Journal Articles by Ashraf Kunnummal
Islamophobia Studies Journal, 2024
This article aims to analyze the Islamophobic politics at the heart of citizenship
denial in the... more This article aims to analyze the Islamophobic politics at the heart of citizenship
denial in the context of India’s CAA-NRC legislation in December 2019 by the Indian
Parliament under the leadership of the BJP. The politics of citizenship denial in India thus
emerges in appearance as a legal tussle between the Muslim minority citizenship rights and
Hindu nationalism in India. However, the biopolitical fracture of the Indian nation-state
makes the legal ideal of citizenship further complicated for Muslim minority citizens in
India. Tracing the logic of the paradoxical position of Muslim citizenship discourse in India
by following its contradictory existence in law, state, and nationalism, this article reveals the
limitations of appeal to citizenship, and the necessity need for the question questioning of
the biopolitical fracture, wherein the distinction between citizen and non-citizen translates
into those with rights and without rights. This article further proposes that rather than
sticking to the idealism of citizenship, a critical analysis of Islamophobia and its political
correlates must attend to the negative position of the Muslim subject in with respect to the
biopolitical fracture at the core of Indian nationalism and the modern nation-state.
Arab Law Quarterly, 2024
This paper calls for a paradigm shift in the face of the remarkably common, but ultimately stereo... more This paper calls for a paradigm shift in the face of the remarkably common, but ultimately stereotypical and simplistic perceptions of ‘Islamic’ constitutions requiring all laws to conform to Shari’a. It problematizes the term ‘Islamic’ to describe disparate constitutions and constitutionalism(s) in Muslim majority countries demonstrating the plurality of ‘Islamic’ constitutions, locating this descriptor within varied socio-cultural, historical and political contexts of the Muslim world. Plural interpretations of the religious texts in Islam — i.e., the Qur’an and Sunna — and meanings of complex concepts — ‘Shari’a’ and ‘Islamic law’, are integral to Islam’s (legal) traditions. In Muslimmajority countries, a variety of constitutional texts, court decisions and state practices, demonstrate this plurality. We argue that use of ‘Islamic’ as a descriptor for heterogeneous constitutional texts, is a product of ‘realpolitik’ and deployed in this manner, un-nuanced, simplistic, and reductive of the dynamic and plural nature of Shari’a.
Religions, 2023
Decolonial studies define the coloniality of power as a complex assemblage of dominance and hegem... more Decolonial studies define the coloniality of power as a complex assemblage of dominance and hegemony that emerged during the modern era or the era of colonialism, which stretches from the conquest of the Americas to the present. This article argues that, as part of the critical dialogue between decolonial studies and Islamic liberation theology, the latter should position itself in a decolonial political praxis around the preferential option for the poor that takes both a decolonial turn and a decolonial option seriously. There is a tendency to appropriate certain brands of decolonial studies to engage with forms of nationalism, such as Hindutva, to build a “decolonial option” in the global South by undermining the key insights of the “decolonial turn”. This article specifically engages with the claims of “decolonial Hindutva” to critique the nationalist appropriation in decolonial studies, thereby marking its divergence from decolonial Islamic liberation theology.
Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, 2023
Some of the most crucial debates surrounding Islamic legitimacy and cinema rotate around the ques... more Some of the most crucial debates surrounding Islamic legitimacy and cinema rotate around the question of the permissible (ḥalāl) and prohibited (ḥarām) in Islamic law and how these function for Muslim theology and politics. Emerging from these debates, halal cinema has been one of the recent critical interventions in the field of Indian and Islamic cinema. Rather than making cinema Islamic from an ideological position, the new halal experiments with the visual language of cinema without compromising the popular dimensions of its viewership. This article looks at the politics of halal cinema within the context of the state of Kerala in South India and argues that the space of halal cinema shows the aspirations and negotiations of the Muslim community in Kerala. Halal cinema thus becomes an immanent critique of Islamic cinema by destabilizing the dominant practice that connects the relationship between Islam and cinema.
Journal for the Study of Religion, 2023
Farid Esack and Hamid Dabashi are two critical Islamic liberation theology scholars who redefined... more Farid Esack and Hamid Dabashi are two critical Islamic liberation theology scholars who redefined the discourse on ‘self’ and ‘other’ in contemporary Islamic thought. These two scholars engage with the self and other category of pluralism and the employment of theodicy in Islamic liberation theology. Using pluralism to clear the space for a liberating praxis is the task of Esack, while Dabashi uses the idea of theodicy to challenge the existing consensus on and reconfigure the liberation in Islamic liberation theology. Moving from the otherness of Muslims to the multiplicity of otherness – the various mani-festations of self and other – in a pluriversal horizon of liberation, this article deploys both Esack’s and Dabashi’s notions of self and other towards build-ing a new politics of Islamic liberation theology.
