Muslim becoming: aspiration and skepticism in Pakistan

In Muslim Becoming, Naveeda Khan challenges the claim that Pakistan's relation to Islam is fragmented and problematic. Offering a radically different interpretation, Khan contends that Pakistan inherited an aspirational, always-becoming Islam, one with an open future and a tendency toward experimentation. For the individual, this aspirational tendency manifests in a continual striving to be a better Muslim. It is grounded in the thought of Muhammad Iqbal (1877–1938), the poet, philosopher, and politician considered the spiritual founder of Pakistan. Khan finds that Iqbal provided the philosophical basis for recasting Islam as an open religion with possible futures as yet unrealized, which he did in part through his engagement with the French philosopher Henri Bergson. Drawing on research in the neighborhoods and mosques of Lahore and on readings of theological polemics, legal history, and Urdu literature, Khan points to striving throughout Pakistani society: in prayers, theological debates, the building of mosques, readings of the Quran, and religious pilgrimages. Emphasizing skepticism toward the practices of others that accompanies aspiration, Khan seeks to affirm aspiration while also acknowledging its capacity for violence. This book would be of interest to scholars and students of anthropology, politics, religion, Islamic Studies and postcolonial studies.