Paper short abstract:

Paper de-bunks the myth of looking at Muslims as single and monolithic group. It interrogates the workings of caste among Muslims and persisting hierarchies within. It provides an ethnographic profile of Dalit Muslim castes and examines the pervasive hierarchies & forms of discrimination.

Paper long abstract:

There has been an attempt to represent Muslims as a single, monolithic, homogenous group. These kinds of representations have been facing serious challenge in recent times due to the emergence of the perspective of understanding Muslim society from below/its margins. The paper de-bunks the myth of representing Muslims as homogenous. It interrogates the 'mainstream' Muslim politics which reflects upper caste-driven symbolic/emotive/identity politics.

The paper interrogates the contemporary workings of caste among Muslims and persisting hierarchies within. It focuses on lived realities of Muslim communities and narratives of assertions from within. It reflects on the processes that marginalize Dalit Muslims. There has been assertions, growing consciousness, democratization and political mobilization of Dalit Muslims. The paper attempts to provide an empirical understanding of caste among Muslim community in Bihar.

Dalit Muslim movement in Bihar developed as a counter-hegemonic force in Indian Muslim politics; it consistently critiques the social and religious articulation of Ashraf dominance.

The paper attempts to provide an ethnographic profile of Dalit Muslim castes/communities. It examines the problem of inequality, pervasive hierarchies, humiliation and discrimination faced by the Dalit Muslims in India. It studies the various forms of discrimination, stigma, social distance, structures of domination and untouchability faced by them and their relationship with the changing social structure. The paper also studies their customs, rituals, beliefs and other cultural practices.

It also critically engages with the question 'Why did the State not recognize Dalit Muslims?'. It contests Presidential Order of 1950 which excludes them from the purview of Scheduled Castes.