Provocative, insightful, and passionately argued, this book attempts to bring some perspectiveto an increasingly polarized debate on the crisis of liberalism among Indian Muslims. It raisessome profound issues at the heart of the crisis fuelled on the one hand by the growing influenceof Wahhabism on Indian Islam-and on the other, by the rise of aggressive right-wing Hindunationalism which has alienated even moderate Muslims.The book takes head-on the fundamental question: Is liberalism and Islam compatible or mutuallyexclusive? In doing so, it examines the way Islam is being preached and practiced both in India andabroad, to find answers to such niggling questions as: Who is a ‘good Muslim'? What constitutesthe Muslim identity? Why do Muslims across the world remain silent instead of raising their voicefor reform of regressive practices such as stoning?The decline of liberal Islam in India, it argues, flows from the wider crisis in Islam globally.Upholding the syncretic ‘Ganga-Jamni tehzeeb' that characterized Indian Islam, it tries to bringback the emphasis on liberal values of acceptance and inclusivity. It also dissuades secularists againsttrying to push through sweeping reforms in India before the community is ready for it, warningof a possible hardline backlash as in Turkey and Iran.Who Killed Liberal Islam? offers a much-needed corrective to the self-serving narratives on bothsides of a divisive debate, and seeks to help concentrate minds on finding a way through the crisis.
About the Author
Hasan Suroor is a journalist and writer. A former Press Fellow and Visiting Fellow of WolfsonCollege, Cambridge University, he is a well-known name in India and abroad.During a career spanning over four decades, Suroor has been the UK correspondent at The Hindutill recently. He has written extensively for Indian and international publications on issues relatingto Muslims and the crisis in global Islam.His previous publications include India's Muslim Spring: Why Is Nobody Talking About It? (2014),and Making Sense of Modi's India (2016).He divides his time between London and Delhi.
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