Book review: P. C. Saidalavi, Seeking Allah’s Hierarchy: Caste, Labour and Islam in India

Seeking Allah's Hierarchy: Caste, Labour and Islam in India portrays the existence of caste among Muslims in South Asia, especially in the context of India, based on the fieldwork in Malabar, Kerala.This book is an excellent ethnographic study that looks at the social inequality among Muslims based on the caste system, which significantly differs from the casteism within Hindu Communities.His main focus is on Muslim barbers in Malabar and how they negotiate hierarchy, Islam, and Hindu social structure in the region of Malabar, South India.As he talked to people belonging to various social groups in Malabar, people were confused about the existence of caste in Islam.There is no mention of any scripture, theology, or textbook accounts that narrate the caste system in Islam.The author says that There is caste among Muslims in India, but there is no caste in Islam (p.xvi).It means caste in Islam is an Indian phenomenon.The book argues that caste among Muslims derives from a social situatedness.Using a critical, selfreflexive approach, Saidalavi challenges the discourse of caste and Islam in Kerala.Furthermore, one sees that what is written in the Quran is not what is essentially practised in Islam.In Chapter 1, 'Values of Hierarchy', Saidalavi challenges the diffusionist view that the Muslim caste is an imitation of the Hindu caste.To explain Muslim hierarchy as a product of Hindu influence is to miss the distinctive value systems through which Muslims themselves understand and justify social difference (p.9).Social hierarchy among Muslims is not formed through rigid caste rules; rather, it emerges through moral judgement or reasoning.The author discussed the long-standing humiliation faced by the community, particularly at the hands of religious scholars.