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"[A] nuanced description of how the law works –not in isolation, in this or that state institution, but rather in interaction with society, its history, the political contestations, cultural factors and economic conditions. This is done through an ‘against the grain’ reading of unconventional materials to get a reasonable grasp of the uncertain, unfixed and unpredictable nature of the law."

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Contemporary South Asia

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"A Secular Need is a succinct text which engages with a plethora of difficult topics."

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Reading Religion

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"[A]n important addition to the burgeoning scholarship on Islamic law and secularism in India... Redding astutely captures how such long-standing anti-Muslim sentiments are mirrored in the state’s legal system, making this book essential reading for anyone interested in current debates on a range of interconnected topics: the ambiguities of secular law, Islamic divorce, constitutionalism, religious nationalism, and legal pluralism."

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Journal of Asian Studies

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"Redding draws a complex and multi-faceted picture of the secular Indian state’s ideological and material dependence on the Islamic non-state."

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Indian Law Review

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"A Secular Need opens up several new vistas on many well-known cases that deal with the role of Islamic personal status law in contemporary India. The study is based primarily on the careful reading of court documents, legal petitions and counterpetitions, and personal opinions of litigants in English and Urdu. Redding brings this material into conversation with ethnographic vignettes and interviews that add substantial nuance and texture to several carefully chosen cases. This important work adds to the growing body of scholarship that challenges the deeply-ingrained perception of secularism’s neutrality and desirable exclusivity."

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Islamic Law and Society (ILS)

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"Redding provides thought-provoking cases and analyses, and these are riveting."

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