Organizer and Chair: Theodore P. Wright, Jr., State University of New York, Albany
Discussant: Ali Asani, Harvard University
The dominant theme in the four volumes on Indian Muslims edited by Imtiaz Ahmad in the 1970s was that, contrary to the "two nations" ideology of the Muslim League and of Pakistanis, they are indeed very regionally, linguistically, ritually and behaviorally diverse. More recent research has revealed, however true diversity may have been a quarter century ago, that both external and domestic pressures are producing a trend toward homogenization of the Muslim minority at the end of the century. But there appear to be processes at work in contradictory directions: towards similarity and toward further differentiation.
Three of the four papers illustrate the former tendency, homogenization. Jonah Blank’s shows the conscious policy of the leadership of the Daudi Bohra sect of Ismailis to adhere more strictly to mainstream Islamic orthopraxy, but not at the expense of the benefits of modernization. Frank Fanselow’s traces the origins of the spread of communalism to South India in the controversial conversion to Islam of some Scheduled Caste villagers in Meenakshipuram, Tamil Nadu in 1981. This has led to the breakdown of one of the main distinctions between North and South Indian Muslims: the absence of communal riots against the latter. Omar Khalidi reports on Urduization among Konkani Muslims which shows the decline of the other principal North-South difference: the use of the provincial vernacular language in the South. Laura Jenkins’ paper, on the other hand, reveals a new class-based fissure in the Muslim umma over the issue of extending "reservations" to Muslims in the wake of the Mandal commission report of 1990: should the whole community be treated as "backward" or should the "creamy layer" of Ashraf be excluded?
Mullah on the Mainframe: Modernity and Islamization among the Daudi Bohras
Jonah Blank, University of Brunei Darussalem
Both in academic and in popular circles, the core values of traditionalist Islam are commonly portrayed as inherently hostile to those of a modern, pluralistic society. The case-study of the Daudi Bohras challenges this definition of Islamic traditionalist identity—and of organic identities in general. The Daudi Bohras, a denomination of some one million Ismaili Shias residing in fifty countries around the world, are headquartered in Mumbai, India. Due to strict clerical control over all aspects of daily life, the Bohras have never before permitted an ethnographer to conduct fieldwork in the community. Although descended from Hindu Vaishya converts, the Bohras are among the most highly Islamized communities on the subcontinent. They avoid not only alcohol and non-halal food, but riba (monetary interest) as well. Both men and women wear clothing unique to the denomination and easily recognizable as Muslim—a fact which has increased the group’s exposure to sectarian violence. This strict orthopraxy, however, is accompanied by a surprising openness to a wide range of modern and/or Western practices, technologies and ideas. The Bohras are among the most forward-thinking, progressive, and socially well-integrated Muslims of the Indian subcontinent. Areas in which their modernist outlook are particularly noteworthy include education, communication technology, and gender relations. Such a dual identity—simultaneously traditionally Islamic and thoroughly modernistic—is no accident. It is the result of a carefully coordinated program instituted by the clerical authorities over the course of the last half-century, and particularly since the late 1970s.
The Genesis of Communalism in Tamil Nadu: The Minakshipuram Mass Conversions
Frank S. Fanselow, University of Brunei Darussalam
This paper examines the causes and consequences for the Muslim minority of India of the mass conversions of Harijans to Islam that occurred in the early 1980s in Minakshipurarn in southern Tamil Nadu. Although the causes of these conversions were predominantly local and the numbers involved relatively small, they attracted enormous attention at the national level which ultimately provided a catalyst for the communalization of previously peaceful Hindu-Muslim relations in Tamil Nadu.
The paper documents and analyzes the various interpretations of these conversions which were put forward at the time in the public sphere by the mass media and political and religious organizations. In these interpretations, Hindu and Muslim society are represented as structural opposites. Muslim society is projected as egalitarian and united and thereby as presenting a challenge to a weak and caste-fragmented Hindu society in need of unification in order to respond to the challenge. The aim of the paper is to show how local conditions and events become reinterpreted in terms of national and international political agendas and how such reinterpretations then feed back into and transform local realities.
Caste, Class, and Islam: Debating the Boundaries of "Backwardness" in India
Laura D. Jenkins, University of Cincinnati
"Caste is against Islam but still a factor in Muslim society," stated a Muslim M.P., as he explained the diverse affirmative action schemes being debated by various segments of Muslim society in India. Such a seeming contradiction surprises many, since "caste" has become so strongly associated with "Hinduism." Caste, class, and religious identities in India are so contingent and complex that the official categories used for group-based policies are constantly thrown into question. Indian Muslims are divided over who should benefit from "reservations," affirmative action policies in public employment and higher education. This issue highlights the differentiations among South Indian Muslims in two ways. First, the debate over who should fall into the officially "backward" categories and benefit from various affirmative action schemes necessitates the recognition of class—and even caste—in Muslim society. Second, Muslims in India are at odds over the issue of reservations. Some groups are demanding that Muslims as a whole be declared "backward." Since certain disadvantaged Muslim groups are already eligible for reservations as Other Backward Classes (OBCs), some Muslim OBCs are opposing this broad demand for Muslim reservations on the grounds that class and caste must be taken into account. Still other Muslims are opposed to accepting affirmative action at all due to a reluctance to associate themselves with other "backward" groups. It is not just the newly empowered, Hindu dominated Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that is opposed to Muslim reservations, but also factions within Muslim society itself. Based on my research in India as a Fulbright-Hays scholar in 1996, this paper will draw on interviews, organizational literature, speeches and conference materials, largely from Delhi and Hyderabad.
Konkani Muslims on the Urduization Path
Omar Khalidi, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Muslims of Konkan, the coastal region of Maharashtra, are increasingly learning Urdu, a language not native to the group. Primary through secondary schools with either Urdu as the language of instruction or at least as a mandatory subject have sprung up not only in Mumbai, but deep into the hinterland of the coast. Evidence of Urdu literacy is found in the large circulation of Urdu newspapers and periodicals in the region, to the extent that Urdu newspapers have a larger circulation in this region than in Uttar Pradesh, traditionally considered the Urdu heartland.
What has led to this development? What consequences does this case of Muslim homogenization entail for Muslim identity in Maharashtra and for national integration in India? Does the adoption of Urdu by non-Urdu Konkanis necessarily lead to negative consequences for the Muslim minority by arousing Hindu antagonism? Why does Urdu have a favorable environment in Maharashtra but not in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi? This paper will discuss these questions as well as compare and contrast the appeal or lack of appeal of Urdu among other Muslim communities in Maharashtra such as the Gujerati speaking Memons, Bohras and Khojas.