Dear Brother Shabir,

A Note on the Zikis

I am not too much of a believer when it comes to issue of institutionalised faith. However, I am deeply religious and my religion is humanity. I believe that everybody has a right to define his/her own faith in his/her own way and live by it. And no body, even the state or community, has any right to impose any official or unofficial model of faith on anybody. Thus the claims of 'more' or 'less' Islamic, or HIndu or Christian, do not appeal to me. However, these are the facts regarding the Zikris.

The Zikris take their name from the Arabic word zikr (remembering the Almighty)

Zikri, a significant religious faith in Makran, is not mentioned in the 1981 census of Pakistan. The reason is that Zikris claim to be Muslims while the Sunni Muslims denounce that claim of theirs. The beliefs and rituals practised by Zikris are not in line with the mainstream Sunni Islam.

The Zikris believe in a new prophet and deny the performance of the most important rituals of Islam. They believe that only repeating the litany is the valid form of worship. The Zikris repudiate the performance of nimaz (Muslim prayer five times a day) and call other Muslims Nimazi.

The most important of the rituals is performed on the 27th day of Ramazan, when the barefoot Zikris circumbulate the Koh-i-murad and perform other rituals. This is called hajj (Muslim pilgrimage to Makkah) of Zikris. In the past probably Zikris also named this ritual as hajj but now the Zikri call it simply a ziarat (visit to a shrine). In Panjgur district, a majority of Zikris reside in Gichk, Gowargo and Sami Shahrag area but they are in a very small minority in other areas of the district.

The conflict between Muslims and Zikris is centuries old. Zikri religion is said to be originated about four centuries ago. It is believed to be introduced in Makran with the rise of Buledais. When the Buledais converted from Zikri faith to Islam, the Zikri folk denied their rule and supported Gichkis who were Zikris by faith.

Mir Nasir Khan I of Kalat sent nine expeditions to make the Zikri faith in Makran obsolete. It is interesting to note that Ahmed Shah Abdali, a fellow Sunni Muslim and then ruler of Afghanistan, was so much incensed by Nasir Khan's brutal atacks on Zikris that he sent in his army to invade Kalat. Nasir withdrew his campaign against the Zikris and negotiated peace with Abdali.

Many a times religious scholars from both sides of the Iran border called for jihad (sacred fight) against Zikris and organised efforts were made to eliminate Zikris or to convert them to mainstream Islam.

The most recent conflict surfaced in 1987 at the height of Ziaul Haq's rule, when Sunni Islam was given tacit official patronage in Pakistan. Then, a Zikri mullah challenged the Muslims for a munazara (arguments and counter-arguments) on trueness of Zikris.

Almost all other Islamic religious parties took it as a stimulus and demanded for a proclamation by the government to declare Zikris as non-Muslims. In Ramazan, they gathered in Turbat, where the Koh-i-murad is located, and tried to stop Zikris from performing their rituals. For the last several years this conflict has cooled down as many Muslim scholars have advocated a peaceful approach to the issue and decided to preach to Zikris in a passive way and create awareness about the misleading beliefs of Zikris.

It is said that a large scale conversion of Zikris to Islam has taken place due to such preaching. However, Zikri sources denounce this claim and say that the campaign initiated by the Muslim ulema (scholars) has strengthened the boundaries of their faith.

Ashok