reconstructing the sufi shrine as a living cultural heritage

316 Pages·2017·28.64 MB·English

RECONSTRUCTING THE SUFI SHRINE
AS A LIVING CULTURAL HERITAGE:

CASE OF SHRINE OF SHAH ABDUL LATIF BHITAI, SINDH
(PAKISTAN)

Dissertation (Phd thesis)
to obtain the academic doctorate degree
submitted to the

Bauhaus University Weimar
Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism
Under the Urban Heritage Programme

Internal Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Frank Eckardt
External Supervisor: Dr. Hasan Ali Khan (Pakistan)

Masooma Mohib Shakir

Weimar, Germany
2018
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MASOOMA MOHIB SHAKIR CURRICULUM VITAE
Masooma Shakir is an architect and an urban researcher. She is particularly interested in
interdisciplinary research focusing on urban and spatial issues in relation to historic
environments. She has keen interest in cultural heritage and its contextual associations. Her
doctoral research looks at the local religious and cultural heritage of Sufi shrines in the region
of Sindh. Her work is analytical, aiming to decipher the vocabulary / components of the regional
tangible and intangible culture of a particular place as a system / language.

Apart from this, she has been involved in urban research projects within the Architecture
department of NED University, as well as outside it on the documentation / analysis of multiple
urban issues of the mega city of Karachi. Her masters thesis was an urban design proposal for
the futuristic development of CBD in a direction that protects the heritage areas of the city.
Urban research and documentation activities have not been limited to the city of Karachi and
Masooma has ventured into the research activities exploring the smaller towns and secondary
cities in Sindh in particular.
She has been part of the faculty at the Architecture and Planning Department at the NED
University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi as Assistant Professor since 2007. She has
been involved in design teaching, theory courses including Urban Planning and Design,
Research Methodology and Environment Studies. She has been a dynamic participant in
various research projects and academic activities within the department. She has been a part
of the Editorial team of the Journal of Research in Architecture and Planning at the Department
previously and has also acted as Advisor / Senior Coordinator of Design Studio Group (DSG).
The Design Studio Group is a design faculty group that was formed as a forum to discuss and
develop design studio teaching, bringing and sharing new ideas and practices.
She also carried out several small and big scale, residential and commercial, interior design
and architecture projects as well as heritage adaptive reuse projects.
Personal Details:
Surname: Shakir
Name: Masooma Mohib
Place and Date of Birth: Lahore (Pakistan); 10 November 1977
Nationality: Pakistani
Email:
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Research papers presented in International Conferences
Presented a paper at the Centre d'études de l'Inde et de l'Asie du Sud - CEIAS (Center for
South Asian Studies) Paris on 'Rituals, Social Hierarchies and their relationship to Place:
Case of Shrine of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, Bhitshah', as part of the ongoing Phd study, for
the Conference on 'How to Study Shared Sacred Spaces in South Asia and Beyond',
December 2016
Presented a paper at the Centre d'études de l'Inde et de l'Asie du Sud - CEIAS (Center for
South Asian Studies) Paris on 'Mapping Shared Sacred Spaces in Uderolal', as part of the
UderoLal Research Project (ULRP), for the Conference on 'How to Study Shared Sacred
Spaces in South Asia and Beyond', December 2016
Presented a paper on: ‘From Sufi Learning Center to Popular Place – Living History and
Cultural Place at the Shrine of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai in the Town of Bhitshah, Sindh
(Pakistan)’, at ARCASIA Conference, Ayutthaya, Thailand, November 2015.
Publications:
Books:
Karachi From the Prism of Urban Design, Co-authored with Dr. Noman Ahmed, Asiya Sadiq
Polack and Suneela Ahmed, Published by Department of Architecture and Planning, NED UET,
Karachi, 2016.
Research Projects and Reports:
Documentation and Analysis of the Secondary City of Larkana (Sindh) as part of the
