ANTH 362 South Asian Sufism & its Social Dimensions: An Introduction Spring

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1 Lahore University of Management Sciences ANTH 362 South Asian Sufism & its Social Dimensions: An Introduction Spring Instructor: Dr. Lukas Werth Office: 221 New HSS Wing Office hours: **** or by appointment Course Description Sufism may be called the mystical dimension of Islam. Its influence in Muslim history may hardly be overestimated: it is a major creative tradition, entailing besides poetry and music its own imagery, its formal procedures and patterns of interaction, purporting particular notions of holiness, thereby influencing different fields of thought. It also represents a central regional aspect of Muslim social contexts with, in particular, clearly identifiable South Asian patterns, sparking questions concerning the unity of the Islamic religion and the relevance of different cultural contexts with regard to it. Sufism in South Asia evolves as a social context organizing groups and categories of people, as medium channelling patterns of status, authority, and power, entailing an important economic aspect as well as providing a context for healing agendas, and defining concepts of persons, including issues of gender. It is this social context the course seeks to elucidate primarily by means of anthropological analysis which implies taking regard of the historical dimension. Finally, we will also look at the current discourse on Sufism in Pakistan, and it in relation to other strands of thought. The course will include two visits at Sufi shrines in or around Lahore (the exact shrines are still to be decided according to the security situation). Course Aims & Objectives Introduce the students to anthropological perspectives on Sufism, with an emphasis on its social dimension To expose an ethnographic perspective in relation to a historical one To explore a familiar but contested ethnographic context, and compare it with other such contexts THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES OF THE DISCIPLINE WILL BE MET: Goal # 1: Instill in the students an awareness of the overall unifying concerns of the disciplines of sociology and anthropology. Provide them with a solid grounding in the core concepts, theoretical perspectives, and bodies of knowledge used and produced by the twin disciplines. (issues like authority, charisma and tradition, liminality, locality, modernisms and reform movements will be discussed) Goal # 2: Familiarize students with the basics of academic ethics and research strategies used by social scientists in their attempts to understand and analyze the world in a systematic manner. Goal # 3 The two excursions will introduce a practical dimension.

2 Goal # 4: Equip students with the ability to engage with and reflect on arguments in a critical manner, develop their own arguments systematically. Grade Distribution Exam 1 25% Exam 2 25% Viva 25% Group Presentation 25% Eventual plus points may be acquired through class participation. A prepared presentation has to be discussed with the teacher in advance during the consultation hour. This discussion forms part of the grade. IMPORTANT: Please take care that each group member writes her or his own share of the presentation within the outline which, however, has to be submitted as a group. Each group has to mail or hand out the outline to each student in the class before the presentation. It is expected that despite sharing a work for the presentation all members of the group are expected to read the whole work. While it would be ideal if one student would study one article in detail for the presentation, for the sake of the discussion one author will be given to two to five students. The followings points concerning the structure should be taken regard of when outline for or when giving a presentation: a. Introduction which includes the following headings: b. About the author: biography, work, etc. c. What is the author's intention? d. Against or in favor of which other authors does he or she argue? e. In which theoretical framework her or his arguments are embedded? writing an f. Detailed outline but formulated in points (that is, between two and four pages) g. Significance of the work h. Significance in relation to the other presentations or upcoming presentations or lectures i. Some extra research j. Conclusion k. Your opinion, what you think about the work? (Please base your argument on an interpretation of the text rather than stating any personal opinion.) l. Critical questions m. Are there any contradictions in the work? n. Each participant should discuss a given author two times alternatively, and the presentation of your part should be in your own words and given orally, that is, direct formulations of the author should be avoided, otherwise you will be

