Religious education and extremism in Pakistan: from Deobandi militancy to a rising Sufi fanaticism
Religious education and extremism in Pakistan: from Deobandi militancy to a rising Sufi fanaticism

Summary/Abstract: Aim. The aim of this research article is to verify waves of fanaticism among thefollowers of the Barelvi sect, a branch of Sufi Islam along with continuation of violentextremist activities by the followers of the Deobandi brand of the Muslim religion in Pakistan. It has been evidenced that Pakistan’s society has been badly influenced by religious extremism since the 1980s (Gul, 2012). Fitzgerald (2011) termed the religion as a force of nature which is absolutely appropriate for the case of religious extremism in Pakistan. The religious extremism in Pakistan can be examined through the concept of social constructivism which emphasizes characterisation of human identity, values and norms in the society (Sajjad, 2015). Method. The qualitative method of research was employed to analyse circumstances related to growing Sufi’s fanaticism in Pakistan. The data was collected from different sources including books, scientific journals, research articles, news papers and websites. Results. By using various valuable references, it has been verified that support of the state in the 1980s caused growth of Deobandi extremism, as well as support by the state in order to counter some of the Deobandi fanatic groups in the 1990s and 2000s led to occurrence of Barelvi fanaticism in the country. Conclusion. The study confirms that Pakistan, which was already witness of Deobandi militancy, is facing the more challenging fanaticism of Barelvis, having strong tendencies toward radicalization and extremism on the religious issues like blasphemy.

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