Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven Conclusion

Studies by Ewing (1988), Oberoi (1994) and Ballard (1996; 2004) have forcefully argued that the boundaries between religious traditions in South Asia have traditionally been characterised by a great deal of ambiguity. Oberoi, fo r example, rightly asserts:
It is very well for historians of religion to think, speak and write about, Hinduism and Sikhism, but they rarely pause to consider if such clear-cut categories actually found expression in the consciousness, actions and cultural performance of the human actors they describe. (1994:1)

Similarly, in his account of the various dimensions of Panjabi religiosity, Ballard argues that despite:
Contemporary processes of religious polarisation, there is a powerful sense in which Punjabi religion has historically manifested itself in a sense of spiritual inspiration which flows freely across current ethnic and religious divisions, and is consequently quite specifically unbounded. (1996:5)

In contrast to the unbounded and ambiguous religiosity of pre-modern South Asia, scholars of diaspora such as Hinnells (1997) have argued that in contexts of modern migration especially processes of religions standardization become more common and certain religious practices are either eroded or lost. Thus, the main aim of this study was to highlight the underlying dynamics of Mirpuri religiosity and to illustrate how these might have changed in the diaspora.

Despite the fact that it is generally acknowledged that a substantial number of Pakistanis in Britain are in fact Mirpuris, none of the major studies of South Asian Muslims has thus far focused primarily on the religious life of this
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community. A study exclusively devoted to the religious life of British Mirpuris is therefore long overdue. I have argued that the religious beliefs and practices characteristic of many Mirpuris can reasonably be described in terms of devotional Islam. Devotional Islam here reflects a belief in the power of the Prophet and pirs as intercessors with God and the practice of certain rituals which provide access to this sacred power. The central argument of this thesis has been that, in diaspora, Mirpuris have had a greater exposure to modern neo orthodoxy in the form of the Barelwi modern reform movement. However, in many ways, the religiosity of Mirpuris in Britain today, and in particular their ways of following forms of devotional Islam, is much more pluralised than I had originally anticipated.

Chapter One established that devotional Islam has been rather invisible in the academic literature on Muslims in Britain until relatively recently. Early studies on South Asian Muslims, (Dahya 1970; Saifullah 1974; Anwar 1979) were not concerned with religion per se. The Religious Studies tradition (Barton 1986; Lewis 1994; Geaves 1996; 2000), gave much needed recognition to religion in the lives of British South Asian Muslims. Lewis (1994) study showed the first major sign of recognition of devotional Islam in the lives of Pakistani migrants in Britain. Geaves (1996; 2000) provided useful ethnography and the first full study specifically devoted to Sufis in Britain. However, anthropologists have also contributed immensely to the study of devotional Islam in the UK diaspora. Werbner (1990; 1996; 1998; 2001; 2003) is in many respects key in this regard although Ballard (1983; 1991; 1994; 2006), who has the most longstanding interest in Mirpuris in Britain, has in recent times also turned his attention to religion.

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Chapter Two suggests that the study of Mirpuri devotion needs to be located in both universal and local contexts from the wider mystical tradition of Islam to the more particular South Asian Muslim tradition and specifically to developments in the Panjab. Indeed, the cosmology of Mirpuri religiosity is closely linked to that of the three most prominent Sufi orders to become established in India: the Chishtiyya, Naqshbandiyya and Qadiriyya. The intoxicated Chishtiyya, for example, transmitted Shaykh Ibn Arabis doctrine of wahdat al-wujud to the illiterate masses through the medium of Farsi-Urdu and Panjabi poetry and music. Similarly, one of the foremost intoxicated Qadiriyya Panjabi Sufi poets of the eighteenth century, Bulleh Shah, was also a great advocate of Shaykh Ibn Arabis concept of wahdat alwujud. However, despite their popular appeal to the masses, none of the Chishtiyyas devotional practices had the whole hearted support of the ulama who deemed wahdat al-wujud as contrary to the shariah. The sober Naqshbandiyya, by contrast, produced famous Sufi reformers such as Shaykh Sirhindi and Shah Wali Allah who most influenced the neo-orthodox reform movements of the nineteenth century.

The Ahl-i Sunnat movement, commonly known as the Barelwis, came to the defence of the Sufi orders and their associated rituals. However, there is underlying tension between the Barelwis and the Sufis in the sense that the formers founder, Mawlana Riza, was primarily a scholar and ultimately concerned with a (modern) (re)construction of the certainties of religious boundaries that Sufis have sought to transcend.

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Despite the critique by reformist-Sufi and anti-Sufis scholars and movements, undoubtedly the kismetic dimension of religion (Ballard 1996) still holds great appeal for the masses. In this regard, Chapter Three is an original account of the Qadiriyya-Qalandariyya tradition associated with Kharri Sharif shrine in Mirpur. It draws upon the translation into English of Urdu and Panjabi literature as well as participant observation and interviews both in Mirpur and the UK. Mirpuri religiosity was described in some detail in an account of visitation at the shrine of the patron saint of the Mirpuris, Pira Shah Ghazi Qalandar. According to the Qalandariyya, without ishq (passionate love), conformity to religious laws and rituals has no meaning. However, notably, Pira Shahs devotee, Mian Muhammad Bakhsh, who composed the famous Sufi epic poem, Saif al-Muluk, produced no successor. Against this context, in post-Partition Mirpur, the Barelwi ulama gradually began to gain greater influence. Both Mian Muhammad Bakhsh and Mawlana Riza belonged to the Qadiriyya order. However, whilst Mian Muhammad Bakhsh advocated a policy of peace with all, Mawlana Riza and the Barelwis reflected a nineteenth century neo-orthodoxy that was much less tolerant of Muslim Others. For various reasons, the latter ideology was given a further lease of life in the Mirpuri diaspora that was beginning to establish itself in the UK.

