Negotiation of the sacred in Philadelphia : competitive Sufism at the shrine of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen

This article is a case study of the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen shrine in Pennsylvania, United States. The authors illustrate how various Sufisms' coexist and engage in contestation over the way that Bawa's remaining disciples, new members, and otherwise interested devotees utilize Bawa's burial shrine. The Fellowship in Philadelphia has established links with spaces affiliated with Bawa Muhaiyaddeen in Sri Lanka as well as with branches of the Fellowship in Toronto, Canada, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Hence, although this project is in many ways a case study of localized Sufism in the United States, it further highlights the dynamics of what might be called globalized Sufism in the 21st century.