Paper short abstract:

In two novels from 2006 and 2009 Mirza Athar Baig has revealed the functioning of “fake” Sufi shrines from the position of a sceptic who nevertheless has to admit their social relevance.

Paper long abstract:

For decades Sufism has been propagated by writers and intellectuals in Pakistan as a peaceful, tolerant form of Islam and thus as an alternative to militant, sectarian versions which threaten to disrupt social life in the country. On the other hand, several Urdu writers have exposed Sufi shrines as seats of power, exploitation and abuse. In a different manner, again, a variety of saint worship has been used by members of the bureaucratic and literary establishment as a stabilising ideology, directed primarily against leftist intellectuals and writers.

Apart from these tendencies, Mirza Athar Baig has constructed two fictional sites of saint veneration in his Urdu novels Ghulam Bagh (Garden of slaves, 2006) and Sifr se ek tak (From zero to one, 2009) which at first sight seem to be obvious fakes. In both cases the main protagonists see through the make-believe, or at least think so, but gradually come to understand the working of the place and its social relevance. Both are sceptics and in a certain way angry young men. Both have their own charisma, both work magic with words and are thus able to manipulate others, and yet they cannot escape the magic of the "false" shrines. The novels thus present deep insights into the exercise of power through suggestion and persuasion in interpersonal relations and religious life, while at the same time situating the shrine culture in the social fabric of urban and rural Pakistan.