This dissertation is an ethnographic and historical analysis of the rise of Tehrik Labaik Pakistan (TLP), a mass anti-blasphemy movement led by working-class Muslim men that calls for violently punishing alleged blasphemers to restore the honor of Prophet Muhammad. Framing blasphemy politics as class struggle, the TLP mobilizes the "poor masses" to reclaim dignity by taking violent action against "blasphemers," positioning a sincerely passionate Muslim working class against a hypocritically pious Muslim elite. Drawing on fourteen months of ethnographic fieldwork, alongside digital media and archival analysis, this study explores how working-class Muslim men are able to translate their everyday experiences of disrespect, stigma, and marginalization into the deeply felt need to punish blasphemers. Engaging anthropological value theory, this study argues that the anti-blasphemy movement enables working-class Muslims to collectively imagine and materialize a cultural universe in which they affirm their value and moral worth as "protectors of the prophet's honor."
