Neither global nor local: Reorienting the study of Islam in South Asia

Abstract

The framework of ‘lived Islam’ overshadows the study of Islam in South Asia, presupposing a ‘local Islam’ against a ‘global Islam’. In the post-9/11 context, the global is immediately associated with the political and the political with the undesirable. On the other hand, the local is portrayed as peaceful, accommodative and, hence, desirable. Such teleological approaches produce a priori desire for the local and undermine the political, foreclosing Muslim political legitimacy. By shifting attention to the Muslim movements in Kerala, I emphasise the significance of the political and jurisprudence in the exploration of Muslim lives. I conclude that while the Muslim subjectivity is decisively framed within the constraints of security concerns, Hindu sensibility and modern citizenship, jurisprudence enables the Muslim subject to engage substantially within and beyond these constellations of power, imagining a sovereign register of Islamic ethos.