Islamic Review And Muslim India

Maulana Husain Ahmad Madani (1879 – 1957) was a political activist, Islamic scholar, and supporter of Gandhi during the struggle for India’s independence. Humane and fiercely dedicated whether campaigning against the separation of Pakistan, or in favour of democracy and inter-religious peace, he brooked no nonsense and fought relentlessly for what he believed in. Spanning a lifetime of campaigning and controversy, Barbara Metcalf’s compelling biography draws from Madani’s letters and autobiographies, as well as detailed knowledge of the prevailing political climate, to create an intimate and revealing account of one of the most important men in the history of modern Islam.

Home to the largest Muslim minorities in Western Europe and Asia, France and India are both grappling with crises of secularism. In Politicizing Islam, Fareen Parvez offers an in-depth look at how Muslims have responded to these crises, focusing on Islamic revival movements in the French city of Lyon and the Indian city of Hyderabad. Presenting a novel comparative view of middle-class and poor Muslims in both cities, Parvez illuminates how Muslims from every social class are denigrated but struggle in different ways to improve their lives and make claims on the state. In Hyderabad's slums, Muslims have created vibrant political communities, while in Lyon's banlieues they have retreated into the private sphere. Politicizing Islam elegantly explains how these divergent reactions originated in India's flexible secularism and France's militant secularism and in specific patterns of Muslim class relations in both cities. This fine-grained ethnography pushes beyond stereotypes and has consequences for burning public debates over Islam, feminism, and secular democracy.