Being Muslim in South Asia

Description

The 500 million Muslims who live in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka constitute roughly one-third of the world’s Muslims. Their lives in the twenty-first century are challenging and diverse. Too often in recent years, they have been unfairly associated with terrorism, as anyone with a Muslim name who has passed through a Western airport will attest. But South Asian Muslims do what other people do: they educate their children, earn livings, travel widely, discuss their faith, settle disputes, arrange marriages, cope with politics, struggle with governments, and support football teams. United by shared adherence to the Holy Quran and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, Muslims of South Asia speak numerous languages, follow different local customs, and have varied aspirations for their own lives and those of their children. The essays in this book probe such aspects of Muslim life. The authors’ concerns range from great political debates that have affected Muslim lives to marriage on the east coast of Sri Lanka, schools and media in Pakistan, women’s groups in Bangladesh, and football teams in Kolkata. This work will interest readers who wish to discover the multifaceted lives of South Asia’s Muslims.  

Table of contents

List of Tables, Figures, and Maps
List of Abbreviations
Acknowledgements

Introduction: Diversity and Daily Life
Robin Jeffrey And Ronojoy Sen

1. Islam and Modernity in South Asia
Muhammad Khalid Masud

2. Islam and Democracy in India: From Savile Row to Jyotiba Phule Park
Barbara D. Metcalf

3. Imagining Religion: Portraits of Islamic Consciousness in Pakistan 
Riaz Hassan

4. The Challenges of Diversity: 'Casting' Muslim Communities in South India
Torsten Tschacher

5. Matrilocal Marriage and Women's Property among the Moors of Sri Lanka
Dennis B. McGilvray

6. The Making of a Diasporic Muslim Family in East Africa
Salim Lakha

7. The Ismaili Conciliation and Arbitration Boards in India: A Model of Community Justice?
Arif A. Jamal

8. 'Ilm and the Individual: Religious Education and Religious Ideas in Pakistan
Matthew J. Nelson

9. Darul Uloom Deoband's Approach to Social Issues: Image, Reality, and Perception
Taberez Ahmed Neyazi

10. 'Being Muslim' in Contemporary India: Nation, Identity, and Rights
Tanweer Fazal

11. Transnational Networks, Political Islam, and the Concept of Ummah in Bangladesh
Mubashar Hasan

12. Muslim Aspirations in Bangladesh: Looking Back
and Redrawing Boundaries
Samia Huq

13. Media in Pakistan: Ideology, Indoctrination, Intimidation
Khaled Ahmed

14. Kafka in India: Terrorism, Media, Muslims
Irfan Ahmad

15. A Million Salutes: India's Mohammedan Sporting Club
Ronojoy Sen

Glossary
Index
About the Editors and Contributors