Literary Decoloniality: Claiming Pluriversality in Post-colonial Pakistan through the Works of Eqbal Ahmad

Abstract

The overpowering effect of Eurocentric intellectual imperialism continued to form and deform the cultural and geopolitical realities of former colonies through generating epistemology, devising discourses and narratives in post-colonial epoch. This study investigates Eqbal Ahmad’s take on the Eurocentric discourse on contemporary Islamic fundamentalism and the role of Islam in contemporaneous politics. The concept of pluriversality in decolonial theory by Walter Mignolo provides theoretical framework to this study. The significance of this research lies in its contribution to a more nuanced interpretation and understanding of multifaceted dimensions of Islamic societies against those narratives rooted in Eurocentrism essentializing and generalizing the pluriversal and diverse phenomena of Islamic political and cultural values. The study emphasizes the need to highlight the critical thinking of Indigenous intelligentsia from former colonies to confront Eurocentric ways of constructing discourse in a post-colonial era.