라uber liberal바카라 and non-practising Muslims for arguing against burqas and skullcaps, he terms these as 바카라obviously regressive symbols of Muslim identity바카라, only to affirm these religious accoutrements again in the postscript.
In the conclusion of the book, there is a solution for reconciling liberal values with Islam. The author pins his hopes on the 바카라new crop of young moderate Muslims who don바카라t see any conflict between religiosity and modernity바카라. He, however, seems to see a conflict, which he expounds upon in the chapter Let Us Stop Being So Boring And Pious. He makes jibes at the Muslims who have become 바카라rather boring바카라 because they don바카라t drink alcohol or eat forbidden meats. At the cocktail parties he used to frequent before moving to Britain, this apparently wasn바카라t a problem. At which point on this spectrum of religiosity, the 바카라practising moderate Muslim바카라 ends and mullah begins is anybody바카라s guess.
And therein lies the biggest lacuna in the book. Instead of just quoting academics, scholars and sundry people in his social circles, the author could have delved into the practices and viewpoints of the masses. He could have engaged with, say, the Muslims of Bihar who pay obeisance to the sun god during Chhatth, those who pray at the Devunikadapa temple in Andhra Pradesh on Ugadi to seek Venkateswara바카라s blessings (whom they regard as their son-in-law), the Muslim artisans who make idols for Hindu festivals or the folks banding under The Queer Muslim Project to undermine mainstream Quranic interpretations and reconcile their religion with their sexuality. These are not just stray examples, but diverse streams of the heterogeneous character of Islam in South Asia, which the author makes a fleeting reference to, but unfortunately, ignores for the remainder of the book.
A shorter, edited version of this appearerd in print
