The renovation and reconstruction of major Sufi shrines offer a revealing case study on the discursive intersection of Islam and heritage in Pakistan. Sufi saints and their shrines have played a central in various articulations of an Islamic identity for the Pakistani nation. One such discourse, that has resonated among the country’s liberal intelligentsia and has also found space in certain cultural institutions of the state, links Sufism to the nation’s cultural heritage. It can be viewed as an attempt to present a culturally rooted Islam that has deep resonance among the people because it uses poetry, music, and performative traditions of the region to speak their language. However, in recent years, a new discourse of preservation and renovation has emerged around certain Sufi shrines, which frames them as key urban heritage sites whose authenticity as cultural icons must be protected against encroachment. In this presentation, the author examines the public debates and legal cases around the partial demolition of the shrine of Mauj Darya due to the construction of Lahore’s first metro train line, showing that the discursive mobilization of ‘heritage' by activists to resist the shrine’s demolition initially elided religious narratives as it turned towards legal, aesthetic and cultural motifs to underline the ‘heritageness’ of the shrine. However, in order to broaden its public appeal, the category of heritage is expanded to include religious sentiments and associations as central to the sociocultural relevance of these shrines. Importantly though, this turn to religion to define heritage signals important shifts from the earlier discourse of heritage that focused on cultural Islam and the Pakistan identity as it is rooted in an alliance between local religious actors and heritage advocates in the city. The author also examines the contours of this emerging partnership to reflect on the implications of the discourse of heritage in shaping the future of Sufi shrines in Pakistan. 

About the author: 
Amen Jaffer is a sociologist and associate professor at the Lahore University of Management Sciences in Pakistan whose teaching, research and advising interests lie in the fields of religion, urban studies, everyday life, difference and social control, social theory, political economy of waste and recycling, and the politics of space and infrastructure.