Tracing Islamic Sources in the Saraiki Folktales

Abstract

Saraiki is one of the languages spoken by the people of Southern Punjab sine prehistoric times. Like all old languages of the world, this language has a long tradition of oral narratives especially the folktales which transferred by word of mouth from generation to generation. This area was ruled by many dynasties and however rulers of the Muslim era remained comparatively longer. Islam spread through the teachings of Sufis in the Southern Punjab. The present study was aimed to find and trace the sources in the Saraiki folktales. The researcher collected the Saraiki religious tales from the informants who were elderly and illiterate members of Saraiki area i.e. Multan. The Holy Quran, the Tradition of Holy Prophet and the Seerat books on the lives of Holy Prophet and his Companions were found as sources in the Saraiki folktales, however, the sources were not exactly cited as there were minor deviations regarding number and nomenclature of characters and physical setting of folktales. The plots of some Saraiki folktales enunciated the holy verse from the Holy Quran as the rest of plot was woven to exemplify the holy verse. The Saraiki folktales were used as tools to spread and disseminate the message of Islam by the elderly members of Saraikis.

Keywords

• folktales
• religious tales
• sources