Muslim Shrines

With an appendix by Rian Thum and David Brophy.

The story of the Sufi saint Khwaja Muhammad Sharif is one of the best-loved hagiographies from East Turkistan (present-day Xinjiang, China), where the saint’s shrine remains a place of pilgrimage and devotion to this day. The Khwaja’s narrative recounts his adventures as he travels from Central Asia to Hindustan, Mecca, and back again, guided by saintly spirits and working miracles at every turn. He saves Muslims from shipwreck, gains powerful disciples, wages holy war, and ends his days as a beloved Sufi master. Jeff Eden’s introduction and notes offer insights into the text and its interpretation, and his translation marks the first time that a complete East Turkistani hagiography has been made available to readers in English. The appendix, by Rian Thum and David Brophy, reveals the intricate liaison between Muhammad Sharif’s shrine complex, its elite patrons, and the present hagiography. A classic of its genre, the Life of Muhammad Sharif provides both an accessible introduction to Central Asian Sufi literature and a compelling mystical allegory on the attainment of spiritual perfection.

There are a number of detailed studies on Sufi shrines in South Asia and the rituals performed there. However, there has been relatively little attention paid to the connections between the rituals performed at the shrines and the broader Sufi doctrines. This article focuses on the dargah of Baba Sharf al-Din Suhrawardi (d. 1286), a Muslim saint who migrated from Baghdad around the mid-thirteenth century and is regarded to be the first Sufi who settled in the area. Beside providing a description of the social and ritual life of the shrine from an anthropological perspective, it specifically looks at the individual experiences of devotees visiting the shrine in order to highlight the roles played by the shrine in the local society. The obtainment of—or the will to obtain—divine blessing (barakat) is a key element to understand the meanings of the devotees’ behaviour.

Sufi shrines hold great importance in Pakistani society. Followers of the shrines consider it sacred place and they perform different rituals there. The role of Sufis has been considered as intermediary who lead towards the path of God and success. Present study deployed qualitative research technique whereby data was drawn from 19 in-depth interviews at the Hazrat Mian Mir’s Shrine in Lahore. Findings of the study revealed that majority of the people have strong belief upon the blessings of Sufis and they visit shrine to fulfill their social, economic, physical, and spiritual needs. They believed that the late Sufis of shrine could listen, correspond and help them in multiple ways. However, some people thought otherwise. They believed the Sufi of shrine as pious ones but they did not believe upon the intermediary role of Sufis between human beings and Allah. Perceptions about myths and superstitions varied with regard to gender and level of education but majority of visitors did not believe in myths and superstitions.

Baraka (lit. blessing) lay at the foundation of Muslim and Jewish conceptions and perceptions of the sacred. Medieval devotees sought the baraka of prophets, saints and devotional objects. This study considers the physical and devotional setting for the transmission of baraka and the ritual acts devotees performed in order to acquire it.

Casting the fallen soldiers of the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) as 'martyrs' plays a crucial role in the legitimation discourse of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The government has succeeded in integrating many 'martyr families' into a state-revering political cult. This ethnographic study draws on theories of affect and atmosphere to investigate how practices around saintly dreams and their materialization in photographs and gravestones of martyrs have challenged the state narratives and discourses. I approach the veneration of martyrs through both affective and narrative sources and explore gravestones as new saintly localities. These localities are spaces of divinely intermediation with intimate connection to the transcendental realm. The multifaceted atmosphere of these sites offers nonconformist and heterogeneous entanglements in which dream-images of martyrs allow for the momentary subversion of the state's political cult.

Babon Gaji is a curious god. He is avowedly a Muslim, and the icons that represent him seek to capture his 'Muslim-ness' conspicuously in their attire, not to mention the name itself (Gaji = Ghazi = Muslim warrior-monk) and local lore. Yet he is worshipped by Brahmin Hindu priests who are equally conspicuous in flaunting their Hindu-Brahmin identity. There are no stories about the Gaji ever having been a Hindu or having had anything more than an intellectual interest in Hinduism. He remains, thus, in his afterlife a Muslim; yet, he receives worship through Brahmin priests. Both Hindus and Muslims come to him in large numbers today, in search of a cure for their afflictions. Local accounts place the origins of his shrine at Tajpur, South 24 Parganahs a little over 100 years ago, yet, no account of either the cult or the shrine - to the best of my knowledge - exists in the colonial archive. Neither are there any known written accounts outside the colonial archive that are more than a couple of decades old. For the historian of colonial medicine in the region, therefore, the Gaji presents a difficult challenge.

