Muslims In Indian Cities: Trajectories Of Marginalisation

[This] substantial volume at once illuminates empirical conditions and tests theories about ghettoization | integration | and the political attitudes of India's urban Muslims' - Sunil Khilnani 'Christophe Jaffrelot's range of scholarship is amazing | and his new book ... co-edited with Laurent Gayer | illustrates well his wide-ranging interests. The contributions are instructive and insightful and cover a much-neglected theme in contemporary South Asia' - Mushirul Hasan Numbering more than 150 million | Muslims constitute the largest minority in India | yet suffer the most politically and socio-economically. Forced to contend with severe and persistent prejudice | India's Muslims are often targets of violence. In India's cities | these developments find contrasting expressions. While the quality of Muslim life may lag behind that of Hindus nationally | local and inclusive cultures have been resilient in the south and the east. In the Hindi belt and in the north | Muslims have known less peace | especially in the riot-prone areas of Ahmedabad | Mumbai | Jaipur and Aligarh | and in the capitals of former Muslim states - Delhi | Hyderabad | Bhopal and Lucknow. These cities are rife with Muslim ghettos and slums. However | self-segregation has also played a part in forming Muslim enclaves | such as in Delhi and Aligarh | where traditional elites and a new Muslim middle class have regrouped for physical and cultural protection. Combining first-hand testimony with sound critical analysis | this volume follows urban Muslim life in eleven Indian cities | providing uncommon insight into a litde-known subject of immense importance and consequence.