Seeking Allah's Hierarchy - 9781512828481

Seeking Allah's HierarchyCaste, Labor, and Islam in India\nAuthor(s): P. C. Saidalavi\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, United States\nImprint: University of Pennsylvania Press\nISBN-13: 9781512828481, 978-1512828481\nSynopsis\nWhy Muslims in South India observe hierarchical intra-communal relationships despite the egalitarianism of their religion\n In Seeking Allah's Hierarchy, P. C. Saidalavi provides an ethnographic study of a Muslim barber community in South India, unraveling how these barbers negotiated concepts of hierarchy through Islamic values of piety, genealogy, morality, and wealth. Through this close-drawn study, Saidalavi argues that Muslim hierarchy exists and it works on its own terms. It both draws upon Islamic jurisprudential and moral discourses and is shaped by the larger economic, cultural, and political environment, including that of Hinduism. Yet ultimately, Muslim hierarchy is neither a replica nor a watered-down version of caste .