Abstract
The unprecedented scales with which the idea of radical Islam is polarising and manifesting itself in the world is quite blood-curdling. It is projecting itself as one of the greatest impediments faced by world leaders while establishing a democratic setup. The historical evaluation of Islam and its expansion goes on to suggest that from the beginning the followers of this religion resorted to brute force for its expansion. The element of violence has its roots in interpretation of pure or puritan Islam. A visible contradiction of phenomenon of Islamic zealotry, however, is witnessed where the countries which are in numerical majority of Islamic population are far more entrenched in the web of radicalisation than the others. The end of political hegemony of Islam after a long reign with the disintegration of the Caliphate Empire in 1922 evinced a strong force built on the grounds of Islamic brotherhood. During the Cold War era, to fight Soviet forces in Afghanistan, the USA led another campaign and used radicalisation of Islam to its purpose. Notwithstanding their original agenda, these forces later turned on to their own masters and since then have been causing distress in almost every nation for Islamic propagation. These fundamentalists successfully established terror nurseries of Islamic radical groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan and then sprang up further during Arab–Israel Conflict in the Middle East by feeding on the wave of petro-capitalism. Unanticipated, these organisations not only targeted people of other faiths but also their co-religionists who were under the influence of so-called Kafirs. The idea of violence was rationalised under the aegis of establishing Puritan Islam (practices that were at work during the times of the Prophet and the first four Caliphates). Legitimating from scriptural texts was done in three ways: first, jihad against non-believers of Islam or Kafirs, cocooning of the Muslim world from Western and modern nations, and last, using technology to strengthen the separation of Muslim identities. These ideas are then manipulated by the web of active terror organisations and their functioning in Islamist countries for preservation and preaching of the religion. This callous use of violence in the name of Puritan Islam pertinently needed a space in the academic discourse, which through this book Puritan is Political: Mapping Islamic Radicalism, the author is providing. The book is all about developing a theoretical understanding of the idea of Islamic radicalism. It reckons important concerns of the world of how theological texts and practices become serious ammunitions in the hands of the true believers to act against non-believers.
The central premise of the book has a strong and straightforward agenda of unveiling the pretence of the dichotomy between Puritan and political Islam. To unmask this pretence, the author initially contextualises Tablighi Jamaat and its iniquitous acts in India during COVID-19 to further initiate the debate between Puritan and Political Islam. The book also tackles the pseudo-liberal attitude towards radical Islam, shoving everything under the carpet in the name of Islam phobia. It goes deeper to provide an insight into schools of Islam such as Wahabism, Deobandi and Tablighi, and builds a case of intolerance propagated by Islam which is faced both by Muslim and non-Muslim countries. This lies in the fundamental principles of Islam which are used for creation for Dar ul-Islam. After a thorough research, the book has developed itself through nine chapters dedicated towards providing a strong counter-hegemonic discourse against the idea of Puritan Islam, which is exclusivist in nature and hampers ideas of democracy and secularism. The author employs the methodology of contextual analysis and tries to seek reasons behind the intolerance propounded by the Islamic faith. He tries to understand the lack of reason and rationality towards the religious scripture of the Quran and Hadith and tries to map the presence of Islamic terrorism throughout the world.