Sustainable Urbanization Project– Research Study of 8 secondary cities of Pakistan; A
UNHabitat-NED Collaboration Project including Sialkot, Mansehra, Mingora, Turbat, Landikotal,
Gilgit and Muzaffarabad as other secondary cities in Pakistan. This involved physical and socio
economic survey of selected areas of city, analysis, formulation of key proposals based on identification
of key issues. This was carried out between 2010-2012
Mapping of density of four low income housing areas in Karachi, Density Study – 04 Cases of
Housing, 2008/09, Prepared for the International Institute of Environment and Development (IIED),
co-researchers and authors including Asiya Sadiq Polack and Suneela Ahmed in collaboration with
Architect and Planner Arif Hasan, published and available at http://www.iied.org/pubs/pdfs/G02709.pdf
Asia Link Programme (2006/07), NED University: as research assistant; A collaborative
program between Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium; Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, the
Netherlands; CEPT University (CEPT), Ahmedabad, India; University of Moratuwa, Colombo, Sri
Lanka; and the NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan for curriculum
development in urban and city design.
Research Papers:
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‘Economic functioning of Secondary cities of Pakistan and its integration with the
th
physical landuse – Case of Larkana and Mansehra’, presented at the 7 Seminar on Urban
and Regional Planning, NED UET, 31 March 2012, published in the Conference proceedings.
‘Towards achieving a balance between real estate development potentials and issues of
heritage conservation in the city center, with the backdrop of Karachi’, presented at the
th
5 Seminar on Urban and Regional Planning, NED UET, May 2010. This was also published in
the Seminar Proceedings Publication 2010.
Gated Living in the context of Karachi, published in: “Journal of Research in Architecture
and Planning”, Volume Nine, 2010, Department of Architecture and Planning, NED University
of Engineering and Technology, Karachi
Trends in Urban Housing and Development Practices in Karachi: An interface with the
Informal Sector, presented at the AsiaLink-AsiaUrbs Conference, 07-09 June 2007, Center for
Housing Planning and Building, Battaramulla, Colombo, Srilanka. published in: “Emerging
South Asian Urban Design Practices and Paradigms”. This paper was a result of my work as a
research assistant for Asia Link Programme (2006/07). This was a collaborative program between
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium; Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, the Netherlands; CEPT
University (CEPT), Ahmedabad, India; University of Moratuwa, Colombo, Sri Lanka; and the NED
University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan for curriculum development in urban and
city design.
International Urban Design Competition Entry
Participated in International Competition on Urban Regeneration of Aurificia Block in Porto,
Portugal as the main coordinator.
The entry was the only one from Asia. Taking on a multidisciplinary approach sought to revitalize a
degenerated area through an economic activity addition of urban agriculture, supported by community
and cultural activities along with creation of an authentic tourism.
Participation in Cultural Events and Exhibitions
Participated in art event ‘Pursukoon Karachi’, with the art project ‘Rang De’, that aimed to
create and spread messages of peace through graffiti and mobile messages on rikshaws (local
transport mode). Along with a handful of dedicated fourth year design students from NED, ticket
booths for rikshaws were designed using bamboos and scaffolding as basic local materials and
technology put together at very low cost, detailed with rikshaw art.
Participated in IAP Design Competition ’21 cubic feet’, a storage box design of the stated
volume, exhibited at the Indus Valley Art Gallery for two weeks. The design storage box was a
multipurpose, semi outdoor studio space for any kind of creative work. It was called ‘Pandora Box’. A
couple of old wooden window structures were revamped to become openable table and storage space
for creative minds.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Synopsis……………………………………………………………………………………………...11
Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………………..16

