Tariq Rahman's welcome study cuts across a variety of disciplines, including South Asian studies, religious studies, and history. Rahman describes Interpretations of Jihad in South Asia as stemming from a desire to understand how Islamic militants and radicals—specifically those in South Asia—justify their stances through scripture. Finding no scholarly study on the subject, he penned this work.
In chapter 1, Rahman expertly presents the layout of literature on jihad as well as scholarship in the specific subfield in which he wants to intervene. He writes, “This book is a history of the idea of jihad for the last three hundred years with focus on the Quranic exegeses though not to the exclusion of other interpretations of the concept of jihad in South Asia” (p. 12). While his work examines the stances of many well-known Muslim intellectuals who have been studied in detail by other scholars, Rahman rightly identifies his focus on scriptural interpretation as a novel contribution to studies of jihad and militancy in South Asia.
The second chapter, an introduction to the field of hermeneutics, is the methodological bedrock of the book. The chapter is to be commended on multiple counts. It frames the issue of interpretation in broad terms that go beyond the study of Islam and the Quran; for example, the chapter notes evolutions in Biblical interpretation. The chapter also emphasizes the impact of modernity on scriptural interpretation—an especially important topic since the book focuses on the modern period. The chapter's most important section explains the hermeneutical devices used by Muslim intellectuals that feature in the book. Here we see glimmers of Rahman's background in linguistics as he identifies devices including lexis and semantics, abrogation, explanation by citing occasions of revelation, specification, privileging principles over particulars, and ideological imperative. Rahman also discusses the various ways in which hadith are interpreted. This section of the chapter, when presented along with some background information, would work well as an overview of hermeneutical strategies in an undergraduate class on the Quran. The remaining chapters of the book follow a largely chronological arc while using the insights of chapter 2 as their analytical lens. These chapters, which center on particular groups of thinkers, feature handy charts that summarize which hermeneutical devices were used by those thinkers to interpret particular Quranic verses.
The third chapter focuses on how jihad was used by medieval South Asian Muslim rulers for political ends. Chapter 4 studies Shah Wali Allah and his family, whose interpretations of jihad continue to have a lasting legacy and were especially important in the century or so after they were announced. Chapter 5 focuses on colonial-era modernist Muslims, such as Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan, who adopted a largely apologist perspective. These scholars sought to negate the colonial picture of Islam as violent and incompatible with modernity and humanism. Rahman rightly studies these interpretations of the Quran with an eye towards the impact of modernity and the specific circumstances of colonialism. Centered on the same time period, chapter 6 examines a very different approach to jihad, that is, the use of jihad to resist the British; the responses examined range from armed resistance to political challenges.
The arc of the book then moves to the postcolonial era, with most of the remaining chapters centered primarily on Pakistan. Chapter 7 focuses on the most important Islamist of South Asia, Mawdudi; his theory of an Islamic state; Islam's political domination; and the use of jihad. Chapter 8 centers on Middle Eastern Islamic militants’ views to establish a link between their intellectual tradition and the militancy rife in Pakistan. Chapter 9 focuses on Pakistan's radical Islamists who sow the seeds of militancy in Kashmir and Afghanistan. While this subject has been the focus of several studies, such as those by Mona Kanwal Sheikh, Samina Yasmeen, and Christine Fair, Rahman clearly identifies how his work, through its focus on Quranic interpretation, stands apart from existing literature. The following chapter studies refutations of these radicals by South Asian Muslims and those in other locations. Rahman's work concludes with a recognition of some pressing issues that have elided his investigation and that are presented as suggestions for further investigation by other scholars. Prime among these is to examine “to what extent any interpretation actually influences human behavior” (p. 256).
Religious studies scholars will appreciate that Rahman distances himself from offering his own “theological interpretation of jihad” (p. 22). He rejects the idea of jihad as an “unchanging intellectual monolith” (p. 22) and instead argues that interpretations of jihad change over time, in part due to external circumstances and the dominant discourses of each era.
While there is much to appreciate about Rahman's work, his lack of attention to Shias is one that will likely leave many scholars dissatisfied. Rahman attempts to justify his choice by stating, “The Islamist militants who are fighting today in Pakistan and parts of Afghanistan and India are Sunnis, not Shi'as.… Thus, we need to be concerned only with the Sunni interpretations of jihad for the purposes of this study” (p. 5). However, as Rahman's work illustrates, he is not interested in mapping a linear history of interpretations of jihad that have influenced South Asia's Islamist militants. For example, chapters 5 and 10 present perspectives on jihad that differ significantly from those of contemporary militants. In light of Rahman's broad interest in interpretations of jihad in South Asia, a focus on Shias alongside Sunnis would not have been inconsistent with the work's focus and organization.
Finally, those looking for a detailed study of how an important South Asian thinker has understood jihad in the Quran and hadith will find that Rahman's work offers a quick overview, ultimately leaving it up to the reader to explore the subject in more detail. On the flip side, this criticism—if it is to be read as such—highlights the importance and appeal of Rahman's work and emphasizes that he has tapped into a subject that deserves further investigation.
