By Staff Writer, *Book on Shahbaz Qalandar’s Urs celebrations launched* - The News International - Karachi, Pakistan; Wednesday, March 16, 2011The Oxford University Press on Tuesday launched its latest publication ‘At the Shrine of the Red Sufi: Five Days and Nights on Pilgrimage in Pakistan’ written by the renowned German cultural anthropologist, Jürgen Wasim Frembgen.
Translated from German by Jane Ripken, the book takes the reader on a journey to experience the spiritual rapture, ecstasy, trance, magic, and devotion at the annual Urs celebrations held at Sehwan Sharif in honour of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (LSQ), Pakistan’s most Sufi popular saint.
Stefan Weidner, a renowned writer and expert on Islam, has judged this book [German language version] as “one of the most exciting reports we owe to German cultural anthropology in recent decades”.
Dr Jürgen Wasim Frembgen is Chief Curator of the Oriental Department at the Museum of Ethnology in Munich as well as Professor in Islamic Studies at the University of Munich. He has been a visiting professor at the Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad and the National College of Arts in Lahore.
The speakers were of the view that Frembgen’s book was of immense value as there is no other record in this depth of pilgrimage in Pakistan to an old and famous shrine, with detailed information of the different kinds of groups that participate, their rites and rituals of devotion, and the sacred geography of shrines and pilgrimages for qalandars in Pakistan.
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From the Oxford University Press Pakistan's website:
Readership / Level
The narrative combines ethnographic “thick description” with a literary approach. This book is recommended for people interested in Islam, the lived Sufi tradition, Pakistan in general as well as literature reflecting quotidian Pakistani life.
About the Author
Jürgen Wasim Frembgen is Chief Curator of the Oriental Department at the Museum of Ethnology in Munich as well as Professor in Islamic Studies at the University of Munich. Since 1981 he has been teaching anthropology and Islamic Studies at different universities in Germany; in addition he had been a visiting professor at the Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad (National Institute of Pakistan Studies), National College of Arts in Lahore, and Ohio State University in Columbus, USA.
He has been conducting ethnographic fieldwork in Pakistan (for instance in Nager and Hunza/Karakoram, Indus Kohistan, Punjab, and Sindh) on an annual basis since 1981.
He has written extensively on cultures of the Eastern Muslim world between Iran and India, focusing particularly on Pakistan. Many of his books and articles deal with Islam, the Sufi tradition, veneration of Muslim saints, art and material culture, the anthropology of the body, social outsiders, and facets of popular culture.
The Friends of God—Sufi Saints in Islam: Popular Poster Art from Pakistan (2006/OUP) and Journey to God: Sufis and Dervishes in Islam (2008/OUP).
In addition, he has curated numerous exhibitions dealing with cultures of the Muslim world.
Hardback 350 pages ISBN: 9780199063079 Price: Rs.695.00
[Order from OUP.]
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