Farewell, Professor Imtiaz Ahmad!

Subin Dennis
19 June 2023

Professor Imtiaz Ahmad, renowned social scientist, is no more. He taught at the Centre for Political Studies (CPS), Jawaharlal Nehru University from 1972 to 2002. As a political sociologist, he was most well-known for his work on caste among Muslims India. Among his notable works is the book ‘Caste and Social Stratification Among Muslims in India’ that he edited.

Surely more qualified people would write obituaries for Prof. Imtiaz Ahmad, and analyses of his work. I, however, would like to share a fond memory that I have of being witness to a magnificent response he gave at an event.

I joined JNU as a student years after Prof. Imtiaz Ahmad retired; nevertheless I had the fortune of listening to a few speeches that he gave at public meetings in the university. Post-dinner public meetings, organised in hostel mess halls by various student organisations, used to be a regular and attractive feature of life in JNU.

One of my favourite memories of public meetings in JNU had Prof. Imtiaz Ahmad as a main protagonist. This was a public meeting held in the wake of the discussions after the Sachar Committee submitted its report on the social, educational, and economic status of Muslims in India. The programme was organised by SFI; the venue was the mess hall of the Kaveri Hostel in JNU. There were three speakers: Prabhat Patnaik, Imtiaz Ahmad, and one more speaker whose name I fail to recollect.

Prabhat Patnaik spoke brilliantly, discussing the political economy of the backward conditions faced by Muslims in India, with the historical background of the Partition which led to the migration of a major section of well-to-do Muslims to Pakistan (West and East).

Imtiaz Ahmad gave an illuminating speech on the condition of Muslims in the country. Among the many things he said, he mentioned the prevalence of caste discrimination among Muslims in India. This caused a furore.

As soon as the three speakers were done with their speeches and the floor was opened for questions, something that I had never seen before (or after, till date) happened – one speaker stood up to ask a question to another speaker. The third speaker (whose name I don’t remember) fired this opening salvo, challenging Imtiaz Ahmad’s arguments. Similar questions were asked by several students who had turned up for the event. Their core argument was: there is no caste in Islam; hence it is not possible for caste discrimination to exist among Muslims. It was the most vehement attack (not a physical one, of course) on a speaker that I had ever seen in a public meeting.

Once all the questions were asked, the speakers began to give their answers, one by one. Imtiaz Ahmad was the last one to respond. He looked almost crestfallen, reluctant to answer, as if he had been shaken by the barrage of questions and comments directed against him. Prabhat Patnaik smiled and prodded Imtiaz Ahmad, urging him to get up.

And then Prof. Imtiaz Ahmad rose, to give a majestic response. He took on the questions one by one. There is no caste in Islam, true, but the caste system does exist among Muslims, he said. He then gave the names of some Muslim castes in India who are considered untouchables by the “upper”castes among Muslims. He also talked about some practices prevalent among Muslims in some parts of India – for example, during major festivals, upper class Muslims would throw feasts for the entire community, but “lower” caste Muslims would be given food on the other side of the road, and not be allowed to enter the host’s house. Prof. Imtiaz Ahmad’s response, rich in detail and based on long years of in-depth research and experience, was so powerful that it softened the attitude of those who attacked him ferociously. The discussion continued even after the public meeting had formally ended. People surrounded him and accompanied him to his car, with questions and answers flying back and forth.

If I remember correctly, he also said scriptures should be considered social texts that emerged in certain historical contexts and which can be critiqued. That caused another uproar. Scripture is god-given, some argued. But I’m a social scientist, and to me, scriptures are social texts, he insisted. (Unsurprisingly, Prof. Imtiaz Ahmad was hated by the reactionary sections among the Muslims, and also by the peddlers of Hindutva (Hindu supremacism).)

This was an era when we had not begun recording speeches at public meetings, forget live-streaming. So many brilliant speeches and Q&A sessions have, therefore, remained unrecorded. I don’t think anybody even has an audio recording of the speeches, questions and answers at this marvellous public meeting at Kaveri mess hall that night. Therefore I wanted to record my memories of the event, particularly Imtiaz Ahmad’s tour de force response, at least in this form.

Farewell, sir. You would be dearly missed. People will continue to learn and gain inspiration from your work and life.