Indian Muslims Research Articles

Indian Muslims: (Self-)Perceptions and Voting Trends in 2024

There are two dominant explanations of contemporary Muslim voting behaviour. A section of public commentators reiterates an old argument that Muslims always participate in politics to defeat the BJP. This argument is not entirely incorrect. The BJP did not deviate from its Modi-centric Hindutva-driven campaign. The party relied heavily on an apparent anti-Muslim rhetoric to reach out to its core voters. The failure of the BJP to secure an absolute majority in Lok Sabha, in this sense, is also seen as an obvious outcome of this strategy. It is claimed that the BJP’s attempt to polarize voters on religious grounds encouraged Muslims to vote for non-BJP candidates throughout the country. The second explanation is more speculative. The INDIA alliance has so far tried to avoid any discussion on the overwhelming Muslim support they have received this time. The non-BJP parties, except a few, do not want to publicly acknowledge the fact that their success was almost impossible without active Muslim support. This kind of political reluctance is justified as a strategic silence. There is an assumption that the pro-Muslim gestures of these parties will make the Hindu voters unhappy. Findings of National Election Studies (NES) 2024 take us beyond these popular descriptions of Muslim voting. This survey introduces us to the complexities of contemporary Muslim politics and its electoral manifestations. This article tries to establish a link between Muslim self-perceptions as a religious minority in India and their political behaviour. We ask three basic questions: First, did Muslim communities vote more actively this time than Hindu communities? Second, did they vote as a homogeneous community or as a vote bank? And finally, did they vote basically to defeat BJP?

The Gaza Crisis and the Indian Urdu Press

Urdu is widely spoken in India, and due to historical, demographic, and political reasons, it is commonly associated with the Indian Muslim population. India has a vibrant Urdu press represented in both electronic and print media that caters largely to the Muslim population and reflects their views. Issues related to Israel, Zionism, and Jews, in addition to other Middle Eastern developments, are widely covered in the Indian Urdu press due to religious and historical factors. The coverage also reflects the ignorance, biases, and prejudices that are widely held among South Asian Muslims regarding Jews, Zionism, and Israel, which at times acquire extremist and anti-Semitic overtones. The Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, and the Israeli military response have been widely covered and commented upon in the Indian Urdu press, reinforcing the established ideas of the oppressive Israeli state and the perpetual Palestinian victimhood. However, one witnesses certain nuances and a diversity of opinion within the Urdu press. A systematic content analysis of the Indian Urdu press and its coverage of the Gaza crisis provides an understanding of views held among a large section of the Muslim population in India toward the Israel–Hamas conflict, in particular, and toward the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, in general.

Against #CoronaJihaad: Online Somatic Nationalism and Offline Social Distancing in India during covid-19

Abstract This article examines the two waves of the covid-19 pandemic in India in 2020–2021. It disaggregates the different narratives constructed by the Hindu right-wing in online circles. It shows that by instrumentalizing the interactive and multimodal features of social media, the Hindu Right amplified the notion of Muslims as contaminants in the first wave of the breakout, accusing them of weakening the otherwise sacred, virus-resistant Indian nation. During the second wave, the Hindu Right downplayed the role of the Kumbh Mela, a major Hindu pilgrimage and festival, as a super-spreader event. Criticisms of the Hindu festival was deemed a foreign conspiracy aimed at harming India’s body politic. The article argues that the Hindu Right capitalized on the covid-19 crisis to promote religified and somatisized ideals of a ‘muscular Hindu India’ weakened by the Muslim Other from within. This narrative heightened the schism between Hindus and Muslims in India, with long-lasting effects that outlive the pandemic itself. Finally, the article problematizes the notion that digital technologies and virtual spaces necessarily overcome physical barriers and divisions, arguing instead that in the case of the right-wing Hindu Twittersphere, social media congealed intra-communal solidarities and inter-communal antagonisms online echoing divisions in the non-digital, offline world.

