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Cultural and Religious Perspective on the Sufi Shrines

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Abstract

This paper explains the Sufi shrines which hold great importance in Pakistani society. The Shrines inhabit a vital position in the cultural and social as well as religious and culture life of rituals, Saints, traditional belief, sounds, trance, dance, music in ethnic healing, and spiritual illness/disease. It is not only a place of belief and devotion based on Sufi shrines but a place where Muslims and non-Muslim take part in happiness activities together. The design and architecture of the Sufi Shrines have local as well as worldwide influences, representative spiritual, belief systems, economic, and esthetic dimensions of Muslim social institute. Therefore, Muslims’ association with the Sufi Shrines has much importance from traditional, political, social and economic perspectives. Centered on an ethnographic illustration, this research aims to highlight the use of Sufi Shrines space and Peoples’ Perceptions about Visiting Sufi shrines in the ethnic perspective of rural and urban Sindh. In addition to discuss the socio spatial interactions about the Sufi shrines, this study has discovered that majority of the people and visitors have strong belief systems upon the blessings of Sufis and they visit shrines to fulfill their social, economic, physical, mental and spiritual wishes.

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Acknowledgements

The research leading to this report is part of my master project at Anhui University China. I am very thankful to Professor Wang Banghu and Dr. Yao Dewei for their guidance and support during this research as supervisor. I am grateful to the people of Sehwan Sharif, Bhitt Shah and Abdullah Shah Ghazi Karachi and the staff of (dargah) department of Auqaf for the their cooperation during my fieldwork.

Author’s Contribution

All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Funding

A research on Social Identity Differentiation and Integration Mechanism in the Network rea (13BSH036).” This work is funded by National Social Science.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, School of Social and Political Science, Anhui University, Hefei, 230035, People’s Republic of China

    Iftikhar Ahmed Charan, Banghu Wang & Dewei Yao

  2. School of International Education, Anhui University, Feixi Road No. 3, Shushan District, Hefei, 230035, Anhui, People’s Republic of China

    Iftikhar Ahmed Charan

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Correspondence to Iftikhar Ahmed Charan.

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Charan, I.A., Wang, B. & Yao, D. Cultural and Religious Perspective on the Sufi Shrines. J Relig Health 57, 1074–1094 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-018-0558-6

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