After spending a few days in Lahore to attend the Lahore Literary Festival just last month, Riz Ahmed continued his journey into the metropolitan city of Karachi. And as we reported earlier, the British-Pakistani actor has been quite regular with posting photos and videos of his time in Pakistan, a country he visited after almost 13 whole years.
His latest post on Instagram shows a side of Pakistan that not many are familiar with. The 35-year-old Emmy-winning actor has been shedding light on the Sufi community, bringing to light its culture and practices.
The actor posted multiple videos and a picture of his visit to a Sufi shrine, enclosed with a caption that read, “Many people think of Islam as austere and somber. But at Sufi shrines you will find disco lighting, rhythmic chanting, and disciples with swami-esque matted dreadlocks. Sufi Islam, often associated with the poet Rumi, is widely practiced in South Asia.”
“It has an emphasis on mysticism and purity of heart, rather than a fixation with scriptural literalism. It is an open spirituality, borrowing from cultural customs and folklore. “Local saints are celebrated and mourned at shrines through singing, transcendental spinning, and feeding the poor. Sufi shrines have been bombed by extremists in recent years. This partly due to the spread of Salafi / Wahhabi Islam which aims to strip local ‘superstitions’ and ‘unorthodox practices’ out of the religion,” he added.
Without a doubt, with such a diverse fan following, Riz has taken the opportunity to educate people and make them aware about Islam and the misconceptions that follow from it.