Decoloniality and Islamic Economics

<p xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" dir="auto" id="d3587181e100">In Islamic thought, the economy is considered an integral part of the spiritual expression of human consciousness in the mortal world. Islamic economics, as a modern discipline, is related to the anti-colonial movement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Scholars of the time envisioned an economic system different from that of the colonising powers and found the epistemological foundations for one in the Islamic tradition. Although Islamic banking has come far from its inception, Islamic economic philosophy has become a niche categorisation in the larger global economic order. Discourses in Islamic economics have been constructed against neoliberal economics, within the ontology and epistemology of modernity. The Islamisation of knowledge project has utilised a singular reliance on fiqh to halal-wash orthodox neoliberal economic institutions, products, and relations to assimilate them into Islamic economics in a superficial “Islamic” dressing of neoliberal economic paradigms. This paper argues that a decolonial stance in Islamic economics and a focus on epistemologies indigenous to Islamic discourse can eliminate this issue. Decoloniality in Islamic economics must counter the traditional dominance of European episteme and the financial interest in capitalist economics within the Islamic world by norm-setting entities such as the state of Saudi Arabia. </p>

From <i>Kabuliwala</i> to <i>Kesari</i>: Mapping the (Mis)representations of Afghans in Hindi films

<p xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" dir="auto" id="d3587695e121">Indians and Afghans have shared memories, cultural and historical linkages. Besides Kabul being a part of the Mughal Empire for a long time, more than half of the Pashtuns living to the east of the Durand Line were part of undivided India (present-day Pakistan) during the British rule. With most Indian cities having significant Afghan residents, Afghans/Pashtuns got special attention in popular narratives, including in Hindi films. In movies like <a class="xref-link" href="#reorient.9.2.0007-b47"> <i>Kabuliwala</i> (1961) </a>, <a class="xref-link" href="#reorient.9.2.0007-b52"> <i>Khuda Gawah</i> </a> (1992), <a class="xref-link" href="#reorient.9.2.0007-b46"> <i>Kabul Express</i> (2006) </a>, <a class="xref-link" href="#reorient.9.2.0007-b51"> <i>Kesari</i> (2019) </a>, and <a class="xref-link" href="#reorient.9.2.0007-b66"> <i>Panipat</i> (2019) </a>, Bollywood has presented different shades of Afghans on celluloid. The popularity of Indian films among Afghans is well known, but there is hardly any academic deliberation on the representation of Afghans in Hindi films. Drawing upon Stuart Hall’s Representation and Edward Said’s Orientalism theories, the paper seeks to fill this gap. Using a semiotic approach and critical discourse analysis this paper flags the tropes of misrepresentation of Afghans in Hindi films. This paper foregrounds the majoritarian discourse around Afghans in the popular imagination in India drawing upon the binaries of loyal/traitor, rational/brutal, benevolent/vengeful, patriots/potential dangers, and sophisticated/tribal. The paper concludes that Islamophobia and the larger anti-Muslim rhetoric playing out in India have contributed to the vilification of Afghans on screen even though the two countries shared cordial political relations. </p>

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