South Asia

In contemporary debates regarding Muslim identity in South Asia no issue is as prominent or as hotly contested as the character and social role of Islamic law. Though the controversies are directly relevant to present day concerns the questions themselves are neither new nor innocent of colonial influence. The existing corpus of Islamic law in the subcontinent owes a great deal to the legacy of colonial jurists who systematised and gave shape to Anglo-Muhammadan law over many decades.

Part of a series which seeks to systematically list and document information on the worldwide rise of political movements known as ‘religious fundamentalist’ and their consequences for women, it also lists initiatives and writings which counter such movements. The term communalism is widely used across South Asia to describe the systematic misuse of religion for political purposes.