Conversion to Islam Untouchables' Strategy for Protest in India

Abstract

Many Indians were taken by surprise, anger, and dismay by severalthousand South Indian untouchables when they converted to Islam in 1981-82.Hindu chauvinists violently reacted and formed the Vishva Hindu Prishadwhich later occupied the famous mosque built by the first Mughul ruler ofIndia, Babur. Since then many attempts have been made to analyze the causesof the mass conversion which still continues, although not in large numbers.Abdul Malik's book carefully examines the regional and local causes as wellas the consequences of this mass conversion to Islam. Malik explains theelements of the complex social matrix in which the untouchables usedconversion as a "conscious and articulate protest" against a cruel and unjustcaste system. This unique study provides a thorough sociological perspectivethat deepens our understanding of more than 200 million untouchables of India.Malik explains, in the first chapter, the methodological and theoreticalbasis as well as the framework of his study. He raises relevant questionsthat have been answered in the latter part of the book, questions such as:Why did the untouchables resort to the extreme measure of conversion? Werethe conversions isolated cases or were they part of a long-term strategy? Whywas Islam as a religion chosen? Malik suggests that the main variables inthe process of conversion were the untouchables’ “aggressive and assertivebehavior.” While developing his own thesis, Malik carefully examines similarstudies by political sociologists such as Feierbend, Gum, Grimshaw, Niebuhrand others. He critically evaluates their work and draws meaningful similarities.Yet he establishes a more comprehensive framework by redefining many termssuch as violence and psychological violence in the context of the untouchables’conversion to Islam.The second, third, and fourth chapters provide a detailed understandingof the caste system that is the core of Indian politics, the economic, social,political, and cultural milieu of the untouchables, the pervasiveness ofuntouchability in the Indian society, the nature of violence against theuntouchables, and the helplessness of ’the untouchables in dealing with thepolitical power that is embedded in the caste hierarchy of the social systemin India ...