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Dr Se á n McLoughlin Theology & Religious Studies University of Leeds

Islamic Pilgrimage, Globalising Modernity & Diaspora: British-Pakistani Experiences of Hajj, ‘Umra & Ziyarat. Dr Se á n McLoughlin Theology & Religious Studies University of Leeds ‘Pilgrimage in Pluralist Europe Today’ University of Antwerp 19-20 May 2011. Overview.

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Dr Se á n McLoughlin Theology & Religious Studies University of Leeds

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  1. Islamic Pilgrimage, Globalising Modernity & Diaspora:British-Pakistani Experiences of Hajj, ‘Umra & Ziyarat Dr Seán McLoughlin Theology & Religious Studies University of Leeds ‘Pilgrimage in Pluralist Europe Today’ University of Antwerp 19-20 May 2011

  2. Overview • Transforming Pilgrimage: • Tradition & Migration, Identity & Consumer Culture • The Sacred and the Profane: • Normative & Improvised Authenticities of ‘Being There’ • Multiple Locations, Competing Imaginaries: • Class & Race, Puritanism & Devotionalism • Remembering the Sacred: • Souvenirs & Memories, Perfected & Pragmatic Religiosities

  3. 1) Introduction • About 25k British-Muslims go to Makkah for Hajj each year • This study: • Research Assistant an experienced pilgrimage tour leader • 18 in-depth semi-structured interviews • Respondents: • ‘British-Pakistanis’ in Lancashire, north of England • From ‘Azad’ Kashmir – dominant ethnic group of UK Muslims • Newly urbanised, first generation often farming background • Highly devotional Sunni Sufi heritage

  4. 1) Introduction Travel & the Islamicate imagination Negotiating similarity & difference with Muslim others Both cosmopolitan interactions & consciousness of locality (Eickelman & Piscatori 1990) Global modernity enables world religions Ideological coherence of ‘High’ Islam; revival & reform more central in Islamic discourse (Gellner 1992, Asad 1986) But glocal complexities of competing traditions Islam is polycentric; Holy Places not immune from wider trends Muslims & new public spheres: electronic capitalism, everyday consumerism, hybridity, self-identity (Turner 1994).

  5. 2) Transforming Pilgrimage

  6. 2) Transforming Pilgrimage • Pilgrimage to Makkah-Madinah Before Migration: • Expectation for the very few, yet remoteness intensified sacrality of a ‘home’ pivotal to the Sufi religious imagination • Longing yet feeling unworthy; closeness of interior journeys • Pilgrimage to Makkah-Madinah After Migration: • Who should go, when and for what purpose? • ‘Fate’, ‘duty’ & competing ‘responsibilities’ still key tropes. • But more immediate, affordable, democratised, chosen. • Shifting religiosities. Much pragmatism about expected piety but also revivalism & young people’s journeys of self-identity. • De/remythologising with Islamic consumer cultures. DIY & limits.

  7. 3) The Sacred and the Profane

  8. 3) The Sacred and the Profane • Ihram, separation & intensified God-consciousness • Foreshadows end of time; journey from sin to purity • Rituals remember trials of Adam, Ibrahim, Muhammad • ‘Being there’, ka’ba, & returning to monotheistic beginnings • Oceanic feelings & personal mediations/ improvisations • Popular culture simulates authenticity vs modernisation • Sacrifice, patience & suffering • Danger, failure, getting it wrong, giving up

  9. 4) Multiple Locations, Competing Imaginaries

  10. 4) Multiple Locations, Competing Imaginaries • Reflexive cosmopolitanism & difference cheek by jowl • Cross-cultural encounters & emotional bonding • Commitment of poor Pakistani pilgrims vs British privilege • Discourse about danger of certain pilgrim groups stampeding / stealing • Concern about the ‘separatism’ / ‘racism’ of others. • Theological utopias/dystopias juxtaposed • Value of ziyarah for Kashmiri Sufis – Prophet living intercessor • Sectarian outbursts understood to transgress adab • But also attempts to discipline ‘incorrect’ practice • Affirming freedoms of the UK & subversive devotional acts

  11. 5) Remembering the Sacred

  12. 5) Remembering the Sacred • Souvenirs: • Transferring blessings & gift-giving: zamzam, dates & mass produced scarves, beads, mats & secular items from Dubai! • Trigger memories / senses & reconnecting to ‘paradise’ • Fractured Efficacy: • Permanent renewal? Source of strength; struggles to reintegrate • Multiplied number of hajjis but few cut off from dunya; fading efficacy, mixed motives, spirituality in fits & starts; rarely displaces attachments to a UK home! Can ‘top up’ / return. • Yet one important reference point in a diasporic triad comprising a network of different ‘homes’ / ‘homing desires’.

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