The Sufi Tavern (original) (raw)
Related papers
American Ethnologist 2006, 2006
I develop an approach to the “poetics” of music and movement, vis-`a-vis language, in the context of popular Sufism in South Asia. Bringing Michael Herzfeld’s notion of “social poetics” into creative dialogue with Katherine Ewing’s notion of the experiencing subject as a “bundle of agencies,” I attempt to cope with the problem of “meaning” in a highly heterogeneous event, the ‘urs in Lahore, Pakistan, commemorating the death of the Sufi saint Shah Husain. My pragmatic approach to navigating through an excess of meanings is to focus on what I call “common terms of understanding.” The analysis illuminates how Islam is popularly grounded in South Asia, more generally, and is suggestive of how music and movement might be construed as forms of religiopolitical “embodiment.”
Blue Orange
Based on the practice of Islam this serial poem confronts death and creation.
Poets, Sufis and Their City Tours
A Companion to Early Modern Istanbul, 2021
Ottoman poets, sheykhs and dervishes produced a rich literature to orient their readers to imagine particular ways of walking, viewing and inhabiting Istanbul. Focusing on their accounts of visits to pleasure grounds, mosque-complexes, public squares and Sufi lodges, this chapter explores how city tours promoted ways of experiencing the city and how different genres supplied different routes for their readers. Narratives about places of Istanbul from the late fifteenth to the late sixteenth centuries reveal the ways in which learned circles claimed a place in Istanbul vis-à-vis the imperial order. While long narrative poetry of aspiring bureaucrats invited fellow pleasure-seekers to an imperial city of monumental architecture, hagiographies of persecuted Sufi sheykhs and dervishes presented Istanbul as a city of tribulations where their masters fought for power over the urbanscape at streets and lodges.
The purpose of this study is to reveal how the Sufi poets of Pakistan have contributed in making an elusive and multidimensional phenomenon such as Sufism viewable and accessible for common man. With culture and history as a backdrop, the Sufi poets adopt a humanistic rather than a didactic approach towards reforming their people spiritually. The present study focuses on the social and human elements in the poetry of Baba Bulleh Shah (1680-1752) and Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai (1690-1760).It is an effort to show that the Sufi poets were essentially the poets of humanity and this is the crux of their universal appeal.
Poetry and Sufi Commentary: A Case of/for Religious Reading in Premodern Sufism
Journal of Islamic Studies
One of the obstacles in the study of post-classical Sufi literatures has been the sceptical attitude toward Sufi commentary on Arabic and Persian lyrical poetry (specifically ‘mystical’ or ‘Sufi allegorical’ readings of the lyric). This attitude has prevented a wider appreciation of Sufi interpretations of such poetry. While there are signs of a shift in attitudes as scholars grapple with different Sufi commentators and their discussions of notable verses, many still hold to their scepticism. Although studies of individual commentaries will be necessary to reform these attitudes, a general response to the sceptical views may help to orient those studies, particularly one that draws its evidence and arguments from representative Sufi commentators and theorists of the lyric. This paper attempts such a response. Following a brief outline of critiques of Sufi commentary, and the reasons for continued scepticism toward commentators, I suggest how shifting understandings around the ambiguity present in the lyric should help to make allegorical interpretations seem more plausible as a collection of meanings in the archive that was persuasive to many readers, the figurative language of the lyric being able to support both literary-historical and allegorical interpretations of words, phrases, or images in particular verses. Sufi commentators used this ambiguity as a means by which to explore the meanings of the allegory according to the principle ‘The figurative is the bridge to the Truth–Reality’. Sufi theorists, moreover, discussed how the figurative language of the lyric and its allegoresis by way of commentary could serve distinct functions for different kinds of readers in Sufi knowledge–practice. If the figurative form of the lyric was more suitable for non-Sufi readers or novices in Sufism to encounter its ‘specific meanings’, commentary, expressed in the technical language of Sufism, could assist more advanced Sufi readers to verify its ‘general meanings’. Far from diminishing the lyric, Sufi commentary only enhanced its value, showing it to possess both literary beauty as well as profound depth of meaning. I invoke Paul Griffiths’s ‘religious reading’ to suggest that an approach to the lyric that privileges the views of Sufi commentators is not only feasible, but can even be valuable for specialists of the lyric in the contemporary academy.
Spiritualising Marginality: Sufi Concepts and the Politics of Identity in Pakistan
Similar to many parts of South Asia, hijras in Pakistan define themselves as a distinctive gender that is neither men nor women. This article explores hijra identity in Pakistan by focusing on the creative appropriation of Sufi discourses, practices and organisational forms by hijras to construct a spiritual gender identity for themselves. The political significance of this Sufi-informed identity can be located at two different levels. One is the level of the self. I argue in this article that engagement with Sufi concepts, such as faqiri and mast, is central to the construction of a dignified and powerful image of the hijra self that challenges the marginalised status assigned to hijras. The second level of analysis is concerned with the hijra community’s connection with Sufi networks. My argument here is that basing their community, which is cut-off from society and rejects the blood-ties based model of the family, on the model of Sufi groups allows hijras to legitimise their alternative social organisation. However, even though, Sufism offers hijras a possibility to access power, this does not mean that their spiritual claims are always recognised or that a spiritual gender identity does not have its own limitations.
SUFI TRADITIONS AND SACRED NARRATIVES: INVESTIGATING THE IZZAT BIBI (MAI HEER) SHRINE AND ITS ENDURING INFLUENCE IN JHANG, PUNJAB, PAKISTAN, 2021
This investigation explores the many facets of the Izzat Bibi Shrine, also known as the Mai Heer Shrine, in Jhang, Punjab, Pakistan. The present research aims to elucidate the persistent allure of the Heer Ranjha tale and its ability to transcend cultural and temporal boundaries. Myths give communities a way to make sense of their lives and provide a foundation for their standards and beliefs. The data was collected through a semi-structured interview consisting of ten items. The participants were thirty, and they were visitors and caretakers. Data collection and analysis were conducted using a qualitative methodology and an anthropological lens. This study utilizes the teachings of Moulana Jalaluddin Rumi as a foundation to provide a theoretical framework. This study examines the myths and tales surrounding the shrine, including the notion that rainfall does not enter its premises. In-depth analysis of the Izzat Bibi Shrine is a witness to its everlasting cultural and spiritual significance, shedding light on the ways in which folklore, spirituality, and cultural history converge in the heart of Punjab, Pakistan. Entering the Izzat Bibi Shrine is like walking into a timeless folktale where history, myth, and devotion beautifully mix, promising an adventure of mystery and amazement. From a religious perspective, the shrine reveals the beliefs and aspirations of its adherents through their participation in the shrine's rituals. The findings of this research have significant implications for both academics and the promotion of cultural appreciation. This study makes a valuable contribution to the greater understanding of the cultural, religious, and historical aspects of the Women Sufi Shrine within the context of shrines and folklore in the Punjab area of Pakistan.