RUPRECHTS-KARLS UNIVERSITÄT HEIDELBERG Fakultät für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften Spaces for Jihād: Indian Muslims and Conceptions of Citizenship Inauguraldissertation zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades Dr. rer. pol. im Fach Politikwissenschaft vorgelegt von Julten Abdelhalim Oktober 2012 Gutachter 1. Prof. SUBRATA K. MITRA, Ph.D. (Rochester) 2. Prof. Dr. THOMAS KERN 2 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ 6 I. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 7 1.1 Significance of the research .............................................................................................................................................. 7 1.2 State of the art .............................................................................................................................................................. 10 1.3 Research questions ......................................................................................................................................................... 11 1.4 Hypotheses ......................................................................................................................................................................... 12 1.5 The researcher’s role and profile ............................................................................................................................. 13 1.6 Limitations of my research ......................................................................................................................................... 16 1.7 Quantitative methodology and sampling strategy ........................................................................................... 18 1.8 Qualitative methodology .............................................................................................................................................. 22 1.9 Forms of data collection and the rationale behind them ............................................................................... 23 II. Literature Review on Citizenship ....................................................................................... 29 2.1 Different conceptions of ‘citizenship’ ..................................................................................................................... 29 2.2 The case of India .............................................................................................................................................................. 38 2.3 Transculturality of the conceptual framework: Islamic paradigms in social sciences ..................... 41 2.4 Citizenship in the Islamic paradigm ........................................................................................................................ 52 III. The Historical Context and the Emergence of Various Nationalists ................................... 64 3.1 Contending impacts of diverse notions of community: Ummah as a myth? .......................................... 65 3.2 The rise of Muslims' discontent with the British .............................................................................................. 73 3.3 Maulana Abul Kalam Azad: The introduction of Muslim politics ............................................................... 80 3.4 Maulana Hussain Ahmad Madani: ‘Composite nationalism’ as jihād ....................................................... 84 3.5 Adjustment to the new status of being a ‘citizen minority’ .......................................................................... 93 3.6 The experience of Kerala ........................................................................................................................................... 102 3.7 Summary ........................................................................................................................................................................... 106 IV. The Life-Space Context and Hegemonic Discourses ........................................................ 108 4.1 Political subcultures and impediments to Muslim politics ......................................................................... 112 4.2 Political participation: The political discourse ................................................................................................. 122 2 3 4.3 Ideological discourses: The otherness and Hindu nationalism ................................................................ 133 4.3.1 Media and the role of the press ............................................................................................................................ 133 4.3.2 Security aspects ........................................................................................................................................................... 140 4.3.3 Nationalism: The ideological discourse ............................................................................................................ 146 4.3.4 The discourse on terrorism .................................................................................................................................... 150 4.4 Discourses on socio-economic backwardness: Discrimination and marginalization ..................... 153 4.4.1 Muslim Personal Law(s) .......................................................................................................................................... 153 4.4.2 The Urdu language .................................................................................................................................................... 154 4.4.3 Backwardness .............................................................................................................................................................. 156 4.5 The ideal of secularism and its predicaments in India ................................................................................. 165 4.6 Summary ........................................................................................................................................................................... 173 V. North Indian Muslim Youth and Everyday Jihād .............................................................. 175 5.1 The interlinkage between the Middle Class, citizenship and education ............................................... 175 5.2 The role of Jamia Milia Islamia ................................................................................................................................ 187 5.3 Madrasa education & Nadwatul Ulama Lucknow as a case study ........................................................... 190 5.4 Centrality of youth and student power ................................................................................................................ 198 5.5 Liberal versus illiberal spaces: Overcoming dualities ................................................................................... 201 5.5.1 The political stage of traditional and nontraditional political indicators ........................................ 201 5.5.2 Collectivity as a factor .............................................................................................................................................. 203 5.6 Discrimination, minority feeling and finding the refuge in the constitution ...................................... 208 5.7 Terrorism and security concerns ........................................................................................................................... 217 5.8 Gender issues .................................................................................................................................................................. 222 5.9 Significant role of organizations ............................................................................................................................. 229 5.9.1 Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind ................................................................................................................................................. 229 5.9.2 Jamaat-e- Islami Hind .............................................................................................................................................. 233 5.10 Summary ........................................................................................................................................................................ 236 VI. Muslim Women in Kerala As Jihādists ............................................................................ 238 3 4 6.1 The Kerala model .......................................................................................................................................................... 238 6.1.1 Historical links with the Arab world and the introduction of Islam in India ................................... 238 6.1.2 The elaboration of a different political culture ............................................................................................ 241 6.1.3 The transformation from the aversion to secular education .................................................................. 251 6.1.4 Paradoxes in the Kerala model ............................................................................................................................ 255 6.1.5 The Gender paradox .................................................................................................................................................