Islam and the Muslims of India: Exploring History, Faith and Dogma

In this erudite book, S.S. Gill tries to correct common misconceptions among non-Muslims about Islam, especially in India, and offers new ways of engagement between Muslims and those who subscribe to other faiths.

The author examines the concept of umma, the global community of Muslims, and the place of the Muslims of India in it, and traces the history of the religion in India and its spread in different parts of the country. He argues that many followers of Islam in India and the world appear to have turned away from the values of plurality and creativity which once marked the golden age of Islam. Gill attempts to understand Islamic fundamentalism in the context of how the West, by exercising its hegemony, has largely succeeded in polarizing the world into ‘us and them’.

Islam and the Muslims of India   makes the vital point that a failure to interpret the word of God in its specific historical context and by a too literal interpretation will only exacerbate the divides between Islam and the other religions that must share space with it.