Patronage of shrines in Ilkhanid Iran; desire to be buried near a celebrated holy person; Qum as a Shi'i centre in Ilkhanid times; Imamzada 'Ali b. Abi'l-Ma'ali b. 'Ali Safi; Qur'anic suras 3, 17, 23, 36, 48, 55, 59, 76, 97; the Safi dynasty; Gunbad-i Sabz; Imamzada 'Imad al-Din or Khwaja 'Ali Safi; spatial experiment; painted brickwork; painted stucco decoration; decorated inner domes; Hasan b. 'Ali Kh.l.w. Abi'l-Banna; medieval Iranian architects responsible for more than one building

Andrew Petersen, professor of Islamic archaeology at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, has conducted extensive research on the topic of Islamic architecture in Palestine and the larger eastern Mediterranean region. In this current study, he explores the place of Muslim shrines in Palestine’s history and landscape. He largely concentrates on providing an architectural survey of shrines with brief forays into understanding their relevance to contemporary political issues. Petersen, though, is most skilled at exploring how shrines originated and tracking their architectural development over the centuries. Based largely on the author’s previous works and existing scholarship, Bones of Contention is a concise and useful introduction to a topic that stretches from the pre-Islamic period to the present and catalogs a diverse range of religious structures. As the author explains, even though the major Islamic shrines in Jerusalem and Hebron receive a great deal of attention, many...

В данной статье ставится задача проанализировать существующий материал по святилищу Укаша-ата в Южном Казахстане, и выявить его аналогии в Центральной Азии. При написании статьи также использовались данные полученные в ходе полевых исследований в Южноказахстанской области осенью 2010 года.  Для сравнительного анализа был привлечен материал из центральных оазисов Среднеазиатского междуречья современных Ташкентской, Бухарской и Самаркандской областей Республики Узбекистан, а также северного Афганистана.

In Syria, there are two dominant scholarly opinions on ritual self-flagellation, which rest on different understandings of health and healing, and which form the topic of the first part of this chapter. The second examines miracle stories and ritual practices, which are both symbolic and productive of healing and sustain the legitimacy of the shrine of Sayyida Zaynab. The chapter looks at how Twelver Shi'is in Syria prior to the Arab Spring responded to the ambiguities surrounding the female Shi'is saint Sayyida Zaynab. Proponents of self-flagellation draw on 'traditional' medicine and argue that self-flagellation derives from cupping and constitutes a miraculous healing practice. Donating blood focuses on the community-not on individual devotees and the question of sainthood. The transactional aspect of the relationship between saints and Shi'is is highlighted in the ritual of nidhr (making religious vows) and in the sponsorship of majalis 'aza'.

Figure: the Popular and  the  Political in Pakistan deconstructs the common belief that figurative representation is forbidden in Islam. the book argues that the blasphamous implications associated with the representation of the figure are a contemporary socio-political phenomenon. the puritanical orthodox movements in the subcontinent resisted imperialism with an attempt to establish differences from the other i.e the British as the imperialist and the Hindus as the religious Others. This puritanical belief system implicates the cultural identity of Pakistan when analysed against the continuation of the presence of figurative forms in the shrines and religious posters within popular cultural practices of Lahore.

