Sufism in Pakistan

Most of the Sufis in Pakistan relate to the four main tariqa (silsila): Chishti, Naqshbandi, Qadiri-Razzaqi and Suhrawardi.

{{See also|Sufi shrine}}{{Empty section|date=April 2025}}

There are two levels of Sufism 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). Many rural Pakistani Muslims associate with pirs and seek their intercession.{{Cite book|url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t236/e0616|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081121052313/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t236/e0616|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 21, 2008|title=Pakistan|last=Hussain|first=Rizwan|work=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World|quote=Sūfī Islam in Pakistan is represented at two levels. The first is the populist Sufism of the rural masses, associated with unorthodox religious rituals and practices, belief in the intercessory powers of saints, pilgrimage and veneration at their shrines, and a binding spiritual relationship between the shaykh or pir (master) and murīd (disciple). Many Muslims in rural areas of Pakistan, where orthodox Islam has yet to penetrate effectively, identify themselves with some pir, living or dead, and seek his intercession for the solution of their worldly problems and for salvation in the hereafter.}} 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, the Sufi reformer Shaykh Aḥmad Sirhindi and Shah Wali Allah.{{Cite book|url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t236/e0616|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081121052313/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t236/e0616|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 21, 2008|title=Pakistan|last=Hussain|first=Rizwan|work=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World|quote=The other strain is that of scholastic or intellectual Sufism, a recent phenomenon based in urban areas and becoming increasingly popular in educated circles. Influenced by the writings of the medieval theologian al-Ghazālī (d. 1111), the Sūfī reformer Shaykh Aḥmad Sirhindī (d. 1624), and Shāh Walī Allāh (d. 1762), and by the spiritual experiences of the masters of the Suhrawardī and Naqshbandī orders, these modern Sūfīs are rearticulating Islamic metaphysics as an answer to Western materialism.}}

Sufism, a mystical Islamic tradition, has a long history and a large popular following in Pakistan. Popular Sufi culture is centred on Thursday-night gatherings at shrines and annual festivals with Sufi music and dance.{{cite news|title=Sufism Under Attack in Pakistan|url=http://video.nytimes.com/video/2011/01/06/world/asia/1248069532117/sufism-under-attack-in-pakistan.html|access-date=21 May 2012|newspaper=The New York Times|author=Produced by Charlotte Buchen|format=video}}{{cite news|title=The Islam That Hard-Liners Hate|url=http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/the-islam-that-hard-liners-hate/|access-date=21 May 2012|newspaper=The New York Times|date=6 January 2011|author=Huma Imtiaz|author2=Charlotte Buchen|format=blog}}

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).a think-tank based in Rawalpindi The attacks are generally attributed to banned militant organisations.[http://criticalppp.com/archives/239339 Sunni Ittehad Council: Sunni Barelvi activism against Deobandi-Wahhabi terrorism in Pakistan – by Aarish U. Khan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130123005941/http://criticalppp.com/archives/239339 |date=2013-01-23 }}| criticalppp.com| Let Us Build Pakistan

The Sehwan Sharif shrine was the site of a suicide bombing in 2017 carried out by the Islamic State.{{cite news|title=Sehwan bombing toll reaches 88, over 250 injured|url=https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/186965-Sehwan-bombing-toll-reaches-80-over-250-injured|accessdate=17 February 2017|agency=The News|date=17 February 2017}}

• Islam in Pakistan
• Sufism in Punjab
• Sufism in Sindh
• List of Sufi saints
• Shadhiliyya
• Kubrawiyyah

{{reflist|30em}}

• 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, {{ISBN|978-93-85083-52-5}}.

• [http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/the-islam-that-hard-liners-hate/ The Islam That Hard-Liners Hate]
• [http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/pakistans-sufis-preach-faith-and-ecstasy-92998056/ Pakistan's Sufis Preach Faith and Ecstasy]
• [http://www.halalmonk.com/sufism-in-pakistan-%E2%80%93-the-tolerant-antidote Sufism in Pakistan – the tolerant antidote?]
• [http://www.dw.de/mystical-islam-under-threat-in-pakistan/a-17237588 Mystical Islam 'under threat' in Pakistan]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20131002004229/http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2013/09/29/steeped-in-ancient-mysticism-the-passion-of-pakistani-sufis-infuriates-taliban/ Steeped in ancient mysticism, the passion of Pakistani Sufis infuriates Taliban]
• [http://historyofislam.com/contents/the-post-mongol-period/the-sufis-of-india-and-pakistan/ The Sufis of India and Pakistan]
• [http://www.dawn.com/news/753133/sufism-and-pakistani-society Sufism and Pakistani society]
• [http://newint.org/blog/2012/10/23/sufis-targeted-by-islamic-fundamentalists/ Why are they targeting the Sufis?]
• [http://www.sultan-bahoo.com /Sufism-in-Punjab/Sufis faced threatening from punjabi Taliban in Punjab]
• [http://www.sultan-ul-arifeen.com/Sufis-in-Pakistan/ Difficulties faced by Sufism in Pakistan]

{{Sufism by country}}