'Our Rule' The MQM, the Dawat-i Islami, and Mohajir Religiosity

This chapter by Oskar Verkaaik explores a neglected comparison between Urdu-speaking Mohajir support for the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), and Mohajir membership in the Dawat-i-Islami proselytizing movement in the nineties. Initially Verkaaik outlines some superficial differences that mark this comparison. Whereas the MQM comprises a political party and ethnic movement, the Dawat-i-Islami condemns politics and promotes Islam as an antidote to ethnic strife. Although the two movements are partial adversaries, both depart from a singular notion of Mohajir religiosity that is rooted in the modernist condemnation of popular religion, and exacerbated by ethnic stereotyping. Unfolding motifs of physical and spiritual migration and journeys (for example, from Mecca to Medina, India to Pakistan, Pakistan and abroad), Verkaaik argues that both movements distinctly appeal to young Karachiites’ aspirations and anxieties about the future—and tap into popular religious traditions that bind and separate Mohajirs from other segments of the Pakistani population.