User:Louis P. Boog/sandbox/Zikrism

Zikrism (also Zikriyya or the Zikri faith) is a Mahdist minority Muslim group or sect found mostly in the Balochistan region of western Pakistan. Like Shia and Sunni Muslims, Zikri revere the Quran, unlike them they follow different prayer practices and believe the Mahdi (the messiah figure of Islam) has already come. The name Zikri comes from the Arabic word dhikr.

They have been victim of sectarian attacks since before the founding of Pakistan and recent attacks and insecurity have led to migration by some from Balochistan to Pakistan's cities.

Their population is estimated to be between 500,000 to 800,000 individuals.

Religious status
In the census reports of Pakistan, Zikris are "counted under the general title of Muslim", but according to two scholarly sources (Carroll McC Pastner, Stephen L. Pastner), Zikris are considered "unbelievers" or "heretical" by their Sunni neighbors. (Although this doesn't mean there are strong ancestral or sociological differences between the two groups in their homeland. Two other scholars -- Shah Mohammad Marri, Sabir Badalkhan -- write that intermarriage between Zikri and Sunni Muslims is "common" ; with first cousins and even siblings sometimes having different beliefs. Irrigation and cultivated land is shared between mixed families and there are few occupations that are exclusive to one sect or the other.) Sources have described Zikrism as "a minority Muslim group", "minority Islamic sect", a Muslim sect", a "Muslim offshoot sect", and as "semi-Muslim".  Almost all Zikris are  speakers of Baloch, and none come from the "other ethnolinguistic groups of the region".

Origins and beliefs
Unlike mainstream Muslims who believe the mahdi -- "the (divinely) guided one" -- will appear at the end of time to restore the religion, Zikri believe the mahdi "has already come and gone".

Sources differ on Zikri beliefs, including who the Zikri Mahdi was. Adherents.com states that the mahdi (a messianic figure in Islamic eschatology) named Nur Pak whose teachings they follow, appeared in the 15th Century. The UNHCR states that the religion was formed in the early 17th Century and follows only the oral tradition of Islam rather than the written form followed and accepted by the majority of Pakistan's Muslims. Scholar Sabir Badalkhan insists the Zikri faith developed in Makran in the late 16th century. According to Stephen L. Pastner, the Zikri mahdi is Nur Pak, or "pure light" who walked the earth before Adam and will return at the end of days to restore true Islam which has been perverted by the Sunnis.

Badalkhan gives five theses "concerning the identity" of who the Zikri thought the Mahdi was:
 * 1) The nūrī naẓrīya, which holds that the (Shi'i) Imam Mahdi of Shi'i Islam visited the earth in human form before disappearing but "was created from the Holy Light" (Arabic nur means  "light");
 * 2) Sayyid Muhammad Jaunpuri (who founded the breakaway Mahdawi movement sect), or one of his followers, was the Mahdi, who directly or indirectly introduced the doctrine in Makran;
 * 3) The Mahdi is the 12th Imam of the Shiites (but is not "Holy Light"; and
 * 4) The Mahdi was Sayyid Muhammad Atakki, who was born in Attock in Punjab.
 * 5) Sabir Badalkhan postulates a fifth "line of thought" that the Mahdi of the Zikris may have been "an emissary or a descendant" of the Sufi spiritual leader of the 14th and 15th centuries, Shah Nimatullah Wali, who brought his Sufi rituals to Kech
 * "which consisted mostly of the recitation of zikr formulas. In the course of a few decades, the Zikris got control of the chiefdom of Kech. They may have then introduced changes in the Sunni tenets and established an independent branch of Islam as the state religion of the independent kingdom of Makran."

Differences with Mahdavia sect
A number of sources talk about how Sayyid Muhammad Jaunpuri "is believed to be" or thought to be by some, the founder of Zikrism According to at least two scholars (Robert Benkin and Sabir Badalkhan), option #2 cannot be true. According to Robert Benkin, Zikris have been mistakenly identified as being part of the Indian Mahdavia sect. Outside observers have claimed the Mahdi figure of the Balochi Zikris was Muhammad Juanpuri. However, the Balochi Zikris dispute this, denying that Muhammad Jaunpuri visited Balochistan and insisting their Mahdi is a different figure from a later period. Zikris believe Nur Pak was born in 977 AH, or between 1569 and 1570 AD.

