![Faqir or faker?: The Pakpattan tragedy and the politics of Sufism in Pakistan [An article from: Religion]](https://www.ebooknetworking.net/books/noimage.jpg)
Faqir or faker?: The Pakpattan tragedy and the politics of Sufism in Pakistan [An article from: Religion]
Book Details
Author(s)R. Rozehnal
PublisherElsevier
ISBN / ASINB000PA9R72
ISBN-13978B000PA9R74
AvailabilityAvailable for download now
MarketplaceUnited States 🇺🇸
Description
This digital document is a journal article from Religion, published by Elsevier in 2006. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Description:
On the night of April 1, 2001, over a hundred devotees were crushed to death in a mob stampede during the annual pilgrimage at the shrine of Pakistan's most famous Sufi saint, Baba Farid ad-Din Ganj-i Shakkar. This article explores this tragedy as a case study of the politics of Sufism. In today's Pakistan, Sufism remains an emotive, multi-valent and highly contested symbol-a lightning rod in the contestation over Islamic identity, authority and authenticity. While most Pakistanis view Sufi saints as the embodiment of Islamic virtue-true faqirs ('impoverished ones') committed to a life of piety, self-sacrifice and public service-the detractors of the tradition dismiss them as fakers. Faqir or faker? The opposing answers to this question reveal how the Sufi tradition is argued and debated in Pakistan and throughout the modern Muslim world. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, I examine the differing responses of the state, the shrine custodians and a group of Chishti Sabiri Sufi disciples to the Pakpattan tragedy of 2001. Focusing on the response of Sufi participants, I trace how a story of personal loss and national trauma was transformed into a narrative of sacrifice and sacralisation, with Sufism framed as Islamic orthodoxy. orthodoxy.
Description:
On the night of April 1, 2001, over a hundred devotees were crushed to death in a mob stampede during the annual pilgrimage at the shrine of Pakistan's most famous Sufi saint, Baba Farid ad-Din Ganj-i Shakkar. This article explores this tragedy as a case study of the politics of Sufism. In today's Pakistan, Sufism remains an emotive, multi-valent and highly contested symbol-a lightning rod in the contestation over Islamic identity, authority and authenticity. While most Pakistanis view Sufi saints as the embodiment of Islamic virtue-true faqirs ('impoverished ones') committed to a life of piety, self-sacrifice and public service-the detractors of the tradition dismiss them as fakers. Faqir or faker? The opposing answers to this question reveal how the Sufi tradition is argued and debated in Pakistan and throughout the modern Muslim world. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, I examine the differing responses of the state, the shrine custodians and a group of Chishti Sabiri Sufi disciples to the Pakpattan tragedy of 2001. Focusing on the response of Sufi participants, I trace how a story of personal loss and national trauma was transformed into a narrative of sacrifice and sacralisation, with Sufism framed as Islamic orthodoxy. orthodoxy.