Biryani with the Golden Girls: Muslim South Asian-American women’s food voices

ABSTRACT Muslim women communicate through food to express family and community belonging. This paper applies Hauck’s concept of the “food voice” (1992) as a tool to unpack multiple aspects of identity for Muslim Indian American women. Cooking together, eating together, and preserving these recipes and dishes is an important part of resistance work for women of color, and the history of racialized women in the United States (Williams-Forson 2006, Abarca 2006). For the Muslim Indian women in Florida with whom I spoke, halal food reveals ethnic, religious, political, and gendered identities. Using charlas culinarias or kitchen chats with a small group of Muslim Indian women, I learned about Muslim women’s contribution to maintaining their ethnic and religious identities in Tampa, Florida, through their food voices.

DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION IN INDIA SINCE 1951: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The Indian state has no official religion. No religion is granted any particular position under our Constitution. The rights to profess, practise, and promote any religion—or to practise none at all—are guaranteed to all persons and groups under the Constitution. The goal is to examine the demographic shift of Hindus and Muslims in India since 1951. Method and Materials: The data used in this descriptive analysis come from secondary sources. Basic numerical calculations have been carried out here in addition to graphical representations. Result and Discussion: The Muslim community in India made up around 14.23% of the total population as per the 2011 Census. This percentage was far higher than the national average in a number of states, with the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, West Bengal, and undivided Jammu & Kashmir having the greatest concentration. Mathematical calculation proves on the basis of census data that after 237 years or before that, the population of Hindu will be equal to the population of Muslim and Bharat will approach towards Muslim country if it is going as it is and migration of Muslim is not stopped. Findings: In India, Islam is the religion that is expanding quickest. The census-wise percentage curve for Muslims is growing and upward sloping, whereas the curve for Hindus slopes downward. At a specific census, the two curves will intersect, signifying that the number of Hindus and that of Muslims will be equal. Suggestions: Immediately establish a Population Control Bill to limit the number of children per couple to one. Migration of Muslims for permanent settlement in Bharat should be stopped immediately. Conclusion: Encouraging sustainable development necessitates for stabilization of population growth. India's population is still a complicated subject that has to be carefully considered and effectively addressed by policy.

The virus and an enemy within: Construction of an invidious news discourse by the mainstream press in India

Human rights organizations and media watchdogs have expressed concerns about COVID-19 news coverage in the Global South, particularly by the Indian mainstream media, due to the Islamophobic discourse it generated. This study critically examines the first wave of COVID-19 coverage by four major Indian media outlets and argues that the press perpetuates an ideologically driven discriminatory discourse developed over a century. Drawing on past scholarship in Discourse Historical Analysis (DHA), the study finds that the media employs various discursive strategies – nomination, predication, argumentation, perspectivization, mitigation, and intensification – to construct a malevolent identity for Indian Muslims. This represents them as the ‘enemy within the nation’, attributing blame for the virus’s spread in the country. Conforming to Hindutva, a dominant ideology that has been shaping Indian national politics for decades, these strategies collectively contribute to an invidious news discourse, contradicting the press’s purported fairness and neutrality.

Experiences of Muslims in India on digital platforms with anti-Muslim hate: a culture-centered exploration

This manuscript examines the experiences of Muslims in India with hate on digital platforms. Extant research on Islamophobia on digital platforms offers analyses of the various discourses circulating on digital platforms. This manuscript builds on that research to document the experiences of online hate among Muslims in India based on a survey of 1,056 Muslims conducted by Qualtrics, a panel-based survey company, between November 2021 and December 2021. The findings point to the intersections between white supremacist and Hindutva Alt-Right messages on digital platforms, delineating the fascist threads that form the convergent infrastructures of digital hate. Moreover, they document the extensive exposure of Muslims in India to Islamophobic hate on digital platforms, raising critical questions about their health and wellbeing. The paper wraps up with policy recommendations regarding strategies for addressing online Islamophobic hate on digital platforms.

