Historical setting
2 readings
Reform in colonial India
Historical setting · 2 readings
Ambedkar and Iqbal argue within different social and religious projects in colonial India. Read side by side, they show two ways an inherited authority can come under criticism; sharing a setting does not make their aims or proposals the same.
All readings
2 readings · Title A–Z
Guided course · Module 12 · Lesson 70
Freedom, caste and the terms of reform
Ambedkar challenges caste, and Gandhi defends varna as a set of inherited duties. Can equal praise for those duties answer Ambedkar’s demand for freedom?
Guided course · Module 12 · Lesson 73
Reason, tradition and renewal in modern Muslim thought
Iqbal proposes renewing legal interpretation through ijtihad and collective deliberation, and Hallaq challenges a simple history in which interpretation was closed. How much freedom does such renewal allow?
Selected reading groups
Caste and the terms of equality
Examine the difference between honoring inherited work and letting people choose their work.
Guided course · Module 12 · Lesson 70
Freedom, caste and the terms of reform
Ambedkar challenges caste, and Gandhi defends varna as a set of inherited duties. Can equal praise for those duties answer Ambedkar’s demand for freedom?
Religious interpretation and institutions
Examine Iqbal’s proposed assembly and the limits he places on it. Ask what evidence supports a history of legal reasoning, and separately what would justify reform.
Guided course · Module 12 · Lesson 73
Reason, tradition and renewal in modern Muslim thought
Iqbal proposes renewing legal interpretation through ijtihad and collective deliberation, and Hallaq challenges a simple history in which interpretation was closed. How much freedom does such renewal allow?