Islam calls for uncompromising social equality of all humanity. Race, colour, caste and ethnic origin have no value in Islamic understanding of things — piety being the only determinant. This, however, has not stopped Muslims from adopting un-Islamic practices of social discrimination. Caste differences within the Muslim society are more apparent in the subcontinent than anywhere else. The book claims to explore various dimensions of the caste question among Muslims in India. The book deals with considerable length on the all-important issue of inter-cast marriages and the concept of kafa’a (suitability and compatibility in marriage). For this, he relies on the comprehensive tract written in Urdu on the topic by Maulana Abdul Hamid Nu’mani, a senior leader of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind. Nu’mani has forthrightly brought to light, in no unambiguous terms, the internal hypocrisy of the community, which claims to be belonging to a universal brotherhood while at the same time shunning marital relationships with fellow Muslims. He deconstructs the widely misunderstood concept of Kafa’a and decisively proves that it has no basis in Islam. He also does not hesitate to criticize the revered ulema, like Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi and Maulana Ahmed Raza Khan Barelwi whose views on kafa’a contradicted those of the Qur’an and Sunnah.
There are no reviews yet.