Crossing the Threshold

Debate over the Hindu and Muslim religious identity, as well as the natureof the two communities’ interaction, has generated different answers. Tosome, it has been an interaction full of conflict and conflict-resolutionbetween two irreconcilable faiths. To others, it remains impossible to reconstructtheir history as one of convergence or divergence, due to the considerablevariation in their cultures and religions over time. Khan addresses thequestion from a different perspective. According to her, “the Hindus or theMuslims whom the question addresses are not real characters” (p. 4): Thereligious identity of the “Self” is not completely distinct from that of the“Other” in medieval India. Thus, the sporadic clashes between Hindus andMuslims have been due mainly to political reasons and occasionally to economicfactors, but definitely never to religious differences.Khan’s book dwells on the making of identity in the Indian subcontinentbetween medieval India and the end of the twentieth century. It seeks toexplore the spiritual encounters between the indigenous Hindu traditionsand Islam, their historical harmonious coexistence, and their presentpredicaments, with special reference to the intermediary position of NizariIsmailism, a Shi`i sect. Based on field research, observation, and personalexperience, the author demonstrates with vivid case studies, legends, andfolklore how the two peoples had formerly lived by shared deities and howthe change of identity based on Hindu nationalism and Islam has wroughthavoc.The book is broadly divided into four chapters. Chapter 1 examinessome important terminologies that underpin religio-cultural identities inIndian history. In ancient and medieval India, people were distinguished bysocio-religious strata, first by the varna system (socio-ritual categories) andlater by the jati panth (caste and sect) system. A similar thing applied toIndian Muslims, who were hierarchically categorized as Ashrafs (referringto nobles, foreign Muslims) and Ajlafs (referring to converts), but not simplyas “Muslims.”The interface between the indigenous Hindu religion and Islam goesbeyond the terminological resemblance and reaches the heart of religious ritualsand ideologies. In chapter 2, the author cites three modes of interaction ...