Islam, Sufism and Everyday Politics of Belonging in South Asia

Description

This book looks at the study of ideas, practices and institutions in South Asian Islam, commonly identified as 'Sufism', and how they relate to politics in South Asia. While the importance of Sufism for the lives of South Asian Muslims has been repeatedly asserted, the specific role played by Sufism in contestations over social and political belonging in South Asia has not yet been fully analysed. Looking at examples from five countries in South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan), the book begins with a detailed introduction to political concerns over 'belonging' in relation to questions concerning Sufism and Islam in South Asia. This is followed with sections on Producing and Identifying Sufism; Everyday and Public Forms of Belonging; Sufi Belonging, Local and National; and Intellectual History and Narratives of Belonging. Bringing together scholars from diverse disciplines, the book explores the connection of Islam, Sufism and the Politics of Belonging in South Asia. It is an important contribution to South Asian Studies, Islamic Studies and South Asian Religion. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of figures Preface Note on transliteration List of contributors Introduction: Framing Sufism in South Asian Muslim politics of belonging Muslim politics of belonging Sufism: label, concept, name Sufism, shrines and the political: a contradiction in terms? The chapters in this volume Notes PART I: Producing and identifying Sufism 1. Sufis, dervishes and Alevi-Bektas¸is: Interfaces of heterodox Islam and nationalist politics from the Balkans, Turkey and India Comparing imperial withdrawals and their consequences Dervish orders in Muslim-majority post-Ottoman states in Europe: Turkey and Albania Dervish orders and Alevis in Christian-majority post-Ottoman states Syncretism and the inherent instability of liminality Some South Asian comparisons Conclusion: belonging, and not belonging, in religious-majority nation-states Notes 2. Who’s the master?: Understanding the religious preceptors on
the margins of modernized religions Holy people and the contexts of belonging Syncretism, sampradāys and modernized religions Homogenization and diversity: who is guru Datta? Marginalization: who could guru Datta be? Going back to the graves Conclusion Notes 3. Islamic and Buddhist impacts on the shrine at Daftar Jailani, Sri Lanka Introduction Jailani shrine and festival Historical summary Buddhist pressure on Jailani Media skirmish Jailani flag-raising 2014 The future of Jailani The larger picture Conclusion 4. Longing and belonging at a Sufi saint shrine abroad Introduction In the beginning Taking root in America Longing for Bawa Split personalities Notes PART II: Everyday and public forms of belonging 5. The politics of gender in the Sufi imaginary Gender and meaning making Structural and symbolic changes in the Sufi orders and beyond Sufis, interfaith activism and gender equality discourses: the Chishtis of Ajmer, India Sufism, social activism and competing masculinities Sufis in the imaginary of the state: competing visions Notes 6. The everyday as an enactment of the trauma of being a Muslim woman in India Everyday violence, the Muslim and the citizen-subject Conclusion Notes 7. Who is in? Who is out? Introduction References to the legendary history Politicized space’: nationalization of Sufi shrines Hereditary descendants and the shrine administration Linguistic and literary significance of mazārs Social space at the mazārs: mingled religious identities Conclusion Notes 8. The survival of the syncretic cults of Shirdi Sai Baba and Haji Ali despite Hindu nationalism in Mumbai The cult of Shirdi Sai Baba in Mumbai The cult of the Haji Ali dargāh (shrine) Politics in contemporary Mumbai and the syncretic cults of Sai Baba and Haji Ali Conclusion Notes PART III: Sufi belonging, local and national 9. Abdul Kader Mukadam: Political opinions and a genealogy
of Marathi intellectual and Muslim progressivism Meeting Mukadam and the paradox of Muslim political visuality Dichotomizing the ‘ulamā’ and Sufism Rewriting fragmented political identity Research method Notes 10. From ‘rational’ to ‘Sufi Islam’?: The changing place of Muslims in Tamil nationalism Introduction Muslim politics, Tamil nationalism, and Ramasamy’s ‘rational’ religion Language, literature and the absence of the Sufi From the rational to the irrational? Islamizing the Dravidian past Conclusions Notes 11. ‘Sindhis are Sufi by nature’: Sufism as a marker of identity in Sindh Sindh as a ‘land of Sufis’: the diffusion of a common identity marker Sufism and the ‘struggle over representations’ in Sindh Conclusion Notes 12. The politics of Sufism on the ground Introduction The nationalization of Pakistani Sufi shrines The shrine of Data Ganj Bakhsh Managing piety Politics and Sufism Conclusion PART IV: Intellectual history and narratives of belonging 13. A garden of mirrors: Retelling the Sufi past and contemporary Muslim discourse Imagined histories and hagiographies Sufi poems as a tool of resistance and representation Conclusion Notes 14. ‘Islamic renaissance’, Sufism and the nation-state: A debate in Kerala Introduction The conventional narrative The counter-narrative Thinking about the nation-state and Islam Beyond the nation-state or within? Conclusion Notes 15. Mullā Vajhī’s Sab Ras The background: Vajhi and his patrons A brief summary of the structure and content of the narrative References to Muhammad Ghaus Gvaliyari and the Shattari Sufi order Localizing the language of love and wisdom Verse forms in the text Conclusion Notes 16. Sufism in Bengali wa‘z mahfils Situating Sufism and sermons Raising expectations by framing the sermons Fluctuating Sufism and anti-Sufism Self-positioning in satire and parody Varieties of identification and presence Belonging Notes Bibliography Index