Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x24gv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-08T04:13:09.329Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Ancient and Modern Power of Islamic Sermons in Contemporary Pakistan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 April 2017

SAM ROBINSON
SAM ROBINSON*
Affiliation:
Royal Asiatic Society, cdb@royalasiaticsociety.org
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Despite the Pakistan-Afghan border's importance as the epicentre of regional insurgency, the mechanisms by which Friday sermons may be stimulating Islamic ideology have been understudied. From an analysis of 250 hours of sermons in the local Pashto language, interviews with mullahs and survey work, Robinson argues that sermons are a powerful means by which sectarian tensions and traditional ideologies are propagated. Their influence is derived from an irresistible synergy of both ancient and modern. They gain traction from using a highly credible ancient sermon form - rich in poetics and sparkling oratory - which is multiplied by the use of modern media. The religious ideology they traffic continues to grip the imagination of Pashtuns in ways which shape their society and provides a bulwark against secular intruders.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 27 , Issue 3 , July 2017 , pp. 461 - 475
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Religious programmes are especially popular among women in the Federally Administered Tribal Area, see Radio, P. A. C. T., Media Perceptions in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Peshawar, 2008).Google Scholar

2 “Flashpoint Frontier”, The Herald (Karachi, 2006).

3 Antoun, R. T., Muslim preacher in the modern world: a Jordanian case study in comparative perspective (Princeton, NJ, 1989)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, Borthwick, B. M., “The Islamic Sermon as a Channel of Political Communication in Syria, Jordan and Egypt”, Middle East Journal, 21 (1967), pp. 305–318 Google Scholar; Bakhash, S., “Sermons, Revolutionary Pamphleteering, and Mobilisation: Iran, 1978”, in From Nationalism to Revolutionary Islam, (ed.) Armojand, S. A. (Albany, 1984)Google Scholar.

4 Grimm, H., “The Human Element in Luther's Sermons”, Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte, 49 (1958), pp. 50–60 Google Scholar, cited in Ferry, P. T., “Confessionalization and Popular Preaching: Sermons against Synergism in Reformation Saxony”, Sixteenth Century Journal, 28 (1997), pp. 1143–1166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

5 Hirschkind, C., The Ethical Soundscape: Cassette Sermons and Islamic Counterpublics (New York, 2006)Google Scholar.

6 The ‘hard’ Eastern dialect of Pashto called Pukhto.

7 The collection is with the author and is referenced here as T1, T2, etc.

8 Lelyveld, D., “Eloquence and Authority in Urdu: Poetry, Oratory, and Film”, in Sharī ‘at and Ambiguity in South Asian Islam, (ed.) Ewing, K. P. (Berkeley, 1988), pp. 98–113 Google Scholar.

9 Mills, W., The Pathan Revolts in North West India (Lahore, 1897)Google Scholar.

10 Nawid, S. K., Religious Response to social change in Afghanistan, 1919-29: King Aman-Allah and the Afghan Ulama (Costa Mesa, Calif., 1999)Google Scholar.

11 Ibid .; Shah, S. V. A., Ethnicity, Islam and nationalism: Muslim politics in the North-West Frontier Province, 1937-1947 (Oxford, 1999)Google Scholar.

12 Zivin, J., “The Imagined Reign of the Iron Lecturer: Village Broadcasting in Colonial India”, Modern Asian Studies, 32 (1998), pp. 717–738 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

13 G. Cunningham, “Personal Diary”, 26 June 1938, MISS EUR D 670/3, India Office Records, British Library.

14 Cunningham, 12 July 1941, ibid.

15 Khan, Abdul Wali, Facts Are Sacred, trans. Siddiqui Aziz (Peshawar, no date), p. 97 Google Scholar.

16 Warburton, R. and Warburton, M., Eighteen Years in the Khyber, 1879-1898 (London, 1900)Google Scholar.

17 “Taliban welcome”, The Economist (2005).

18 Mufti Said Qamār: T 147/14.

19 “3 killed in massive cartoon protests”, The Frontier Post (Peshawar, 2006).

20 Sookhdeo, P., A People Betrayed: The Impact of Islamization on the Christian Community in Pakistan (Fearn, 2002)Google Scholar.

21 The assassin of the Governor of the Punjab said that he was inspired by mullahs, see “Pakistan faces a divide of age on Muslim Law”, New York Times (2011).

22 Abbas, S., Probing the Jihadi Mindset (Islamabad, 2007)Google Scholar.

23 “Moderate Cleric Among 9 Killed in Pakistan Blasts”, New York Times (2009).

24 Najibullah framed his desperate 1992 plea to tribal leaders as a sermon, complete with Arabic khutba and Qurʾānic quotations (T 85).

25 “The Earthquake That Never Came”, The News (Islamabad, 2005).

26 T 59/1.

27 I 162/7.

28 I 130/7.

29 “The Forgotten Children”, The News (Islamabad, 2002); Marwat, Fazal-ur-Rahim and Toru, Parvez Khan, Talibanization of Pakistan (Peshawar, 2005), p. 5 Google Scholar; “Madrasa Numbers in Pakistan”, Jang (2006).

30 “No action planned against religous seminaries: Ijaz”, The News (Islamabad, 2004).

31 “The forgotten children”, The News (Islamabad, 2002).

32 Sampson, R., “Guns and Roses: two strands of Pashto Poetry”, in Images of Afghanistan: exploring Afghan culture through art and literature, (eds.) Loewen, A. and McMichael, J. (Karachi, 2010), pp. 121–130 Google Scholar.

