Last Edited:
Tuesday, December 24, 2013 01:40 PM +0100
/ Last Updated:
Tuesday, December 24, 2013 01:41 PM +0100
Born in 1940, Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer took a
Bachelor's Degree in Civil Engineering. His interest in religion and its
philosophy motivated him to do an in-depth study of Islam and other religions.
Combining the knowledge of Islamic sources with an
insight into the contemporary changes taking place in the world,
he has written 48 books and numerous articles on issues relating to
Islam, Indian Muslim, communal riots, communalization of Indian society,
and human rights violations. He has argued for appreciation of illustrious
Indian scholars of Islam such as, Muhammad Iqbal and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad,
passionately advocating a progressive understanding of Islam that strives to
creatively respond to change. He has been advocating to Muslims to follow, in
spirit, the Quranic teaching of adl, ahsan, rahmah and hikmah i.e. justice,
benevolence, compassion and wisdom to make this world a better place to live for
everyone. In his writings, he has also been arguing
for the need to study the Islamic sources in the modern context. Taaqqul
(reasoning), Tadabbur (contemplation), Tafakkur (Thinking) and Hikmah (Wisdom)
have been emphasized by him as important tools to face the challenge of
modernity. Dr. Aghar Ali Engineer has written extensively on the growing menace
of communalization of Indian society and has documented most of the communal
disturbances in different parts of India. He has also written a book on Gujarat
pogrom of 2002, which was a watershed in the history of communal violence in
India. His book Rethinking Issues in Islam was a path breaker as it
provided a framework for the need to revisit some of the important issues
confronting Muslims in India and elsewhere. Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer has also
made extensive use of cyberspace to reach out to millions of young men and
women. Online edition of Indian Journal of Secularism edited by him has
taken his writings to a vast number of people in different corners of the world.
Winner of the "RightLivelihood Award
2004", which is considered an alternative Nobel Prize,
Dr. Engineer has been a source of inspiration to a large number of Indians
committed to the cause of security, equity, secularism,
and progress for all sections of Indian society. Jamia Hamdard
University conferred upon
him the degree of the Doctor of Literature (D.Litt), Honoris Causa,
on January 14, 2005. [Adapted from
their citation]
Quite apart from the
valid question of just how 'balanced' was Roy's perception of
the historical role of Islam, I've included the above article here for it
demonstrates how much a certain 'revolutionary' reading of Islam could appeallike
Marxismto the 'universalistic' streak
already inherent in the brahmanical psyche. - Sunthar
Khalil Jaouiche, India's Contribution to Arab mathematics (Nov. 1997 - translation submitted 04 Aug. 2010)
Hindu-Buddhist Conflict in the Chachnama: Fact or Fiction? (2008)
Amir Khusrau's Contributions to Indian Music: a preliminary survey (2008)
Andre
Malraux on India and Bangladesh (Sulekha - Aug 2005)
[external]
Dr Farish Ahmad-Noor
is a Malaysian political scientist and human rights
activist. He is currently academic researcher at the Zentrum fur
Moderner Orient in Berlin, and is the author of New Voices of Islam
(ISIM, 2002) and Islam Embedded: The Historical
Development of PAS 1951-2003 (MSRI, 2004). The
Other Malaysia is aimed at highlighting the marginalized
elements of Malaysian history that have been sidelined by the official
historical narrative of the Malaysian state.
Of Ismaili
cultural background, Iqbal was born in
Madagascar. A graduate of the INALCO in Urdu and Arabic, he is a specialist of
the Khoja Ismaili literature of the Indian subcontinent. He is currently
pursuing his researches in Paris on the Khoja mode of knowledge transmission.
Explanation of the virtues of Knowledge in the Kalm-i Maul is the example
par excellence of traditional Ismaili pedagogy. This bilingual study, presented
for the first time in French, should attract the attention of those who want to
deepen their knowledge of Ismaili culture, as much as believers and
spiritual-seekers. You can order Iqbal's French opuscule, published in 2003,
from: Librairie d'Amrique et d; Orient, Jean Maisonneuve Successeur; 11rue Saint
Sulpice, Paris (6e); 3 bis Place de la Sorbonne, Paris (5e).
I got to know Jean-Marc
through our interaction after his talk on 2nd Dec 2002 on "Islam and
Javanism in Indonesia: the example of ritual initiation in the martial
practices" within the framework of Marc Gaborieau's seminar on "Islam in the
Indo-Pakistani subcontinent." It seemed clear to me from some of the textual
extracts and other terminology used that the tradition was a Kaula tantric
one that had been reworked into an Islamic context.