Journal for the Study of Religion, 2022
This article argues that the post-secular turn is the new social analysis that shapes the politic... more This article argues that the post-secular turn is the new social analysis that shapes the politics of the impoverized 2 in Islamic liberation theology. In this article, I suggest that, given the essentialism and determinism characterizing much of the contemporary studies of religion and secularism, a direct articulation of a post-secular approach from an Islamic liberation theology perspective is both inevitable and necessary. Such an approach can offer new meaning for both religion and secularism by engaging with the hegemony of secularism in relation to the state and society to envision a politics of the impoverized.
Islamophobia Studies Journal, 2022
This article aims to situate the problems and prospects of thinking about critical Islamophobia s... more This article aims to situate the problems and prospects of thinking about critical Islamophobia studies in the context of India. In doing so, first, the article traces the technical and political impasses to the emergence of critical Islamophobia studies in India by looking at the problem of denial of Islamophobia with respect to Indian nationalism and at the same time the rise of a new security paradigm in the context of the global war on terror. A new approach on critical Islamophobia studies, which is cognizant towards the mass desire of Islamophobia, is introduced in order to understand its popular base in India. Secondly, the limitations of the framework of communalism in developing critical Islamophobia studies are analyzed in light of the biopolitical aspects of state and society in India. Finally, the article proposes a preliminary roadmap to a new
approach to understand the politics of Islamophobia as an active desire based in practice in India and introduces a new typology of precautionary and proactionary Islamophobia in the context of rising Hindu nationalism by locating its normative and derivative dimensions.
Journal for the Study of Religion, Jun 2021
Malala Yousafzai (1997-) became an international icon after Pakistan-based Tehrik-i-Taliban milit... more Malala Yousafzai (1997-) became an international icon after Pakistan-based Tehrik-i-Taliban militants attacked her on her way to school on October 9, 2012. In the following days, the global media gave extensive coverage to the attack from multiple narrative positions. This article argues that the traveling of Yousafzai as an image of a Muslim girl's right to education was instrumentalized in the context of Kerala, South India, to deny Muslims the right to political agency. By analyzing the traveling of Islamophobia in the Global South, this article shows how the gender-based stereotypes of Islamic political subjectivity were reproduced through the figure of Yousafzai. By looking into the particularities within the Global South, this article argues that Islamophobia as a discourse is now part of a global economy within which the threat of Muslim subjectivity is applied in unique ways.
Religion & Theology , 2019
This paper examines the question of Islam and its relationship to violence in Muslim reformer Asg... more This paper examines the question of Islam and its relationship to violence in Muslim reformer Asghar Ali Engineer’s pre- and post-11 September 2001 works in response to the attacks on the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, DC. We argue that that while his pre-9/11 approach to violence offers a much more historical and systemic account of violence by viewing it as a societal problem involving a number of different agents, the post-9/11 evocation of Gandhi does the opposite. By evoking the figure of Gandhi in a post-9/11 context, Engineer not only addresses the issue of violence as a peculiarly Muslim one but forecloses any possibility to understanding violence as a historically evolving and systemically operating phenomenon. In ignoring this, Engineer finds himself well accommodated within the larger politics of Empire and its dehistoricised, naturalised, and individualised interpretation of Muslim related
violence.
Malala Yousafzai was catapulted onto the global stage after she was attacked by Tehrik-e-Taliban ... more Malala Yousafzai was catapulted onto the global stage after she was attacked by Tehrik-e-Taliban militants while on her way to school in the Swat Valley of Pakistan in October 2012. The attack against Yousafzai ignited debate around her status as a Muslim female school going-child and led to a global campaign for education rights for Muslim girls. This essay examines the conflicting narratives around Yousafzai in the international public sphere in order to develop a critical narrative on the politics of gender and governmentality after 11 September 2001. We locate Yousafzai within the frame of the global War on Terror and its relationship to Pakistan as a proxy state in global hegemonic politics. We argue that as much as her entry on the global stage was presented as a victory for Muslim women, (a) nothing significant has shifted for them, and (b) her celebration as an icon of freedom for Muslims is, in fact, intrinsically wedded to a discourse which utilises gender equality in a utilitarian fashion to maintain a larger hegemonic system.
