Performance, Belonging and Identity: Ritual Variations in the British Qādiriyya

Scholarship on modern Sufism has centred on the analysis of turuq (sing. tariqa – often translated as ‘Sufi orders’), by scrutinising the institutional dimension of a group of devotees who gather around a sheikh, and/or the set of religious practices and doctrines believed to be characteristic of each tariqa. Even though Sufi orders have expanded internationally, creating new local communities, the underlying rationale of the shared religious character of each tariqa prevails in most studies. This paper explores the dynamics of reterritorialisation of a Moroccan Sufi order, the Qadiriyya, in the United Kingdom by comparing it to other enclaves of the same order in continental Europe. It suggests that ritual variations are indicative of the religious diversity existing within each order. In order to do so, the article focuses on the analysis of ritual practices and it addresses how ritual performance evolves when a Sufi order becomes transnational. More precisely, it looks at the effects of ritual on the dynamics and unity within the Qadiriyya and the extent to which the reconfiguration of ritual practice contributes to the expansion of the order beyond its original enclave. The article scrutinises ritual variances as developed by the British Qadiriyya and considers the implications that these changes have for the religious identity of local groups of devotees as well as for its relationship with the rest of the enclaves that conform to the order.