Living a piety-led life beyond Muharram: becoming or being a South Asian Shia Muslim in the UK

Abstract

Reformist British South Asian Twelver Shia Muslims emphasise practising Shia Islam in daily life beyond the month of Muharram by living a piety-led life; they encourage their followers to 'become' a Shia Muslim rather than just 'being' one. The reformist British South Asian Shia ulama, mostly trained in Shia seminaries based in Qom and Najaf, advocate the adoption of an Islamic life-style compatible with the economic, political and social challenges British Muslims face. Many British South Asian Shia Muslims view these piety narratives with contempt. They consider that the narratives on living a piety-led life privilege Islamic lifestyle like praying and reciting the Qur'an daily over Muharram ritual commemorations. These Shia Muslims see the growing popularity of piety-narrative as an apologetic response by Shia reformists to the growing influence of Salafis and the Tablighi Jamaat in Sunni Muslim public spheres. This paper is based on nine months of ethnographic fieldwork among British South Asian Twelver Shia Muslims in London, Birmingham and Bradford. The centrality of commemorating Muharram rituals in Shia Islam becomes contested when reformist Shia Muslims extend the piety-led lifestyle beyond the month of Muharram. This article revisits the anthropological lens of iltizam (commitment) in available studies on piety among Muslim communities. Thus, iltizam for the reformists and religiously upwardly mobile Shia Muslims means subscribing to a globally standardised interpretation of practising Shia Islam that compliments the aspirations of Iran-based Shia religious establishment. For other Shia Muslims, iltizam with Shia Islam is in (i) reenacting the continuity of South Asian ways of commemorating Muharram ritual in Britain and, (ii) opposing the Wahhabi trends in Shia Islam that are endorsed and encouraged by reformist British South Asian Shia Muslims.

Diverse teams researching diversity: Negotiating identity, place and embodiment in qualitative research

“…I was understood as an insider, an 'apna', and the Imams, community leaders and volunteers that we encountered during data collection had a shared expectation that I would perform my 'duty' as a fellow Muslim to 'safeguard' British Muslims' interests. This is something that is often expected from upwardly mobile British Muslims like me by the community members and religious leaders (Dogra, 2019). This was a challenging position, as some interlocutors expected me to take their side in their internal and local conflicts.…”

Role of Technology by Police to Maintain Peace During Muharram

“…The traffic police department has intelligently performed its duties during Ashura keeping the cities working and hustling as well as the mourners carrying out their peaceful processions. The services of the real heroes of the land of the pure are and will always be appreciated in good words by the citizens Insh A Allah [27].…”

Towards a Postsecular Shia Rhetoric – the Discursive Strategies of Transnational Online Network of Shia Muslims in India

“…Recent studies also explore various cultural dynamics of the Shi'i networks in South Asia with a particular focus on the characteristics of rituals and religiosity and emerging ideological identities among the diasporic communities in the West. For instance, Dogra (2019) offers an ethnographic account of the complex and contested nature of the commemoration of Ashura among Shi'i Muslims of South Asian background living in the UK and finds that they "interpret piety by embedding its merits into the continuity of their cultural identity, historical experience, lived realities, local circumstances" (p. 318). These groups often produce narratives of Shi'i religiosity centered on the expression of individual agency and their own local and global dynamics (Dogra, 2017).…”