Book Review | 'Diverse Narratives And Shared Beliefs: Classical To Hybrid Deoband Islam In South Asia' By Dr Soumya Awasthi

The book makes a persuasive case for re-integrating religion into the analytical toolkit of international relations scholars and policy practitioners alike

In an era when geopolitics is increasingly shaped by identity, ideology and belief systems, the tendency of mainstream International Relations (IR) scholarship to marginalise religion appears increasingly untenable. “Diverse Narratives and Shared Beliefs: Classical to Hybrid Deoband Islam in South Asia" by Dr Soumya Awasthi intervenes decisively in that gap. By placing the Deobandi school of thought at the centre of South Asia’s geopolitical evolution, it offers a rigorous and timely reassessment of how religious movements interact with state power, security imperatives and international alignments. Rather than treating religion as an aberration or residual variable, the study convincingly demonstrates that faith-based ideologies–when institutionalised, politicised and externally leveraged–can become enduring drivers of regional and global politics.

The book’s core contribution lies in its conceptual framing. Drawing on realist, neoliberal and constructivist approaches, it treats Political Islam not merely as theology but as a strategic instrument, a source of legitimacy and a vehicle for identity formation. This theoretical grounding is not ornamental. It allows the author to move beyond reductionist explanations that attribute Islamist mobilisation solely to poverty or radicalisation, instead situating Deobandi thought within shifting power structures, colonial legacies and post-Cold War insecurities. In doing so, the book makes a persuasive case for re-integrating religion into the analytical toolkit of IR scholars and policy practitioners alike.

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Structure, Scope and Methodology

The book is structured thematically and geographically, moving from theory to history and then to contemporary geopolitics. It combines conceptual analysis, historical investigation, and empirical research to examine the Deobandi school’s trajectory in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and its broader implications for regional and global politics. Methodologically, the study employs a mixed approach. It draws on archival material, secondary scholarship and official documents, while also incorporating primary research, including interviews with Deobandi scholars, survey responses, madrassa publications, and fieldwork conducted in Afghanistan and virtually in Pakistan. This combination allows the author to link ideological evolution with lived practice, discourse and institutional behaviour. The introduction explicitly positions the work within IR scholarship,........

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