Description
Book SynopsisIn recent years, Sufism has been held up as a supposedly peaceful alternative to forms of Islam associated with violence, an embodiment of tolerance and pluralism. Modern Sufism and the State brings together a range of scholars, including anthropologists, historians, and religious-studies specialists, to challenge common assumptions.
Trade ReviewDiscussions of Islam and politics typically focus on Islamic states and Islamists, leaving Sufis to appear transcendently above the political realm. These twelve compelling case studies show how Sufi leaders and organizations are entangled in local, national, and transnational politics among the world's largest Muslim communities in India and Pakistan. -- Nile Green, author of
Sufism: A Global HistoryA crucial resource for understanding the limits and legacies of 'Sufism'—a category invented by nineteenth-century Orientalism—in shaping patterns of religious and political conflict, affinity, and indifference across South Asian societies. This superb collection offers a powerful rebuttal to the reigning orthodoxy of Sufi contra Salafi within studies of contemporary Islam. -- Charles Hirschkind, author of
The Ethical Soundscape: Cassette Sermons and Islamic CounterpublicsModern Sufis and the State shows the diversity, multivalence, and local embeddedness of Sufi political engagements. Its emphasis on complexity and local rootedness is a welcome contribution. The editors and the contributors bridge several different fields and combine expertise to offer new and important perspectives on the Barelwi and Deobandi movements. -- Scott Kugle, author of
Sufis and Saints’ Bodies: Mysticism, Corporeality, and Sacred Power in IslamThis welcome book explores the roles of those widely influential figures identified as Sufis. This is an important subject given the ignorance about Sufis and much else that often fuels the anti-Muslim violence and Islamophobia all too evident in today's world. The work should be of interest to policy makers involved with Muslim populations as well as to academics and others interested in Islam in the contemporary world. -- Barbara Metcalf, author of
Islamic Contestations: Essays on Muslims in India and PakistanTable of ContentsAcknowledgments
Note on Transliteration
Introduction: Sufis and the State: The Politics of Islam in South Asia and Beyond, by Katherine Pratt Ewing
Part I: Sufism and Its Modern Engagements with a Global Order1. Anti-Colonial Militants or Liberal Peace Activists? The Role of Private Foundations in Producing Pacifist Sufis During the Cold War, by Rosemary R. Corbett
2. From
Taṣawwuf Modern to Neo-Sufism: Nurcholish Madjid, Fazlur Rahman, and the Development of an Idea, by Verena Meyer
3. Beyond Barelwiism: Tahir-ul-Qadri as an Example of Trends in Global Sufism, by Marcia Hermansen
Commentary on Part I: Ambiguities and Ironic Reversals in the Categorization of Sufism, by Carl W. Ernst
Part II: Sufis, Sharia, and Reform4. Is the Taliban Anti-Sufi? Deobandi Discourses on Sufism in Contemporary Pakistan, by Brannon D. Ingram
5. Sufism Through the Prism of Sharia: A Reformist Barelwi Girls’ Madrasa in Uttar Pradesh, India, by Usha Sanyal
6. Lives of a Fatwa: Sufism, Music, and Islamic Reform in Kachchh, Gujarat, by Brian E. Bond
Commentary on Part II:Sufis, Sharia, and Reform, by Muhammad Qasim Zaman
Part III: Sufis and Politics in Pakistan7. “A Way of Life Rather Than an Ideology?”: Sufism,
Pīrs, and the Politics of Identity in Sindh, by Sarah Ansari
8. Sufi Politics and the War on Terror in Pakistan: Looking for an Alternative to Radical Islamism?, by Alix Philippon
9. “Our Vanished Lady”: Memory, Ritual, and Shiʿi-Sunni Relations at Bībī Pāk Dāman, by Noor Zaidi
Commentary on Part III: The Problems and Perils of Translating Sufism as “Moderate Islam,” by SherAli Tareen
Part IV: Sufism in Indian National Spaces10. Is All Politics Local? Neighborhood Shrines and Religious Healing in Contemporary India, by Carla Bellamy
11. Sufi Healing and Secular Psychiatry in India, by Helene Basu
12. Sufi Sound, Sufi Space: Indian Cinema and the Mise-en-Scène of Pluralism, by Rachana Rao Umashankar
Commentary on Part IV: Sufism in Indian National Spaces, by Bruce B. Lawrence
Conclusion: Thinking Otherwise, by Rosemary R. Corbett
Notes
Glossary
Bibliography
List of Contributors
Index