Examining the access to benefits and quality sterilization services among Muslim women in India

BackgroundThis research article examines the efficiency with which the Indian family planning programme provides care to Muslim women who opt to undergo tubectomies from public health facilities in terms of access to benefits/compensation as well as quality of services. The research subsequently intends to suggest suitable policies of affirmative action if required.MethodsThe research uses data from the women’s file from the latest round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5, 2019–21). Adjusted odds ratios are used to examine the likelihood of Muslim women (i) receiving compensations offered for undergoing tubectomies in public health facilities by the government, (ii) receiving comprehensive information prior to their tubectomies and (iii) reporting a good quality of care during their procedures, in comparison with non-Muslim women.ResultsThe findings from the research indicate that Muslim women in India have lower odds of receiving state sponsored compensations in comparison with non-Muslim women in India (AOR = 0.67; CI: 0.60—0.76). Consequently, a lesser proportion of Muslim women reported receiving compensations in comparison with non-Muslim women. The difference in the receipt of compensations was 18 percentage points between both cohorts. Critically, despite their challenges in obtaining compensations, the findings from this research also indicate how Muslim women in India have higher odds of receiving comprehensive family planning information prior to their operation in comparison with non-Muslim women (AOR = 1.15; CI: 1.02—1.29).DiscussionGiven the existing dearth of evidence in family planning literature on the issue, this research article calls for greater attention and investments in understanding the reproductive health vulnerabilities of Indian Muslims, especially in the context of increasing social hostilities towards the community in India. In this regard, to promote the equitable delivery of family planning services, the findings from this research highlight the urgent need for institutional reforms that facilitate an easier access to public benefits among Indian Muslims.

Becoming Modern and Secular: A Review Essay on Recent Work on Islam and South Asia

Abstract The Muslims of South Asia are more than five hundred million people, distributed between Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh, and there are more Muslims in South Asia than in any other region in the world. After Indonesia, which is the largest Muslim country in the world, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh are the second, third, and fourth largest Muslim countries, respectively. Although the prevalent approach in the study of Islam is to consider its so-called Arab character as central, the Muslims in pre-Partition India constituted the largest body of Muslims in the world, and the vast political and intellectual influence exerted by South Asian Muslims on the wider Muslim world is often neglected. Many of the most important political, intellectual, and spiritual developments within Islam have had their origins, or have flourished, in South Asia, and Muslims from the region have played important roles in the global history of Islam, including during the colonial period, in resistance to colonial rule, and in intellectual responses to and dialogue with Western thought. Pakistan was specifically created to provide a homeland for South Asia’s Muslim population and its trials and tribulations over the past seventy-five years have been carefully watched by Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Muslims constitute India’s largest minority, with an often uneasy—to say the least—relationship to the majority. In the context of the three books under discussion, I explore issues, such as secularism, modernity, and religion, and their impacts on the conception of the nation-state that was promoted during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as an expression of political modernity.

Tafsir Basis Surat Perspective Abdul Hamid Al-Farahi: A Study Of The Concept Of Nazm And Its Application In The Interpretation Of Surah Al-Mursalat

Abdul Hamid al-Farahi is one of the Indian Muslim scholars who uses the interpretation of the letter based on the concept of nazm. Surah-based interpretation is interpretation that works on the letter of the Qur'an as a unified whole and has a unified theme (the sura as a unity). In this article, the author tries to explain the concept of nazm initiated by al-Farahi and how this concept is applied in the interpretation of the letter Al-Mursalat. The author uses qualitative research methods with data collection techniques through literature review. This paper shows that al-Farahi's nazm concept is a further development of the munasabah approach. Al-Farahi's concept of nazm emphasizes that each surah has an 'amud surah (central theme). 'Amud functions as a control over the resulting interpretation to build a unified letter. The application of the concept of nazm al-Farahi can be seen from his interpretation of the al-Mursalat letter. Al-Farahi stated that the 'amud of the letter revolves around warnings about the Day of Judgment, obedience to Allah, and doing good among fellow creatures. Thus, every interpretation of the verses in Surah Al-Mursalat must refer to the 'Amud of the Surah.

Elementary Education among Muslims in India: Current Status and Policy Implications

Elementary Education among Muslims in India: Current Status and Policy Implications

