Islam and Muslims in South Asia

A very large part of the Muslim world appeared indeed, in the last two decades, to have been in severe ferment. The South Asian world of Islam, not only found reverberations of such well-publicised developments, but itself contributed in some important respects to the totality of the phenomens. In conformity with the global trends, the South Asian Muslim world also seemed to have been revolving a great deal around the axle of what was seen as an integral part of the global phenomenon of a resurgent Islam. Islamic resurgence, to most, is what it claims to be: religious in its origin, inspiration and expression. Our concern in this book is not so much to reject totally this popular perception of the centrality of Islam in Muslim development as to reveal its inadequacies and simplistic nature in particular reference to the Muslims in South Asia. This book is a solid work of scholarly analysis of Islamisation and an important contribution to the study of Muslims in South Asia. It also examines religious change in South Asian Islam and the development of Islamic tradition.