Daily Times

Pirs or Peers, literally, “saints” have a prominent place as spiritual leaders especially in Sufi interpretation of Islam. Some, however, use that guise to commit some of the worse crimes imaginable and get away with it. It’s a high time to rally together against these so called pretend-pirs who have turned a whole thing into a money-making scam.

A deep fury goes through the veins on knowing about most bizarre stories of the pretend-pirs, who are expert in cracking false rumors and in misguiding masses. The actions of such notorious pretend-pirs are open to fierce criticism as they trap innocent individuals by provision of misguidance regarding the issues which they are presented with.

The pretend-pirs at present are involved in practices deemed immoral by any standard – so much so that it has become a hideous social crime. The first and foremost such practice is their reliance on making predictions in providing guidance to the individuals, who present their woes and miseries of life. The individuals are generally exploited by the scams of so-called illiterate and retarded pretend-pirs in seeking guidance regarding issues such as marriage, kids, relationships, finances and career etc. The problem is aggravated when pretend-pirs strongly rely on the baseless predictions crafted by their so called imaginary sources or unauthentic spiritual leaders. For instance, regarding marital affairs, people tend to rely on the pirs for forecasting their future with any proposed specific person in question. The pretend-pirs would use their idiotic predictions in a way to justify their clients about the type of marital relationship one could have with the mentioned person. The same is true for issues such as finances and careers etc. People in their ignorance begin believing the prophecies presented by the pirs by bringing certain signs prevailing in their subconscious to reality though none exists.

In addition, the reliance on pretend-pirs to seek guidance as a saviour or messiah out of life’s tragedies is seen to be met up with a financial scam. The fake pirs trap the individuals and defraud them in the process of performing different activities such as exorcism. A recent incident in Hyderabad is certainly appalling whereby a fake pir defrauded a woman of Rs 10 million to execute a task of exorcism. Such instance portrays height of how much people tend to believe in these pretend-pirs.

The sexual assault on the devotees particularly women is also common at the hands of these fake pirs, who  tend to create false misperceptions as to how it would reap benefits for them. A few years ago, a pretend-pir in Faisalabad raped a 14-year-old girl to cure her of repeated migraines. The girl was taken to the pretend-pir, who locals believed can cure different ailments. In the process of being treated, the culprit repeatedly raped her. He even made her believe that she was spellbound by a ghost, and that if she disclosed about their relationship, he would release the ghost in his power on her.

Sufism is deeply rooted especially in Pakistan and India owing to some of the greatest saints in the history. These saints are revered by devotees even hundreds of years after their demise. Some elements within the society have decided to cash on this devotion by exploiting and attacking their followers just when they need them the most. These people are readily willing to abide by the horrid advice of placing an amulet inside a newly dug grave for solving the problems and miseries of life. Not only this, but people are made to resort to unimaginable acts these pretend-pirs for fulfillment of their desires and wishes.

The afore-mentioned grave scenario needs to be immediately brought to the notice of the authorities. They should be cognizant of the fact that the pretend-pirs are engaged in criminal activities while posing as religious and spiritual leaders. A stringent mechanism should be chalked by the religious groups to disseminate awareness amongst the masses to stop this from happening all in their name.