Pan-Islamic Connections: Transnational Networks Between South Asia and the Gulf

by Christophe Jaffrelot (Editor), Laurence Louer (Editor)

Overview

South Asia is today the region inhabited by the largest number of Muslims—-roughly 500 million. In the course of the Islamisation process, which begaun in the eighth century, it developed a distinct Indo-Islamic civilisation that culminated in the Mughal Empire. While paying lip service to the power centres of Islam in the Gulf, including Mecca and Medina, this civilisation has cultivated its own variety of Islam, based on Sufism.

Over the last fifty years, pan-Islamic ties have intensified between these two regions. Gathering together some of the best specialists on the subject, this volume explores these ideological, educational and spiritual networks, which have gained momentum due to political strategies, migration flows and increased communications.

At stake are both the resilience of the civilisation that imbued South Asia with a specific identity, and the relations between Sunnis and Shias in a region where Saudi Arabia and Iran are fighting a cultural proxy war, as evident in the foreign ramifications of sectarianism in Pakistan. Pan-Islamic Connections investigates the nature and implications of the cultural, spiritual and socio-economic rapprochement between these two Islams.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190862985
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	01/15/2018
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Christophe Jaffrelot is Senior Research Fellow at CERI-Sciences Po/CNRS, and Professor of Indian Politics and Sociology at the King's India Institute (London). Among his publications are India's Silent Revolution (2003) and The Pakistan Paradox: Instability and Resilience (2015). Laurence Louër is Associate Professor at Sciences Po (Paris), a Research Fellow at CERI and author of Transnational Shia Politics (2008) and Shiism and Politics in the Middle East (2012).

Table of Contents

Introduction. The Gulf - South Asia Religious Connections: Indo-Islamic Civilization vs. pan-Islamism?, by Christophe Jaffrelot and Laurence Louër
Chapter One. Pakistan: Crucible of a Civilizational Conflict, by Christophe Jaffrelot
Chapter Two. Pakistani Madrassas. Ideological Stronghold for Saudi Arabia and Gulf States, by Ayesha Siddiqa
Chapter Three. Narratives of Jihad and Islamic Identity: JUD/LeT and the Gulf Connection(s), by Samina Yasmeen
Chapter Four. The Salafi Emirate of Kunar between South Asia and the Arabian Peninsula, by Vahid Brown OK
Chapter Five. Multinational Mujahidin: The Haqqani Network between South Asia and the Arabian Peninsula, by Don Rassler OK
Chapter Six. The Arab Gulf connections of the Taliban, by Antonio Giustozzi
2
Chapter Seven. Pakistani Sufism in the Gulf: Structural Constraints, Modes of Transplant and Remittances, by Alix Philippon
Chapter Eight. Iran as an Islamic Interface between South Asia and the Gulf, by Stéphane Dudoignon
Chapter Nine. Seeking Knowledge 'from the cradle to the grave': Shi'a networks of learning in India, Radhika Gupta
Chapter Ten. The Long Shadow of the State: The Iranian Revolution, Saudi Influence, and the Shifting Arguments of anti-Shi'i Sectarianism in Pakistan, by Simon Wolfgang Fuchs
Conclusion, by Christophe Jaffrelot and Laurence Louër

Editorial Reviews

"The Indian Ocean, linking Arabia to South Asia, looms as the testcase for Muslim networks, yet the profile of Indo-Islamic civilization remains contested between Saudi Salafis, Pakistani Sufis and also Iranian Shi'ites. This pioneering volume provides a welcome transregional, comparative analysis of multiple case studies, at once historical and contemporary." — Bruce Bennett Lawrence, Professor Emeritus of Religion, Duke University.

"Connections of trade, family, learning and faith have existed between South Asia and the Gulf for hundreds of years. This book focuses on their workings in the modern period with especial emphasis on Islam. It demonstrates the significant and complex interactions which take place across the region, some of which are of strategic potential." — Francis Robinson, Professor of the History of South Asia, Royal Holloway, University of London

From the Publisher