Indian Muslim Community Research Articles

Affirmative Action for Muslims in the Indian Jurisprudential, Social, Economic and Political Context: A Constitutional Conundrum?

India, due to its uniquely multicultural history, has for long cherished the ideal of Unity in Diversity, believing in the value of an egalitarian social order within a tolerant pluralistic framework. Recently, however, the controversial Sachar Committee Report has revealed the appallingly widespread social, economic and educational backwardness of the Muslim community in India: their minimal access to education, their abysmal representation in public services, and their consequent ghettoization and alienation from the national socio-economic mainstream. Affirmative Action, in various forms, including (but not limited to) Reservations, the Report suggests, is the means of addressing this socio-economic problem by enhancing diversity in the educational and public service landscape of the national mainstream.While proponents have argued that the same will reaffirm and invigorate the egalitarian and multicultural nature of the secular Indian polity, opponents have used the same secular paradigm of the Indian Constitution to challenge the Report's proposals, on the basis that the same would be violative of the Constitutional prohibition on discrimination on the basis of religion. With both sides using the rhetoric of the Constitutional ideal of secularism to pursue their own political ends, it becomes necessary to analyse the Report, and its proposals, not only in light of the Constitution, but also in light of the ideals on which it is based, in a non-partisan manner. In the above context, the proposed paper seeks to explore the nebulous precincts of the constitutionality of Affirmative Action for Muslims in India.

Communal Riots in India: Hindu–Muslim Conflict and Resolution

The Muslim community in India is the second largest community in the country, following the Hindu community, and it forms the largest Muslim minority in the world. Ever since the decline of Moghul rule in India, Muslims in India have been facing communal riots and conflicts from some segments of the Hindu community who are communalists and militants. In this paper, an attempt is made to shed light on the Hindu–Muslim riots and conflicts in India from pre-independence to post-independence, with particular reference to the demolition of the historic Babri Masjid in 1992 and the genocide of Muslims in Gujarat in 2002. The paper also discusses the causes of these problems and presents a few suggestions of some Muslim scholars on the resolution of the Hindu–Muslim tensions and conflicts in India.

The Movement for Women's Emancipation Within the Bengali Muslim Community in India

This article examines the changing role of Muslim women in Bengal in the early twentieth century. Lack of education and backwardness in social ideas were responsible for women's inferior position in society. Scholars such as Ghulam Murshid, Gautam Neogi and Meredith Borthwick have shown in depth how Muslim Bengali women worked to improve their own position in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; key figures included Begum Rokea Sakhawat Hossain, Begum Shamsunnahar Mahmud and Begum Sufia Kamal. This article focuses on obstacles to social progress as well as on the positive role played by a section of the Bengali Muslim community in enabling modernisation through a programme of social reform designed to emancipate women from their traditional position of bondage in the male‐dominated society. It examines the writings (in Urdu) of women involved in the social reform movement and focuses in turn on three issues: purdah, women's rights, and education for women.

Muslims in India: A demographic and socio-economic profile

This paper presents a demographic and socio-economic profile of the Muslims in India, who form the largest minority in the country. At 120 million strong, Muslims constitute 12% of the population of India. Tracing the origin and ethnicity of Muslims in India, the findings suggest that most Indian Muslims are ethnically Indian since they are the descendents of the early converts to Islam. Many Indians who belonged to the lower castes embraced Islam for its egalitarianism which was practised by the local Sufi saints. The paper provides a demographic history of Indian Muslims, including the growth and distribution of the Muslim population across Indian states over the past century. Comparative fertility and mortality rates are presented for various religious communities to explain the differential growth of the Muslim population. The relative backwardness of the Muslim community, and particularly of Muslim women, is noted as a factor in the comparatively high fertility rates observed among the Muslim population. The paper also reviews the contribution of Muslims to the politics, arts and culture of India, and then goes on to examine the problem of communalism and communal violence that has characterized the Indian political scene. The paper concludes with arguments in favour of ensuring justice and human rights for Muslims, emphasizing the importance of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the positive role they could play in enhancing the condition of the Muslim community in India.

