..~-ibiJGIOUS PRESE~9£,~:0, theoretical issues in the social sciences: Islamic tribes cannot be_ studied in isolation as have, for inst:mce. certain segmentary ·~·'\· ;-----··-&1MBOLIS:tvI IN PU1):~t~p;uN·;f¥.:~PIETY tribes ( Fortes and Evans-Pritchard 1970; Middleton and Tait Aklfa.r S. Ahmed ,,I[. 1 1970). Thu_s by an extension_ of the argument I am arguing that ' /(Y ' ••, \\' ~e~hodo~ogi~ally and theoretically to study an Islamic society ·~-aifef''\t·,.2,l=;::·.~';'1. m 1solat1on 1s to remove an important dimension from it (Ahmed ) (.,"i~~..·d i;}" } ' 1976, 1980). The importance of the larger political framework of the ,.....,~· ,,, •.,; •v "-'., }!I,' ~.· ',' "• ' ~.~ ;~ • -~· .,:,""", "'-..·~ jlc • , Islamic world for Islamic societies, and their interconnection Among the Pukhtun tribes of Pakistan the c 1ve symbols of through universally accepted religious symbols, was one of th& religion are as visible as they are seen to be important to their main points I wished to make in an earlier work (Ahmed 1976) members in defining orthodox forms of religion, allocating and is a recognized social phenomenon (Coon 195:2; Gellner status and measuring religiosity in society. I shall describe 1969a: 2; Hart 1976: 15-16; Tavakolian 1976). In this paper I how sometimes trivial symbols like growing a beard indicate will be concerned simply in stating how sociological roles and conformity with religious tradition and are interpreted as being normative behaviour are explained within society by reference of social significance. The symbols in society that I shall be to what are locally understood and recognized as symbols derived describing constitute those perceived by members of society and from the main body of Islamic traditions. By the sociology of therefore are seen through the actor's eyes. The symbols of religion I will mean the location of cognitive and affective religion are to be interpreted as both social and religious sign­ referents that determine, at least in part, social action among posts in society; the former often overlapping with the latter. groups. The Pukhtun social world, its mores and norms, the The role of religious groups as guardians and interpreters of symbols of its society, are embedded in and often identical to Islamic mores and traditions will be discussed in ·the 'latter half those of the wider world of Islam. Our concern with l'eligion is of the paper. not with its theology but as a cultural system that imposes My arguments will be supported by data( 1) gathered from social action that translates symbolic associations with the field-work conducted in .1975-6 among the Mohmand(2) tribe supernatural into material reality. I in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan (Ahmed 1980). The methodology in this paper is based on an important The main arguments will be relevant to the sociology of ?-ssumption that 'the most obvious basis for religious behaviour religion in Islamic societies and particularly segmentary tribal is the one which any religious actor tells us about when we ask groups. I will emphasize the sociological rather than the psycho­ him - and, unlike some anthropologists , I believe him' ( Spiro logical forms of religion , i.e. the external, visible and explicit 1973: 112). I shall thus examine Islamic symbolism and its .._ in society rather than the internal, atavistic and. implicit in the relevance in society through the eyes of the actors and accept minds of men. My explanation will thus be Weberian - 1962. A their interpretation and apperception as a basis for analysis. caveat regarding symbolism borrowed from a penetrating analysis of 'religion as a cultural systen;' is added: (A) RELIGIOUS SYMBOLISM To undertake the study of cultural activity - activity in which symbolism forms the positive content - is thus not to abandon In a sociological manner that almost echoes Durkheim, 'lslarn·-is social analysis for a Platonic cave of shadows, to enter into a another name for Pukhtun society'. I wish to repeat my use of mentalistic world of introspective psychology or, worse, the word fiOCiological. The Islamic symbols are. clear and eMily speculative philosophy, and wander there forever in a haze identified by the actors; perhaps their religious meaning in the of 'Cognitions', 'Affections', 'Conations', and other elusive ecclesiastical sense may not appear relevant or even compreben- _. entities (Geertz 1973: 5). sible but their social significance is established by freque?lt recurrence. Religious groups ensure that these symbols a~~ In my paper I shall' thus heed Professor Geertz: 'Cultural acts, constantly activated partly to enhance their own social prestige the construction, apprehension, and utilization of symbolic and permit them a certain leverage in society. I am examining forms, are social events like any other; they are as public as these symbols through the