This article examines the political theology of contemporary (2011)(2012) Pakistani Shi'a traditional scholars (ulema). Drawing on six months of fieldwork among Pakistani Shi'a scholars, I contend that three distinct theo-political projects characterise their discourses. These are: 1) a secular state, 2) a sectarianly-unaligned Islamic state, and 3) the implementation of wilayat al-faqih. Despite their differences, I assert that all three theo-political projects are propelled, at least partly,

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... y the same forcethe spectre of violence resulting from the ongoing massacre of Shi'as in Pakistan. Additionally, I argue that these traditional scholars also narrativise Pakistani history in a manner that legitimises and animates the particular political-theology each exhorts for the actualisation of an ideal Pakistani state.