Abstract
There are at least three features of this book, which makes it really exceptional. First of all, this book is an outcome of a systematic study—a well-designed research project—to map out the relationship between Muslim communities and the voluntary sector. This is an important point of departure. The issues and concerns of Muslims are often seen through the prism of the state-driven framework of affirmative action. Our understanding of various contemporary forms of social action led by NGOs and third sector organisations is very limited. The author identifies this gap and formulates several very instructive questions. Critically evaluating the conventional understanding of the ‘voluntary sector’, the author traces the sociological universe of those actors, especially NGOs which work with a variety of Muslim communities and groups.
The methodological priorities of the author is the second noticeable aspect of this study. The book is an outcome of a three-layered research strategy, which is very clearly spelt out in the introductory chapter. The background information or qualitative data with regards to ‘developmental NGOs’ is collected and synthesised to identify the universe of respondents. It is followed by an actual survey. The study documents 372 NGOs, covering 104 districts in 8 states using a very well designed questionnaire. This exploration is used to collect quantifiable data such as who does what, where and how. However, in order to avoid simplification, the author makes a third crucial methodological move. She takes out certain issues from the data and rearticulates them as ‘researchable questions’. The representatives of the NGOs who are mapped out in the first round of the study as mere respondents are interviewed systematically. These interviews are used to prepare an informed experienced-based narrative of social action with regard to Muslim communities. In a way, the reader is not merely given ‘findings’ in a conventional mode of ‘report writing’ but is also informed about the process of research so as to ensure the possibilities of multiple and critical readings of the main findings.
A deeply persuasive engagement within the category called ‘Indian Muslims’ is the third significant feature of this work. The study interrogates the dominant imagination of Muslim homogeneity without ignoring the systematic exclusion and marginalisation of Muslims at various levels. It traces the role of Muslim women without overlooking the functional logic of patriarchy, and it investigates the nature of social work projects administered by a few Islamic religious philanthropic organisations without adhering to any politically correct position on Islam or secularism.
This intellectual clarity is evoked to make three informed, nuanced and context-specific arguments. The author calls upon the NGO sector to give up its reluctance to recognise Muslims as a legitimate developmental category. The study finds that the engagement of mainstream NGOs has increased significantly among Muslims in the last few years. However, this expansion is still recognised in a ‘politically correct’ overtone. It is noted:
Sometimes, when conversations moved to the reasons for this increase, we received a standard response: ‘We are reaching out to the most downtrodden, and many of those happen to be Muslim.’ The attitude told us that evidence of expansion in scale often did not bring with it a clear needs assessment or engagement with the particular social, economic, and structural infirmities confronted by poor Muslims. (p. 133)
This reluctance is questioned systematically. According to the author, the NGO sector must recognise the various contextual practices and ideas to develop a culturally sensitive position on Muslim empowerment. The study also offers a very creative argument on the question of advocacy. Clarifying the difference between advocacy and activism, it is suggested:
Advocacy with the State… requires a particular expertise…an ability to communicate on core issues, using credible data or field experience… to spot policy openings and push creative, even experimental agendas. For those who’ve taken up advocacy work, this means knowing how to make strategic choices as well as organising, thinking through, and working according to priorities—since it is impossible to act simultaneously on many different demands. All of this requires engagement, experience, commitment to the issues involved, and the ability to think outside the box. (p. 145)
The study finds that Muslim NGOs and faith-based organisations are not trained for this kind of advocacy. As a result, it is strongly recommended that ‘advocacy forums’ must be created so that a link between state policy and the social actor at the bottom level of society could be established.
The representation of the Muslim identity as a developmental category is the third argument. It is asserted that the developmental deficit experienced by Muslims in India should be given adequate attention. For that reason, it is argued, Muslims must be recognised as a backward and marginalised community; which despite being highly diversified, faces exclusions of various kinds. This reformulated conceptualisation of Muslim identity, we must note, remains sensitive to Muslim social heterogeneity and the internal power structure of Muslim societies. In this framework, the increasing Islamisation of Muslims—an affirmation to assert Islamic identity in public—is seen in relation to the growing sense of collective insecurity. The author points out that ‘as a community that felt under siege, Muslims seemed to be both turning inward for security and simultaneously reaching out in search of a means through which to break their cycle of disempowerment ’ (p. 140).
This reformulation of Muslim identity as a developmental category requires a critical elaboration. We must make a crucial distinction between the developmental deficit Muslims face at various levels and the representation of this deficit in public/political domain. Of course, the Sachar Committee Report establishes the fact that Muslims are a highly marginalised social group. But, the findings of the Sachar Report are interpreted very differently in the public domain. The political parties, including the Congress, used the report to legitimise their pro-Muslim gesture as if the report is all about preserving cultural rights of Muslims as a minority. In other words, the image of Muslims as a cultural religious group survives primarily because the political elite remains apathetic to treat Muslims as a developmental category. The book does not respond to the question of this kind. This inconsistency, nevertheless, should not be seen as a limitation. The book, after all, provokes us to think creatively, critically and above all, independently.
This fine piece of research would be useful for students, social science researchers, journalists, policymakers and all those who are interested in making sense of contemporary Muslim identities.