A sublime, yet disputed, object of political ideology? Sufism in Pakistan at the crossroads

Muslim symbolic politics in Pakistan has been a much studied topic even though little is known about the specific role of Sufism, the mystical trend within Islam, in these complex dynamics. This article argues that this highly ambiguous and ambivalent category of Islamic discourse, covering a wide s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Commonwealth & comparative politics Vol. 52; no. 2; pp. 271 - 292
Main Author:	Philippon, Alix
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Abingdon Routledge 01-04-2014 Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects:	Ambiguity Ambivalence Counterterrorism Discourse Ideology Islam Muslims Nationalism Non-state actors Pakistan Political Ideologies Political ideology politicisation Politics Religion Politics Relationship State-society relations Sufism Terrorism War on terror Pakistan
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	Muslim symbolic politics in Pakistan has been a much studied topic even though little is known about the specific role of Sufism, the mystical trend within Islam, in these complex dynamics. This article argues that this highly ambiguous and ambivalent category of Islamic discourse, covering a wide spectrum of beliefs and practices, has often been tapped as a political resource, instrumentalised as a legitimising tool by both state and non-state actors and played a major role in the ideological debates on the place of Islam in Pakistani state and society, especially since the beginning of the 'War on Terror'.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2
ISSN:	1466-2043 1743-9094
DOI:	10.1080/14662043.2014.894284