Recasting religion in South Asia: tracing the global trajectory of Ahmadi movement.

Abstract

Anthropological writings and ethnographers find themselves struggling with the
dilemma of encountering events that are vested with latent meanings and a certain
form of interiority. The constant tension between ‘presence’ and ‘absence’ as
eminent categories in the field of research imparts an ethnographer a sensitized
manner of operability in the field. Islam has witnessed transformative aspirations
across the globe especially in the context of South Asia in the last two centuries.
The term ‘Muslim’, both as a religious ascription and social identification,
underwent significant mutations over the years. However, the contemporary
definition of ‘being’ and being described as a ‘Muslim’ requires critical
intervention. The creation of hysteria in the Islamic world by the pronouncement
of Ahmadi doctrines in the late 19th century led to the development of newer
debates causing a rupture among several factions of Islam. Thus, thinking through
Naveeda Khan’s (2012) proposition about the obscurity of the question : what
kind of Muslim one should be, and what kind of Islamic state or Muslim society
one should strive for, I attempt to unsettle the category of muslimness by looking
at the evolution of Ahmadi Muslim movement as a global Islamic entity. The
paper deliberates upon the diasporic sentimentalities demonstrated by Ahmadi
Muslims who escape religious persecutions and employ creative ways to animate
their religious life in an unfamiliar setting. Thus, contributing to a more nuanced
debate on the public life of South Asian Islam and its ripple effect on the shaping
of global Islamic identity through both historical events and ethnographic
vignettes