Sufi Shrines and the Secular State

Muslim Societies in South Asia Seminar
Anna B. Bigelow, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies, North Carolina State University
Chair: Ali Asani, Professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religion and Cultures, Faculty of Arts and Sciences; Director, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Islamic Studies Program, Harvard University
Sufi tomb shrines in India are well-known for their multi-religious constituencies. Yet the status of these sites is contested and ambivalent, with some groups lauding and celebrating them while others seek to undermine their diverse appeal. This presentation will compare cases of cooperation and conflict at two sites in Karnataka to explore the pragmatics of state secularism as well as local strategies of accommodation and competition.

[@suerayss]

Gosh what a dispassionate and cold analysis of the subject matter. Its a like a clinical anthropoligical presentation with no understanding of the true emotional or psychological pulse of the local population. its such analysis that feeds into faulty policy decisions made by US presidents and state departments. India is not a country that you study like this. The british did that through the Asiatic society and committed some serious blunders that we are still suffering. America is repeating the same thing.

[@marlobarksdale2424]

sufi are not muslim