From Bawa to Maryam: Pilgrimages and Shrines
in the Fellowship Communities
M. Shobhana Xavier
Visiting Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Franklin & Marshall College
The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship (BMF) is an American Sufi movement that developed based on the teachings of Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (d. 1986). This movement developed in parallel to its Sri Lankan counterpart, the Serendib Sufi Study Circle (SSSC). At the center of both of these institutions are shrines (mazar) devoted to Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, one located in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, and the other in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan shrine is also dedicated to Mary, the mother of Jesus. In mapping the movement of pilgrims and devotees between these two sacred shrines, this presentation captures the complexities of "authentic" Sufi practices and traditions as they are negotiated by the diverse disciples of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen and thus complicate any singular approach to Sufism in the communities of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen.
M. Shobhana Xavier is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She completed her Ph.D. in Religion and Culture at Wilfrid Laurier-Waterloo University in Waterloo, Canada.