Perspectives on Interpreting Islam in the Contemporary Indo-Pak Subcontinent

About the author

Dr Tauseef Ahmad Parray is presently working as Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies, Higher Education Department, Jammu and Kashmir (India). He earned his Master’s degree in Islamic Studies from the University of Kashmir in 2008 and later completed his PhD in the same field from Aligarh Muslim University in 2014. He has authored eight books on various aspects of Islamic intellectual tradition; few of them include Mediating Islam & Modernity: Sir Sayyid, Iqbal, and Azad (2019), Recent Trends in Qur’anic Scholarship (2020), Decadence of Muslim Intellectualism (2021), Islamic Intellectual Tradition in the Indian Sub-Continent (co-edited, 2022) and Islam and Democracy in the 21st Century (2023). Additionally, he has also contributed articles in numerous reputed journals, and chapters/entries in edited books and encyclopedias. His major areas of specialization are Islam and Democracy, Modernist/Reformist Thought in South Asia, Islamic Intellectual Tradition, and Recent Trends and English Scholarship in the Qur’anic Studies.

About the book

“A most welcome addition to the growing literature on South Asian Muslim thinkers and their contributions to modern Islamic religious and intellectual thought. … In its various chapters, the author provides us with a sweeping, panoramic survey of the thought of contemporary Muslim scholars in the subcontinent on some major critically vital topics.”

– Professor Asma Afsaruddin, Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures, Indiana University Bloomington, USA

“Tauseef Parray’s survey of present-day thinking about the role of religion in Muslim South Asia forms a welcome addition to the literature on contemporary Islamic intellectual history. Set against the background of the tradition versus modernity debate, this book not only addresses perennial themes pertaining to Islam’s sacred scripture and its messenger but also engages central issues concerning politics, law and society through the writings of select thinkers from this most populous region of the Muslim world.”

– Professor Dr Carool Kersten, Research Professor of Islamic Studies, Catholic University Leuven, Belgium

“Mapping out the intellectual Islamic tradition in the Indo-Pak Subcontinent landscape has evoked divergent discourses, representing the rich repository of Islamic thought which has evolved in the last century. Dr Tauseef Ahmad Parray’s Perspectives on Interpreting Islam in the Contemporary Indo-Pak Subcontinent is the latest addition to this trend, which is centred on prominent intellectuals who have honed their traditional Islamic learning with their academic credentials to present a worldview of critical thinking on the fundamental sources of Islam on diverse issues”

– Dr Abdul Kader Choughley, Researcher/Academic Advisor, Ahsan Academy of Research, Springs, South Africa

The book discusses some major 21st century trends, issues and challenges of Islamic intellectual tradition vis-à-vis the contributions, academic outpouring and approaches of some prominent contemporary Muslim scholars of the Indo-Pak subcontinent within the broader context of ‘reformism’ and through the lens of ‘reformist thought’. It highlights some of the major currents and trends of Islamic thought by focusing on South Asian Muslim thinkers and their contributions to modern Islamic religious and intellectual thought. Set against the background of the tradition versus modernity debate, it addresses perennial themes pertaining to Islamic primary sources and engages in legal, socio-political and gender aspects through the writings of select thinkers of the subcontinent. The book is expected to benefit the students and scholars of Islamic Studies, South Asian Studies and allied subjects in assessing vernacular perspective on current religious, socio-legal and political discourses.

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Foreword

Dr Tauseef Ahmad Parray’s new book Perspectives on Interpreting Islam in the Contemporary Indo-Pak Subcontinent: Issues and Trends is a most welcome addition to the growing literature on South Asian Muslim thinkers and their contributions to modern Islamic religious and intellectual thought. It is widely acknowledged that seminal South Asian thinkers such as Shah Wali Allah, Sayyid Ahmad Khan, Muhammad Iqbal and Fazlur Rahman, between the 18^th and 20^th centuries, played highly influential roles in the revival of Islamic thought during the period of European colonial occupation, along with their contemporaries in the Middle East, such as Jamal al-Din Afghani, Muhammad Abduh and Rashid Rida. Such scholars have been variously labelled “liberals”, “modernists” and “reformers”, and their contributions to Islamic reformism have been generously documented in various publications. Far less is known, however, about their 21^st century successors who carry on the mantle of engaged scholarship and who continue to wield enormous influence in their own milieu, but whose works are rarely disseminated and cited in Western academia. This situation exists despite the fact that the Indo-Pak Subcontinent is home to the largest concentration of Muslims in the world. By dint of their sheer numbers alone, it is logical to assume that when discussing Muslim thinkers and writers in the 21^st century we should turn our attention to South Asia. Typically, at least in the West, the discussion continues to focus on intellectuals from primarily the MENA region, who are still largely regarded as the main representatives of the Islamic tradition, with sporadic and scant attention paid to South Asia (and other regions).

To redress this imbalance, Dr Parray’s book steps up to the plate and fills this lacuna admirably. In its various chapters, the author provides us with a sweeping, panoramic survey of the thought of contemporary Muslim scholars in the Subcontinent on the critically vital topics of Qur’anic Studies, the study of the Prophet Muhammad’s biography (sirah); the tension between tradition and modernity; scrutiny of the Islamic legal corpus, with an emphasis on the Maqasid al-Shari‘ah (the aims or objectives of the religious law); the compatibility between traditional Islamic political thought and democracy; and last, but not least, issues of women’s status and gendered roles in Muslim-majority societies and/or pluralistic societies like India. These scholars include Abdur Raheem Kidwai, Muhammad Yasin Mazhar Siddiqui, Muhammad Nejatullah Siddiqi, Muhammad Khalid Masud, Mufti Muhammad Shafi and Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, all of whom are discussed within their appropriate socio-political contexts and against the backdrop of globalization.

Through this survey, we enter into a world of rich intellectual fervour and vibrant religious conversations that, as the author notes, have gained much traction in the contemporary period and are not about to lose their momentum any time soon. Parray’s skilful portrayal of these scholarly engagements with the modern world vividly brings to life the tenor of some of these academic and social debates as well as highlights the various hermeneutical strategies and methodological approaches adopted by the scholars. It also foregrounds the challenges faced by these scholars as they critically revisit the Islamic tradition and reinterpret the primary sources of Islam – the Qur’an and hadith – in accordance with the exigencies of the contemporary period and with modern priorities. Such bold, innovative scholarship is not always appreciated by everyone; but like their predecessors in preceding centuries, they persist in their calling to find a modus vivendi between the demands of modernity and the requirements of their faith.