Islamic Reform Movements in India: Past and Present - A Masterclass in Two Parts

Since the nineteenth century, the Indian subcontinent has been a site of sustained intellectual and social ferment within Islam, giving rise to a range of reform movements that sought to renegotiate the relationship between scripture, tradition, and modernity. From the founding of the Deoband seminary in 1866 to the emergence of Salafi-oriented networks across South India, these movements have shaped religious authority, social organisation, and political engagement among Indian Muslims for over 150 years — and continue to do so today.

This two-part masterclass traces that trajectory from its historical origins to its contemporary political expression.

Part One: Origins and Formation
Presented by Saad Yakoob

The first session examines the historical emergence of Islamic reform movements in colonial India — the intellectual currents, institutional projects, and social conditions that gave rise to organisations such as the Deobandis, the Ahl-e-Hadith, and their contemporaries. Saad Yakoob will situate these movements within the broader landscape of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Islamic revivalism, exploring how questions of scriptural authority, taqlid (juristic precedent), and colonial modernity shaped their founding visions and early trajectories.

Part Two: The Present — Salafism in Kerala and the Ahl-e-Hadith in the North
Presented by Mohammed Sinan

The second session turns to the contemporary landscape, focusing on the Salafi movement in Kerala and its counterpart in the Ahl-e-Hadith tradition of North India. Mohammed Sinan will examine how these movements have evolved organisationally and ideologically in independent India, with particular attention to their engagement with democracy, secularism, and electoral politics. The session considers how movements historically defined by scripturalist reform have navigated participation in a pluralist, secular democratic order — and what this reveals about the broader relationship between religious reformism and political modernity in contemporary India.

Who should attend

This masterclass is designed for students and researchers of South Asian history, religion, and politics; those with an interest in Islamic reform movements and comparative religious studies; and anyone seeking a rigorous, historically grounded introduction to the political sociology of Muslim communities in India. No prior specialist knowledge is required, though the sessions are pitched at an advanced/academic level.

About the Speakers

Saad Yakoob is a Doctoral Candidate at Georgetown university, Washington DC where he is working on the political Philosophy of Mohammed Iqbal. He has taught on politics, political Islam, South Asia and other related topics in the US and in Qatar. He is also traditionally trained in Islamic studies engaging in Arabic, Persian and Urdu to expand his work. 

Dr. Mohammed Sinan Siyech is a lecturer in politics at the University of Wolverhampton, UK. He has previously taught politics at King’s College London, the School of Oriental and African Studies (London) and the University of Edinburgh. He was previously a senior analyst with the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Singapore. Sinan has written and spoken for more than a decade on issues pertaining to politics, foreign policy, security and religion in South Asia, the Middle East and the West.