Reforming the ‘Muslims’: Piety, State and Islamic Reform Movement in Bengal

What is it about?

This paper is based on ethnography of a Sufi order in Bengal region (West Bengal in India and Bangladesh). It questions any monolithic construction of Muslims in South Asia by focussing on how Muslim subjectivity is constantly constructed by the dynamic interface between modern Islamic reform movement, market economy and the state.

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Why is it important?

This paper questions the general stereotype that underlines the deterministic role of Islam in defining Muslim subjectivities. In this background, this paper uncovers how multiple social factors play an important role in the construction of what it mean to be a Muslim in South Asia. On the other hand, this paper charts out the diverse trajectory of Islamic reform movement in the Bengal region of South Asia.