Struggling to be Heard: South Asian Muslim Voices

Published by: Global Media Publications
J-51-A, AFE, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi-110025,India. Ph:011-55666830 Email: mail@gmpublications.com.

Price: Rs 395

Given the salience of ideologised forms of religion in fanning or justifying conflicts in different parts of the world today, formulating new understandings of religion that can play a positive role in promoting inter-community relations and social justice, is an urgent necessity. This is as true as of the Islamic case as it is of all other religions. The book, Struggling to be Heard: South Asian Muslim Voices by Yoginder Sikand is a collection of interviews with Indian and Pakistani Muslim activists and ulema, that seeks to provide a broad perspective on socially engaged understanding of Islam that try to creatively deal with several issues of contemporary concern, particularly those relating to inter-faith relations, social justice and peace.

This book is appealing because of its sheer simplicity of language and content. The author, Yoginder Sikand has divided the book into two sections-the first section contains interviews with Indian Muslim activists and scholars and the second with Pakistani scholars. The former were conducted by him personally. The interviews with the Pakistanis, except for the one with Makhdum Syed Chan Pir Qadri were done by him through email. The interviews with Siddiq Hassan Abdullah, Shaikh Muhammad Karakunnu, Ejaz Ahmad Islam, Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, Hameed Naseem Rafiabadi, Ghulam Rasul Malik, Dr Zafar-ul Islam Khan, Maqbool Ahmed Siraj and many more Indian and Pakistani intellectuals, cover a range of issues –from inter-community and intra-community relations to diverse understandings of war and peace and women’s rights in Islam and the ongoing debate about the madrasa system of education, all argued from within a broadly defined Islamic paradigm.

Yoginder Sikand holds a doctorate in history from London University, and till recently was a post-doctoral research fellow at the International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World, Leiden, The Netherlands. For some time, he was also a reader in the Department of Islamic Studies at the Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi. He is currently an independent research scholar and writes on Indian Muslim issues for various journals and newspapers.This book is a must-read for Muslims and non-Muslims as it presents the ‘South Asian Muslim Voices in an unbiased and balanced style.

Pick a Book