Shrine of Jalaluddin Bukhari - exterior of mosque

Darbar Hazrat Baba Farid ud Deen Ganj Shakar Rahmatullah Alaih - panoramio

Sufism Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

, known as Tasawwuf in the Arabic-speaking world, is a form of Islamic mysticism that emphasizes introspection and spiritual closeness with God. About 60%

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

regard themselves as followers of Sufi saints.

Sufi traditions

Most of the Sufis in Pakistan relate to the four main ''

tariqa A ''tariqa'' () is a religious order of Sufism, or specifically a concept for the mystical teaching and spiritual practices of such an order with the aim of seeking , which translates as "ultimate truth". A tariqa has a (guide) who plays the ...

'' (''

silsila ''Silsila'' () is an Arabic language, Arabic word meaning ''chain'', ''link'', ''connection'' often used in various senses of :wikt:lineage, lineage. In particular, it may be translated as "spiritual genealogy" where one Sufi Master transfe ...

''):

Chishti The Chishti order () is a Sufi order of Sunni Islam named after the town of Chisht, Afghanistan where it was initiated by Abu Ishaq Shami. The order was brought to Herat and later spread across South Asia by Mu'in al-Din Chishti in the city ...

Naqshbandi Naqshbandi (Persian: نقشبندیه) is a major Sufi order within Sunni Islam, named after its 14th-century founder, Baha' al-Din Naqshband. Practitioners, known as Naqshbandis, trace their spiritual lineage (silsila) directly to the Prophet ...

Qadiri The Qadiriyya () or the Qadiri order () is a Sunni Sufi order (''Tariqa'') founded by Abdul Qadir Gilani (1077–1166, also transliterated ''Jilani''), who was a Hanbali scholar from Gilan, Iran. The order, with its many sub-orders, is wides ...

-Razzaqi and Suhrawardi.

List of Sufi Shrines

Contemporary influence

There are two levels of

in Pakistan. The first is the 'populist' Sufism of the rural population. This level of Sufism involves belief in intercession through saints, veneration of their shrines and forming bonds with a '' pir'' (

saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

). Many rural Pakistani Muslims associate with ''pirs'' and seek their intercession. The second level of Sufism in Pakistan is 'intellectual Sufism' which is growing among the urban and educated population. They are influenced by the writings of Sufis such as the medieval theologian

al-Ghazali Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111), archaically Latinized as Algazelus, was a Shafi'i Sunni Muslim scholar and polymath. He is known as one of the most prominent and influential jurisconsults, legal theoreticians, muftis, philosophers, the ...

, the Sufi reformer Shaykh Aḥmad Sirhindi and Shah Wali Allah.

Attacks on Sufi shrines

Since March 2005, 209 people have been killed and 560 injured in 29 different terrorist attacks targeting shrines devoted to Sufi saints in Pakistan, according to data compiled by the Center for Islamic Research Collaboration and Learning (CIRCLe). The attacks are generally attributed to banned militant organisations., criticalppp.com, Let Us Build Pakistan The

Sehwan Sharif Sehwan (; ; also commonly referred to as Sehwan Sharif or ''Noble Sehwan'') is a historic city located in Jamshoro District of Sindh province in Pakistan situated on the west bank of the Indus River north-west of Hyderabad. The city is renowned ...

shrine was the site of a

suicide bombing A suicide attack (also known by a wide variety of other names, see below) is a deliberate attack in which the perpetrators knowingly sacrifice their own lives as part of the attack. These attacks are a form of murder–suicide that is ofte ...

in 2017 carried out by the

Islamic State The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...

References

Bibliography

* De Bruijn, The Qalandariyyat in Persian Mystical Poetry from Sana'i, in ''The Heritage of Sufism'', 2003. * Ashk Dahlén, The Holy Fool in Medieval Islam: The Qalandariyat of Fakhr al-din Araqi, ''Orientalia Suecana'', vol.52, 2004. * Chopra, R. M., "Great Sufi Poets of the Punjab", 1999, Iran Society, Calcutta. * Chopra, R. M., "SUFISM" (Origin, Growth, Eclipse, Resurgence), 2016, Anuradha Prakashan, New Delhi, .

External links

The Islam That Hard-Liners Hate

Pakistan's Sufis Preach Faith and Ecstasy

Sufism in Pakistan – the tolerant antidote?

Mystical Islam 'under threat' in Pakistan

Steeped in ancient mysticism, the passion of Pakistani Sufis infuriates Taliban

The Sufis of India and Pakistan

Sufism and Pakistani society

Why are they targeting the Sufis?

/Sufism-in-Punjab/Sufis faced threatening from punjabi Taliban in Punjab

Difficulties faced by Sufism in Pakistan
{{Sufism by country