According to Sabir Badalkhan, the vast majority of Zikris, including their most influential leaders, reject the notion their Mahdi was Muhammad Jaunpuri, pointing to the different birth dates and deaths of Juanpuri and their Mahdi. They state their ancestors have never heard of Juanpuri, and that there are no relations between Zikri and Mahdavi communities, and that their beliefs and practices are distinct.

Practices
Zikris make a pilgrimage (ziyarat) to Koh-e-Murad, "Mountain of Desire" in Balochi, on the 27th of Ramadan in commemoration of their Mahdi. They observe this day as a sacred holiday. The descendants of the original believers of the Mahdi continue to lead the Zikri community and are known as murshids. Zikris refer to them as waja as a form of respect. Early that morning, Zikris observe Shab-e-Qadr, the commemoration of Muhammad receiving his first revelation from the Angel Gabriel.

Zikris observe daily prayers called zikr in place of salāt/namāz the daily prayers of other Muslims. There are five daily zikrs. Three prayers are obligatory and performed in group orally. Two are silent and generally performed only by older and more devout Zikris. Women perform only the spoken zikrs. The five prayer are known as Gwarbamay, Nemrochay, Rochzarday, Sarshapay, and Nemhangamay. Rochzarday and Nemhangamay may be performed individually, with all others being said in a group.

Zikri places of worship are called Zikr-khanas or zigrāna (lit. "house of zikr"). Zikris gather at three times a day Zikr-khanas and perform a special prayer in a square formation with the leader in the middle. This prayer consists of formulae in Persian and Balochi, Quranic verses, and the repetition of God's name while standing, sitting, and prostrating. Zikri worshippers wear white or light-colored clothing, wash before participating, and cover their head with a scarf or handkerchief called a rumal. Non-Zikris are forbidden to attend Zikri worship services at the Zikr-khana. Zikr-khanas were often built on astanas, places deemed holy by the Zikri community. This could be a place a murshid meditated or the former home of a community leader. Unlike Mosques, Zikr-khanas have no mihrab (there is no need to mark the direction of prayer because God is everywhere) nor minarets.

Contrary to some popular beliefs, Zikri do not have a different holy book than the Quran or in addition to the Quran. According to Sabir Badalkhan, they keep copies of the Quran ("printed by Sunni Muslim printing presses in major Pakistan cities") in Zikr-khanas on shelves or in niches, "usually wrapped in clean costly cloth" and are treated with customary reverence, being kissed by Zikris after recitation of a verse.

On special occasions, Zikris observe chaugan, songs of praise for Muhammad, the Mahdi, Turbat and Koh-i-Murad, accompanied by ritual dance-like movements. Members stay up all night performing devotions. A female reciter known as the shehr stands in the middle of the formation reciting devotions to which the male group calls back.

Chaugans are sung in celebration of religious events such as the 27th of Ramadan, Shab-i-barat (the 15th day of Sha'ban), and Eid al-Adha. Zikris believe the fourteenth day of the lunar month, if it falls on a Friday, to be auspicious, and may perform the chaugan then.

Persecution
Zikris have faced persecution for their beliefs from larger Muslim groups (primarily Sunni extremists) who consider them heretics.

According to historian and writer Dr Inayatullah Baloch, “Zikris faced persecution in the eighteenth century by Mir Nasir Khan the Great", who reigned from 1749–94, "the Sunni Muslim ruler of the Khanate of Balochistan in Kalat. At that time nearly all of the sect’s religious and historical records were destroyed, and the information which survives is from the few religious works which were preserved through oral traditions and the writings of non-Zikris.” According to another historian, Dr Shah Mohammad Marri, "Nasir Khan waged a war to convert" the Zikris in which 35,000 were killed. It is "remembered as the Zikri-Namazi war”.

In the 1930s, in Iranian Makran, an extremist called Qazi Abdullah Sarbazi declared jihad against Zikris, "which resulted in a major massacre" and the driving out of Zikri from that area. Also in that era, "hundreds of other Zikris were killed" in periodic pogroms by "fanatic Sunnis at the instigation" of their religious leaders "in the areas of Farod, Baftan and Kishkaur (in Balochistan), according to Abdul Ghani Baloch.

Since the establishment of the state of Pakistan, some combination of discrimination, harassment, forced conversions, efforts to have them declared non-Muslims, and killings have flared up from time to time.