Particularly striking was the
elaboration of the Sanskritic rasa-theory from the otherwise restricted
realm of aesthetics into an existential mode of being for the Indonesian
Muslim initiate, and the role of eros (shrngra) and the worship of
Bhairava for, among other goals, mastery over the body while undergoing the
discipline of the martial arts. Jean-Marc and I subsequently met a
couple of times over lunch to discuss the larger background of his
researches and his personal involvement in the South-East Asian martial arts
tradition. Along with his Japanese companion, Etsuko, who is an artist, he
also joined Charles
Mopsik, Jacques Vigne,
Christian Bouchet and others at our
place in Jan 2003 for the marathon discussion of 'lucid dreaming'
(as in the Indian tantric traditions, dreams, and their interpretation, also
play an important role in initiation into the Javanese martial arts).
On 29th May 2003, we also had the pleasure of visiting with Jean-March
and Etsuko the Monet Museum at Giverny, just outside Vernon where
they live, before spending a most agreeable afternoon discussing French
anthropology, etc., with several of Jean-Marc's colleagues working on China
and Indonesia and belonging to the same research group,
under the direction of Jean-Claude Galey (who was very close to Louis
Dumont). Jean-Marc
spent all of June 2003 in
Malaysia to study Pancak Silat (another martial arts tradition) and
is now in Java pursuing further
research. While in Kuala Lumpur, he spent
much time with my childhood friends and family.
-
Ritual
Initiation & Martial Arts: Three Schools of Javanese Kanuragan
-
The
forms
of Sri Canda Birawa (Bhairava), Sri Smaragama,
amorous unions
and social implication,
relation to the marriage
of Sri - nuptial
rites / Canda Birawa - Smaragama'
Arjunawiwaha (Arjuna's
marriage), Dewa Ruci, the
relation to knowledge, yoga and
meditation, around
the "experienced" : practices
and transmission, combat et
love; teacher/pupil relation;
fidelity,
authority, peace,
combat,
heroism, illusion : how the
dominant ideas-values
take shape; creation
myth
of the Javanese alphabet : the carakan
and the two relational
poles, alternating and
synchronic value of the two poles.
Mukur Khisha and I met Joaquin
for the first time in Madrid on 22 July 2001 around late lunch at the Illraz's.
He is a "writer, sniper and chronicler of artistic
life," who
lives in Spain. He has written extensively on his Rom
heritage that he sees as deeply rooted in Indian
tradition.
By an interesting "coincidence" I witnessed my first
bullfight at the Plaza de Toro the same evening immediately after taking leave
of Joaqun. I was introduced to Joaqun, who has lived several months in Benares,
by Oscar Pujol.
You can read more about him and his various cultural activities at the
Indo-Roma home page that he
maintains at svAbhinava Friends.
This article was originally written for the Spanish Muslim paper
Amanecer
('Dawn'), which refused to publish it, thus ending their collaboration
(they had previously published 3 articles by him). Joaqun argues that
Pakistan is a nation without a political purpose that therefore needs
the hobby-horse of Kashmir to justify its existence. As an agent of
destabilization and a check on the expansion of Indian influence, it has
well served the geopolitical purposes of (earlier the British and now)
the United States (and till now...China). On the brink of
disintegration, Joaqun foresees a future where the Pakistani populace
might well end up demanding reintegration into a "Hindu" India where
Muslims enjoy full and equitable rights of citizenship. For more on
Pakistan's identity crisis, see Bruno Philip, "Pakistan
or the impossible democracy" (Le Monde, 13 Oct 01); for American
discovery of the double game vis--vis the Taliban, see Jacques Isnard, "The
ISI: the patron of the Taliban" (Le Monde, 13 Oct 01); for a
critique of current US policy towards Pakistan, see also Christophe
Jaffrelot, specialist of "Hindu" political parties, "Can
Pakistan be controlled?" (Le Monde, 18 Oct 01); for Ahmed Rashid's
denunciation of Pakistan's suicidal involvement in Afghanistan, see his
acceptance speech of the Nisar Osmani award for Courage in Journalism.
