Daily Times

In the colonial era, the overthrow of local elites by the foreign intruders removed traditional sources of patronage for the Sufis. The British, however, recognised the influence of the Sufi descendants (pirs, sajjadanashins) promptly and manipulated the administrative mechanism to give them control over local communities and large tracts of land. They were also given the portfolios of ziladar magistrate and memberships of district boards. Inherited religious authority coupled with the acquired lands and privileges, transformed these Sufis into feudal lords in the rural areas. In some cases, they had many wives resulting in large families, and all the family members got appointments to administrative positions. These family members multiplied their own influence by marrying into the other landed elite.

Sufis legitimise their politics through the belief, especially held in rural areas, that they have special spiritual and material powers. At local level, they controlled the municipal committees and boards of their districts. At provincial or higher level, they were nominated to the provincial, Imperial or Indian Legislative Councils and the Council of the State. They were honoured in curious ways as the British rewarded these pirs according to their local following. If the pir had a large local following, he was given the membership of provincial darbar; in case of small following, he was restricted to the lower darbar. The family members of some pirs and sajjada nashins were also granted ziladarships lambardaris and non-commissioned ranks in army.

Sufi institutions in some regions were the only surviving Islamic social structures, and became custodians of cultural and religious wisdom. The British bolstered their leadership by isolating rural areas from political influences from the cities. The Alienation of Land Act of 1900 recognized the pirs as “landed gentry” and barred the non-agricultural population from acquiring land in the rural areas. The British also gave them space to dominate in the provincial elections of 1920and 1946, as the pirs represented 19% of rural constituencies. They became foremost members of the Unionist party and All India Muslim League as many pir families take part in the elections of1937 and 1946. When the demand for Pakistan intensified, these families came on board and provided crucial support for the Pakistan Movement.

The ability of Sufis to harmonize metaphysical teachings with socioeconomic structures gives them support to outlive the other ascetic and esoteric movements that rose and fell beside them

After the partition of India, pirs and sajjadanashins of shrines, especially in Punjab and Sindh, attracted the attention of Pakistani leadership. They tried to replace the traditional Sufi influence by using these shrines as platform for social welfare but this failed because they wantedt o use shrines for their own politics. Therefore, the sajjadanashins continued to enjoy political authority through inherited religious function and feudalism. They always participated in politics but never advanced local democracy to maintain their control. Sufi shrines also sustained their sociocultural and religious position due to low literacy rates, religious identity, and political economy.

The political economy plays an important role in local politics as the annual visits of sajjada nashins and pirs to their murids and vice versa at urs(annual reunion) generate piles of revenue for political expenditure. Ayub Khan and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto tried to break their political authority as the policies were being implemented by the Department of Auqaf. The goal was to honour the shrines and their Sufi origins for glorification of Islam while stripping away the hereditary pirs of their traditional roles. Zia-ul-Haq’s government then emphasized the idea that the original saints were Ulama themselves who followed the Sharia. Zia pursued an Islamization program in contrast to the popular culture where most people were personally religious but not publicly religious. The introduction of Sharia law exasperated the fault lines of doctrinal differences, which caused sectarian tensions.

The loyalty of Sufis toall political regimes is indispensable. This is due to sociocultural roles that help them dominate rural politics due to social deprivation, biradari (cast) system, and deraydari system. If someone opposes his biradari, the biradari can exclude him through a social boycott. The Sufis make use of this biradari system in their political bargaining. They have contacts with the heads of biradaris to trade their political support. Similarly, in deraydari system, the power brokers (deraydars)help coordinate political support by giving benefits to local people in both rural and urban areas. These include provision of land to tenants from landlords, support with court cases (thana-kachehri), and mediation of biradari disputes.

The ability of Sufis to harmonize metaphysical teachings with socioeconomic structures gives them support to outlive the other ascetic and esoteric movements that rose and fell beside them. By their diversification, and the spread of Sufi orders, Islam has become inseparable from the characters and institutions of Sufism. The Sufi orders are not secret societies of the past but act as a part of the community while engaging in esoteric practices such as mystical teachings, collective prayer rituals (dhikr) and dream interpretation. For growing number of Muslims, whatever they know about Islam, they have acquired from the Sufis. Hence the cult of the Sufi saints has served as a bridgehead between Sufism as an esoteric method and Sufism as an everyday jargon appealing to the religious needs of the masses.

(to be continued)

The writer is a Political Psychiatrist based in London