Papers by Ashraf Kunnummal
Berkley Forum , 2023
India and Islamophobia 8/28/23, 11:43 AM The Kerala Story: Secular Yet Nationalistic and Islamoph... more India and Islamophobia 8/28/23, 11:43 AM The Kerala Story: Secular Yet Nationalistic and Islamophobic https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/responses/the-kerala-story-secular-yet-nationalistic-and-islamophobic 2/12 The Kerala Story is a Hindi-language drama film released in 2023 and directed by Sudipto Sen. The plot revolves around a group of women from Kerala who are coerced into converting to Islam and joining ISIS. The film claims to be based on a true story and promotes the Hindutva conspiracy theory of "Love Jihad." Love Jihad is a controversial term, predominantly used in India, referring to a purported campaign by Muslim men to convert non-Muslim women to Islam by pretending to be in love, marrying them, and then forcing them to convert. Contrary to the film's claims, data from the Indian government has refuted the notion that a large number of Keralan women have joined ISIS. Official figures suggest that only a small fraction of Indians, around 100 to 200 individuals, have joined, with even fewer from Kerala. Despite its commercial success, the film has faced significant criticism, as many have labeled it as Islamophobic propaganda. The film's promotion by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during the Karnataka assembly election further intensified the controversy. Consequently, the movie has become entangled in prolonged litigation and protests, primarily in Kerala, West Bengal, and Tamil Nadu. It is important to note that various government agencies, including the Centre, the Supreme Court, and the National Commission for Women (NCW), have repeatedly dismissed the narrative of Love Jihad. The NCW, for instance, explicitly stated that it does not maintain any data on complaints related to Love Jihad, indicating a lack of empirical basis. However, the film's depiction 8/28/23, 11:43 AM The Kerala Story: Secular Yet Nationalistic and Islamophobic https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/responses/the-kerala-story-secular-yet-nationalistic-and-islamophobic 3/12
Contending Modernities, 2020
The decolonial theory and liberation theology were born of the same historical moment and that ea... more The decolonial theory and liberation theology were born of the same historical moment and that each discipline is enriched when it draws on the insights of the other. This is especially the case when it comes to each approaches’ understanding of praxis.
Broadsheet on Contemporary Politics: Anveshi Research Centre for Women Studies, 2017
Co-authors: Sadique PK and Ubaid Rehman.
Beemapalli, a small seaside coastal town, whose popula... more Co-authors: Sadique PK and Ubaid Rehman.
Beemapalli, a small seaside coastal town, whose population is predominantly a Muslim fishing community, is situated in the Trivandrum district of Kerala. About six years ago, on 17th May 2009, between 2.30 pm and 3 pm the police shot and killed six Muslim fishermen, also injuring 52 others. It was the second largest police shooting incident in the history of Kerala state since 1957. However, compared to the importance given to other such political events in the history of the state, Beemapalli received little attention in the collective memory of political struggles in Kerala.
Economic & Political Weekly, 2016
There is a growing tendency by a section of Muslims to offer a blanket condemnation of the violen... more There is a growing tendency by a section of Muslims to offer a blanket condemnation of the violence committed by Muslim militants. Such a condemnation ignores “the politics of condemnation” around Muslim militant political groups. This article examines how this condemnation takes place and the space in which it occurs.
Op-ed/Essays by Ashraf Kunnummal
Maruvakku Monthly, 2023
This is the fourth article in a series on Islamophobia featured in the Maruvakku Monthly magazin... more This is the fourth article in a series on Islamophobia featured in the Maruvakku Monthly magazine. Originating from Calicut, Kerala, this Malayalam publication initiated this series in May 2023. Reference: Volume 8, Issue 8, August, 2023, Pages: 31-32.
Maruvakku Monthly, 2023
This is the third article in a series on Islamophobia featured in the Maruvakku Monthly magazine... more This is the third article in a series on Islamophobia featured in the Maruvakku Monthly magazine. Originating from Calicut, Kerala, this Malayalam publication initiated this series in May 2023. Reference: Volume 8, Issue 7, 2023 July, Pages: 40-42
Maruvakku Monthly , 2023
This is the second article in a series on Islamophobia featured in the Maruvakku Monthly magazin... more This is the second article in a series on Islamophobia featured in the Maruvakku Monthly magazine. Originating from Calicut, Kerala, this Malayalam publication initiated this series in May 2023. Reference: Volume 9, Issue 6, June, 2023, Page 34-35
Madhyamam Daily, 2023
17 July 2023
Maruvaakku Monthly , 2023
This article is one in a series on Islamophobia featured in the Maruvakku Monthly magazine. Origi... more This article is one in a series on Islamophobia featured in the Maruvakku Monthly magazine. Originating from Calicut, Kerala, this Malayalam publication initiated this series in May 2023.