The contradictions (bordering on duplicity...) of the U.S. 'war on
terrorism' is aptly illustrated by the recent exercise in 'rescuing
the enemy' (viz. Pakistani military brass) from besieged Afghan city
of Kunduz.
Maria Ali-Adib, a
Syrian currently residing in London, grew up moving between the UK and the
United Arab Emirates (UAE). Living within the Arab worker-immigrant
community then prevalent in the UAE, she learned to distinguish between the
sense of identity rooted in first-generation UAE immigrants and the relative
cultural fluidity that came to define their children. This initiated her
deep interest in the adaptability of young people. After graduating with a
BA in Economics from the University of London, she co-founded an
organization based in the UAE aimed at student-centered educational reform,
with a particular focus on the educational needs of Palestinian refugees in
the Middle East. She then returned to the UK to develop this research in a
Masters degree program in Development Projects at the University of
Manchester, where her graduate research was endorsed by the Centre for
British Research in the Levant. In this program she also examined the
educational opportunities available to Palestinian refugees residing in
Lebanon. Her work in Palestinian camps reinforced her interest in
Israeli-Palestinian relations, leading her to liaise with Jewish community
groups to promote better understanding of the conflict and a search for
common ground. She currently sits on the Board of Trustees for Windows for
Peace, a Tel Aviv-based organization that engages Palestinian and Israeli
children in joint projects.
She is also the
Co-directorwith
Ari
Alexanderof
Children of Abraham, an interfaith project that works with young Muslims and
Jews from around the world through photography and dialogue.
Martin
Riesebrodt's academic interests are in social theory, the historical and
comparative sociology of religion, and the relationship between religion,
politics, and secular culture.
Central areas of teaching and research focus on theories of religion
and on the role religion plays in processes of formation of social groups
and their identities, especially with reference to class, gender, and
generation.
His most recent book, Die Rckkehr der Religionen. Fundamentalismus
und der 'Kampf der Kulturen,' explores the unexpected renewal of
religion in the modern world. Based on a revised theory of religion, it
argues that secularization and the resurgence of religion are not mutually
exclusive but rather related to each other. Continuing arguments made in his
earlier Pious Passion: The Emergence of Fundamentalism in the United
States and Iran, the book also analyzes the relationship between
fundamentalism, class, and gender, and offers a critique of Samuel
Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations." Professor Riesebrodt has also
published on classical social theory, in particular the work of Max Weber.
He has co-edited a volume on key theoretical
concepts in Max Weber's sociology of religion, Max Webers
Religionssystematik.
He is presently working on a sociological
theory of religion which understands religion and
its practices as a cultural resource for the management
of uncertainty and prevention of crises.
Examples of lay-oriented practices,
virtuosi practices, and religious propaganda taken from Abrahamic as well as
East Asian traditions will illustrate and test basic assumptions of the
theory. Moreover, the book will offer a sociological justification of the
concept of religion.
Mary and I
got to know each other in early 70s, shortly after my taking up residence at
the International House of the Banaras Hindu University, through our
collaboration in organizing lectures on religious culture, particularly
Hinduism, sponsored by the Maharajah at his Chet Singh Palace on the banks
of the Ganga. I was then President of the International Students Union, Mary
would soon be teaching at the Sociology Dept. She has focused on the Muslim
community of Banaras, particularly the weavers (Ansari), who constitute a
quarter of the population of the Hindu sacred city. Mary subsequently
returned to the U.K., where she is now teaching sociology at the University
of Manchester and at the Metropolitan University. Her research has provided
source materials for our monograph Between Mecca and Benares, and we
also facilitated the publishing of her essay on Ghz Miy in Living Benares
(SUNY). We renewed our friendship and intellectual exchanges over my few
days with her (and her colleagues) in August 2001 in the world's first
industrial and working class city. Our discussions on (the Puritan element
in) 'English' national character, stimulated by my visit to the monument
paying tribute to (Manchester's support for) Abraham Lincoln's war-effort
(to the detriment of England's own textile industry!), and my subsequent
discovery of Irish nationalism in Dublin, helped prepare me mentally for the
thesis that the American War of Independence was, in many respects, a
continuation of the English Civil War, and has provided me valuable insights
into the increasing polarization of political debate in greater
Anglo-America with respect to civil liberties and (the impact of)
'globalization' (on developing countries). Most recently, Mary visited
France for the first time to stay with us in Paris from 8-14 Jan 2003,
during which time she got to know
Vinay Bahl, and
also met friends like the Franois Chenet.
