Transnational Sufism from below: charismatic counselling and the quest for well-being

Abstract

Pakistani migrants in Denmark have achieved a level of prosperity and social mobility that first-generation migrants could only dream of before they emigrated in the 1960s. However, their success has come at a price. Currently, migrant families are experiencing a period of radical social change, which challenges and alters their perception of well-being. In such a critical situation, they may turn towards Sufi shaykhs, located in Pakistan, for help and guidance. This article puts forward the concept of ‘transnational Sufism from below’ in order to explore how migrants pragmatically use religious counselling in dealing with the contingencies of everyday life. The quest for well-being is not only related to the pain and suffering of ‘the individual body’, but it is also related, to a large extent, to ‘the social body’ of family and kinship relations, and seems to outline a new kind of diffuse transnational engagement with the potential for reshaping diasporic identities and connections between Pakistan and Denmark.

Keywords:

• Sufism
• Islam
• transnationalism
• migration
• Pakistani migrants
• Denmark

Acknowledgments

The article is based on the research project ‘Sufism and Transnational Spirituality’ (SATS) at Aarhus University. The argument benefited from readings by Mark Sedgwick, Sarah Jennings and Lucy Seton-Watson. I am also grateful to the two anonymous reviewers of South Asian Diaspora for comments and suggestions on how to improve the final version.

Notes on contributor

Mikkel Rytter is Associate Professor at Department of Culture and Society at Aarhus University, where he is part of the research programme on ‘Sufism and Transnational Spirituality’ (www.sufism.au.dk). His recent publications include Family Upheaval: Generation, Mobility and Relatedness among Pakistani Migrants in Denmark (Berghahn, 2013), Migration, Family and the Welfare State: Integrating Migrants and Refugees in Scandinavia (eds.) K. F. Olwig, B. R. Larsen and M. Rytter (Routledge, 2012) and Mobile Bodies, Mobile Souls: Family, Religion and Migration in a Global World (eds.) M. Rytter and K. F. Olwig (Aarhus University Press, 2011). He is head of CESAU – Centre of Sociological Studies, Aarhus University (www.cesau.au.dk).

Notes

1. These concepts combine the Latin distinction between gendered authority for padre and madri as father and mother figures, with the concept of muzhub which has an Arabic origin best translated as sect. Madri and padre muzhub are best understood as opposite ends of a spectrum (Ballard 2011, 51).

2. A widely used alternative is that parents and adult children attempt to live close to one another and share meals, perhaps even money, even though they live in separate households. This has been called ‘families with open doors’ (familier med åbne døre) (Schmidt 2002, 66).

3. I use both concepts, shaykh and pir. The term shaykh is a pan-Islamic term, associated with a religious figure who gains legitimacy by being initiated into a tariqa and by having extensive knowledge of Islam. By contrast, the term pir is mainly South Asian and tends to be associated with the power to perform miracles and provide technologies to counter all kinds of afflictions.

4. Tahir ul-Qadri is not a traditional shaykh, but more of a religious scholar. However, the way he is being idolised in the Minhaj-organisation gives him the same charismatic qualities as a more traditional shaykh. Formerly based in Lahore, he is currently living in Toronto. In March 2013, Tahir ul-Qadri staged a protest march against the Pakistani Government before the general election. For information on Minhaj ul-Quran, see Geaves (2006), Schmidt (2007) and Morgahi (2011).

5. Before Shaykh Muhammad Amin Bin Abdul Rehman came to Pakistan, he lived in Madina, Saudi Arabia, where he served as imam for decades. He came to Pakistan in the late 1980s and lived in Karachi, before settling in the mid-1990s in Multan. The Idrisiyya silsila originated from Northern Africa and the Middle East.

6. The numbers in the text refer to the relationships outlined in Figure 1.

7. For discussions of kala jaddu, see Shaw (2000), Werbner (2003) and Rytter (2010, 2011).

8. Shazia referred to him as Pir Sahib, so in this case I will use the term pir rather than shaykh. I cannot give the full name of Pir Sahib, as this would jeopardise Shazia's anonymity.

9. Probably Pir Sahib was well aware that the ex-husband's family was living in the same village as Shazia's mother.

10. Mehdi (2008) makes the explicit connection between law and sorcery. Based on a study of Pakistani Muslims in Denmark, she argues that supernatural means (including magic and sorcery) are used to affect the outcomes of family disputes in court.

11. The child suffered from a genetic disorder known as the Cockayne syndrome.

12. I write most likely, because we have no studies from the Danish context that can verify this assumption.