Risky Knowledge in Risky Times: Political Discourses of Qawwālī and Sūfīana‐kalam in Pakistan‐Indian Sufism

Abstract

The author studies the contentious Sufi poetry of Bulle Shah and Shah Abdul Latif. Written in the late eighteenth century, their poems critize Mughal corruption and nepotism, the rising tide of religious intolerance, the suffering of the common people, and the dogmatic thinking of the religious scholars. Their poetry puts them in risky and thorny position against the ulama and the politics of the royal Mughal court. The author illustrates how Sufi kalam (poetry) was historically an expression of resistance against the ulama and especially those who colluded with the establishment. She asserts that Sufi poetry expressed spiritual aspirations ; il also was written and sung as political protest against tyranny and religious chauvinism. Abbas analyzes how modern day singers like Abida Parvin and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan purposely chose Bulle Shah and Shah Abdul Latif's poetry during the dictatorial rule of General Zia ul-Haq in Pakistan and the rise of intolerant Islamist groups.