-
This paper was published
under the title "'Wahabi' sectarianism among the Muslims of Banaras" in
Contemporary South Asia (1994), 3(2), 83-93. 9/11 of the year 2001 has
revealed the
tremendous politico-cultural significance of Wahabism not just for Islam
but for the entire world. Mary visited us at the Multiflat Guest House at
BHU in 1986 while researching this paper.
We were
introduced to Mohammad and his family in 29 Sep. 2002 by his colleague at the
Philosophy Dept. of Paris-VIII University, Dr. Rada Ivekovic (whom we have
known from Benares and who has recently published a book on the city). We
discussed the respective contributions of (Shia) Islam, Western (neo-)
colonialism and (Aryan) theocracy towards the current impasse of Iranian
society and the alienation of its intelligentsia. As regards, the
'incompatibility' between reason and intuition in Shia intellectual history,
I have been urging Mohammad ever since to look at this problematic in the
'philosophical' work of Abhinavagupta, as a possible way to mediate the
opposition between these two faculties. I have been attending several
of Mohammed's seminars confronting Western and Islamic thought on such
diverse subjects as revelation, mysticism and apocalypse. On ??? June 2003,
we enjoyed most of the day at the Fashahis in the company of several of his
departmental colleagues (including Rada), all with a strong background in
the sociology of knowledge.
-
This section was moved to
Esoteric Philosophy homepage on 12 Jan 2004 at the request of Joe Martin,
who felt that in many respects Islamic thought belongs more to the 'Western'
than to the Oriental tradition. I felt that such a consolidation would
facilitate the post-Nietzschean quest to recover the lost esoteric dimension
of Western philosophy by introducing Islamic (and Jewish) understandings of
scripture and mystical experience on the same page.
Before his retirement from
the Indian Foreign Service in December 1993,
Mukur had served as India's Ambassador to Congo,
Chile, Colombia, Cuba and Argentina. I got to
know him as a friend the Ilarraz' in Madrid in July 2001, His views on India's
malaise are particularly interesting because he is a practicing Buddhist of
tribal background. Moreover, as a spiritual orphan of the Partition, his
arguments reflect a lifelong attempt to come to terms with a trauma that
many other Hindu nationalists may have not lived through except in their
imagination.
Though
Hinduism has been able to assimilate--or at least accommodate--all previous
religions domiciled in the Indian subcontinent, Islam has proved to be the
intransigent exception, resulting in the creation of Pakistan. "What emerges
in all clarity is the opposition between two worldviews with differing
understandings of community, history and the sacred city. Permanent
reconciliation between Hinduism and Islam will be achieved only when by
reducing the inner distance between Mecca and Banaras the questions posed by
(the mutilated stump of) the world-pillar which still straddles the boundary
between the two religions are finally resolved" (concluding lines of
Visuvalingam, "Hindu-Muslim Relations in Colonial Banaras"). [my comments to
be added...]
Assistant professor of French. Ph.D University of Wisconsin Department of
African Languages and Literatures. Specialist of African literature in French
and Arabic. She is the author of "Art and the Crisis of Representation in
Mohammad Barradah's Al-Daw' Al Harib," Journal of Arabic Literature,
Vol. XXXI, 3 (2000); "Fictional Testimonies or testimonial fictions on Moussa
Ouled Ebnou's Barzakh," Research in African Literature, Vol. XXXIII, 3
(2002); and "From Poetry to Writing: Abdelkebir Khatibi's Le Livre du sang," in
Pr�sence Africain 167/168 (2004) as well as a contributor to the
Encyclopedia of African Literature. She has just published her book
entitled Narratives of Catastrophe: Khatibi, Boris Diop, ben Jelloun
which explores the question of temporality and storytelling as they relate to
catastrophic events. Nasrin Qader is also part of the core faculty of the
Program in
Comparative Literary Studies and the
Program
of African Studies. Her interest primarily lies in various modes of
interaction between philosophy and literature, including Islamic thought. She
has presented her work in conferences around the world and has given lectures at
such venues as the University of Chicago and Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences
Sociales (EHESS) in Paris where she was a visiting scholar.
