Asghar Ali Engineer is a rights activist and heads the two organisations, Institute of Islamic Studies and Centre for Study of Society and Secularism. He has authored or edited 44 books on such  issues  as  Islam and communal and ethnic problems in India and South Asia in general.  For links to his other articles, please go to the top page of this site.

The middle class plays an important role in meeting the challenges of  creative and dynamic living in the contemporary world. No one can  underrate the role of middle class. In fact after the establishing of British  rule in India formation of middle class began and colonial India had its own  middle class, which went on increasing with greater development and industrialisation.

  However, the middle classes, in communal India, got divided on communal lines – Hindu middle class, Muslim middle class and so on. These middle classes divided along communal lines also became agents of communalisation. But it should also be recognised that a section of these middle classes also promoted modernity and modern and secular values. But for the middle class modernisation would not have been possible. Also, it was the middle class, which gave theoretical perspective to our freedom movement. Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaherlal Nehru, Subhash Chandra Bose, Jinnah and others were product of middle classes.

  Whereas Hindu middle class came from trading and industrial classes the Muslim middle class had its origin in feudal class. The scions of Zamindar families took to modern education after some initial hesitation and entered some modern professions like law. Some of them entered police and military services, apart from government jobs. The Indian Muslims, unlike the Hindus, never developed modern entrepreneurial class. The Muslim ruling classes right up to partition of the country in 1947 remained feudal. There was no modern industrialist worth the name among Muslims then or even now.

  There were some traditional merchants of course. But they were very few. We can mention three trading communities of Gujarat i.e. Khojas, Bohras and Memons. All of them put together would not exceed two to three millions. There are some trading communities in Tamil Nadu and Kerala too. But they are even fewer in number. Thus it will be seen that by and large Muslim ruling classes lacked modern entrepreneurial class and hence for this reason also Muslims were left behind in matters of modern education and in the process of modernisation. 

  And another great tragedy for Indian Muslims was that whatever middle class had come into existence in the hundred years of the colonial rule by and large migrated to Pakistan in search of greener pastures in 1947. Those left behind were mostly low caste and low class Muslims who preferred to stay in India. The `Ulama had vehemently opposed creation of Pakistan and they too chose to remain in India with few exceptions. This also explains the great influence of the ‘ulama on the Muslim masses. It is the modern middle class, which acts as a modernising agent. In the absence of such a strong middle class no one could undertake modernisation project.

  Among Muslims now a middle class is coming into existence slowly and gradually. However, there are some vital differences between situations before and after partition. Before partition, as pointed out before, the middle class came mainly from the feudal classes generally then referred to as Ashraf. In the post-partition period the middle class began to emerge from among the low caste biradaris referred to in pre-partition period as ajlaf. It is low caste Muslims coming from Ansaris (weavers), Qureshis (also called qassab i.e. those who deal in animals or slaughter animals), Silawats (masons) of Rajasthan many of whom became builders, Malis from Maharashtra (who deal in fruits and vegetables) etc.

  It is these so called low caste Muslims who are emerging on the economic scene and sending their children for modern secular education. Some of them take to modern professions like engineering, medicine, law, accountancy, teaching etc. and these professionals who now constitute a Muslim middle class. There are no statistics available as to the size of this middle class among the Muslims but suffice it to say that yet it is not very strong. The Hindu middle class, on the other hand, is quite strong as the Hindus (mainly upper caste) took to industries and commerce in a big way and children of these entrepreneurial classes went for modern professions in a big way. Most of the Government jobs, be it in bureaucracy, police or army are also monopolised by them. Representation of Muslims in these jobs also is far too below their numbers. The Muslim middle class today in India is more comparable to the dalit middle class, which is also quite weak.

  The Hindu middle classes are far more confident and forward looking than the Muslim or dalit middle classes. The reasons are obvious. The Hindu middle class has far better opportunities in the modern globalised world. High skilled jobs are far better paid than traditional jobs in government services. Muslims and dalits lack these job opportunities. There are very few lucky among them who can achieve such skills and job opportunities. Thus modernisation is not seen as beneficial by them as those from Hindu Middle classes.

  In nineteenth century also the Muslim ruling classes – mainly feudal – did not see much benefit in modernisation as in fact they were the losers as the British colonialists snatched power from them. It was Sir Syed who realised the future benefits of modern education and dedicated himself to disseminate it among the Muslims. In the post-partition period in India the Muslim middle class was again weakened due this time to migration to Pakistan. And since the backward caste Muslims took long to produce another middle class the rate of modern education is still low.

  Also, since the new middle class among Muslims is emerging from backward caste Muslims it is not as modern in spirit as the middle class among the Hindus. The Hindu middle class comes from a very different cultural milieu than the Muslim middle class. It is emerging from backward and quite orthodox religious milieu. It would, therefore, be wrong to ascribe Muslim backwardness to Islam. Islam has nothing to do with social and economic backwardness of Muslims in India today. To theorise in terms of particular religion for lack of support for modernisation betrays lack of understanding of social structures. Christianity at one time was seen as a main stumbling block for modernisation and secularisation. But today it is seen as a helpful factor for secularisation and westernisation. Understanding of religion and interpretation of its teachings itself changes according to social and economic changes.

  Thus the Muslim middle class has not been able to play a visible role for modernisation among the Muslims for reasons other than religious. Firstly, it is still quite weak in terms of numbers. Secondly, it has emerged from quite backward cultural milieu. Thirdly, women are still not a very sizeable part of Muslim middle class as female education is still quite low among the Muslims. Women play far more vigorous role in modernisation than men. Fourthly, Muslims are not so confident of their future for lack of economic and job opportunities and these acts as disincentive for modernisation.

  The movement for social reforms is weak among Muslims for the same reasons. It needs strong and confident middle class to advocate modern reforms. Now that female education is on the increase to some extent more awareness is developing among them about certain essential reforms and there is more pressure on Muslim personal law board to consider some changes. Similarly, there is comparatively less awareness about family planning among Muslim women but things are changing. In matters of family planning too Islam is not responsible for slightly higher growth of population among Muslims today. All field surveys show that middle class Muslims practice family planning while it is lacking among the poorer and uneducated Muslims. As the size of middle class increases among Muslims the degree of family planning will also increase.

  Thus it will be in the interest of Indian society to help create a strong middle class mong minorities through providing more modern education, better job opportunities and creating more entrepreneurial skills. But unfortunately faster pace of globalisation is not only creating income disparities but also information disparities. The poorer a person is, much lesser are chances for her/him to avail of modern information technology. And this ultimately constitutes the viscous circle. This gap may further stunt the growth of middle class among Muslims. It will, therefore, be in the interest of society as a whole to help the growth of muddle class among Muslims in India by providing better economic and educational opportunities through, say, positive discrimination. Muslims constitute a big segment of Indian population and hence the country cannot afford to keep them backward.