THE LIFE OF THE MIND IN NORTHERN PAKISTAN

I have argued throughout this book that Rowshan people are willing and indeed eager to reflect upon and not just to attack or disparage alternative views, and that my experience of Chitral people was very consistently one involving the exchange of and reflection upon ideas. These processes of exchange and reflection entailed valuing intellectual engagement with ideas and points of view often very much at odds with what one believed, and with fellow Chitral Muslims whose response to Islamising messages were markedly different from ones own. Indeed, the relationship between Chitral people who respond in diverse ways to radical Islamising messages is the source of much discussion in the region's villages and small towns. Yet what is striking is that whilst in some cases such relations result in open and even aggressive moments of conflict, other relations involve debate that is heated but is, nevertheless, considered intellectually stimulating and of inherent value to those involved. Moreover, many of the subjects under discussion were often about matters of deep importance and great sensitivity in the highly charged political and religious context of present day Pakistan. So value judgement and intellectual analysis were addressed to matters of faith and emotion, and it is through the examination of this process that this study has sought to generate new perspectives on the nature of Muslim life, and also to illuminate the richness and complexity of the interaction between emotional and intellectual activity.