-
Narratives of catastrophe: Boris Diop, ben Jelloun, Khatibi
(16 March 2009)
Narratives of Catastrophe tells the story of
the relationship between catastrophe, in the senses of "down turn" and "break,"
and narration as "recounting" in the senses suggested by the French term r�cit
in selected texts by three leading writers from Africa. Qader's book begins by
exploring the political implications of narrating catastrophic historical
events. Through careful readings of singular literary texts on the genocide in
Rwanda and on Tazmamart, a secret prison in Morocco under the reign of Hassan
II, Qader shows how historical catastrophes enter language and how this language
is marked by the catastrophe it recounts. Not satisfied with the extra-literary
characterizations of catastrophe in terms of numbers, laws, and naming, she
investigates the catastrophic in catastrophe, arguing that catastrophe is always
an effect of language and thought,. The r�cit becomes a privileged site because
the difficulties of thinking and speaking about catastrophe unfold through the
very movements of storytelling.This book intervenes in important ways in the
current scholarship in the field of African literatures. It shows the
contributions of African literatures in elucidating theoretical problems for
literary studies in general, such as storytelling's relationship to temporality,
subjectivity, and thought. Moreover, it addresses the issue of storytelling,
which is of central concern in the context of African literatures but still
remains limited mostly to the distinction between the oral and the written. The
notion of re�it breaks with this duality by foregrounding the inaugural
temporality of telling and of writing as repetition. The final chapters examine
catastrophic turns within the philosophical traditions of the West and in
Islamic thought, highlighting their interconnections and differences.
Scriptural exegesis in Kabbala and Sufism (in
French, 26 Feb 2009)
Paul Fenton aborde ici les quatre modes d'ex�g�se scripturaire chez Al� ad-Dawla al-Simn�n� (1261-1336), qui �tablit sa propre herm�neutique ou interpr�tation des textes en rapport avec la mystique exp�rimentale de la lumi�re.
Admettant que le sens exot�rique est ins�parable du sens �sot�rique, il sonde les diff�rents niveaux de l'�tre en correspondance avec les diff�rents niveaux ex�g�tiques, � travers les ph�nom�nes visionnaires, les "photismes" color�s - comme indices de l'avancement spirituel de l'itin�rant sur le chemin -, et les diverses manifestations du "Moi" sup�rieur.
Il �tablit ainsi une connexion entre l'herm�neutique et l'anthropologie mystique qui implique que le sens cach� progresse en m�me temps que la croissance de "l'organisme subtil" cach� dans l'�tre humain.
Conf�rence film�e lors de la 4�me journ�e Henry Corbin, organis�e par l'Association des Amis de Henry et Stella Corbin.
The Treatise of the Pool: Al-Mawala Al Hawdiyya (Obadyah Maimonides)
- June 1981
Hardcover: 146 pages
Publisher: Octagon Press, Limited; 1st edition (June 1981)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0900860871
ISBN-13: 978-0900860874
Lesser and greater Jihad in Sufism and Judaism (YouTube, Lapis Magazine 2007) - note [external]
Lapismagazine.org presents Paul Fenton speaking about the lesser and greater jihad, and telling stories of Sufi and Jewish similarities in language and history. The presentation is from lapismagazine's 2007
Esoteric Quest for The Golden Age of Andalusia: Sufis, Kabbalists and Christian Philosophers in Medieval Spain.
Rajinder Singh Mago is a member and Community Outreach Coordinator of the
Sikh Religious Society in Palatine Illinois. He also is a co-founder and serves
on the Board of Governors for the Punjabi Cultural Society of Chicago; is an
active member and past co-chair of the Asian American Coalition of Chicago; and
serves on the Community Advisory Council for Chicago Public Radio. Mr. Singh
Mago is a mechanical engineer working in engine exhaust emissions control.
-
Rajinder's original Op-Ed on Oak Creek Gurdwara massacre - DTC 17
Aug version with Asian American Institute
-
After studying in Delhi's St. Columba's High
School and then St. Stephen's College, Rajiv arrived in the US in 1971 to study
Physics and Computer Science. His corporate careers and business
entrepreneurship included the computer, software and telecom industries. He now
spends full time with The Infinity Foundation, a non-profit organization in
Princeton, New Jersey. Its main interests include fostering harmony among the
diverse cultures of the world. Many of its projects strive to upgrade the
portrayal of India's civilization in the American education system and media.
This involves both challenging the negative stereotypes and also establishing
the many positive contributions from India's civilization.
