Review of Faisal Devji, Muslim Zion: Pakistan as a Political Idea (Hurst and Company, London, 2013)

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Main author: Hamzić, Vanja
Format: Book Reviews           
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id eprints-22752
recordtype eprints
institution SOAS, University of London
collection SOAS Research Online
language English
language_search English
topic DS Asia
JC Political theory
KL Asia and Eurasia, Africa, Pacific Area, and Antarctica
description In today’s world of nation states, the distinct pedigrees of independent polities are often organised into two foundational trajectories: states whose traditions of collective belonging are derived from, or adjusted to, the conventional mythology of European nationalism, with its focus on (the presumed bonds of) ‘blood and soil’, and states, such as settler societies, that somehow diverge from it. In Muslim Zion, Devji provides a seething analysis of Pakistan’s foundational narratives, guided by a bold claim that this state was founded on a radical, and quintessentially modern, demand for ‘the forcible exclusion of blood and soil in the making of a new homeland for India’s diverse andscattered Muslims’ (p. 9). For Devji, this demand emerged primarily from ‘the fantasy of creating a state by purely rational means, one that was founded upon its idea alone’ (p. 39). And just what was this foundational idea? That by working in the laboratory of Pakistan, to borrow Liaquat Ali Khan’s famous phrase (p. 249), a state primarily based on religious belonging, a ‘Muslim homeland’ par excellence, could be established.
format Book Reviews
author Hamzić, Vanja
author_facet Hamzić, Vanja
authorStr Hamzić, Vanja
author_letter Hamzić, Vanja
title Review of Faisal Devji, Muslim Zion: Pakistan as a Political Idea (Hurst and Company, London, 2013)
publisher Sage
publishDate 2016
url https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/22752/

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