Soul Rivals

STATE, MILITANT AND POP SUFISM IN PAKISTAN

In Pakistan, Sufism has long been a battleground for competing ideologies. Governments, political factions, and religious groups have alternately weaponized or dismissed it to advance their agendas. Since the early 2000s, however, the state has aggressively rebranded Pakistan as a “Sufi nation” - a superficial effort to counter the country’s global reputation as a hotbed of extremism. This pivot to Sufism’s syncretic traditions sidestepped meaningful secular reforms, which risk backlash from politicized religious groups emboldened by controversial constitutional changes between the 1970s and 1980s.

In Soul Rivals, Nadeem Farooq Paracha dissects Pakistan’s evolving religio-political landscape with wit and rigor, tracing how Sufism has fractured into competing forms: State Sufism (a tool for soft diplomacy), Pop Sufism (commercialized spirituality), and Militant Sufism (reactionary identity politics). Blending sharp critique with cultural history, Paracha exposes the paradoxes of a nation torn between modernity and theocracy.

Why readers love Paracha’s voice:

• “He writes like your smartest friend telling stories over chai—connecting history to the music you hum, the food you crave, and the strangers you meet on a rickshaw ride.” – The Hindu
• “Cuts through stereotypes to show Pakistan’s raw, messy heart—where hope and hypocrisy battle daily.” – Hindustan Times

PAGES: 115
AUTHOR: Nadeem Farooq Paracha
FORMAT: Hardback