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 eld 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 Jama
c
at-i islam (hence-
forth JiI), established in the Punjab in 1941 and soon to become the most impor-
tant Islamist outt in South Asia, with independent branches in the Muslim
majority countries not only of Pakistan and Bangladesh, but also in India,
Kashmir and Sri Lanka. The signicance 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, rst of all
to the highly radical Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), which,
because of the irreconcilable differences with the JiI, became an independent
body in the early 1980s. So far, so good.
Given the authors academic positioning as an anthropologist, the rst chapter
(pp. 3148), following a lengthy introduction (pp. 128), introduces us to the
chosen case study. Furthermore, it provides a justication 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 unjustied 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-A
c
la Mawdud (d. 1979), and in the quick historical survey of the
evolution 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 briey listed; therefore,
the way this was done in the conclusion (pp. 220f.) would have perfectly
sufced.
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 eldwork, the nal chapter is again more historical, although in this case
much more sound than chapter two. Spiced with enjoyably presented anecdotes
and interview excerpts from the authors eldwork, chapter three (pp. 83110)
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, SIOand SIMI had been clearly opposed to each other, a conict
which crystallised at the JiI Madrasat al-fala
_
h in eastern Uttar Pradesh. Conse-
quently, the fth chapter (pp. 137159) is devoted to the various and sometimes
difcult to disentangle elds 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 conict 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 conicts 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 established
American academic with a right-wing Hindu extremist (p. 169), is absolutely
beyond me.
The nal chapter (pp. 188216) 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 Mawdud s 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 nally, 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
c
alam n (pp. 119 and
164), allah-o-akbar (p. 172) or fore
_
za al-jihad
c
ala 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 eld, 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 eld 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 18461947: 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 difculties and challenges. By far the most
important among these was the newly independent countrys borders and its
relations with neighbouring lands.
Indias rst 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 signicant 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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