Sufism and Saint Veneration in Contemporary Bangladesh: The Maijbhandaris of Chittagong

by Harder; Hans

• ISBN13: 9780415581707
• ISBN10: 0415581702
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-04-20
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This book provides a comprehensive study of Bengali Islam. Focusing on the Maijbhandari movement, which claims the status of the only Sufi order originated in Bengal and which has gained immense popularity in recent years, the book provides a comprehensive picture of contemporary Bengali Islam in the South Asian context.The author combines expertise in South Asian languages and literatures with ethnographic field work and theoretical formulations from cultural anthropology, Islamic studies, religious studies and other disciplines. Analysing the Maijbhandaris tradition of Bengali spiritual songs, one of the largest popular song traditions in Bengal, this book offers a solid discourse on the legitimacy of regional forms of Islam.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	p. ix
Preface	p. x
Transliteration and writing conventions	p. xii
Abbreviations	p. xiv
Introduction	p. 1
Approaching Maijbhandar	p. 7
Shrines in Chittagong	p. 10
Maijbhandar: a shrine complex and religious movement	p. 14
Historical outline	p. 20
Structure and religious practice	p. 31
Structure of the Maijbhandari movement	p. 31
Religious practice in Maijbhandar	p. 48
Theological and hagiological writings	p. 66
Love (æi¿q, prem)	p. 69
Light (nur)	p. 72
Stations (maqamat)	p. 76
Manifest (zahir) and concealed (batin), ¿ariæa and tariqa	p. 80
Unity (tawhid)	p. 84
Spiritual sovereignty (wilaya)	p. 88
The Maijbhandari tariqa	p. 96
Hagiographies	p. 106
Muslim hagiography in Bengal	p. 107
Maijbhandari hagiographies	p. 112
Hagiographies about founding Saint Gawt al-Aæzam Ahmadullah Maijbhandari (1829-1906)	p. 113
Hagiographies about the second great Maijbhandari saint, Gholam Rahman alias Baba Bhandari (1865-1937)	p. 136
Shahanshah Ziaul Haq Maijbhandari (1928-88)	p. 148
Syed Shafiul Bashar (1919-2001)	p. 162
Analysis	p. 167
Maijbhandari songs	p. 172
Origins and basic properties	p. 173
Performance situations	p. 175
Debates on audition (samaæ)	p. 179
Musical performance	p. 183
Classifications of Maijbhandari songs	p. 185
Language and communicative design	p. 189
Motifs of Maijbhandari songs	p. 195
Conclusion	p. 270
Songs in contemporary Maijbhandari interpretations	p. 272
Boat journeys and sandhabhasa	p. 274
Lovers as Radha and Krishna	p. 280
Symbolical changes of sex	p. 282
The avatara concept	p. 284
Contextualising Maijbhandar	p. 287
'Syncretism', 'little tradition', 'discursivefields'	p. 287
Correlating Maijbhandar with Islam and other religions	p. 298
Lack of structural fixity: a sketch of the discursive field of Maijbhandar	p. 305
How does Maijbhandar work? An interpretation	p. 311
Conclusion: a note on Bengali Islam	p. 315
The configuration of shrine and pir veneration in Bengal	p. 317
Medieval Bengali Islamic literature: documentation rather than mediation	p. 323
On Bengali Islam	p. 326
translations of selected Maijbhandari songs	p. 330
glossary of terms	p. 343
Bibliography	p. 347
Index	p. 367
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