Grief and Identity: Performance of Shia Community Religious Rituals in District Jhang (1947–2009)

• MUHAMMAD ZULQARNAIN HAIDER

  Author

This study argues that ritual performances among the Shia community of District Jhang, Pakistan, served as powerful mechanisms for negotiating collective grief, asserting religious identity, and sustaining cultural continuity during the volatile period from 1947 to 2009. The temporal scope encompasses the displacement following the Partition of British India, the rise of political Islam under General Zia-ul-Haq, and escalating sectarian violence which defined Jhang as a conflict hotspot. Using ethnographic, archival, and oral history data, the research analyzes Muharram processions, majalis, and azadari as resilient forms of cultural practice. Findings demonstrate that the ritualization of Karbala’s historical suffering provides a necessary master narrative for understanding contemporary marginalization, transforming public grief from devotional piety into a deliberate political assertion of identity. This analysis provides a focused, micro-level understanding of how lived religious experience underpins collective resilience in a critical conflict zone.

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