Ummatics

Who Needs a Terrorist? The Politics of Knowledge ▶️ Colloquium with Dr. Irfan Ahmad @IrfanHindustan Sat, Nov 7, 2026 at 12 PM ET Register via link in replies. The historical and political experiences of Muslims in India raise fundamental questions about nationalism, identity, and the relationship between political power and the production of knowledge. From the colonial origins of modern nationalist ideologies to the rise of Islamophobia, these experiences reveal how political narratives shape the boundaries of belonging, legitimize exclusion, and influence the ways Muslim political life is represented and understood. They also invite a broader reconsideration of the assumptions underlying modern democracy, the role of media in shaping public discourse, and the relationship between nationalism and political enmity. Drawing on his recent book, Terrorism in Question: Decolonizing Anthropology and the Study of Islam, Dr. Irfan Ahmad extends these questions into a critique of the category of “terrorism” itself. Who needs the figure of the terrorist, and how do political power and dominant forms of knowledge determine whose violence is recognized, condemned, or legitimized? Moving beyond conventional approaches to terrorism studies, the conversation examines the limitations of inherited social scientific categories and the possibilities for decolonizing political knowledge. It further questions the nation-state as the dominant framework of political identity and belonging, exploring the Umma as a possible alternative horizon of political community and solidarity beyond national boundaries. Dr. Irfan Ahmad @IrfanHindustan is Professor of Anthropology-Sociology at Ibn Haldun University and a prominent political anthropologist of Islam, modernity, democracy, and violence. His first monograph, Islamism and Democracy in India: The Transformation of Jamaat-e-Islami, offered an in-depth study of Jamaat-e-Islami and the relationship between Islamism and democratic practice in a Muslim-minority context. His later book, Religion as Critique: Islamic Critical Thinking from Mecca to the Marketplace, challenged the assumption that critique is uniquely Western by tracing traditions of self-critique and social critique within Islam. His most recent book, Terrorism in Question: Decolonizing Anthropology and the Study of Islam, develops a political anthropology of post-9/11 terrorism, asking who needs the category of the “terrorist” and how it has shaped the study of Islam, violence, and political life. The discussion is moderated by Dr. Hamdija Begovic. Register via link in comments.