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Overall, this book attempts to explain the strengths of Indian democracy and the

multiple factors which have led to authoritarianism in Pakistan.

FARAH JAN# 2011

Irfan Ahmad. Islamism and Democracy in India: The Transformation of

Jamaat-e-Islami. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, and Oxford, 2009.

pp. xx + 306. Maps. Figs. Tables. Refs. Glossary. Bibliog. Index. Hb. 44.95/

$65. ISBN 9 7806 9113 9197. Pb. 16.95/$24.95. ISBN 9 7806 9113 9203

Printing somewhat exaggerated quotes from established academics on the back

cover of a book, praising the work inside, is commonly done by publishers to

whet the appetite of possible readers. On the back of the work under review

here, for example, Princeton University Press has assembled four leading and

widely respected scholars in the field to award the book such high marks that

it poses the question whether Irfan Ahmads PhD dissertation-turned-book

can really live up to this advance praise.

The book, divided into seven chapters, investigates the Jamacat-i islam (hence-

forth JiI), established in the Punjab in 1941 and soon to become the most impor-

tant Islamist outfit in South Asia, with independent branches in the Muslimmajority countries not only of Pakistan and Bangladesh, but also in India,

Kashmir and Sri Lanka. The significance of the book under review is that,

unlike the majority of existing contributions on the matter, it focuses entirely

on the development of the JiI in India, a study of which has long been

awaited. At its core is the analysis of the interdependence of the societal

context in postcolonial India and the development of the JiI from a very

much dogmatically inclined organisation, which strove for the establishment

of an Islamic state in the subcontinent, to a much more moderate one which

ardently defended secular democracy. Such a radical transformation was, of

course, not achieved without considerable frictional losses and, consequently,

Ahmad also pays due attention to various breakaway movements, first of all

to the highly radical Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), which,

because of the irreconcilable differences with the JiI, became an independentbody in the early 1980s. So far, so good.

Given the authors academic positioning as an anthropologist, the first chapter

(pp. 3148), following a lengthy introduction (pp. 128), introduces us to the

chosen case study. Furthermore, it provides a justification for this choice, and

outlines, in quite an entertaining tone, the various barriers that the author had

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to overcome in order to pursue his study in the highly emotional aftermath of

9/11. While there can hardly be any objections regarding this chapter, I felt

somewhat uneasy about a number of points in the introduction which were

repeated throughout the work, be it the authors unjustified complaints about

an alleged lack of academic interest in Muslim movements in India or his

unnecessary re-invocation of the worn-out anthropological bogeyman of the

Orientalist, which stands for the philological and historical approach

alike. Instead of acknowledging the usefulness of employing a variety of

methods, the authors narrow-mindedness here seems responsible for the

occasional tilt in the biographical account of the JiIs idea generator, Sayyid

Abu l-Acla Mawdud (d. 1979), and in the quick historical survey of theevolution of his ideology in chapter two (pp. 4980). This could well have

been avoided by applying the required source criticism, as well as acquiring

some more solid background in the academic study of Islam along with

even basic knowledge of Arabic, for comprehending all the theological

implications mentioned. However, since this is not a core aim of the book,

the cornerstones of the ideology could have been only briefly listed; therefore,

the way this was done in the conclusion (pp. 220f.) would have perfectly

sufficed.

The following chapters, three to seven, represent the core of the book. While

chapters three to six are based strongly on the authors extensive anthropologi-

cal fieldwork, the final chapter is again more historical, although in this casemuch more sound than chapter two. Spiced with enjoyably presented anecdotes

and interview excerpts from the authors fieldwork, chapter three (pp. 83 110)

investigates a JiI school in the North Indian university town of Aligarh and

chapter four (pp. 111136) the Muslim University of Aligarh (AMU) itself.

From both chapters, it is clear that social and professional mobility mattered

much more to students and their parents than strict adherence to a somewhat

utopian ideology, and thus the ideological framework gradually adapted to

meet the aspirations of the clientele. At AMU, it was the JiI Student Islamic

Organisation (SIO), founded after the JiI and SIMI parted ways, which had

been the driving force of a less state- and more strongly morality-centred

moderation of the JiIs original ideology.

Needless to say, SIO and SIMI had been clearly opposed to each other, a conflict

which crystallised at the JiI Madrasat al-fala_h in eastern Uttar Pradesh. Conse-

quently, the fifth chapter (pp. 137159) is devoted to the various and sometimes

difficult to disentangle fields of contestation between the two groups. On pages

153159, Ahmad remarks, and this perhaps is one of the most valuable state-

ments in the book, that democracy also means the right to disagree, even if

disagreement causes conflict between various interest groups; the strength of

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a democracy could then be measured by its ability to provide mechanisms to

resolve such conflicts peacefully.

