This book contributes to the rich recent scholarship on contemporary Islam in South Asia. It provides insights into the controversies of the past 150 years over how South Asian Muslims ought to respond to the challenges of modernity and Western imperialism. Though such contests of ideas began with a few intellectuals, their consequences flowed through to touch the lives of ordinary people. The book also traces the processes, in train since British times, that have created large social categories out of diverse, dispersed communities. In the past, such communities shared only a common devotion, a sacred book and the duties the book enshrined. This volume highlights the diversity of peoples and practices among South Asians who follow Islam. Readers learn about aspects of those practices in the resolution of disputes, the education of children, the marriage of offspring, and the recreations of leisure time. The book does not underplay the violence, oppression, and uncertainty that Muslims of South Asia too often face in recent times. Overall, the book invites readers to contemplate the diverse daily lives of the more than 500 million people who are Muslims in South Asia.

General collection.

Introduction: Diversity and daily life / Robin Jeffrey and Ronojoy Sen -- Islam and modernity in South Asia / Muhammad Khalid Masud -- Islam and democracy in India: from Savile Row to Jyotiba Phule Park / Barbara D. Metcalf -- Imagining religion: portraits of Islamic consciousness in Pakistan / Riaz Hassan -- The challenges of diversity: 'casting' Muslim communities in South India / Torsten Tschacher -- Matrilocal marriage and women's property among the Moors of Sri Lanka / Dennis B. McGilvray -- The making of a diasporic Muslim family in East Africa / Salim Lakha -- The Ismaili Conciliation and Arbitration boards in India: a model of community justice? / Arif A. Jamal -- 'Ilm and the individual: religious education and religious ideas in Pakistan / Matthew J. Nelson -- Darul Uloom Deoband's approach to social issues: image, reality, and perception / Taberez Ahmed Neyazi -- 'Being Muslim' in contemporary India: nation, identity, and rights / Tanweer Fazal -- Transnational networks, political Islam, and the concept of ummah in Bangladesh / Mubashar Hasan -- Muslim aspirations in Bangladesh: looking back and redrawing boundaries / Samia Huq -- Media in Pakistan: ideology, indoctrination, intimidation / Khaled Ahmed -- Kafka in India: terrorism, media, Muslims / Irfan Ahmad -- A million salutes: India's Mohammedan Sporting Club / Ronojoy Sen.