The movement away from secularist practices and toward political Islam is a prominent trend across Muslim polities. Yet this shift remains under-theorized. Why do modern Muslim polities adopt policies that explicitly cater to religious sensibilities? How are these encoded in law and with what effects? Sadia Saeed addresses these questions through examining shifts in Pakistan's official state policies toward the rights of religious minorities, in particular the controversial Ahmadiyya community. Looking closely at the 'Ahmadi question', Saeed develops a framework for conceptualizing and explaining modern desecularization processes that emphasizes the critical role of nation-state formation, political majoritarianism, and struggles between 'secularist' and 'religious' ideologues in evolving political and legal fields. The book demonstrates that desecularization entails instituting new understandings of religion through processes and justifications that are quintessentially modern.
Acknowledgements; Introduction. Rethinking desecularization; 1. Colonial genealogy of Muslim politics; 2. Democratic exclusions, authoritarian inclusions; 3. Politics of minoritization; 4. The nation-state and its heretics; 5. Courts and the minority question; Conclusion. After secularization; Appendix A. Text of Objectives Resolution, Preamble to the Constitution of Pakistan; Appendix B. Text of Anti-Islamic Activities of the Qadiani Group, Lahore Group and Ahmadis (Prohibition and Punishment) Ordinance, 1984; Bibliography.
Reviews for Politics of Desecularization: Law and the Minority Question in Pakistan
'This book is rich in historical depth, and its most profound contribution for this reader is its sustained demonstration that the place of Islam in Pakistan remains unsettled, complicated, entangled in public affairs, orientated towards exclusion, and contested.' Imran Ahmed, Asian Studies Review
