WHO KILLED LIBERAL ISLAM (HB)

Provocative, insightful, and
passionately argued, this book attempts to bring some perspective to an
increasingly polarized debate on the crisis of liberalism among Indian
Muslims. It raises some profound issues at the heart of the crisis fuelled on
the one hand by the growing influence of Wahhabism on Indian Islam—and on the
other, by the rise of aggressive right-wing Hindu nationalism which has
alienated even moderate Muslims. The book takes head-on the fundamental
question: Is liberalism and Islam compatible or mutually exclusive? In doing
so, it examines the way Islam is being preached and practiced both in India
and abroad, to find answers to such niggling questions as: Who is a ‘good
Muslim’? What constitutes the Muslim identity? Why do Muslims across the
world remain silent instead of raising their voice for reform of regressive
practices such as stoning? The decline of liberal Islam in India, it argues,
flows from the wider crisis in Islam globally. Upholding the syncretic
‘Ganga-Jamni tehzeeb’ that characterized Indian Islam, it tries to bring back
the emphasis on liberal values of acceptance and inclusivity. It also
dissuades secularists against trying to push through sweeping reforms in
India before the community is ready for it, warning of a possible hardline
backlash as in Turkey and Iran. Who Killed Liberal Islam? offers a
much-needed corrective to the self-serving narratives on both sides of a
divisive debate, and seeks to help concentrate minds on finding a way through
the crisis.