INTRODUCTION
Context: theoretical and empirical....................................................................................... 23
Premise ................................................................................................................................... 31
Aim and research questions ................................................................................................ 32
Research strategy ................................................................................................................. 32
Architectural Research ..................................................................................................... 33
Data collection methods................................................................................................. 34
Triangulation ..................................................................................................................... 36
The case study of the Shrine of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai .................................................. 37
Challenges and opportunities of the research study ........................................................ 40
Research outcomes .............................................................................................................. 41

1 ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK
1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 43
1.2 The Interrelation between the tangible and the intangible components of a living
heritage ................................................................................................................................... 45
1.3 The Context: The larger geographical region within the historical context ........ 48
1.3.1 Nodes in a wider network ..................................................................................... 48
1.4 The Content: Place, Settlement and Rituals ........................................................... 50
1.4.1 The Settlement and its spatial relation to place (morphology / primary
element): Framing locality.............................................................................................. 50
1.4.2 The function of the place / the roles it has played through its history ............ 53
1.4.3 The Rituals: Acts of Group Commemoration and Place ................................... 55
Structure of the Case study Research Analysis .......................................................... 56

2 MACRO LEVEL: THE LARGER CONTEXT
2.1 Introduction: The role of the shrine in history ............................................................. 59
2.2 Civilizational Imaginings and contradictory patterns constructing identity of the
Muslim nation and community – Precolonial, Colonial and Nation formation ............... 63
2.2.1 Pre Colonial (Before 1790) .................................................................................... 63
Mysticism and related cultural values – Syncretism......................................................... 63
Sufism and culture ............................................................................................................ 67
Political history ................................................................................................................. 70
Absence of landed private property ................................................................................. 71
Community formations (role of saints) ............................................................................. 72
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Networks ........................................................................................................................... 73
2.2.2 Colonial (1799 – 1947) ........................................................................................... 78
Western modernity: Classifications and systems ............................................................. 79
Objectifying and fixing identity of Muslim community ....................................................... 80
Categorizing fakirs as criminals; descendants of saints as landlords .............................. 81
Cultural tensions: Muslim nationalism versus modern nation .......................................... 83
The Institution of Waqf ..................................................................................................... 85
Sindhi nationalism and its role in the definition of Pakistan territory ................................ 90
2.2.3 Post independence (1947 - ) ................................................................................ 92
Continuing patterns of tension: ........................................................................................ 93
Embracing western modernity vs. defining Islamic state ................................................. 93
The Province of Sindh and its struggle after partition ...................................................... 95
Bureaucratization of traditional institutions: The formation of the government department
of Auqaf ............................................................................................................................ 96
A conceptual articulation of the institution of waqf as one preserving of collective memory
and supporting 'living heritage' sites within the context ................................................... 98
2.3 Concluding Remarks ................................................................................................. 99

MARUI XXVII - ……………………………………………………………………………………...103
Selected verses from Risalo of Shah Abdul Latif, Translated in verse by Elsa Kazi

3 THE INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE OF THE SHRINE OF SHAH ABDUL
LATIF BHITAI
3.1 Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai (1689-1752): Introduction ............................................... 109
3.2 The Poetry: Intangible Heritage and a Cultural Representation ......................... 111
3.3 Rituals, Social Organization and Relationship to Place ...................................... 118
3.4 Social grouping at the Shrine and the Rituals ...................................................... 121
3.5 Traditional Social Group: Preservation of the Collective Memory ..................... 123
Fakirs .............................................................................................................................. 123
Rituals as a form of collective memory in space ....................................................... 125
The structure and rhythm of collective memory ............................................................. 127
3.5.1 Daily performance of Shah jo Risalo: Raagi Fakirs ......................................... 128
3.5.2 Naqqara / Dhamaal: Mungenhar Fakirs ................................................................ 134
3.5.3 Monthly Ritual of Sao Sumar: Zakri fakir and Gaddi Nashin ............................. 136
3.6 Annual Ritual of the Urs: Provincial Management Institution, the Auqaf and the
Culture Departments ........................................................................................................... 141
3.6.1 The Town during Urs ......................................................................................... 143
3.6.2 The Shrine on Urs .............................................................................................. 146
3.7 Concluding Remarks ............................................................................................... 153
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4 THE PLACE WITHIN THE TOWN CONTEXT: RELATIONSHIP OF SHRINE TO
SETTLEMENT
4.1 Bhitshah (1742 - ): Introduction to town................................................................ 158
4.2 Chronological historical and political overview of the town............................... 160
4.3 The traditional organic town .................................................................................. 166
4.3.1 The Process of Community Building................................................................. 171
4.3.2 Traditional cultural nodes in town ..................................................................... 175
4.4 Post colonial, post independence city form ......................................................... 181
Urban planning exercises and changing relationships between indigenous
neighbourhoods and shrine ........................................................................................ 186
4.5 Concluding Remarks ............................................................................................... 189

5 CULTURAL PLACE AND LIVING HERITAGE OF THE SHRINE OF SHAH ABDUL
LATIF BHITAI
5.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 192
5.2 Evolution of place .................................................................................................... 196
5.2.1 The Shrine as a khanqah .................................................................................... 196
5.2.2 The Shrine as a Dargah / Place of Veneration .................................................. 201
The multifaceted open court of the shrine ...................................................................... 210
The relation between the shrine and the bazaar ............................................................ 214
5.2.3 The Shrine as a Living History and a Place of Commemoration .................... 217
The indigenous community / settlement of fakirs ........................................................... 220
5.2.4 The Shrine as a non-sacred, civic, public place ............................................... 232
5.3 Concluding Remarks ............................................................................................... 237

CONCLUSION
The Sufi Shrine as a Cultural Living Heritage .................................................................. 239
Contribution to Knowledge ................................................................................................ 243
GLOSSARY ........................................................................................................................... 245
BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................... 247

APPENDICES
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