Secularism, Decoloniality, and Kashmir

In this podcast, we speak to Dr. Muneeza Rizvi about Palestine, Kashmir, and the promise that their struggles for liberation offers to the world. We talk about Rizvi's essay called Palestine and the Question of Islam, in which she interrogates the policing of Islam's visibility in the politics of Palestine. We also dive into the widespread but uncritical belief shared by many in the "impregnability" and "invincibility" of the power of the Israeli state. In addition to this, we speak about the popular constructions of the good Palestinian unarmed victim, who is seen as worthy of sympathy and protection and is contrasted with the killable and bad Palestinian rebel. Finally, we also discuss the limitations of human rights discourses and international law in what they offer to colonized populations in Palestine or Kashmir. This and more. Recommended readings: 1. The Human Right to Dominate, by Nicola Perugini and Neve Gordon (Book) 2. A History of False Hope: Investigative Commissions in Palestine, by Lori Allen (Book) 3. Decolonizing the Civilian in Third World National Liberation Wars, by Nicola Perugini (Essay) 4. The Forgotten Muslims: How Kashmiris Breathe Islam Under Occupation, by Ahmed Bin Qasim (Essay)

In this podcast, we speak to Professor SherAli Tareen about the topics that he explores in his book that came out recently, Perilous Intimacies: Debating Hindu-Muslim Friendship After Empire. In this book, Tareen explores how leading South Asian Muslim thinkers imagined and contested the boundaries of Hindu-Muslim friendship from the late eighteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries. In this podcast, we talk about a range of topics, including Muslim scholarly translations of Hinduism, Hindu-Muslim theological polemics, the question of interreligious friendship in the Qur’an, intra-Muslim debates on cow sacrifice, and debates on emulating Hindu customs and habits. Finally, we talk about Tareen's dedication of his book to the brave and courageous Sharjeel Imam. Recommended readings: 1. Perilous Intimacies: Debating Hindu-Muslim Friendship After Empire, by SherAli Tareen 2. Defending Muhammad in Modernity, by SherAli Tareen 3. The Loss of Hindustan: The Invention of India, by Manan Asif

According to Paul Heck, networks of taṣawwuf took the lead in resisting European colonial powers in the nineteenth century, for example in North Africa against the French and in the North Caucasus against the Russians. In this podcast, we speak to Dr. Farah El-Sharif, about how Sufi scholars led the resistance against colonial powers and injustice. In her work, she highlights how, for Sufi warriors like Emir Abdelkader and Omar Mukhtar, the commitment to principled resistance against oppression came about because of their commitment to taṣawwuf, not in spite of it. Contrary to the popular association of taṣawwuf with political quietism and docile pacifism, Dr. Farah brings our attention to how many doyens of taṣawwuf did not disengage themselves from the struggle against oppression, but instead actively participated in it. We also talked about India's domestication of taṣawwuf in Kashmir. We talk about all this and many other things, in this podcast. Recommended Readings: https://themaydan.com/2023/01/the-saint-and-the-sword/ The Politics of Sufism, by Paul Heck Sufi Warrior Saints: Stories of Sufi Jihad from Muslim Hagiography, by Harry S. Neale

In this podcast, we speak to Professor Hafsa Kanjwal, about her book that was published recently, called Colonizing Kashmir: State-building under Indian Occupation. In her work, she highlights how India entrenched and consolidated its colonization of Kashmir through processes of emotional integration, development, and normalization. While most of the works on Kashmir's history and politics imbibed the self-congratulatory narrative of secularism, Hafsa challenges it and unveils the imbrication of secularism with colonialism in Kashmir. Additionally, many scholars speak of Kashmiri resistance against India as stemming from a lack of or incompleteness of what's called development, Hafsa's work shows how development acts as a tool for the normalization and consolidation of India's colonization of Kashmir. We talk about all of this, and other things, in this podcast. Recommended Readings: 1. Colonizing Kashmir: State-building under Indian Occupation, by Hafsa Kanjwal. 2. The Human Right to Dominate, by Neve Gordon and Nicola Perugini. 3. Israel's Occupation, by Neve Gordon. 4. Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and New Technologies of Power, by Byung-Chul Han.

In this podcast, we speak to Professor SherAli Tareen. He is the Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Franklin and Marshall College and author of Defending Muḥammad in Modernity. In this podcast, we talked about: Questioning the validity of secularism's claims about itself and its remaking of Islam. Evaluating the dichotomies like good Muslim/bad Muslim, moderate Islam/extremist Islam, political Islam/apolitical Islam, violent Islam/non-violent Islam. Critiquing liberal discourse on decolonization (in Kashmir and elsewhere) and the inherent Eurocentrism of it. Interrogating the popular romanticization of a pre-BJP secular-liberal India. Recommended Books: Defending Muhammad in Modernity, by SherAli Tareen On Suicide Bombing, by Talal Asad The Politics of Postsecular Religion: Mourning Secular Futures, by Ananda Abeysekara Religion and the Specter of the West, by Arvind Mandair

This is the first podcast from our series on "Islam, and the Question of Resisting Oppression". We speak to Professor Ovamir Anjum, and we discuss, among many other things, Islam's framework of resistance to oppression.  Recommended Readings: 1. Politics, Law, and Community in Islamic Thought: The Taymiyyan Moment, by Ovamir Anjum 2. Islam and the Problem of Black Suffering, by Sherman Jackson 3. In the Shade of the Qur'an, by Sayyid Qutb

In this second part of our conversation with Professor Salman Sayyid, we discussed, among many things, how secularism and the dichotomies that it produces, have been used as discursive and political formations in order to domesticate Muslims, and regulate the behavior of Muslims.  Recommended Readings: 1. Formations of the Secular: Christianity, Islam, Modernity, by, Talal Asad. 2. The Impossible State: Islam, Politics, and Modernity's Moral Predicament, by, Wael Hallaq. 

In this episode, we speak to Professor Salman Sayyid, on how Islam/Muslimness is central to the liberation struggle of Kashmiri Muslims, and how the depoliticization of Islam is a product of European cultural hegemony. This is the first part of the two-part series. Recommended Readings: 1. Recalling the Caliphate: Decolonization and the World Order by Salman Sayyid. 2. A Fundamental Fear: Eurocentrism and the Emergence of Islamism by Salman Sayyid.

We talk about India's project of normalization of its colonialization of Kashmir, and the different modes of power put to use by India to achieve it. Featuring Professor Ather Zia and Professor Muhamad Junaid. Recommended Reading: Israel's Occupation by Neve Gordon.

We talk about the use of the narrative of women's rights in the justification of colonialism. Recommended Readings: In the Name of Women's Rights: The Rise of Femonationalism by Sara R. Farris Do Muslim Women Need Saving? by Lila Abu-Lughod Colonial Fantasies by Meyda Yegenoglu The Political Psychology Of Veil by Sahar Ghumkhor