Islamic Sufism Unbound: Politics and Piety in Twenty-First Century Pakistan

281 Pages·2007·3 MB·English

by  Robert Rozehnal (auth.)

slamic ufism nbound
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slamic ufism nbound
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olitics and iety in wenty- irst
P P T F
entury akistan
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Robert Rozehnal
Palgrave
macmillan
* ISLAMIC SUFISM UNBOUND
Copyright © Robert Rozehnal, 2007.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2007 978-1-4039-7567-6
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First published in 2007 by
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ISBN 978-0-230-61896-1 ISBN 978-0-230-60572-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-0-230-60572-5
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ontents
C
List of Illustrations vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Mapping the Chishti Sabiri Sufi Order 1
1 Sufism and the Politics of Islamic Identity 19
2 Muslim, Mystic, and Modern: Three Twentieth-Century
Sufi Masters 39
3 Imagining Sufism: The Publication of Chishti Sabiri Identity 89
4 Teaching Sufism: Networks of Community and Discipleship 129
5 Experiencing Sufism: The Discipline of Ritual Practice 173
Conclusions 227
Notes 231
Bibliography 257
Index 269

ist of llustrations
L I
Figures
I.1 Women Dancing in Ecstasy at the Shrine of 'Ala ad-Din
'Ali Ahmad Sabir (d. 1291), Kalyar Sharif, India 2
1.1 The Shrine of Baba Farid ad-Din Mas'ud Ganj-i Shakkar
(d. 1265), Pakpattan, Pakistan 25
2.1 The Shrine of Shaykh Shahidullah Faridi (d. 1978),
Karachi, Pakistan 61
2.2 The Shrine of Shaykh Wahid Bakhsh Sial Rabbani (d. 1995),
Allahabad, Pakistan 75
5.1 The Shrine of Shaykh Isma'il 'Abd al-Qadir Thani,
Pulau Besar, Malaysia 201
5.2 Qawwali Singers at the 2001 'ursFestival of Wahid
Bakhsh Sial Rabbani, Allahabad, Pakistan 213
Map
1.1 Map of Pakistan 20

cknowledgments
A
T
he field research for this study was supported by a fellowship from the
International Dissertation Field Research Fellowship Program of the Social
Science Research Council, with funds provided by the Andrew W. Mellon
Foundation. Additional funding was provided by fellowships from the
American Institute of Pakistan Studies, and Duke University’s Graduate
School and Center for International Studies. The writing stage was funded by
a Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, and Franz and
Class of 1968 Fellowships from Lehigh University. I am extremely grateful to
all these institutions for their generous support.
This project would not have been possible without the kindness, coopera-
tion, and hospitality of many Chishti Sabiri disciples in both Pakistan and
Malaysia. I thank them all and sincerely hope this book honors their
tradition. I owe a special debt of gratitude to a host of friends in Pakistan:
Dr. Mansoor Hashmi and family, Tahir Maqsood and family, Lubna Shah
Anwar and family, Moinuddin Hashmi, Jawwad and Bina Khwaja and family,
Suroosh Irfani, Rashida Hamid, Aamir Ali, Yawer Ansari, Shaffaq and
family, Muhammad Razzaq, Mushtaq Muhammad, Shahnaz Hassan and
family, Riaz Ibrahim and family, Irfan Khan, Madni and family, Tariq Nazir,
Altaf Siddiqui and family, Bilal, Muhammad Haroon Riedinger, Masood
Hasan, Abdul Razzaq, Muhammad Saalim Shaheedi, Fayyaz Hussain Gilani
and family, Tehzeeb un-Nissa Aziz, Saleem and Humaira Aziz and family,
Gulfizah Afzal Khan, Ayesha Salam, Salma Khan, and Asadullah Sumbal.
In the end, I am solely responsible for the views, as well as the mistakes,
expressed in this work. Even so, I want to acknowledge the influence of many
wonderful colleagues and friends whose insights and encouragement helped
bring it to life. In its earliest stages this project was shaped by my doctoral dis-
sertation committee at Duke University—a unique group of scholars repre-
senting three institutions and three academic disciplines: Professors Carl
Ernst (University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill), Katherine Ewing (Duke
University), David Gilmartin (North Carolina State), Bruce Lawrence (Duke
University), and Ebrahim Moosa (Duke University). I thank them all for
their enthusiasm, patience, and unfailingly constructive criticism. I am espe-
cially indebted to Carl Ernst for opening the door to this research and to
Bruce Lawrence for skillfully guiding it to completion. Among the many
others whose wisdom and insight contributed to this work I would especially
like to thank Vincent Cornell, Omid Safi, Scott Kugle, Kecia Ali, Rick Colby,