The Influence of Islamophobia on Violence Against Muslims in India

The Influence of Islamophobia on Violence Against Muslims in India

TRANSLATION OF ENGLISH INDIAN ISLAMIC MARRIAGE CONTRACTS INTO ARABIC

The translation of Islamic marriage contracts from English into Arabic is an actual issue for an ordinary translator and even for a legal translator. Almost all translators in such a field of translation face the difficulty of grasping the straight and accurate equivalence in Arabic for specific linguistic terms. This problematic issue lies in the differences between the English legal system and the Arabic legal system. Another essential problem that legal translators usually face is the translating of items that are related directly to Islamic shariah and Islamic culture. The present research evaluates and inquiries about three translations for a sample of an English International Islamic marriage contract that is officially utilized by Muslims of India and translated by three MA Students who have master's degrees in translation. It is noteworthy to note that the assessment of these sample translations is defended on Peter Newmark's (1981) approach of Semantic and Communicative translation which is widely used in translating texts of languages from two different families such as English and Arabic. In closing, following the communicative procedure is the most equivalent option according to the context on one hand. On the other hand, the Semantic procedure is only acceptable when there is already a direct rendition for the items of ST into TT, So, Communicative is usually used in case of absence of equivalence. Or semantic procedure leads to translation non-identical from that of the source languages

Partition, Violence, Displacement and Trauma in Khushwant Singh's 'Train to Pakistan'

Partition of British India is an unforgettable painful experience for many people in India today. In 1947 the British government divided India into two halves: India and Pakistan before leaving India. It caused violence, separation, and displacement among people living in the contemporary harmonious community of Hindu, Muslim, Shikh, and Christian in India. It further caused traumatic feelings among them. In this context the paper attempts to study the separation, dismemberment, displacement of Muslims to Pakistan; and traumatic feelings among the people of 'Mano Majra' through the textual analysis of Khushwant Singh's novel 'Train to Pakistan'. 'Mano Majra' was a peaceful remote village with perfect harmony among Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, and Pseudo-Christian people living together on the bank of the Sutlej River, Punjab in India. Imam Baksh, Bhai Meet Singh, Lala Ram Lal, and other villagers were living in co-operation in 'Mano Majra' before the India-Pakistan partition. It is the setting of Khushwant Singh's novel 'Train to Pakistan'. Hukum Chanda (Magistrate), Sub Inspector, Haseena Begam, Juggut Singh, Nooran, Malli, and Iqbal are other major characters in the novel. The novel shows the completely harmonious society in the village before partition. However, the partition caused the complete division and disruption of harmonious societies in India including 'Mano Majra' leading to violence, displacement, separation, and trauma.

The Interplay Between Ethnic and National Identity of Immigrants in Samira Ahmed’s Internment

The post-9/11 has inspired a great deal of scholarship in the discipline of ethnic and cultural studies, and young adult fiction is no exception to this. Exploring the problems of identity, this article seeks to explain the interplay between an old ethnic and the newly acquired national identity in Internment, a political fiction by Indian American writer Samira Ahmed. Combining Homi K. Bhabha’s model of national identity with Stuart Hall’s model of cultural identity, this article argues that national identity is also shaped and affected by one’s ethnic identity, but prominent nation-states like the limitations of the US to nationality are germane to its racist policies, which in turn cause identity conflicts, especially in second-generation migrants who take themselves as both US nationals and Indian Muslims. In this way, the paper discusses the thematization of oppression of an ethnic minority by national politics questioning their social and political efficacy and their rejection into the mainstream culture. The nuanced understanding of the novel about identities allows us to conclude that the failure to integrate minor ethnicities into the mainstream is also expressed in real-world political decisions and has become a pertinent issue in Young Adult fiction.

The Quit Kashmir Movement 1946

The Cabinet Mission aimed to negotiate the transfer of power and the future structure of government with Indian leaders particularly with the Indian National congress and Muslim league. The future of the princely states was one of the mission's most major concerns. As soon the members arrived in Kashmir, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah the president of the National Conference submitted a memorandum to its members that demanded not just a responsible government under the aegis of the Maharaja but also the Kashmiri people's right to absolute freedom from the autocratic rule of the Dogra House. The Quit Kashmir movement was launched to pressure the oppressive Dogra government to grant sovereignty to the people of Kashmir. The National Conference by launching the Quit Kashmir had emerged as a principal national organization advocated for political, social, and economic changes to end privilege and raise the masses. The Dogra despot’s barbarism was unashamed in trampling unwarned people who dared to speak the truth and demand their freedom. This paper explores the circumstances that led Sheikh Abdullah to start the Quit Kashmir Movement and highlights the state response against the Movement.

