Volume Abstracts

Historically, Sufi-Pirs2 have had strong presence in the religio-cultural and political space of Bangladesh. Scholars have so far elucidated their role in the society and politics. However, as of today they have hardly pondered over the question: who is a Sufi or Pir? How does a person get social recognition as a Pir? Against this backdrop, this paper attempts to examine how an individual gains social recognition as a Pir. Examining three cases of contemporary Bangladesh, this paper challenges the traditional view that Pirs constitute an apolitical category that pre-exists in their respective socio-politico-religious milieu. This paper concludes that recognition of contemporary Pirs is often a political process.