In Chapter Four it was argued that Bartons (1986) observation, that there was a lack of religious activity amongst early Muslim (Bengali) migrants to Britain, holds true to a degree for the Mirpuris. During the 1960s, the religious life of migrants was confined to their homes and thus invisible to outsiders. However, those with a tradition of religious learning -big and little sober pirs such as Pir Maruf and Pir Ji not only maintained their own religious obligations but also began to

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educate other, less devout and less literate, Muslims in towns such as Bradford and Bury. Therefore, in diaspora, the religiosity of migrants was transformed with some religious practices lost and others gained. Despite their continuing transnational connections with Kharri Sharif, in Britain, many Mirpuri migrants have lost something of the intoxicated Qalandariyya tradition. This is partly due to the modern urban setting but partly due, too, to the shift in emphasis from shrine to mosque. As a result, the attitudes of mystics such as Mian Muhammad Bakhsh are being replaced by the sectarian neo-orthodox attitudes of Mawlana Riza especially amongst the younger generations with little access to the tradition of popular Panjabi Sufi poetry. This has also led to the popularity in Britain of sober orders such as the Naqshbandiyya, which were less popular than the Qalandariyya in Mirpur.

Chapter Five examines some manifestations of Barelwism in Lancashire and the role of the mosque and imams in reproducing sectarian attitudes and devotional practices such as milad sharif, giyarvin sharif, urs, dhikr and khatam al-khawajgan. There is widespread criticism of imported imams in Britain and, in many ways, the Barelwi tradition is least well adapted to the needs of British-born youth. While, in Barelwi mosques at present, it is often part-time teachers who are most active in making such changes on an ad hoc basis, it was also argued that it is important to consider the demands on the imam in Britain against his much more limited role in Pakistan. The continuing Pakistan-orientation of Barelwis in Britain was underlined in a case study of DI, a Barelwi movement which seeks to bring the youth back to devotional Islam but has limited appeal.

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Chapter Six shows that the debate between Sufis and anti-Sufis has taken place in Muslim countries for centuries and is now taking place amongst the youth in Britain. The Barelwi imams shortcomings have been made evident in their unsuccessful attempt to defend devotional Islam from the attacks of groups such as Hizb al-Tahrir and Jamaat-i Islami. Even what I have called post-Barelwi inspired modern movements like MQ, which present a broader view of devotional Islam than Barelwism per se, has not made the same impact on the youth as its antiSufi rivals. This has led British Asian Muslim youth to look beyond Pakistani and Kashmiri circles in search of spiritual guidance in the modern age. For example, the universal Sufi message of Turkish Cypriot Shaykh Nazims has made a deep impression on some Mirpuri and other Muslim Asian heritage youth in Lancashire. At the same time, despite all the social, educational, cultural and linguistic differences between the babas and kakas of Mirpuri heritage in Britain, veneration for the Prophet, pirs and sayyids is still widespread. Moreover, the youth continue to turn to kismetic religion to alleviate their problems on a needs basis.

In summary, the Mirpuri community in Britain has been heavily exposed to the rapid processes of social change. Traditional Mirpuri religiosity was enchanted and mystical. However, due to the onset of a rationalising modernity, and accelerated by globalisation, in a diasporic context especially, reformist neoorthodox ideas about religion seem to be in the ascendancy. Religion in the modern West is generally conceived as something that is sober, highly organised and generally more Protestant. Indeed, a concern for the maintenance of strict religious boundaries has come to characterise something of a dominant discourse about religion amongst Muslims in Britain. Moreover, the contemporary global

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political setting tends to create more boundaries than it builds bridges. The colonial crisis of the British Raj is replaced with a generalised clash of civilisations.

Arguably Mirpuris are now more exposed to neo-orthodox views due to both education and wealth. There is an element of social mobility as people move from a rural to an urban setting, people who were illiterate are now educated. However, all such Mirpuri Muslims have not been made Barelwis. Despite, their prevalence in the literature, most ordinary Muslims still do not use reformist labels to define their religiosity. One can be exposed to a dominant discourse, a sectarian environment, without it necessarily resulting in conformity. Despite the attempts of the reformist-Sufis and anti-Sufis to distance youth from the devotional and kismetic religion of their ancestors, and despite imams and mosques efforts to Barelwi-cise Mirpuri youth in the sectarian image of Mawlana Riza, my research suggests that devotional Islam is still, and even increasingly, a plural and diverse tradition that is being further transformed in the modern British context, a process that is likely to continue in future generations.

Finally, it must be stated that this study raises many new questions and certainly more than I can answer here. For example, the work I have begun could pave the way for further studies of the relationships between i) pirs and their associated institutions and rituals (urs, qawwali, mazars, giyarvin sharif, dhikr, khatam alkhawajgan, milad sharif, ziyarah), ii) the ulama, imams and their associated institutions and rituals (such as mosques) and iii) ordinary Muslims with multiple identities and social positions - babas, kakas and women. Indeed, a study of Mirpuri women, their relationships to pirs and imams/mosques, and their role in the

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reproduction of devotional Islam in Britain, would be very interesting indeed. Religious activities performed by Mirpuri women such as mujiza bibi Fatima (the Miracle of Lady Fatima), durud tanjina (Salutation of Salvation), ayat-i karima (the Nobel Verse), and nur-nama (the Story of Light) are all worthy of investigation. At the same time, my thesis is a localised time-bound study of Mirpuris in Lancashire and it would be interesting for others to conduct similar studies of the Mirpuri diaspora in other UK towns, five, ten, fifteen and twenty years hence.

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