-
Visit the
Infinity Foundation homepage
and the Mandala of Indic
Traditions
-
The common theme underlying most of these
articles and columns are the representations of India, Hinduism in
particular, in the United States (and by extension in the West), as
reflected in and determining academic discourse, mass education, media
stereotypes, foreign policy, etc. In the process, several of them also focus
(at least in part) on the (often maligned) religious values enshrined in
Indian traditions and the socio-political 'unconscious' of American
'multiculturalism'. In addition to the numerous un-moderated comments from
Sulekha readers, several of these essays have been discussed on the Abhinava
forum, either simultaneously (Ganesha, psychoanalysis, critique of history
orientated religions, etc.) or subsequently (caste and racism).
Problematizing God's Interventions in History (Mar 19, 2003)
column
The Root of India-Pakistan Conflicts (Feb 11, 2002)
column
CNN's Pakistan Bias (Jan 11, 2002) column
How 'Gandhara' became 'Kandahar' (Dec 17, 2001) column
Gita on Fighting Terrorism (Nov 5, 2001) column
The American Guilt Syndrome (Oct 8, 2001) column
In the 1930’s, filmmaker Sadia Shepard’s Indian Jewish grandmother eloped
with her Muslim grandfather and migrated from India to Pakistan and later, to
the United States. Seventy-five years later, Shepard embarked on a journey to
research and reconnect with the tiny community her grandmother left behind. In
her acclaimed memoir The Girl from Foreign (Penguin 2008) Shepard tells
the story of her journey to India to research and reconnect with the Bene Israel
of western India. In Search of the Bene Israel is a documentary film in
which she seeks to understand her grandmother’s history and the future of this
5000 person group, which believes that it was shipwrecked in India 2000 years
ago. In this moving film, we meet members of the community struggling with the
difficult decision of whether to stay in India or join the world’s Jews in
Israel. Interweaving impressionistic 16mm and Super 8mm footage with intimate
video interviews and observational material, we come to know a family who takes
care of a rural synagogue, a Jewish Indian filmmaker working in Bollywood, and a
young couple on the eve of their marriage and departure for Israel. Sadia
Shepard is a writer and documentary filmmaker (In Search of the Bene Israel,
2008; State Title, 2004; Eminent Domain, 2000; and Reinvention,
1999) and is based in New York City. She recently produced The September
Issue, a documentary portrait about the making of Vogue magazine, which won
the Excellence in Cinematography Award at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. She
teaches non-fiction writing at Columbia University and lectures widely about
growing up in a home with three religions and the history of the Bene Israel.
More information about her work, as well as photographs of the Bene Israel, are
available at: www.sadiashepard.com
Umair Ahmed
Muhajir, aged 27, was born and raised in Dubai and is now a U.S. citizen. He has
resided for the last 10 years in New York, where he received his Bachelor
of Arts degree from New York University and law degree from Columbia University.
He has been working as a lawyer since 2002. Though
previously a citizen of Pakistan, Umair had
been reflexively hostile and critical of the two-nation theory since his
childhood. The result is that he sees himself as Indian and identifies himself
at every level more with India, for example, by backing its cricket team,
reading its newspapers, following its elections more closely than those held in
Pakistan, as well as taking its philosophical heritage and ethos very seriously.
The result would be ironic, were it not so fitting given the tangled web of
Indian culture, modern ideologies of the nation-state, and the realities of
globalization.
The long review
of
Govind Nihalani's recent
film Dev was e-published in July 2004 at the
Outlook India
website. The review of the Hindi movie Shabdstarring
Sunil Dutt and Aishvarya Raiwas posted here on 4th March 2005.
-
Dialogues:
Bollywood; universalism;
Yoginder Singh Sikand is an Indian (permanently
based in Bangalore) at the
International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World at Leiden
(The Netherlands), where he is currently pursuing
post-doctoral work on a project on Islamic Perspectives on Inter-Faith Relations
in Contemporary India. After his B.A.(Hons.)
in
Economics at St.
Stephen's College, Delhi University,
he did his M.A. and M. Phil.
(Sociology) on "Charisma
and Religious Revivalism: The Case of the Tablighi Jama'at
among the Muslim Meos of Mewat)"
at Jawaharlal Nehru University (1992-94). He completed
his Ph.D. (History) at the University of London (1998)
on
"The Origins and Development of the Tablighi
Jama'at: A Cross-Country Comparative Study." He
has worked with voluntary agencies in the field of education in Rajasthan, Uttar
Pradesh, and Bihar (1988-90), has taught Islamic History (Hyderabad), and worked
on a research-cum-action project on religious traditions and communal harmony in
India for Oxfam (1999-2000). Yoginder currently edits a web-magazine,
Qalandar, devoted to a discussion of issues related to Islam and Inter-Faith
Relations in South Asia.
