The Gabriel of Madness

Islamic Poetry and Ethics in an Age of Hindu Nationalism
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-0-520-42280-3
Verlag: University of California Press

Buch, Englisch, 266 Seiten, Trade Paperback, Format (B × H): 229 mm x 151 mm, Gewicht: 414 g

Reihe: Islamic Humanities

A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more.Since a right-wing Hindu nationalist government came to power in 2014, Indian Muslims have faced rampant Islamophobia, lynchings and mob violence, discriminatory legislation, and economic ostracism. How have Indian Muslims—the largest religious minority in the world’s largest democracy—responded to the failures and demise of state secularism? Using the lens of Urdu poetry, this beautiful ethnography explores how Indian Muslims have drawn upon Islamic traditions to actualize free-thinking selves and imagine a pluralistic society unbeholden to coercive state power. Through poetic symposiums, interviews, social media, and deep conversations with diverse Muslim interlocutors, from religious leaders to politicians, civil society activists to poets, Anand Vivek Taneja paints a portrait of the vitality of Indian Muslim artistic, ethical, and spiritual life at a moment of existential crisis.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Taneja, Anand Vivek

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturwissenschaft: Lyrik und Dichter
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Kultur Menschenrechte, Bürgerrechte
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturen sonstiger Sprachräume Indische & Dravidische Literatur
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein
• Geisteswissenschaften Islam & Islamische Studien Islam & Islamische Studien
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Studien zu einzelnen Ländern und Gebieten

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
A Note on Transliterations and Translations  Prologue: “I Saw Nothing But Beauty” Introduction
1. Wehshat
2. The Ghost of Ghalib: Or, How to Be a Self
3. This Is the Woman’s Miracle: The Networked Public Sphere and the Remaking of Gender Relations
4. Jaun Elia from Heaven: Or, How (Not) to Belong to Hindustan
5. “In Me Is the Essence of the Gita”: Muslim Engagements with Hindu Dharma
6. Islam Comes Alive After Every Karbala: Shifts in the Nature of Islamic Authority in Hindu Nationalist Times
7. Nest upon Nest: Maulana Azad, Political Demonetization, and Muslim Persistence in India
Conclusion  Notes
Bibliography
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Anand Vivek Taneja is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Anthropology at Vanderbilt University. He is author of the award-winning Jinnealogy: Time, Islam, and Ecological Thought in the Medieval Ruins of Delhi.