A Secular Need: Islamic Law and State Governance in Contemporary India: by Jeffrey A. Redding, Seattle, University of Washington Press, 2020, 220 pp. Issue 2 (4th May 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Rao, Rahul
• Is Part Of: Indian law review. Volume 6:Issue 2(2022)
• Page Start: 209
• Page End: 216
• Publication Date: 2022-05-04
• Subjects: Law reviews -- India -- Periodicals; 340.0954
• DOI: 10.1080/24730580.2022.2039489
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2473-0580

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The book under review argues that Indian secularism does not and cannot work without the assistance of non-state Islamic legal actors. It contends that this dependence engenders an ambivalent politics of need and antipathy on the part of Indian secularism vis-à-vis Muslims. This review article summarises the book's key claims. It then explores what it means for gender to be a central terrain on which the authority of non-state Islamic legal institutions is asserted and contested. The article takes issue with the book's suggestion that the Supreme Court has distanced itself from the non-state Islamic arena in some ways, finding more illuminating its demonstration of the many ways in which the secular state remains dependent on and entangled with the Islamic non-state. In conclusion, it speculates on the differences and overlaps between secular judicial antipathy towards Muslims and the more overt expressions of such hatred emanating from the Hindu Right.