3 downgraded. The grades will be marked on an absolute basis. Student Responsibilities: Attendance is obligatory. Absence up to three times is allowed, and any further absence will carry a reduction of a half percent of grade. Please arrive on time in order not to disturb the concentration of the other students. It is expected that you come a few minutes earlier in the class. There will be a reduction on entering the class after the lecture has started, no matter whether a few seconds or a few minutes have passed. It is expected that if you come you will attend the whole session. Leaving the class earlier will also be marked with a reduction. Students, who fail to appear for the outline and for the consultation in the office hours, presentation, or for class-work, will be marked zero on those works. Only on a doctor's attestation, or because a participation in sports activities for LUMS missed work may be repeated. Please switch off your mobile phones before entering the class. Please note that sometimes, due to the given amount of time for each session, I will have to cut short questions or to limit them to the topic under discussion. Such an act under no circumstances reflects on the discussant. Please have respect for different opinions. Anthropology is a study of differences as well as of similarities between various people, and not an imposition of one's own world view on others. Please respect your class fellows' opinions also when they differ from your own, even when they trigger strong feelings in you. This should not lead to the interruption of a student or the instructor, or to a dismissal of anyone's opinion out of hand. In brief, it is expected to deal with differences in a well-behaved manner worthy of your own self-respect. Please keep silence during the class-work or exam. It is expected that students will neither talk, nor help, nor cheat. Transgressions will affect everybody involved irrespective of who did what. In accord with institutional policy, there will be no discrimination in this course on the basis of race, ethnicity, sex/gender, ability/disability, religion/spiritual beliefs or class. Your political beliefs and moral values will not be considered relevant for your grading and evaluation. Cheating and Plagiarism: If you take an idea from any text, book, newspaper, or any other source, you have to give the author credit. Furthermore, changing one or two words in a sentence is not acceptable as a substitution for quotation marks. All assignments must represent original work not previously or simultaneously handed in for credit in another course. Cheating, plagiarism, or any other violations of the honour code will be dealt with according to LUMS policy. Other serious ethical violations include re-use of essays, improper use of the Internet and electronic services, unauthorized collaboration, alteration of graded essays, forgery, lying, and unfair competition. For further instructions please check with the latest Student Handbook. Class Sessions

4 Module I Introduction Week 1 Introductory lectures: They first elucidate what constitutes an anthropological perspective on the subject, then move to the historical dimension of Sufism in South Asia, the importance of the region in the study of topics in Muslim contexts, and finally to the reformist or modernist dimension. Week 2 General anthropological perspectives on Sufism. Approaches of Evans-Pritchard, Gellner, Geertz. Sufism in South Asia. Week 3 Schimmel, Rizvi, Eaton, Gilmartin, Bayly, Metcalf, Ansari, Liebeskind: the historical dimension in South Asia. Reading: Eaton, Richard Maxwell (1993) The rise of Islam and the Bengal frontier, Berkeley et al.: University of California Press. Chapters 4,5. Week 4 Introductory lecture: Anthropolical perspectives of South Asian Sufism. From Mayer to Wolf. The regional perspective: Eickelman, Robinson, Das. Different religious traditions. What is Sufism in a comparative perspective? Readings: Eickelman, Dale (1982) The Study of Islam in Local Contexts. Contributions to Asian Studies 17: Robinson, Francis (1983) Islam and Muslim society in South Asia. Contributions to Indian Sociology 17: Introductory lecture: spillover from the 3 rd lecture Das, Veena (1984) For a folk-theology and theological Anthropology of Islam. Contributions to Indian Sociology 18: (The essay is an answer to Robinson, the reading of the previous week) Week 5 Sufism and reformist movements. The Barelvi and the Deobandi issue. Contemporary destruction: the Savonarola Syndrom (don't google it; my own term coinage). Why may we call many Islamic reform movements modernist? The question tackled with regard to another context: what is Sufism? Reading: Sherani, Saifur Rahman (1991) Ulema and Pir in the Politics of Pakistan. In: Werbner, Pnina and Donnan, Hastings (eds.) Economy and Culture in Pakistan: Migrants nd Cities in a Muslim Society. Houndmills et al.: MacMillan. Module II - History and Anthropology Week 6 Robinson, Francis (1998) The British Empire and Muslim Identity in South Asia. Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Sixth Series, Vol. 8, pp

5 Week 7 Robinson, Francis (1998) The British Empire and Muslim Identity in South Asia. Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Sixth Series, Vol. 8, pp Week 8 Excursion: Kasur, shrine of Bulleh Shah? Week 9 First Exam Week 10 Gilmartin, David (1984) Shrines, Succession, and Sources of Moral Authority. In: Metcalf, Barbara Daly (ed.) Moral Conduct and Authority: The Place of Adab in South Asian Islam. Berkely: University of California Press. Week 11 Gilmartin, David (1984) Shrines, Succession, and Sources of Moral Authority. In: Metcalf, Barbara Daly (ed.) Moral Conduct and Authority: The Place of Adab in South Asian Islam. Berkely: University of California Press. Eaton, Richard Maxwell (1984) The Political and religious Authority of the Shrine of Baba Farid. In: Metcalf, Barbara Daly (ed.) Moral Conduct and Authority: The Place of Adab in South Asian Islam. Berkely: University of California Press.) Week 12 Liebeskind, Claudia (1998) Piety on its knees: Three Sufi traditions in South Asia in modern times. Delhi: Oxford UP. (chapters to be specified) Week 13 Liebeskind, Claudia (1998) Piety on its knees: Three Sufi traditions in South Asia in modern times. Delhi: Oxford UP. (chapters to be specified) Module III - Different Shrines, Different Traditions Week 14 Wolf, Richard (2006) The poetics of Sufi practice: Drumming, dancing, and complex agency at Madho Lal Husain (and beyond). American Ethnologist 33, p Week 15 Wolf, Richard (2006) The poetics of Sufi practice: Drumming, dancing, and complex agency at Madho Lal Husain (and beyond). American Ethnologist 33, p Excursion to Madho Lal Hussein (tentative) Week 16 Excursion (includes two sessions) Week 17 Boivin, Michel (2003) Reflections on La'l Shahbaz Qalandar and the management of his spiritual authority in Sehwan Sharif. Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society LI: Week 18