Chapter six (pp. 163187) focuses on the SIMI, its radical position, which cul-

minated in the call for armed jihad in December 1991 and the ensuing quest for

the Islamic Caliphate, and the reasons for this. The author clearly shows that the

radicalisation of SIMI was, not least, the result of a dwindling trust in Indian

democracy in the light of the increasing, and increasingly violent, communali-

sation of the Indian public and politics. Why, however, Ahmad has decided here

on yet another onslaught on the Orientalist bogeyman, culminating in the very

poor and, in my eyes, academically dishonourable comparison of an establishedAmerican academic with a right-wing Hindu extremist (p. 169), is absolutely

beyond me.

The final chapter (pp. 188 216) is, in my view, the most systematic and valuable

one. It provides a meticulous account of the painful birth of the Indian JiIs

ideological transformation from upholding Mawduds initial and uncompro-

mising ideology to a very pragmatic advocacy of secular democracy, triggered

mainly by the issue of whether JiI members or Muslims in general should be

permitted to vote in a non-Islamic state. JiIs path of moderation and SIMIs

path of radicalisation are finally, in the conclusion of the book (pp. 217239),

explained as just two sides of the same coin, namely two alternative responses

to the Indian situation which, after all, was, and still is, constantly changing itself.

Finally, a few words on formalities seem in place. While the author undertook

the generally very laudable attempt academically to transliterate technical terms

and quotations in non-European languages, the fact that he has not executed it

meticulously did, in my eyes, more harm than good. This becomes especially

obvious for those moreover unnecessary passages where the author has tried

to transcribe Arabic terms and phrases: ra_hmatul lil calam n (pp. 119 and

164), allah-o-akbar (p. 172) or fore_za al-jihad cala kulle muslim (p. 255

n.19) do not make any sense at all. As such, the author would have done

much better to have abstained completely from the transcription of Arabic as

well as, come to that, of Urdu and Hindi. Moreover, the use of spellings

derived from the pronunciation in South Asia in academic publications

appears quite disturbing: names like Madni or terms like _talba should, not

least for the sake of the uninitiated reader, be spelled correctly as Madani

(i.e. one from Medina) and _talaba (students).1 Finally, the book regrettably

shows a disproportionately high number of typos, scrambled letters and the like.

Regardless of whether this is down to sloppiness on behalf of the publisher or

careless proof-reading by the author, this should not happen in a volume

published by a well-known and highly acclaimed publishing house.

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What now remains to be said is that, although Irfan Ahmads book is without

doubt a valuable and necessary contribution to the field, it is certainly not, as

claimed on the back cover, the most important book written on Muslims in

India in the last three decades. To correct such an assessment, however, one

would have to have at least a working knowledge of the relevant European

languages to be able to acknowledge the many publications in the field that

have not been written in English.

JAN-PETER HARTUNG # 2011

NOTE

1. It should be noted that _talba also has a different meaning as litany or prayer;

hence this should be even more reason to strive for the correct spelling.

A. G. Noorani. India-China Boundary Problem 1846 1947: History and

Diplomacy. Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2011. pp. 360. Maps. Appen-

dices. Index. Hb. 35/$65. ISBN 9 7801 9807 0689

As a political legatee of the Raj, Nehrus India was heir to its varied commit-

ments, both within as well as outside its borders. It was in many ways an excit-ing legacy albeit not without its difficulties and challenges. By far the most

important among these was the newly independent countrys borders and its

relations with neighbouring lands.

Indias first prime minister, who led the country for almost two decades after

independence, had a great fascination with China and rated India-China ties

as easily the most crucial in the by no means uncomplicated network of New

Delhis relations with the world at large. Nehru had great respect for the UN

too, to whose birth and early years he made a significant contribution. All the

same China, and Asia, occupied a very special place in the world as the

Indian prime minister saw it.

Before long, however, and especially with the emergence of Mao and the

Peoples Republic of China in the early 1950s, there were a number of rude

jolts. Beginning especially with Beijing returning somewhat less than courte-

ous, if not positively rude, responses to Indias concern about Tibet which

the Chinese now occupied by force majeure, making it clear beyond the

shadow of a doubt that they would tolerate no interference in what Beijing

deemed an internal affair, its very own exclusive turf.

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