The Sufi Path to Pakistan’s Heart Journey of Self Discovery

Abstract

Over the past few centuries, as the World has come under the thrall of modern innovations and industrialization, Sufism has gradually lost its meaning and its luster. Most of the western nations believe in the practical and what they can see and have collectively stopped believing in religion as a way of life. Even Muslim nations like Turkey and Saudi Arabia have abolished or suppressed the practice of Sufism to focus more on the literal side of Islam. Sufis, Walis (Friends of Allah) have gradually dwindled in number as the World shifts towards a more "modern" way of life. Sufism is a devoted way of prayer and offering, spending the life in the love of the Allah and distancing oneself from the worldly woes to embark on a journey of self-realization (Burckhardt, 1995). As lifestyles changed with time, believers took the liberty to conform to views that were more convenient with respect to the newer eras, somehow killing the real meaning of Sufism. The Sufi saints (or the living-dead) have a large disciple crowd in the subcontinent, followers who devoutly follow them. There is no initiative yet that highlights the cultural exclusivity of the shrines in terms of Pakistan's peculiar identity. Thus, our project brings to viewers an interactive and informative journey of what "cultural peculiarity" the shrines took on from their saints, their successors, and what the disciples believe and practice there now.