Madhyamam Daily, 2023
21 March 2023
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Journal Articles by Ashraf Kunnummal
denial in the context of India’s CAA-NRC legislation in December 2019 by the Indian
Parliament under the leadership of the BJP. The politics of citizenship denial in India thus
emerges in appearance as a legal tussle between the Muslim minority citizenship rights and
Hindu nationalism in India. However, the biopolitical fracture of the Indian nation-state
makes the legal ideal of citizenship further complicated for Muslim minority citizens in
India. Tracing the logic of the paradoxical position of Muslim citizenship discourse in India
by following its contradictory existence in law, state, and nationalism, this article reveals the
limitations of appeal to citizenship, and the necessity need for the question questioning of
the biopolitical fracture, wherein the distinction between citizen and non-citizen translates
into those with rights and without rights. This article further proposes that rather than
sticking to the idealism of citizenship, a critical analysis of Islamophobia and its political
correlates must attend to the negative position of the Muslim subject in with respect to the
biopolitical fracture at the core of Indian nationalism and the modern nation-state.
approach to understand the politics of Islamophobia as an active desire based in practice in India and introduces a new typology of precautionary and proactionary Islamophobia in the context of rising Hindu nationalism by locating its normative and derivative dimensions.
violence.
Papers by Ashraf Kunnummal
Beemapalli, a small seaside coastal town, whose population is predominantly a Muslim fishing community, is situated in the Trivandrum district of Kerala. About six years ago, on 17th May 2009, between 2.30 pm and 3 pm the police shot and killed six Muslim fishermen, also injuring 52 others. It was the second largest police shooting incident in the history of Kerala state since 1957. However, compared to the importance given to other such political events in the history of the state, Beemapalli received little attention in the collective memory of political struggles in Kerala.
Op-ed/Essays by Ashraf Kunnummal
denial in the context of India’s CAA-NRC legislation in December 2019 by the Indian
Parliament under the leadership of the BJP. The politics of citizenship denial in India thus
emerges in appearance as a legal tussle between the Muslim minority citizenship rights and
Hindu nationalism in India. However, the biopolitical fracture of the Indian nation-state
makes the legal ideal of citizenship further complicated for Muslim minority citizens in
India. Tracing the logic of the paradoxical position of Muslim citizenship discourse in India
by following its contradictory existence in law, state, and nationalism, this article reveals the
limitations of appeal to citizenship, and the necessity need for the question questioning of
the biopolitical fracture, wherein the distinction between citizen and non-citizen translates
into those with rights and without rights. This article further proposes that rather than
sticking to the idealism of citizenship, a critical analysis of Islamophobia and its political
correlates must attend to the negative position of the Muslim subject in with respect to the
biopolitical fracture at the core of Indian nationalism and the modern nation-state.
approach to understand the politics of Islamophobia as an active desire based in practice in India and introduces a new typology of precautionary and proactionary Islamophobia in the context of rising Hindu nationalism by locating its normative and derivative dimensions.
violence.
Beemapalli, a small seaside coastal town, whose population is predominantly a Muslim fishing community, is situated in the Trivandrum district of Kerala. About six years ago, on 17th May 2009, between 2.30 pm and 3 pm the police shot and killed six Muslim fishermen, also injuring 52 others. It was the second largest police shooting incident in the history of Kerala state since 1957. However, compared to the importance given to other such political events in the history of the state, Beemapalli received little attention in the collective memory of political struggles in Kerala.
Application Deadline: November 20, 2022
Email: [email protected]
Affiliated Faculty Members include:
Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Houria Bouteldja, Ramón Grosfoguel,Faith Mkwesha, Sandew Hira, Ashraf Kunnummal, Dina Odessy
Joseph Massad - Ella Shohat - Hatem Bazian - Ramon Grosfoguel -
Houria Bouteldja - Farid Esack - Amina Teslima - Ashraf Kunnummal - Mohamed Mathee - Salman Sayyid - Santiago Slabodsky -
Nelson Maldonado-Torres - Arzu Merali -
Asma Barlas - Nadia Fadil - Jasmin Zine - Iskander Abbasi
Please submit your application here: http://www.dialogoglobal.com/granada/application.php
Affiliated Faculty Members include: Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Houria Bouteldja, Ramón Grosfoguel, Faith Mkwesha, Sandew Hira, Ashraf Kunnummal, Dina Odessy.
Application: http://southsouthdialogues.dialogoglobal.com/