This book is an interesting study of the Khilafat (Caliphate) movement in early twentieth century India. The abolition of the caliphate institution in Turkey provided food for thought to the Muslim elite in India. They saw it was possible to theologically explore and evolve the caliphate institution from a one man caliph-emperor to a socially elected caliphate state, from an individual caliph to the concept of an Islamic state. After tracing the earlier view of the Caliphate, this study looks at the Karbalas `Ashura tragedy, an event religious scholars and Indian politicians effectively used to galvanize Muslims into demanding from the British government and the Indian National Congress a separate Islamic country they would call it Pakistan. This book is an invaluable source not only for university students of history but also for theologians, politicians, sociologists, general readers and also those interested in the last days of the British empire in India.

This title addresses the Khilafat Movement in India, a pan-Islamic, political protest campaign launched by Muslims of India to influence the British government not to abolish the Ottoman Caliphate.

The late 1910s were characterized by Gandhiji’s advent to the Indian political scenario. His contributions towards vindicating the rights of fellow Indians in South Africa had given a larger-than-life aura to him even before he set foot in the subcontinent. His experiences in South Africa had instilled certain notions in him about what was required to achieve swaraj. However, the efficacy of at least a few of his decisions would be strongly challenged by the underlying religiopolitical climate of the Indian subcontinent. Malabar in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was a land rife with conflicts and frequent revolts. The reversal of fortunes brought about by the retreat of Tipu Sultan and the hostile policies of the British against the Moplahs had driven a wedge between the Hindu population and the Moplahs, with the latter getting more hostile by the day. It is in this setting that the Khilafat movement was introduced in Malabar at the initiative of the Indian National Congress. The Moplahs who had been politically distant till then now had a religious aspiration to organize themselves. What ensued was the bloodbath that we know as the Malabar Rebellion.

Journey of Survivors is one book that sums up the entire 70,000-year journey of India and her people. The book contains not just history, but also some interesting legends like how the Asuras were once our god, the legendary kingdom of women in the Himalayas, Alexanders search for somras, the bloody coins of Jesus that made its way into India and how Genghis Khan helped cool the earth. It discusses interesting facts like Chanakyas cunning policies, science in ancient India, the myth of Indians never attacking foreign lands, the Indian Greeks, how Buddhism died in India, how few Indian officials sailed across the Bay of Bengal in search of a king, the woman who defeated Ghori, the mysterious distribution of rotis before the revolt of 1857, the letters of Indian soldiers during the world war and how the 1975-77 Emergency changed Sholay's ending. The book poses intriguing questions like what is the identity of India, did temple destruction only happen in medieval India, was Gandhi a hero and will India survive. At the end, the author tries to discuss the various issues that in his opinion India, as a nation, needs to address.

Radical Islam is a major affliction of the contemporary world. Each year, radical Islamists carry out terrorist attacks that result in a massive death toll, almost all involving noncombatants and innocents. Estimates of how many Muslims could be considered followers of radical Islam vary widely, and there are few guides to help determine moderates versus radicals. Observers often sit at the extremes, either seeing all Muslims as open or closeted jihadis or recoiling from any attempt to link Islam with international terror. Both positions are overly simplistic, and the lack of rational principles to absolve the innocent and identify the accomplices of terror has led to governments and individuals mistakenly accepting jihadis as moderate. What is Moderate Islam? brings together an array of scholars—Muslims and non-Muslims—to provide this missing insight. This wide-ranging collection examines the relationship among Islam, civil society, and the state. The contributors—including both Muslims and non-Muslims—investigate how radical Islamists can be distinguished from moderate Muslims, analyze the potential for moderate Islamic governance, and challenge monolithic conceptions of Islam.