{"id":610,"date":"2006-05-18T14:21:31","date_gmt":"2006-05-18T14:21:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2006\/05\/18\/yoginder_sikand\/"},"modified":"2013-05-07T18:41:34","modified_gmt":"2013-05-07T23:41:34","slug":"yoginder_sikand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2006\/05\/yoginder_sikand\/","title":{"rendered":"Yoginder Sikand: \u2018Progressive Islam\u2019 in Pakistan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Some interesting observations about the tragic irrelevance of secularized Pakistani intellectuals and the tools available for socially progressive activism within Pakistan\u2019s indigenous Sufi tradition.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always been frustrated by how prominent Pakistani intellectuals always seem to resort to imported Western discourse when advocating justice or reform, even when directly applicable Islamic concepts and terminology are readily available.\u00a0 Instead of using arguments that could resonate with their Muslim countrymen, far too often they cut and paste from Amnesty International or the like, in the process ceding the public square entirely to their opponents on the far right.
<\/a><\/p>\n

Yoginder Sikand: \"\u2018Progressive Islam\u2019 in Pakistan (HIMAL SOUTHASIAN)\u00a0 | May \u2013 June 2006<\/a> <\/p>\n

\n

Numerous such examples exist of Sufis who continue to be held in great reverence by millions of ordinary Pakistanis. Their teachings provide a rich resource for developing indigenously rooted Islamic theologies of liberation and inter-community dialogue. At the same time, such a movement could effectively challenge the shrill rhetoric of radical Islamist groups, who bandy about empty slogans calling for the \u2018Islamic revolution\u2019, but whose actual agenda, many Pakistanis insist, is to perpetuate the stranglehold of the military, the mullahs, and the feudal lords and their American patrons.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the greatest errors of the Left in Pakistan,\u201d says friend Hasan, a Lahore-based activist who describes himself as a \u2018leftist Muslim\u2019, \u201cis that we blindly followed Western Marxism. Many of us openly condemned religion, and this earned us widespread public disapproval. The Saudis, egged on by the Americans, pumped vast sums of money into Pakistan to publish literature and patronise the madrasas and mullahs, who branded all Leftists as atheists and anti-Islam.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

By blindly imitating the West, Hasan feels that modern Pakistanis have failed to explore its own traditions for possible counters to the country\u2019s entrenched social problems. \u201cOur own popular Sufi traditions contain enough such resources,\u201d he suggests. \u201cHad we used them in our campaigns, we would not have given our opponents an excuse to brand us as anti-religion. Progressive politics in Pakistan would have had more popular appeal, rather than being seen as a Western import, had we developed an appropriate contextual Islamic theology based on local Sufi vocabulary and idioms.\u201d Hasan blames what he calls the cognitive elitism of the Pakistani Left for ignoring the revolutionary potential of popular Sufi discourses: \u201cThey have no real contact with the masses and so can\u2019t speak in their language.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Despite their powerful history of social critique, however, Hasan does not place much hope in the current custodians of the Sufi shrines either, noting that such shrines have been reduced to centres of pilgrimage and personal mediation rather than centres of instruction. \u201cPopular Sufism has been thoroughly ritualised, shorn of its progressive potential,\u201d he says. \u201cIn fact, many shrine custodians have become powerful landlords and maintain strong political connections, and so have developed a vested interest in preserving the system as it is.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some interesting observations about the tragic irrelevance of secularized Pakistani intellectuals and the tools available for socially progressive activism within Pakistan\u2019s indigenous Sufi tradition. I\u2019ve always been frustrated by how prominent Pakistani intellectuals always seem to resort to imported Western discourse when advocating justice or reform, even when directly applicable Islamic concepts and terminology are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":357,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61,62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pakistan","category-progressive-muslims"],"yoast_head":"\nYoginder Sikand: \u2018Progressive Islam\u2019 in Pakistan - Akram's Razor<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Some interesting observations about the tragic irrelevance of secularized Pakistani intellectuals and the tools available for socially progressive\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2006\/05\/yoginder_sikand\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Yoginder Sikand: \u2018Progressive Islam\u2019 in Pakistan - Akram's Razor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Some interesting observations about the tragic irrelevance of secularized Pakistani intellectuals and the tools available for socially progressive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2006\/05\/yoginder_sikand\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Akram's Razor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-05-18T14:21:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-05-07T23:41:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Svend White\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Svend White\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2006\/05\/yoginder_sikand\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2006\/05\/yoginder_sikand\/\",\"name\":\"Yoginder Sikand: \u2018Progressive Islam\u2019 in Pakistan - Akram's Razor\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2006-05-18T14:21:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-05-07T23:41:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/#\/schema\/person\/f9db140b6c8f68946a6ff4474bad8040\"},\"description\":\"Some interesting observations about the tragic irrelevance of secularized Pakistani intellectuals and the tools available for socially progressive\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2006\/05\/yoginder_sikand\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2006\/05\/yoginder_sikand\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2006\/05\/yoginder_sikand\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Yoginder Sikand: \u2018Progressive Islam\u2019 in Pakistan\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/\",\"name\":\"Akram's Razor\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/#\/schema\/person\/f9db140b6c8f68946a6ff4474bad8040\",\"name\":\"Svend White\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/102bd380e329795710632f1246548993?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/102bd380e329795710632f1246548993?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Svend White\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/author\/svendwhite\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Yoginder Sikand: \u2018Progressive Islam\u2019 in Pakistan - Akram's Razor","description":"Some interesting observations about the tragic irrelevance of secularized Pakistani intellectuals and the tools available for socially progressive","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2006\/05\/yoginder_sikand\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Yoginder Sikand: \u2018Progressive Islam\u2019 in Pakistan - Akram's Razor","og_description":"Some interesting observations about the tragic irrelevance of secularized Pakistani intellectuals and the tools available for socially progressive","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2006\/05\/yoginder_sikand\/","og_site_name":"Akram's Razor","article_published_time":"2006-05-18T14:21:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-05-07T23:41:34+00:00","author":"Svend White","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Svend White","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2006\/05\/yoginder_sikand\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2006\/05\/yoginder_sikand\/","name":"Yoginder Sikand: \u2018Progressive Islam\u2019 in Pakistan - Akram's Razor","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/#website"},"datePublished":"2006-05-18T14:21:31+00:00","dateModified":"2013-05-07T23:41:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/#\/schema\/person\/f9db140b6c8f68946a6ff4474bad8040"},"description":"Some interesting observations about the tragic irrelevance of secularized Pakistani intellectuals and the tools available for socially progressive","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2006\/05\/yoginder_sikand\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2006\/05\/yoginder_sikand\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2006\/05\/yoginder_sikand\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Yoginder Sikand: \u2018Progressive Islam\u2019 in Pakistan"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/","name":"Akram's Razor","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/#\/schema\/person\/f9db140b6c8f68946a6ff4474bad8040","name":"Svend White","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/102bd380e329795710632f1246548993?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/102bd380e329795710632f1246548993?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Svend White"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/author\/svendwhite\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/357"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}