Hierarchy, Values and Islam: Social Organisation of Muslims in South India

Abstract

Focusing on Muslim barbers, this thesis explores the trajectory of changes that hierarchical and unequal practices underwent among Muslims in Malabar, south India over a period of roughly 70 years since the 1950s. These practices range from endogamous marriage relations, asymmetrical resource ownership and distribution, occupational distinctions to those of practices and discourses aimed at challenging the hierarchy, such as unionisation activities of barbers and the deployment of egalitarian ideas of Islam. Attending to these practices, the thesis highlights the relationships Muslims forge in their everyday life between Islam and broader cultural considerations pertaining to economic and political inequalities, ritual ceremonies and Hindu caste practices.

I argue that caste among Hindus in the subcontinent should not be the analytical frame to explain the nature of hierarchy among Muslims. The scholarship on Muslims posits that hierarchy among Muslims is either a replica of caste among Hindus or a watered-down version of the Hindu social system. My thesis argues that rather than enumerating features of Muslim hierarchy and seeking equivalence with Hindu caste, we need to pay close attention to how Muslims engage in hierarchical practices in everyday life. In other words, rather than seeing social hierarchies amongst Muslims as a derivative discourse, a more ethnographically committed approach reveals how culturally anchored notions of value and social practice shape everyday encounters and exchanges. My argument throughout the thesis is that the values underlying hierarchy among Muslims have deep connections in Islam, but they are also informed by the broader context of political economy and cultural practices in the region. I posit that while the normative core of Islam was understood as upholding egalitarianism, Muslims used endogamy, occupational specialisations, and distinctions of moral worth to order their social lives in a hierarchical manner. While these practices may seem similar, at face value, to the ones found in the Hindu caste system, I suggest that Muslims operationalise and justify the hierarchical practices employing Islamic ideas. An endogamous marriage, which is said to be a key practice of Hindu caste, may be justified by Muslims using Islamic juristic ideas of suitability between partners in terms of piety, beauty, lineage, and wealth. I therefore maintain that Muslims try to negotiate, contest and reconfigure their everyday using discourses available in a dynamic Islamic tradition and repertoire. These assertions are based on my 14 months of fieldwork in Malabar in 2019-2020, and draws upon participant observation, unstructured interviews and oral narratives to illuminate the hierarchy among Muslims and its connections with broader cultural practices in south India. Show more