ABSTRACT
This chapter makes an attempt to understand the concept, sensibilities, and practices associated with the idea of ‘Islamic modernity’ in Kerala. Many aspects of Islamic modernity have been problematized by the recent developments in the Salafi movement, which claims to be the champion of reform in the community; key among them is the conceptual relationship ‘reform’ has with ‘modernity.’ Unlike their counterparts all over the world, the Salafis are considered to be modern and progressive in the specific context of Kerala, but jinnuvivādam or the contention over the existence of and the special powers attributed to the jinn and turning to them for help at difficult times or making them as mediators in prayers has vigorously contested what we call ‘progressive’ and ‘traditional’ in the Kerala Islamic context. Another effort of this work is to explore the ambivalence of reform/tradition binary that the Salafi movement in Kerala faced right from the beginning.