6 Week 19 Exam Boivin, Michel (2003) Reflections on La'l Shahbaz Qalandar and the management of his spiritual authority in Sehwan Sharif. Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society LI: Week 20 Van der Veer, Peter (1992) Playing or praying: A Sufi saint's day in Surat. Journal of Asian Studies 51: Week 21 Van der Veer, Peter (1992) Playing or praying: A Sufi saint's day in Surat. Journal of Asian Studies 51: Werth, Lukas 'The Saint who Disappeared': saints of the wilderness in Pakistani village shrines. In: Pnina Werbner, Helene Basu (ed.): embodying Charisma. Modernity, locality, and the performance of emotion in sufi cults. Routledge. Module IV - Modernisms and Winding up Week 22 Pnina Werbner (1996) The Making of Muslim Dissent: Hybridized Discourses, Lay Preachers, and Radical Rhetoric among British Pakistanis. American Ethnologist, p Week 23 Pnina Werbner (1996) The Making of Muslim Dissent: Hybridized Discourses, Lay Preachers, and Radical Rhetoric among British Pakistanis. American Ethnologist, p Marsden, Magnus (2005) Mullahs, Migrants and Murids: New Developments in the Study of Pakistan: A Review Article. Modern Asian Studies 39, p Week 24 Green, Nile (2008) Making Sense of Sufism in the Indian Subcontinent: A Survey of Trends. Religious Compass 2, p Week 25 Green, Nile (2008) Making Sense of Sufism in the Indian Subcontinent: A Survey of Trends. Religious Compass 2, p Week 26 Revision Week 27 Exam

7 Suggested Readings Abbas, Shemeem Burney (2007) Risky knowledge in Risky Times: Political Discourses of Qawwali and Sufiana-kalam in Pakistan-Indian Sufism. The Muslim World 97: Ahmad, Imtiaz ed. (1985) Ritual and Religion among Muslims of the Sub-continent. Lahore: Vanguard Books. Ansari, Sarah (1992) Sufi Saints and State Power. The pirs of Sind, Cambridge et al.: Cambridge UP. Basu, Helene (1998) Love, Joy and Sorrow in a Cult of Black Saints in Gujarat, India. In: Werbner, Pnina and Helene Basu (eds.) Embodying Charisma: Modernity, Locality and the Performance of Emotion in Sufi Cults. London: Routledge. Boivin, Michel (2003) Reflections on La'l Shahbaz Qalandar and the management of his spiritual authority in Sehwan Sharif. Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society LI: Das, Veena (1984) For a folk-theology and theological Anthropology of Islam. Contributions to Indian Sociology 18: Eaton, Richard Maxwell (1974) Sufi Folk Literature and the Expansion of Indian Islam. History of Religions 14: Eaton, Richard Maxwell (1978) Sufis of Bijapur, Princeton: Princeton UP. Eaton, Richard Maxwell (1984) The Political and religious Authority of the Shrine of Baba Farid. In: Metcalf, Barbara Daly (ed.) Moral Conduct and Authority: The Place of Adab in South Asian Islam. Berkely: University of California Press. Eaton, Richard Maxwell (1993) The rise of Islam and the Bengal frontier, Berkeley et al.: University of California Press. Eickelman, Dale (1982) The Study of Islam in Local Contexts. Contributions to Asian Studies 17: Ewing, Katherine Pratt (1983) The Politics of Sufism: Redefining the Saints of Pakistan. The Journal of Asian Studies 42: Ewing, Katherine Pratt (1984) Malangs of the Punjab: Intoxication or Adab as the path to god? In: Metcalf, Barbara Daly (ed.) Moral Conduct and Authority: The Place of Adab in South Asian

