The research explores the ancient practice of keeping ‘sacred animals’ in semi-captivity at some of the most famous Muslim ‘natural’ sacred sites in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Some of these animals are classified as ′extinct in the wild′ by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). These sites include the shrine (mazar) of Bayazid Bistami at Chittagong, whose name became associated with this Sufi sanctuary in the 18th century, and its dynamic eco-spiritual relationship with a large population of huge black soft-shell turtles called Bistami Kasim (Aspideretes nigricans) and snakehead fish (Channa merulius), known as gozar fish, living in a fresh-water pond in the compound; the Shah Jalal Shrine at Sylhet, which next to the mazar, or place of visitation of the tomb of the famous Bengali Sufi saint (pir), has gozar fish in a fresh-water tank as well as blue rock pigeons (Columba livia) in the compound; the Seyyed Chasni Pir Mazar, also at Sylhet, in which Rhesus Macaque monkeys live; as well as the Khan Jahan Ali Mazar at Bagerhat and the Mangho Pir Mazar at Karachi, both of which house marsh crocodiles (Crocodylus palustris) in attached tanks.

By offering a safe habitat and breeding ground for these rare species, the Sufi shrines function as a vital refuge for a section of the respective species thus contributing to the species’ conservation. The animals are venerated, fed by hand, and protected. In turn they bring significant benefits to local and national communities. They attract large numbers of pilgrims of different religions who queue every day to make votive offerings, propitiate, and seek barkat (blessings) from the animals that are thought to have restorative properties and to be able to grant boons. Traditionally these animals are believed to be the descendants of nature ‘spirits’ (locally known as bhut or jinn) that were metamorphosed into these creatures – perhaps intimating a kinship, even a blurring of boundaries, and cross-species sentience. The rationale for preserving and sustaining sacred natural groves, water sources, and the attendant animal population is based on dynamic religious entanglements passed down through generations. These are buttressed by the local ecology – vegetal, liquid, and animal – which is renowned for its blessing and healing properties, and these powers are connected to the sacred power of divine intermediaries, the respective charismatic pirs (Sufi saints), to transcend and miraculously transform ‘natural’ forces (including sickness). Local belief is highly influenced by Sufi thought which emphasizes the inherently fluid, traditional practices of the ‘cult of pirs’ who are believed to be able to cross the boundaries of nature and to subdue the dangers of the natural world with its wild animals. As a result, they are regularly petitioned for ‘miracles’ and their shrines (called either mazar, place of visitation, or dargah) are regularly visited. These practices are increasingly criticized by ‘orthodox’ Islam and some of the animals became victims of attacks by Islamic movements who criticize these nature-based religious traditions as ‘un-Islamic,’ innovative practices. Drawing upon ethnographic data gathered through fieldwork undertaken in Bangladesh and Pakistan as well as from empirical materials collected in the local Sufi communities, this research investigates the ‘environmentalist engagement’ of the respective Sufi shrines.