Articles by Yoginder Sikand

Indiscriminate targeting of madrasas will only alienate minorities further and harden extremist sympathies on both sides. Besides, efforts set in motion by several madrasas to adapt to the changing educational needs of Muslims may be severely hampered.

Kashmir in the 1930s witnessed the emergence of the Islamist movement. In its initial years, the movement failed to garner a strong support base owing to the long-standing sufi tradition in Kashmir. However, since the 1980s, the Jama'at-i-Islami Jammu and Kashmir has attempted to restructure the framework of the discourse within which the Kashmiri armed struggle has sought to express itself - the struggle is now being interpreted as a holy war. Not only has there been a growing intervention of Islamist groups based in Pakistan, the nationalist goal of a free Kashmir is being increasingly marginalised.

Indian Muslims Yoginder Sikand Manjari Katju In cases of mass conversion of Muslims to Hinduism, the central thrust has been on their de-Islamisation rather than on their accepting the Hindu religion. The Muslim castes which have been particularly vulnerable to Hindu missionary efforts have been those which are only nominally Muslim and retain many Hindu customs and beliefs. Most of the mass conversions have occurred among Muslim Rajput groups. The Hindu missionaries, too, have shown an inordinate interest in converting the socially dominant and powerful Muslim Rajputs and not the 'lower' Muslim castes who form the majority of the Indian Muslim population. Finally, the mass conversions have mostly occurred in the backward regions of northern India where feudalism is still largely intact and where brahminism has not been challenged by assertive 'lower' castes.