The popularity of the Muslim League and its idea of Pakistan has been measured in terms of its success in achieving the goal of a sovereign state in the Muslim majority regions of North West and North East India. It led to an oversight of Muslim leaders and organizations which were opposed to this demand, predicating their opposition to the League on its understanding of the history and ideological content of the Muslim nation. This volume takes stock of multiple narratives about Muslim identity formation in the context of debates about partition, historicizes those narratives, and reads them in the light of the larger political milieu of the period. Focusing on the critiques of the Muslim League, its concept of the Muslim nation, and the political settlement demanded on its behalf, it studies how the movement for Pakistan inspired a contentious, influential conversation on the definition of the Muslim nation.

This Book Originally Appeared In 1951 Under The Title Makers Of Pakistan And Modern Muslim India(By A.H. Albiruni), And Has Been An Important Source Book For The History Of The Period It Deals With.The Earlier Book, As Its Title Indicat¬Ed, Was An Account Of The Lives And Activities Of The Leaders Who Enabled Muslim India To Recover From The Loss Of Political Power Culminating In The Exile Of The Last Mughul Emperor In 1858, And Who So Guided Its Affairs As To Lead To The Establishment Of The Independent State Of Pakistan.The Original Book Has Been Greatly Enlarged And, Although The Approach Remains Basically Biographical, Many New Chapters Giving The Background Of The Period And Various Historical Developments Have Been Added. Out Of The Fifteen Chapters, Five Are Entirely New, Including A Long Chapter On The Developments In The Areas Which Now Constitute Pakistan With Considerable Additions In Others. Personalities From Muslim Bengal Have Been Fully Dealt With, And Advantage Has Been Taken Of The Publication Of Considerable New Material Relating To Partition To Make The Account Comprehensive. An Im¬Portant New Section Relates To Jinnah, The Man And The Statesman.

After 1947, Muslims of India, acquired a different form, in terms of their role, status, problems, challenges and opportunities. The partition of the country divided them in two and later three parts and led their political, bureaucratic and intellectual elite to migrate to Pakistan. The expert opinion was divided about their very future. W.C. Smith, a renowned scholar of Islam, for instance, believed that Islam in India would emerge as more progressive, dynamic, liberal and creative than Pakistani Islam . The fact that Muslims in India bear the same proportion in Indian Population as those in the world bear to the world population, make their experience of universal value. Religion has two components. One is set of theological beliefs and practices. Two as a basis of a social identity. Even those who do not follow its beliefs and practices and are agnostics or atheists are an integral part of a religious community. This book is primarily a study of Muslim community since partition. But some references to pre-partition lessons and Islam, based on its acknowledged authorities, were inevitable for the study of contemporary problems of the community. This study of micro problems of Indian Muslims is a humble contributioin to the vastly grown scholarly work on macro Islam. About The Author: - Balraj Puri, started his public career in 1942 as editor of a Urdu weekly in Jammu. He has written over a thousand articles and authored or co-authored around forty books. Intercommunity relations and problems and potentialities of Muslims in India have been a matter of his special interest, as a social and political activist as also a writer. Apart from intervening in many conflict situation, he has been extensively writing on these subjects for national dailies and academic journals and addressed many academic gatherings. He has been interacting with Muslim scholars and leaders of the country belonging to various scholars of thought. He is vice-president of the Minority Council

This book brings out with clarity the growth of separatist movement in India leading to her partition.

This book challenges the fundamental assumptions regarding the foundations of Pakistani nationalism during colonial rule in India.