Marsen Ch. 6 -- Scholars and Scoundrels: Rowshan's amulet-making ulama

Note: the following was written as a means of preparation for an upcoming exam in my course on Islam.

Throughout Living Islam, Magnus Marsden repeats the theme of the hidden and open parts of life in Chitral. In the sixth chapter, Marsden seeks to show how this applies to the lives and practices of the Sunni ulama (or dashmanan) - "men of learning" - in the village of Rowshan.

Marsden also has other goals in this chapter. First, he wants to show the interaction between Sufi-centered and reform-oriented types of Islamic knowledge and practice. Marsden wants to analyze how these affect the dashmanan and how they are perceived by the community. Second, he wants to explore the interaction between the changes men returning from madrasas wish to instill, and the emotional and intellectual response of villagers to the dashmanan and their Islamising messages. To what extent do the villagers defer to what the dashmanan teach? Marsden explores how religious education impacts the intellectual component of the village. He eventually concludes that Rowshan people think in a "multidimensional" way about the village's dashmanan, and that Rowshan villagers exercise a degree of choice, thought, and reflection that seems at odds with the account of ulama, madrasas, and "Taliban-style brainwashing" associated with South Asia. He also concludes that classifying Chitral's Muslims in either/or categories of religious views (such as traditionalist or Islamist, strict or liberal) over simplifies Islam in Rowshan. Ordinary villagers and dashmanan alike participate in thought and reasoning, and how to live a "mindful Muslim life." Rowshan people believe that both intellectual work and religious learning can "transform" emotional states. However, Rowshan people do have anxieties about excessive learning and improper religious education.

Insofar as religious education in the village is concerned, both girls and boys receive both "worldly" education and religious education. The religious schools are divided between Sunnis and Ismai'lis. Sunni children learn the Qu'ran and the Hadith by recognized dashmanan. They first memorize the Qu'ran, and then later receive stock "catechesis" on the meaning of the verses they have memorized. Ismai'li children are taught from approved Ismai'li textbooks by people who have taken some Ismai'li religious courses. While Ismai'li girls receive religious education until 18, Sunni girls receive it until around 12, when they are subject to more rigorous purdah than Ismai'li girls. Only a small number of boys from Rowshan study in madrasas. Marsden attributes this in part due to the Ismai'li population (Ismai'i boys never attend madrasas) and that the village associates madrasas with narrow minds. "Narrow minds" are viewed as a threat to village life.

The response to dashmanan varies in Rowshan. Some of Rowshan's villagers view the dashmanan with disdain. The way they dress (if they wear turbans) evokes a complex emotional response from village Ismai'li who associate turbans with the Taliban and the Taliban's persecution of non-Sunni Muslims. Rather than engaging in the discussions the villagers conduct, the dashmanan recite Qu'ranic verses. Some villagers equate this with narrow-mindedness; furthermore, the dashmanan's body-centered attempts to follow the sunna often label them incapable of thought. Not all of them are viewed this way, though. The dashmanan are often the subject of jokes. However, many Rowshan people do take them seriously and approve of them. Having a newly-trained dashman in the house is a source of pride, but their views often cause conflicts in the households they return to - they try to change household practices to conform to "proper" Islamic practices.