8 Islam. Berkely: University of California Press. Ewing, Katherine Pratt (1990) The Dream of Spiritual Initiation and the Organization of Self Representations among Pakistani Sufis American Ethnologist 17: Ewing, Katherine Pratt (1994) Anthropological Atheism and the Temptation to Believe. American Anthropologist 91: Ewing, Katherine Pratt (1997) Arguing Sainthood. Modernity, Psychoanalysis, and Islam. Durham, Duke University Press. Gilmartin, David (1979) Religious Leadership and the Pakistan Movement in the Punjab. Modern Asian Studies 13: Gilmartin, David (1984) Shrines, Succession, and Sources of Moral Authority. In: Metcalf, Barbara Daly (ed.) Moral Conduct and Authority: The Place of Adab in South Asian Islam. Berkely: University of California Press. Gilmartin, David (1997) reviiev of: Usha Sanyal, Devotional Islam and Politics in British India: Ahmad Riza Khan Barelwi and His Movement, The Journal of Asian Studies 56: Green, Nile (2008) Making Sense of Sufism in the Indian Subcontinent: A Survey of Trends. Religious Compass 2, p Hassan, Riaz (1987) Religion, Society, and the State in Pakistan: Pirs and Politics Asian Survey 27: Jeffery, Patricia (1985) Creating a Scene: The Disruption of Ceremonial in a Sufi Shrine. In: Ahmad, Imtiaz ed. Ritual and Religion among Muslims of the Sub-continent. Lahore: Vanguard Books. Kurin, Richard (1983) The Structure of Blessedness at a Muslim Shrine in Pakistan Middle Eastern Studies 19: Lambrick, H.T. (1972) The Terrorist. London: Benn. Liebeskind, Claudia (1998) Piety on its knees: Three Sufi traditions in South Asia in modern times. Delhi: Oxford UP.

9 Malik, Jamal (1995) The Literary Critique of Islamic Popular Religion in the Guise of Traditional Mysticism, or the Abused Woman Die Welt des Islams 35: Marsden, Magnus (2005) Living Islam:Muslim Religious Experience in Pakistan s North-West Frontier. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. Marsden, Magnus (2005) Mullahs, Migrants and Murids: New Developments in the Study of Pakistan: A Review Article. Modern Asian Studies 39, p Mayer, Adrian (1967) Pir and Murshid : an Aspect of Religious Leadership in West Pakistan. Middle Eastern Studies 3: Melchert, Christopher (1996) The transition from asceticism to mysticism at the middle of the ninth century C.E. Studia Islamica 83: Pastner, Stephen (1988) Sardar, Hakom, Pir: Leadership patterns among the Pakistani Baluch. In: Ewing, Katherine Pratt ed. Shari'at and Ambiguity in South Asian Islam. Delhi et al.: Oxford UP. Qureshi, Regula Burckhardt (1994) Exploring Time Cross-Culturally: Ideology and Performance of Time in the Sufi Qawwālī. The Journal of Musicology 12: Robinson, Francis (1983) Islam and Muslim society in South Asia. Contributions to Indian Sociology 17: Robinson, Francis (1998) The British Empire and Muslim Identity in South Asia. Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Sixth Series, Vol. 8, pp Schimmel, Annemarie (1980) Islam in the Indian subcontinent. Leiden-Köln: E.J. Brill. Sherani, Saifur Rahman (1991) Ulema and Pir in the Politics of Pakistan. In: Werbner, Pnina and Donnan, Hastings (eds.) Economy and Culture in Pakistan: Migrants and Cities in a Muslim Society. Houndmills et al.: MacMillan. Trimingham, Spencer J. (1971) The Sufi Orders in Islam. Oxford: Oxford UP. Van der Veer, Peter (1992) Playing or praying: A Sufi saint's day in Surat. Journal of Asian Studies 51: Werbner, Pnina (1996) Stamping the Earth with the Name of Allah: Zikr and the Sacralizing of

10 Space among British Muslims. Cultural Anthropology 11: Pnina Werbner (1996) The Making of Muslim Dissent: Hybridized Discourses, Lay Preachers, and Radical Rhetoric among British Pakistanis. American Ethnologist, p Werbner, Pnina (2003) Pilgrims of Love: The Anthropology of a global Sufi Cult. Oxford: Oxford UP. Werbner, Pnina and Basu, Helene (1998) Embodying Charisma: Modernity, Locality and the Performance of Emotion in Sufi Cults. London: Routledge. Werth, Lukas 'The Saint who Disappeared': saints of the wilderness in Pakistani village shrines. In: Pnina Werbner, Helene Basu (ed.): embodying Charisma. Modernity, locality, and the performance of emotion in sufi cults. Routledge Wolf, Richard K. (2000) Embodiment and Ambivalence: Emotion in South Asian Muharram Drumming.Yearbook for Traditional Music 32: Wolf, Richard (2006) The poetics of Sufi practice: Drumming, dancing, and complex agency at Madho Lal Husain (and beyond). American Ethnologist 33, p