Concerned with the fate of the minority in the age of the nation-state, Muslim political thought in modern South Asia has often been associated with religious nationalism and the creation of Pakistan. The Muslim Secular complicates that story by reconstructing the ideas of three prominent thinker-actors of the Indian freedom struggle: the Indian National Congress leader Abul Kalam Azad, the popular Kashmiri politician Sheikh Abdullah, and the nonviolent Pashtun activist Abdul Ghaffar Khan. Revising the common view that they were mere acolytes of their celebrated Hindu colleagues M.K. Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, this book argues that these three men collectively produced a distinct Muslim secularity from within the grander family of secular Indian nationalism; an intellectual tradition that has retained religion within the public space while nevertheless preventing it from defining either national membership or the state. At a time when many across the decolonising world believed that identity-based majorities and minorities were incompatible and had to be separated out into sovereign equals, Azad, Abdullah, and Ghaffar Khan thought differently about the problem of religious pluralism in a postcolonial democracy. The minority, they contended, could conceive of the majority not just as an antagonistic entity that is set against it, but to which it can belong and uniquely complete. Premising its claim to a single, united India upon the universalism of Islam, champions of the Muslim secular mobilised notions of federation and popular sovereignty to replace older monarchical and communitarian forms of power. But to finally jettison the demographic inequality between Hindus and Muslims, these thinkers redefined equality itself. Rejecting its liberal definition for being too abstract and thus prone to majoritarian assimilation, they replaced it with their own rendition of Indian parity to simultaneously evoke commonality and distinction between Hindu and Muslim peers. Azad, Abdullah, and Ghaffar Khan achieved this by deploying a range of concepts from profane inheritance and theological autonomy to linguistic diversity and ethical pledges. Retaining their Muslimness and Indian nationality in full, this crowning notion of equality-as-parity challenged both Gandhi and Nehru's abstractions and Mohammad Ali Jinnah's supposedly dangerous demand for Pakistan.

This book argues that the meaning of "secular" in the West and in Islam differ fundamentally. Though the Islamic secular is a "liberation" from Islam's sacred law, shari'ah, it is neither outside "religion" nor a rival to it; it seeks neither to discipline nor displace religion nor expand its own jurisdiction at religion's expense. The Islamic Secular is, in Sherman Jackson's view, a complement to religion-in effect, a "religious secular." In this book, Jackson makes the case for the Islamic Secular on the basis of Islam's own pre-modern juristic tradition and shows how the Islamic Secular impacts the relationship between Islam and the modern state, including the Islamic State.

The book offers a nuanced and innovative analyses of the emergence of an inclusive secular democratic state paradigm which incorporates the sacred within the framework of secular democracy in the Muslim World.

Human Rights in the Muslim World presents a comprehensive study of Islam, the main tenets of Islamic Law, and Fundamentalism. It offers a unique insider's view of human rights, rule of law, and fundamentalist trends in the Muslim World. It discusses the complex and problematic relationship between the institutionalization of Islamic doctrine or religious practice and the modern universal human rights doctrine, as well as the opinions Islamists hold towards democratization and the implementation of human rights in Muslim countries. Human Rights in the Muslim World focuses on the dichotomies of sociopolitical, economic, and cultural life in Muslim statehood and the military build-up within the nation-building process. Khan explores where the main breeding grounds for Muslim fundamentalist forces are and how such forces operate and are governed. In exploring such issues, this book presents an ongoing discussion and analysis of Muslim fundamentalism that puts atheistic, anti-religious, secular ideologies, and political movements in religious and spiritual perspective. This book is a serious, scholarly attempt at finding objective answers to many questions regarding Islam. "This study is strong on historical, religious, and philosophical analysis, and the author's discussion of the 'Medina Charter' of 622 is quite illuminating. Basically, Khan presents an excellent account of the development of Islamic law... This fascinating book is a great read to examine before attempting to delve into contemporary human rights cases in the Muslim world. Summing up: Highly Recommended." -- CHOICE Magazine, November 2003

The Global Studies series is designed to provide comprehensive background information and selected world press articles on the regions and countries of the world. This edition of Global Studies: Islam and the Muslim World is a mini-encyclopedia on the subject. The Preface maintains that we are living in a globally interdependent world in which it is imperative for the non-Muslim world to understand the faith of 1.3 billion Muslims who live all over the world. Part I comprises two chapters: Chapter 1 is a timeline of the “Momentous Events And Influential Muslims That Have Shaped Islamic Civilization (570-1605 CE);” Chapter 2, “Understanding Islam, Muslims, Islamism, and Anti-Americanism,” comprises sections on the “Fundamentals of Islam,” “Islamism,” “Myths and Misconceptions About Islam and Muslims,” as well as “Islamophobia in the West and Anti-Westernism/Anti-Americanism in the Muslim World.” Chapter 2 also has several informative boxes and tables that present vitally important matters pertaining to Islam and Islamism at a glance. The two boxes are “The Ninety-Nine Names of God” and “Sensational Events in the Media about Islam and Muslims.” The six tables in the chapter are “Sunnis and Shi`as: A Comparison of Islam’s Two Major Sects,” “A Comparison of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity,” “Jesus and Muhammad: Founders of the World’s Two Largest Religions,” “Islam and the Nation of Islam: A Comparative Overview,” “Revolutionary Islamists and Muslim Secularists: A Succinct Comparison,” and “A Comparison of Revolutionary Islamists and Progressive Islamists.” Part II comprises informative “Country Reports” for the fifty-seven member states that represent the Muslim world’s interests through the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC). Part III provides readers with world press articles on various aspects of the World of Islam. This book also provides readers with a list of annotated Internet sites on Islam. In addition, a list of articles and books on Islam and the Muslim world, a selected glossary of key terms, and a comprehensive and easy to access index are provided.