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Via the despicable Radio Free Liars (I mean Radio Free Liberty), we get news that another female singer has been murdered in Pakistan’s northwest, this time in Peshawar. Most of them have been murdered by husbands or other male relatives who opposed their singing careers. However, a few have been killed by the Pakistani Taliban.
The Pakistani Taliban recently outlawed fun in Peshawar. All singing and dancing has been outlawed as anti-Islamic. Anti-Islamic means “fun.” If it’s fun, it’s anti-Islamic.
I am not sure what the Quranic basis is for outlawing singing and dancing. I thought this was an innovation that came from the austere Wahhabi movement that arose in the equally austere (and frankly no fun) deserts of Saudi Arabia in the 1800′s. I know that the Wahhabis consider singing and dancing to be haram, but I would like to see an official Islamic ruling on this, preferably out of Al-Azhar in Egypt or some other venerable institution.
A classic photo of a typical Pakistani music band.
As you can see, Pakistani music has a distinct Sufi feel about it. See those costumes, even on the woman? That screams Sufi. The headgear on the men broadcasts Sufism loud and clear also. I have also listened to this music and watched their performances and the whole thing from the sound of the music to the moves of the people on stage has a very Sufi feel about it.
I didn’t know that Sufism was so popular in Pakistan. However, Sufism has traditionally been very popular in Afghanistan and I think it has also long been popular in Shia Iran. It is also very big among Iraqi Sunnis, especially the more moderate type. Kurds are also deep into Sufism.