Qalandar is an online newletter devoted to Islam and Interfaith Relations in
South Asia.
Yoginder has published 4 books, more than 35 articles in various journals, 5
contributions to collected volumes, as well as more than 250 other
articles on various topics, including Muslim, Dalit and women's issues,
religion, politics and culture in numerous South Asian periodicals and
newspapers such as the Deccan Herald, The Pioneer, Himal, The
Observer of Business and Politics, Sunday Observer, Milli Gazette,
Mainstream, Manushi, Nation and the World, Islamic Voice, The Sunday
Observer, The Voice of People Awakening, Frontier, The Tribune, Dalit Voice,
Communalism Combat, the Daily Times, Jang, South Asia,
etc.. Also, several book reviews, and 10 booklets on
his own.
This
two-part article provides biographical sketches of all the luminaries of the
Kashmiri Rishis, the only Sufi movement indigenous to South Asia. As it has
perpetuated, at the popular level, the classical Sanskritic syntheses of
Indian spiritual traditions achieved just before the Islamic period by the
Shaiva absolutist mystics, we have included it within
Abhinavagupta and the
Synthesis of Indian Religion.
I had
posted this article to the
Abhinava forum on 2nd March 2004 with the following remarks addressed to
Yoginder: "It is vital that Indians as a whole recover and
systematically compile these rapidly disappearing vestiges of such syncretic
(including Hindu-Buddhist) traditions (in Nepal), so as to reflect on their
significance and relevance for the future. Otherwise, we shall always remain
at the mercy of the highly divisive or trivializing representations of the
past imposed upon us by the Orientalists (including their homebred Indian
offspring...), who focus on only the incompatibilities between Hindu and
Muslim or
try to conjure away such phenomena as implying that religious values were
irrelevant to such communities that wore a 'hybrid' identity."
I had posted this article to the
Mecca-Benares forum on 3rd June 2004 with the following remark: "How
different is this now explicitly self-conscious American foreign policy of
'reshaping' the Muslim world in its own (narcissistic?) image from the till
now tacit, even largely unconscious, proselytizing agenda animating and
structuring the 'ivory-tower' of Indological studies?"
I had forwarded Yogi's review to our
Mecca-Benares list on 7th April 2004 with the following comments: "Taking
a historical perspective on the problems of Kashmiri identity necessarily
involves not only refocusing on pre-colonial Hindu-Muslim syncretism (as
exemplified by the Rishi cult till the 15th century) but also going beyond
into the pre-12th C. Buddhist-Brahmanical culture:
1) How could one deconstruct Indian and Pakistani national narratives and
agendas in relation to Kashmir without proceeding further to take apart the
latter's once fluid regional identity, one that had ancient and enduring
cultural links to the Indian heartland, Tibet and Central Asia? Such a logic
is likely to result in further 'balkanization' with the breakup of Kashmir,
at the very minimum, into Ladakh, Jammu and the Srinagar Valley. 2) Though
the Kashmiri case is aggravated by Islamic militancy and the neighborhood of
Pakistan, the problem of competing identities is not just a religious one
and is endemic in various permutations to the whole subcontinent. If Kashmir
splinters into unviable mini-states, this may unleash and legitimize a
chain-reaction (considering what is happening everywhere else...) that might
eventually swallow up both India and Pakistan. 3) Whatever its own
shortcomings, the nation-state (whether India or Pakistan), despite internal
imbalances and hegemonies, is at least able to offer a level of protection
to local interests/values and indigenous cultural identities. Its weakening,
at this critical juncture of economic globalization, might end up exposing
Kashmiris as a whole to forces over which they have absolutely no control
(cf. US grip on Pakistan & Iraq). // I fear there
will be no solution to this (nor the Israelo-Palestinian...) problem until
both Muslim and Hindu identities are not just deconstructed but
reconstructed afresh. Who is better equipped (with some education...) to
address this life-and-death issue than the Kashmiris themselves?
[P.S. I guess the question is whether Kashmiris want to do their lobbying in
Delhi/Islamabad or in the Washington beltway (like Ahmed Chalabi?)...]"