Conflict management and hegemonic practices in the World Social Forum 2004

This paper discusses a case of conflict management in the WSF 2004. The reasons for the explosion of the conflict are briefly discussed and linked to the lack of clear and consistent proactive practices of inclusion in the organisational process of the WSF. The discussion focuses on the attempts to negotiate the conflict generated by the claims voiced by Ahmed (a member of the Indian Muslim community), who deprecates the exclusion from the organisational process of the WSF of which he feels he and his community are victim. The paper shows how such conflicts could be prevented by designing carefully at the outset consistent strategies of outreach and by performing regular practices of inclusion. The core of the argument focuses on the strategies of conflict management in the case of the incident described. The shortcomings of those practices are exposed and discussed. The research shows how the main deficiencies of the conflict management strategies discussed are due to contingent improvisation and to the lack of consistent and thoroughly discussed guidelines in conflict management and communicative strategies in moments of crisis.

Conflict Self-Inflicted: Dispute, Incivility, and the Threat of Violence in an Indian Muslim Community

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GAIL MINAULT, Secluded Scholars: Women's Education and Muslim Social Reform in Colonial India (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1998). Pp. 373. $35.00 cloth, $14.95 paper.

The Urdu novelist and short story writer Intizar Hussayn, in his story “Ihsan Manzil,” describes the anxiety produced in a northern Indian Muslim community when a magazine arrives addressed to the daughter of a respectable household. Set in the early part of the 20th century, the story depicts how the Muslim woman's name on the envelope, exposed as it was to the whole world, became a metaphor for modernity, the public, and the outside penetrating Muslim moral boundaries and domestic ethos. Similar to Hussayn's incisive depiction of changes within Indian Muslim households, Gail Minault gives us a sense of how religious reform, expanding opportunities for education for both genders, and colonial modernization in the first half of the 20th century undermined and challenged traditional aspects of middle-class Muslim life in northern India.

September 11th and its aftermath

Mushirul Hasan reflects on the consequences of September 11 on India's Muslim community, and the challenges that lie ahead. Questioning the notion of a monolithic Muslim identity depicted in many Western and Muslim narratives, Hasan assesses the internal and external causes of discontent among Muslim communities in India and elsewhere. Themes addressed include: the legacy of decolonization, the demonization of Islam in the media and public discourse; the “clash of civilizations” thesis; and the role of the electronic media in fuelling discontent. It is argued that the weakness of governing and educational institutions remains a chief cause of ‘decay’ in some Muslim communities. Hasan emphasizes that over the course of history, Islam has developed the capacity to meet challenges creatively. In the aftermath of September 11, the need for Muslims to rewrite their script is greater than ever before. Lamentation must cease and give way to self‐introspection, a reappraisal of the crises affecting Muslim societies, and a careful reordering of priorities. As well, much needs to be done to build bridges between Muslim countries and the rest of the world.

FMR1 Haplotype Analysis among Indian Communities

Objective: To analyse fragile X mental retardation 1 haplotypes among non-fragile X males from different Indian caste-based communities in order to enable inter-community comparisons to be made and permit wider comparisons with other ethnic groups. Subjects and Methods: Males (n = 124) from four major Hindu castes (Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras) and the Indian Muslim community were typed using three STR markers, DXS548, FRAXAC1, and FRAXAC2. Results and Conclusion: A wide range of haplotypes were observed, with 7-3-4+ being modal in Brahmins, Kshatriyas, and Vaishyas. This finding is in keeping with data from other Caucasian populations of European and North American origin. The report is the first of its kind, providing a normative background for meaningful haplotype comparisons between different Indian communities and with the fragile X individuals.

‘To Whom Does Ameena Belong?’

This article examines the discourses of the Indian state and of community élites during battles for the custody of a young Muslim girl, Ameena, who was ‘rescued’ from a marriage with an elderly Arab. The battles for Ameena's custody were fought as much in news reports, opinion columns, and letters to the editor of metropolitan and vernacular newspapers, as in courts. Questions were raised about Ameena's age, the viability of her marriage, the applicability of secular laws to Muslim communities, and the political economy of the sexuality of girl-children. In these representations, Ameena became a symbol of minority identity, and was transformed into an unwilling and unwitting object of protection. Why did Ameena's story attract so much attention? What were the different positions underlying the arguments made for Ameena's ‘protection’? Without dismissing the protection of children and the advocacy of their rights, this article analyses the agendas shaping the discourses of the Indian state and national and community élites during the battles for Ameena's custody. The article situates the controversies surrounding Ameena in the wider context of the increasing polarization between Hindu and Muslim communities in India in the early 1990s, and focuses on the relationship between notions of childhood and discourses of community, gender and nation. The article argues that there was a synecdochic relationship between the purity of girl-children and the purity of the Indian nation: far from being ‘pre-cultural’ or apolitical, discourses of childhood were profoundly implicated in the politics of gender, sexuality, community and nation. What are the implications of Ameena's predicament for feminist epistemology and praxis? In pointing to the ways in which feminist critiques of modernist regimes of power and knowledge can enable us to understand the multiple positionalities of children in the contemporary world, the article explores the spaces available for feminist theorists and activists to engage in a politics of vigilance and intervention with regard to the state's positions towards children.