In the initial chapter, the author elucidates upon Islamic expansion in India from the time Islam invaded the Sindh border and Multan in 711 AD. By contextualising Tablighi, it also dwells upon the discreetness involved in spreading and preaching of Islamic ideas in India and invokes a debate between Puritan and Political Islam. In the following chapter, the author widens the scope of studying Islam as an ideology and uses the lens of two prominent schools of Islam - Wahabism and Deobandi at length. The author discusses how they provide epistemic foundation to the ideology canvassed by terrorist organisations. He further engages with divergences in Deobandi-schools preaching in India and its neighbouring terror nursery Pakistan. Taking a cue from the preceding chapter, the third chapter focuses in detail on the third and the most popular school of Islam in India—the Tablighi and its venomous attempts of radicalising the young minds. The fourth chapter attempts to substantiate the theoretical claims in earlier chapters with empirical evidences on Tablighis. It takes assistance of various terrorist attacks to unravel how democratic liberal ideas are misused by the Tablighis to spread hatred, violence and terrorism in non-Islamic countries. The author claims that Tablighis are a section of Deobandi school and their appeasement is leading to direct or indirect radicalisation. Subsections of the chapter deal with Tablighi’s presence over the world and the changed attitude of the world towards them after ‘serious reservations’ about them in the United States after 9/11. The fifth chapter maps out the Islamic expanse, spread of violence and identity assertion in the last few decades. It shows in three stages, the pattern of expansion which eventually leads to violence and the assertion of Islamic identity in non-Islamic countries. The author gives empirical evidence to elaborate on the fact about Muslims being the biggest victims of Islamic terrorism and no actions are being taken against these vile acts. It calls for attention to the threat being posed on democratic spirit of a nation wherever Islam spreads its roots. With the sixth chapter of the book, further theorisation by analysing the theological texts is done. It tries to present a theoretical understanding of the idea of exclusivism present in these scriptures and brings out certain Surahs and Ayats from them to contemplate the rigidity that Islam as a religion offers. The dichotomy created by it between believers and non -believers and the permissibility it grants to the violence perpetuated against the non-believers (Kafirs). The seventh chapter brings exclusive focus on Muslims in India since the time of the partition. Their appeasement, and their numerical strength are thriving in India and this receives overwhelming support from several political parties. The following chapter tries to deconstruct the idea of Puritan Islam. It highlights the inherent element of violence by digging out the ghosts of the past and questions the ‘generous attitude’ of the religion even during the reign of the Prophet and Caliphates which Puritan Islam seeks to establish. It also presents contradictions prevalent in the Islamic sects themselves and injustices done to other sects like Shias and Ahmedias. The author seems to be perplexed by the lack of clarity of certain verses which claim that Islam is not at conflict with other faiths. In the final chapter, the author tries to reckon the difficulties faced by democracy from religious terrorism. It explores different challenges that the idea of radical Islam can present and varying responses presented by different countries to curb it.
Overall, through all the chapters, the author tries to move beyond the hegemonic academic discourse of absolutely separating the element of violence from the religion. No matter how multiferious forms the idea of radical Islam adopts to convert Dar ul-Harb to Dar ul-Islam, the ultimate rationalisation of terror and violence seeps into the scriptural text itself. The author in a much-nuanced manner tried to substantiate the theory with evidences not only from contemporary times but has also travelled back to the origins of the religion. For instance, in Chapter 8, he draws a parallel between Buddhist statues destroyed by Taliban with that of iconoclasm followed by Caliphates in countries like Afghanistan and India. However, the book is cautious enough to highlight the minority and alternatives of radicals, but questions their effect in curing the already spread venom of hatred in the majority. It discusses the complexity of this phenomenon from both national and international aspects. The book is written in a very clear and comprehensive manner. However, to cover all aspects, it compromises on further exploration and explanation of certain theoretical aspects. For instance, the exploration on assertion of separate identities through political, economic and social lens would have given the reader a very fresh perspective. Although the book’s relevance remains intact in contemporary times through its efforts to throw the spotlight on extensive social control of ‘virtuousness’ and a monoethnic and mono-cultural society envisioned by Islamic zealots via the sharia laws which emphasise inequality among people. This entire vision abandons the respect for multiformity and diversity in a democratic and secular society, and personal autonomy in the area of ethics, morals, ideology and faith. In the end, the book provides a visual representation of active terror organisations present in various countries for readers to understand the correlation he tries to draw throughout the book. This book is significant for both academic and non-academic readers and contributes successfully in multiple arenas such as Islamic studies, contemporary governance, democratic studies and so on.