In this groundbreaking book, SherAli Tareen explores how leading South Asian Muslim scholars imagined and contested the possibilities and dangers of Hindu–Muslim friendship from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-twentieth century. He argues that often what was at stake in Muslim scholarly discourse and debates on this subject were unresolved tensions and fissures over the place and meaning of Islam in the modern world.

Perilous Intimacies considers a range of topics, including Muslim scholarly translations of Hinduism, Hindu–Muslim theological polemics, the question of interreligious friendship in the Qur’an, and debates on emulating Hindu customs and habits.

Based on a close reading of Arabic, Persian, and Urdu sources, this book illuminates the depth and complexity of Muslim intellectual traditions in South Asia while presenting the historical roots of present-day Hindu–Muslim relations and tensions.