The Friends of God-Sufi Saints in Islam: Popular Poster Art from Pakistan

by Frembgen, Jurgen Wasim

• ISBN13: 9780195470062
• ISBN10: 0195470060
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-07-13
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Modern poster-portraits depicting Sufi saints and their shrines are a vivid medium of piety and devotion. These colorful, visually fascinating, and powerful prints are particularly significant for the study of those contemporary views of the South Asian Sufi tradition shared by the common people. Through comprehensive documentation and analysis, this book aims to introduce this genre of popular Sufi poster art for the first time to a wider readership.

Author Biography

Juergen Wasim Frembgen is Chief Curator of the Oriental Department at the Museum of Ethnology in Munich as well as Privatdozent (Private Lecturer) in Islamic Studies at the University of Erlangen-Nuernberg. Since 1981 he is teaching anthropology and Islamic Studies at different universities in Germany; in addition he has been a visiting lecturer at the Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad (National Institute of Pakistan Studies), the National College of Arts in Lahore and Ohio State University in Columbus. Since 1981 he annually conducts ethnographic fieldwork in Pakistan. He has published over ninety articles and fifteen books and catalogues, many of which deal with Islam, Sufism, veneration of Muslim saints, material culture, the anthropology of the body, social outsiders, and popular culture in the Eastern Muslim world between Iran and India, particularly focusing on Pakistan.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	vii
Note on Transliteration	vii
Preface	ix
Embodying Charisma and Love	1	(6)
Piety and Devotion	7	(5)
Sufi Saints and Shrines in Pakistan	12	(114)
Early Muslim Saints	13	(17)
Imaginary Assemblies of Sufi Saints	30	(11)
The Great Saint of Baghdad	41	(6)
Indian Chishti Saints	47	(15)
Lal Shahbaz Qalandar---The Enraptured Saint	62	(8)
The Qalandar Heritage	70	(11)
A Millennium of Saints in the Punjab	81	(36)
Shah Abdul Latif---The Mystic and Poet of Sindh	117	(9)
Reflections on Popular Sufi Poster Art	126	(13)
References to the Saints	139	(3)
Bibliography	142	(10)
List of Figures	152