Under the military government of Zia-al-Haqq (1977-1988) and with the general rise of Islamic extremism and jihadism in the region since the 1980s, Sunnis sought to have Zikris declared as non-Muslims. In the late 1970s or 1980, "an outlaw from Iranian Balochistan" called Shah Murad or Shahmurad, "declared jihad against" Zikris and killed "hundreds" and forced others to convert to Sunni Islam, before he himself was killed by some Zikris.

In 1993 there was a movement among Sunnis to declare Zikris non-Muslim , and a campaign was mounted against their annual congregation at Koh-i-Murad in Malakand. This was accompanied by demonstrations calling for the destruction of the Zikri Baitullah (House of God), and members of the sect were subjected to violence and harassment.

More recently, attacks have included a 29 Aug 2014 attack on a shrine in southwest Pakistan in Awaran district. gunmen killed at least six Zikris and wounding seven other. On 7 October 2016, gunmen shot dead Syed Mullah Akhtar Mullai, a Zikri spiritual leader in Kech district of Balochistan. At least two Zikri pilgrims to the Zikri holy place Koh-e-Murad, were killed and another two injured when their vehicle was attacked with a remote-controlled bomb in Kamp Tal area of Panjgur, Balochistan.

According to historian Shah Mohammad Marri, this sectarianism is despite a lack of interest in doctrinal disputes or "the nitty-gritty of religion" by "most Balochi-speaking people", for whom intermarriage between Zikri and orthodox Muslims is common, and problems between the two communities rare. Marri postulates that "a religious or sect-based conflict" is a way of keeping the Balochis politically divided.

Size
There are "no precise figures" available on the number of the Zikris in Pakistan because in the census reports "they are counted under the general title of Muslim". The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in 2004 stated that there were "approximately 200,000" Zikris, but most estimates are much higher. According to the Worldmark Encyclopedia of Culture & Daily Life, they are "estimated" to number "over 750,000". Victoria Williams estimated 800,000 Zikris. Sabir Badalkhan estimates 700,000 to 800,000 Zikris. The UNHCR estimates their number about one million.

Location
Zikris live primarily in Pakistani Balochistan, concentrated in the southern coast of Makran, the Lasbela District, and Quetta. Other sources state they are located primarily in Makran and Lasbela District. They are a majority in the Gwadar District of Makran in Balochistan. There are sizable communities of Zikris in Pakistan's Sindh province and Karachi, especially in the economically disadvantaged Lyari Town. Some also in Oman. While Zikris also historically lived in the province of Iranian Balochistan, almost all of them left for Pakistani Balochistan in the last decades of the 20th-century.

Persecution has driven "hundreds" of Zikri (and other minorities) from Balochistan to "safer cities in Pakistan like Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Islamabad".

Suggestions for changes

 * Add "Religious status" section (with "They have been described as "a minority Muslim group",[1] "a Muslim sect",[2] a "Muslim offshoot sect",[3] and as "semi-Muslim".[4]")
 * let people know what page you are citing in the "Zikri Dilemmas" article. I suggest using an abreviated citations with page number for Badalkhan article such as (Badalkhan, "Zikri Dilemmas" (2008), p.297) BUT I can create an abreviated cite with a link to the complete citation. DONE
 * give a concise explanation/description of the mahdi and madhism. This being an encyclopedia we should let people uninitiated with mahdi know what we are talking about. DONE
 * why were these deleted from ==Persecution==?
 * [added this part] In the 1930s, in Iranian Makran, an extremist called Qazi Abdullah Sarbazi declared jihad against Zikris, "which resulted in a major massacre" and the driving out of Zikri from that area. Also in that era, "hundreds of other Zikris were killed" in periodic pogroms by "fanatic Sunnis at the instigation" of their religious leaders "in the areas of Farod, Baftan and Kishkaur (in Balochistan), according to Abdul Ghani Baloch. DONE
 * According to historian Shah Mohammad Marri, this sectarianism is despite a lack of interest in doctrinal disputes or "the nitty-gritty of religion" by "most Balochi-speaking people", for whom intermarriage between Zikri and orthodox Muslims is common, and problems between the two communities rare. (Badalkhan also notes that some "first cousins (or sometimes even brothers and sisters)" are divided between "Zikri and non-Zikri lines".) Marri postulates that "a religious or sect-based conflict" is a way of keeping the Balochis politically divided.