Exploring Media Narratives: A Qualitative Study of the Hijab Ban Coverage in Indian News Channels

Muskan Khan, a hijab-wearing Muslim student, was chased and intimidated by the majority of Hindu students of her college, but she refused to be cowed down raising the slogan Allah o Akbar. The incident gained international fame and she was given the title of hijab girl. Indian TV channels, The Republic World, Time Now, NDTV, and India Today, covered the incident. In this qualitative research, the researchers analyzed hijab coverage in current events and TV shows on the said TV channels. The findings revealed that the Indian Muslim minority was demonized in the media, and TV news programs in the country aired anti- hijab programming, equating the head covering with terrorism. The Indian news channel anchors and guests exaggerated, fabricated, and twisted the on-air content to create hatred against the hijab and Islam. They subtly showed their anti-Muslim political leanings in the content they produced and blamed Islam for the adversity.

The Rise of Islamophobia in India: Violation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedom of Indian Muslims

This article examines Islamophobia in India and its impact on the human rights and basic liberties of Indian Muslims. Islamophobia is a new form of racism that has grown out of xenophobia, negative profiling, and stereotyping of Muslims. This article focuses upon the current state of Islamophobia, basic liberties, hate speech, discrimination, and violence against Muslims. These acts of prejudice, animosity, and violence against Muslim communities are major infringements on their human rights and a violation of their religious freedom. The BJP has been promoting a number of evil anti-Muslim policies, including discriminatory citizenship laws, the lynching of Muslims on suspicion of consuming or transporting beef and a ban on communal prayers. We conclude that the institutionalisation of Islamophobia through new laws and policies have a negative impact on Muslims’ human rights and religious freedom in India. Similarly, the media in India also promotes Islamophobia.

Allah’s House to Domes of Secularism: Minoritization of Muslims in India

Disputes around the Babri masjid have been crucial for understanding the Muslim subject position in India, also because mosques are public expressions of Muslimness. I read the legal proceedings of the Babri masjid dispute leading to the Supreme Court’s controversial judgment in 2019, tracing the life of Babri masjid unfolding as a mosque, a disputed site and, finally, a Hindu temple. Focusing on the theological and secular claims of Hindu and Muslim litigants, I look at the differential approach to belief and historical claims within the legal adjudication. I especially analyse two strategies, disruption and description, that significantly led to the changes in the attributes of the mosque. Comparing the Babri dispute with the case of the Malappuram mosque dispute in the eighteenth century, this article analyses theological claims on a mosque, asking the question why the Muslim narrative shifted from one rooted in religious reverence, Allah’s house, to one anchored in secular symbolism, the domes of secularism? It would discreetly give an idea of the practice of secularism in India which, as different scholars contend, systematically erases Muslim religiosity from the public space. I suggest reading the anchoring of Muslim claims in secularism as pointing to the crucial changes in the Muslim subject position that is decisively framed through excessive powers of the modern nation-state.

Global Hindutva and the Palestinian Cause

A lot of attention has been paid within academic and journalistic literature to how India’s relationship with Israel has improved under the rule of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Looking beyond this, the objective of this article is to assess the position of Palestine and its liberation struggle within the Global Hindu Nationalist imaginary. The study’s main argument, therefore, is that the broader Palestinian liberation struggle, in its pluralism, its global scope, and its interconnectivity with various struggles over the course of its history, implicitly represents a refutation of the core ideological mechanisms that underpin the Hindu Nationalist Project, including but not limited to its othering of Muslims and other non-Hindu groups as well as its more recent embrace of neoliberal capitalism. More explicitly, the articles argues that the way Hindu Nationalists construct Indian Muslim and Palestinian subjectivities as being analogous and connected through tropes of them as invaders and terrorists – in line with broader imperialist constructions of Muslim subjectivities – is a key feature of Global Hindutva’s globality. To make this argument, this article first examines the literature on the historical relationship between Hindu Nationalism and Zionist settler colonialism. After this, the article analyses the overlap between Indian state and Hindutva positions on the Palestine Question before exploring practical tensions between the Hindutva outlook and the Palestinian liberation struggle. The final section of the article explores how Global Hindutva’s historic and strategic alignment against the Palestinian liberation struggle manifests in both Indian foreign and domestic policy and in Hindu Nationalist mobilisations across the world.