Intra-Muslim polemics in South India : intimacies, mass publicity, and secularism /

"How do we understand differences and disputes among various branches of Islam? This book places intimacies, rather than radical incompatibilities, at the centre of its in-depth ethnographic account of mass-publicized theological polemics among Sunni Muslims in the south Indian state of Kerala....

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Menon, Nandagopal R. (Author)
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Oxford : Oxford University Press, [2024]
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Online Access:Connect to the full text of this electronic book
Description
Summary:"How do we understand differences and disputes among various branches of Islam? This book places intimacies, rather than radical incompatibilities, at the centre of its in-depth ethnographic account of mass-publicized theological polemics among Sunni Muslims in the south Indian state of Kerala. What unites Muslims of different Sunni groups also divides them and incites polemics--Islam as a shared system of knowledge and practices, bonds of kinship and other social relations, and the common condition of being a beleaguered religious minority in a Hindu majoritarian democracy. Diverging from works that have focused on how Islamic practices like ritual prayers facilitate the fashioning of theologically grounded pious selves, the book argues that intra-Muslim polemics marginalize theology and have little to do with cultivating piety. Instead, polemics constitute inter- and intra-religious socialities, enable Muslims to articulate their connections to India and other imaginaries, and produce Islam as a public religion in a secular nation-state."--Publisher.
This text examines what unifies and separates various Sunni Muslim sects and incites polemics. It explores Islam as a body of information and cultural practices that focus on family and other social groups. The work also reveals the shared experience of being a persecuted religious minority in a Hindu majoritarian democracy.
Item Description:This edition also issued in print: 2024.
Physical Description:1 online resource.
Audience:Specialized.
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN:9780198903352
0198903359
0198903340
9780198903345