Inter‐cultural relations between the Hindi and Muslim communities in India with special reference to Andhra Pradesh

Inter‐cultural relations between the Hindi and Muslim communities in India with special reference to Andhra Pradesh

A Late Nineteenth Century Muslim Response to the Western Criticism of Islam-An Analysis of Amir ‘Ali’s Life and Works

There were more than one scholar in the nineteenth century Muslim worldworking for the development of the community through their writings andpolitical activities. Justice Sayyid Amir ‘Ali was one of them in the Indiansphere of Islam. This article attempts to determine 'Ali's position within thedevelopment of Muslim community in India. Our aim is to examine ‘Ali’sviews of Islam critically in order to find out the values he aimed at. We arenot concerned with giving our views of Islam on the issues ‘Ali dealt with,but rather we will try to determine how his interpretation of Islam contributedto the development of Muslims in India.IThe wave of modernity in the Indian sub-continent, in the sense of westerntechnological development and philosophical ideas, was caused by British imperialismin the nineteenth century! Christian missionary activities also playeda remarkable role in achieving this goal. The Muslims of India, however,considered the Christian missionary attitude of identifying western materialdevelopment with Christianity as a challenge that was reflected through theintellectual activities of Muslim scholars. Their response was an attempt toabsorb, transform, reject or adjust their belief system to the forces of ...

Economic status of the Muslim community in India: an overview

(1984). Economic status of the Muslim community in India: an overview. Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs. Journal: Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 243-248.

Ethnology: Caste and Social Stratification among the Muslims. Imtiaz Ahmad, ed. Muslim Merchants: The Economic Behaviour of an Indian Muslim Community. Mattison Mines

Ethnology: Caste and Social Stratification among the Muslims. <i>Imtiaz Ahmad</i>, ed. Muslim Merchants: The Economic Behaviour of an Indian Muslim Community. <i>Mattison Mines</i>

Muslim Merchants: The Economic Behavior of an Indian Muslim Community.

Muslim Merchants: The Economic Behavior of an Indian Muslim Community.

Islamic Thought in the Indo-Pakistan Subcontinent and the Middle East

THE relationship of Indian Islam to that of the Islamic heartlands can be studied historically in terms of the actual impacts from the Middle East and vice versa. So far as Islamic thought in the subcontinent is concerned, its major source up to the seventeenth century lay in the north-Iran and Central Asia.2 The main religious disciplines cultivated in this period are law and mysticism. Beginning with the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, this picture becomes modified. With the opening of the direct sea route to Arabia, certain Indian scholars began visiting the Hijaz for the purpose of study. As a result of this orientation, the characteristic orthodox Arabo-Islamic science of Hadith was introduced and propagated in India, its monumental champion in the seventeenth century being Shaikh CAbd al-HIaqq of Delhi, called Muhaddith, or traditionist par excellence. This development coincides with a vigorous reassertion of Islamic orthodoxy and a bid for the recovery of a purist Islam from the compromises to which Islam had been subjected in India through the growth of certain popular forms of Sufism as mass religion. In the present paper, we shall not be concerned too much with the external historical relationship of Indian Islam with the Arab Middle East, but with the efforts of the Indian Muslims, in the realm of thought, to respond to the challenges and tensions created by the existence of Islam in a Hindu majority India. Hence, in the process we are dealing with, Islamization and orthodoxification become identical. As will become apparent presently, the terms of the resolution of this challenge are set within India and the emergent product is an Indian Islam, but with a definite reference to and with a source of inspiration from the outside at two levels: the ethos of Islam as it was shaped by the Prophet and the Qur'dn and the theologians of the early centuries, and the consciousness that Muslims in India are a part of the World Muslim Community with the Middle East as its natural center, as it were. The leadership of the Muslim Community in India was first shocked into an acute awareness of the precarious situation of Islam in India by the religious attitude and policies of Akbar. The Bhakti Movement,3 which was essentially a massive mechanism to revivify Hinduism against the threat of Islam by minimizing the rigors of the caste system, and of the purely ritual aspects of the Brahmanic religion, and heavily stressing