This study is about a popular manifestation of Islamic devotion that embraces a pluralist setting, keeping itself in a dynamic dialogue with non-Muslim practices. With evidence from various public devotional narratives and ritual practices, the author argues that even universal understanding of living Islam remains incomplete if we do not consider this locally produced pluralised devotional setting that surrounds it. He seeks to address various aspects of local and localised Islam through an examination of Gugudu's local and popular transformation of normative Islam, giving particular focus to the various devotional rituals that blend Muslim and Hindu practices in the public event of Muharram.

This study is about a popular manifestation of Islamic devotion that embraces a pluralist setting, keeping itself in a dynamic dialogue with non-Muslim practices. With evidence from various public devotional narratives and ritual practices, the author argues that even universal understanding of living Islam remains incomplete if we do not consider this locally produced pluralised devotional setting that surrounds it. He seeks to address various aspects of local and localised Islam through an examination of Gugudu's local and popular transformation of normative Islam, giving particular focus to the various devotional rituals that blend Muslim and Hindu practices in the public event of Muharram.

Each year 300,000 pilgrims embark on a pilgrimage to the remote Indian village of Gugudu. Like many villages in South India, Gugudu is populated mostly by non-Muslims. Yet these pilgrims are coming to mark Muharram, which is observed by Shi'i Muslim communities across South Asia. In this book, Afsar Mohammad presents a lively ethnographic study of the textured religious life of Gugudu. Muharram, he shows, takes on a strikingly different color in Gugudu because of the central place of a local Hindu pir, or saint, called Kullayappa. This intense and shared devotion to the pir, Mohammad argues, represents local Islam interacting with global Islam. In the words of one devotee, "There is no Hindu or Muslim. They all have one religion, which is called 'Kullayappa devotion.'" Through his compelling fieldwork, Mohammad expands our ideas about devotion to the martyrs of Karbala, not only in this particular village but also in the wider world, and explores the intersection between an Islam with locally defined practices and global Hinduism.

This book offers a historical perspective on the changing Hindu–Muslim relationship in India through a study of syncretic traditions in Kurundwad, Maharashtra. It explores the social and cultural dynamics between the two communities and analyses underlying issues of caste hierarchy, Hindu hegemony, and social dominance. The volume focusses on how the realization of cultural distinctiveness, politics of identity, and the struggle for dominance have played a role in shaping Hindu–Muslim relations in Maharashtra. Through field interviews conducted over three years, the authors contextualise and analyse the nature of cultural hybridity in Kurundwad and how the relationship has changed over the years. The book also focusses on notions of tolerance and inequality, and provides insights into the reasons for the growing distinctiveness in cultural and religious identity in Kurundwad since the 1990s, in the aftermath of the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the Shah Banu verdict. The book provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the relationship between Hindus and Muslims in India. It will be of great interest to researchers and students of sociology, politics, modern history, cultural studies, minority studies, and South Asian studies.

This book addresses the challenges of living together after empire in many post-colonial cities. It is organized in two sections. The first section focuses on efforts by people of multiple faiths to live together within their contexts, including such efforts within a neighborhood in urban Manchester; the array of attempts at creating multi-faith spaces for worship across the globe; and initiatives to commemorate divisive conflict together in Northern Ireland. The second section utilizes particular postcolonial methods to illuminate pressing issues within specific contexts—including women’s leadership in an indigenous denomination in the variegated African landscape, and baptism and discipleship among Dalit communities in India. In the context of growing multiculturalism in the West, this volume offers a postcolonial theological resource, challenging the epistemologies in the Western academy.

Compiled From Wilson, Wilkins, Crooke, Sell, Hughes And Other Writers.

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