The religious teachings of Barelwis traditionally revolve around saints and shrines. Barelwis preach rituals close to folk Islam and pen poetry praising the positive characteristics of pious saints and the Prophet Muhammad. As the... more
The religious teachings of Barelwis traditionally revolve around saints and shrines. Barelwis preach rituals close to folk Islam and pen poetry praising the positive characteristics of pious saints and the Prophet Muhammad. As the Barelwis are the main activists of the South Asian Sufi lobby, American analysts contrast Barelwi-specific peace-loving prophet piety with the neoorthodox agenda of the purist Islamic reform movements like the Ahl-e Hadith or the Deobandi movements. As lovers of the prophet, Barelwis are considered to be emotionally pious, and at the same time staunch and authentic antagonists against the agents of Islamic revival movements for a Salafi-inspired Islamization of Pakistan. However, when the beloved prophet is in debate, Barelwis manage to mobilize with the Sufi symbols and semantics traditionally associated with the pious veneration of Muhammad for quasi-Islamist projects – hence the term Sufislamism, which shall be used here to critically discuss several ambiguities inherent in the classical categories used to classify Islamic religiosities.
