The Friends of God

Jürgen Wasim Frembgen is Chief Curator of the Oriental Department at the Museum of Ethnology in Munich as well as Privatdozent (Private Lecturer) in Islamic Studies at the University of Erlangen-Nuernberg. Since 1981 he is teaching anthropology and Islamic Studies at different universities in Germany; in addition he had been a visiting professor at the Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad (National Institute of Pakistan Studies), the National College of Arts in Lahore as well as Ohio State University in Columbus, OH/USA. Since 1981 he is annually conducting ethnographic fieldwork in Pakistan (for instance in Nager and Hunza/Karakoram, Indus Kohistan, Punjab and Sindh). His numerous exhibitions and major publications include ‘The Scent of Roses and the Sheen of Sabres: Islamic Art and Culture of the Mughal Period’ (1996), ‘Journey to God: Sufis and Dervishes in Islam’ (2000), and ‘Nourishment for the Soul: Worlds of Islam’ (2003). He has published over ninety articles and fifteen books and catalogues, many of which deal with Islam, Sufism, veneration of Muslim saints, material culture, the anthropology of the body, social outsiders, and popular culture in the Eastern Muslim world between Iran and India, particularly focusing on Pakistan.