eyes of the actor and therefore what marriage and as observable as agriculture' (ibid.). may appear superficial or even trivial ones remain signifioarit The importance accorded to religious symbolism in society in society. On one level I have heard in the mosque the sermon presupposes a connected and important point that Islamic of the mullah of Bela Mohmandan on Islamic symbolism in society. · tribes contain symbols that are universal within and common to He talked of the keeping or not keeping of beards as a measu1·e the Islamic world. This raises important methodological and of religiosity, and as I did not have one it proved to be an 310 Reugious p1·esenct, a1,J symbolism i1, Puditun society 313 ,J, - urn.:omfortable experience which would have been more so for close affinity to God that needs no translation and interpretation: any local man transgressing this norm. Shamshudm, a Bela _ 'The Beduin could not look for God within him: he was too sure elder, gravely confessed to me 'I am a sinner' (ze gonangar yam_1 that he was within God' (Lawrence 1962: 39j. Obedience and in 197 4 as he did not cultivate a beard. Shortly afterwards he submission; total loyalty of his will to the infinite power of the began to make amends and now has one. Haji. ~as~n of Sha ti Almighty, that is all that is required of him and that is what he Khel. who has recently returned from the han (p1lgr1mage) and gives willingly. He is unburdened with religious dialectics and is basking in its glory, constantly turned b~ad,; in_ his hands. polemics, that, he says disparagingly, is for the religious men, and asked me one favour only in our long fr1endsh1p: 1for the the mullahs and Mians. He is by definition a Muslim just as by · love of God cut those English ( kafir) side-burns'. When I_ birth he obtains the inalienable right to Pukhtunness. His place obliged he was as pleased as a child and commented on this in society as a Muslim and a Pukhtun are thus secure and ceaselessly all the while blessing me. defined from the moment of birth. However famous or infamous On another level religious leaders have repeatedly activated high or low, good or bad he cannot be ousted from this niche. ' Islamic symbolism in their fight against the Br_itish. The ~ajji, Islam, with Pukhtunwali and patrilineal descent, is seen as of Turangzai began his proclamation to the Monmand f~r Jz~aa an attribute associated with Pukhtun identity (Barth 1970). (holv war) with quotations from the Holy Qur'an, as did his son The Pukhtun defines himself as a Muslim and as this definition Badshah Gul when he tried to prevent the British from con­ is intrinsically unequivocal it poses him no dilemmas. In any structing a road in the Gandab, in the Mohmand Agency, in the case, the absence of larger non-Muslim groups neither threaten early 1930s. Badshah 's pamphlets argued 'Anyone who m~es his Muslimness nor prompt him to emphasize it. He may not friends with the British becomes the enemy of God and His have come to this conclusion after philosophic debate but to him Prophet' {Home Department, Tribal Research Cell, File 220: <!03). there is no disjunction in being Muslim and being Pukhtun. This The unity of Pukhtunwal! (code of the Pukhtuns) and Islam inherent belief in his Muslimness supported by the putative are symbolized and expressed in village social li~e by _the genealogical links to the Prophet through his apical ancestor, ph_ysical }uxtaposition of the mosque and the huira (vll~age_ Qais ibn c Abd al-Rashid, assure him of his special relationship guest-house). These two institutions are t_he ~ocus of hfe m to God which, in turn, has two social consequences. First, the every settlement and village. They are built simultaneously and Pukhtun brand of Islam is as sociologically all-pervasive as it is usually share a wall and /or courtyard. The Puk~tun acce~ts tolerant. This partly explains why non-Muslim groups like religion without doubts or questions, for there 1s no conflict Hindus and Sikhs live in security and freedom to worship in -between his Code and Islam. Indeed he sees the cooe as embed­ Tirah. an area which even non-Pukhtun Muslim groups would ded in Islam, and where there is contradiction, as in the taking find inaccessible. Second, the complete confidence in his of interest for loans or not allowing women their rights. he Muslimness constricts the role of religious groups and explains accepts his guilt frankly. The reluctance to give property ~o the continuation of Pukhto custom which contains non-Islamic women may well be tied up with the importanc~ of geographical elements such as the taking of usury and the denial of certain areas inhabited and associated with fixed sections and clans , rights to women. parts of which run the risk of alienation through the marriage Pukhtunness and iVJuslimness do not have to coalesce, they of women if they inherited property.