Saad Lakhani

Saad Lakhani is a PhD candidate in Cultural and Social Anthropology at Stanford University, focusing on the anthropology of ethics, religion, and political violence in South Asia. His dissertation presents an ethnographic analysis of the Tehrik Labaik Pakistan, a rising anti-blasphemy movement in Pakistan led predominantly by working-class Muslim men and small-time religious clerics. Rooted in the Barelvi tradition of Sunni Islam, known for its reverence of Sufi shrines, the Tehrik Labaik Pakistan calls upon ‘ordinary men’ to reclaim and restore their lost dignity by mobilizing to protect the Prophet’s honor. By closely examining ethical debates, social contestations, and theological interpretations within the Barelvi community over the meaning of dignity, respect, and blasphemy, his work highlights how it becomes possible for individuals to link everyday experiences of disrespect at the intersections of gender, class, and religious identity with the political imperative to punish blasphemers of Prophet Muhammad.