33 T 104/9.

34 I 164/14.

35 T 165/6.

36 T 60/7.

37 T 61/2.

38 T 11/2.

39 Rosenberg, B.A., The Art of the American Folk Preacher (New York, 1970), p. 113 Google Scholar.

40 Tedlock, D., The Spoken Word and the Work of Interpretation (Philadelphia, 1983), pp. 178–179 Google Scholar.

41 Maulana Hisamuddin, interview by author, 22 September 2004, Peshawar.

42 I am using the word “extemporaneous” here to mean that sermons are not read from a prepared text.

43 I 162/5.

44 Kennedy, G. A., Comparative Rhetoric: An Historical and Cross-Cultural Introduction (New York, 1998), p. 191 Google Scholar.

45 Ibid .

46 O'Carroll, M. E., A Thirteenth-Century Preacher's Handbook: Studies in MS Laud Misc. 511 (Toronto, 1997)Google Scholar.

47 The details of training are based on information gathered from interviewing mullahs in Peshawar in 2004.

48 I 164/13.

49 T 38/7.

50 Maulana Bijilī Gar, interview by author, 17 September 2004, Peshawar.

51 Ibid .

52 I 162/6.

53 Ghareeb, E., “New Media and the Information Revolution in the Arab World: An Assessment”, Middle East Journal, 54 (2000), pp. 395–418 Google Scholar.

54 Hirschkind, The Ethical Soundscape.

55 Zaman, W.-U., Iranian Revolution: A profile (Islamabad, 1985)Google Scholar; Sreberny-Mohammadi, A., The Power of Tradition: Communication and the Iranian revolution (Unpublished PhD thesis, Columbia University, 1985)Google Scholar.

56 Gaffney, P. D., The Prophet's Pulpit: Islamic Preaching in Contemporary Egypt (Berkeley, 1994), p. 50 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Kramer, M., “The Oracle of Hizbullah: Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah”, in Fundamentalist Leaders of the Middle East: Spokesmen for the Despised, (ed.) Appleby, R. Scott (Chicago, 1997), p. 83 Google Scholar.

57 Davis, K., “Preaching to the Converted: Charismatic Leaders, Performances and Electronic Media in Contemporary Islamic Communities” (Unpublished MA thesis, Concordia University, 2002), p. 81 Google Scholar; Willis, M., The Islamist challenge in Algeria: a Political History (New York, 1997)Google Scholar; Alles, E., “Chinese Islam: Unity and Fragmentation”, Religions, State & Society, 31 (2003), pp. 7–35 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

58 M. and B. E. Tosy, “La Da'wa Au Maroc Prolégomènes Théorico-Historiques”, in L'islamisme Radical, (ed.) B. Étienne (Paris, 1987), p. 8.

59 Manuel, P. L., Cassette Culture: Popular Music and Technology in North India (Chicago, 1993), pp. xix, 302 Google Scholar.

60 “Deadly blast in Pakistani village”, BBC News (2009).

61 Information about the cassette recording and marketing industry is based on informal conversation by the author with shopkeepers and recording studio owners in Peshawar in April 2005.

62 “Pakistan's Taliban radio insurgency”, BBC World Service (2009).

63 P. A. C. T. Radio, Media Perceptions.

64 “Elders say illegal F.M. stations fanning hatred”, Dawn (Peshawar, 2005).

65 “Musharraf targets hate preachers as arrests mount”, Reuters (2005).

66 “F.I.R. against religious leaders in Islamabad”, The News (Islamabad, 2004).

67 “Elders say illegal F.M. stations fanning hatred”, Dawn (Peshawar, 2005), “Illegal radio channels create a stir in tribal areas”, Gulf Times (2005).

68 “Illegal F.M. Radios spreading Hatred”, The News (Islamabad, 2006), “US plans to stop use of radio stations by Taliban”, Dawn (Peshawar, 2009).

69 “Blair Says ‘Evil Ideology’ Must Be Faced Directly”, New York Times (2005).

70 “Spain and control of Mosques”, The News (Islamabad, 2004).

71 Nasr, S. V. R., Islamic Leviathan: Islam and the making of state power (New York, 2001)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; “And Jihad Goes On”, The News (Islamabad, 2003).

72 Eickelman, D. F., “Communication and Control in the Middle East: Publication and its Discontents”, in New Media in the Muslim World: The Emerging Public Sphere, (ed.) Eickelman, D. F. and Anderson, J. W. (Bloomington, 2003), pp. 33–44 Google Scholar.

73 T 52/7-8.

74 T 137/3.

75 T 92/26.

76 T 139/5.

77 T 71/7.

78 T 137/3.

79 T 148/11.

80 T 79/17.

81 Sutcliffe, K., “Not guilty - but who's to know?”, British Journalism Review, 19 (2008), pp. 48–56 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

82 The Panjpir firqa is a reformist offshoot of the Deobandi movement founded by Muhammad Tahir in 1938.

83 T 59/2.

84 T 154/16.

85 T 87/18.

86 Ballard, R., “Popular Islam in northern Pakistan and its reconstruction in urban Britain”, in Sufism and the West, (eds.) Malik, J. and Hinnells, J. R. (Abingdon, 2006), pp. 160–186 Google Scholar.

87 Hirschkind, The Ethical Soundscape.

88 See Table 2.

89 Lawrence J. Korb, “Reassessing Foreign Assistance to Pakistan: Recommendations for U.S. Engagement", Center for American Progress http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/04/pakistan_korb.html (accessed 27 May 2010).