بنای بقعۀ «پیربکران» که از دورۀ ایلخانی در منطقۀ فلاورجان اصفهان به‌جای مانده است، یادگار مهمی از هنرهای تزیینی ایران در زمینۀ تزیینات معماری محسوب می‌شود. از آنجا که این بقعه مورد احترام کلیمیان و مسلمانان منطقه بوده است، در دل تاریخ پر فرازونشیب خود ماجراها و روایات مختلفی را جای داده است. مزار «محمدبن بکران» از مشایخ بزرگ و محققان قرن هفتم و هشتم هجری قمری در این بقعه قرار دارد. پیربکران در دورۀ مغول و هم‌‌زمان با محمد سلطان خدابنده (اولجایتو) زندگی کرده و در سال 730‌ ﻫ.ق وفات یافته است؛ و گواه این مطلب، کتیبه‌های موجود بر سنگ قبر او هستند.
هرچند این بنا به‌لحاظ پلان ساختمانی بنای مهمی محسوب نمی‌شود، لیکن آرایه‌ها و تزیینات معماری آن از اهمیت بسزایی برخوردارند. پلان آشفتۀ بنا شامل قسمت‌های عمدۀ سردر گچبری، راهروی ورودی، صحن مقبره، طبقۀ فوقانی و شاه‌نشین واقع در آن، اتاق مزار و اتاق چله‌نشینی در انتهای بخش شمالی پلان همکف است. این بنا گنجینه‌ای از نقوش و کتیبه‌های سبک مغولی را در خود جای داده است که عمدتاً با تکنیک گچبری انجام شده‌اند. علاوه بر تزیینات گیاهی و هندسی، کتیبه‌ها و خط‌نگاره‌های مهمی نیز در این بقعه بر جای مانده‌اند که برخی از آن‌ها هم به‌لحاظ تاریخی و هم سبک‌شناسی روند تغییرات خوشنویسی و کتیبه‌نگاری دورۀ مغول را بر محققین روشن می‌کنند. کتیبه‌ها که بیشتر به خط ثلث و کوفی طراحی شده‌اند، عمدتاً با تکنیک گچبری بر دل دیوارها قرار دارند، هرچند کتیبه‌های سنگی حجاری‌شدۀ زیبا و بکری را نیز می‌توان در آن یافت. این چند کتیبۀ حجاری بر سنگ قبر محمدبن بکران که این بقعه به نام او شهرت یافته است حجاری شده‌اند. سنگ گور محمدبن بکران در اتاق مزار در بخش شمالی صحن جای گرفته است.

[peer-reviewed] (Dr. phil. Diss., Philosophische Fakultät, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, 2002/2004). Mit einer beiliegenden Bilder-DVD. XVIII, 708 pp. + 1 DVD with 1367 digital photographs.
[Reviews: Iranian Studies 44.1 (2011): 141-145 (Rezania); Orientalistische Literaturzeitung 105.2 (2010): 223–231 (Boedeker); Religion 41.1 (2011), 118–122 (Rose); Religiovedenie 3 (2011) 205–206 (Tessmann)].

This book sets Muslim shrines within the wider context of Heritage Studies in the Muslim world and considers their role in the articulation of sacred landscapes, their function as sites of cultural memory and their links to different religious traditions. Reviewing the historiography of
Muslim shrines paying attention to the different ways these places have been studied, through anthropology, archaeology, history, and religious studies, the text discusses the historical and archaeological evidence for the development of shrines in the region from pre-Islamic times
up to the present day. It also assesses the significance of Muslim shrines in the modern Middle East, focusing on the diverse range of opinions and treatments from veneration to destruction, and argues that shrines have a unique social function as a means of direct contact with the past in a region where changing political configurations have often distorted
conventional historical narratives.

More than 800 years ago, an Iraqi scholar, teacher, preacher, ascetic, pilgrim, ambassador, and counsellor to the 'Abbâsid caliph left his native Iraq and settled in Syria. 'Alî ibn Abî Bakr al-Harawî (d. 611/1215) came to serve Saladin (r. 564/1169–589/1193) and his sons as an advisor and an emissary to Christian rulers. Al-Harawî lived in an age in which the Jews and Christians of the Islamic world lived in relative peace and prosperity, even while Muslims were at war with the Crusaders. This period witnessed the spread of Sûfî orders, the construction of domed shrines, and the growth of pilgrimage activities throughout the Islamic world and Mediterranean. Al-Harawî's Kitâb al-ishârât ilâ ma'rifat al-ziyârât is the only known medieval pilgrimage guide for the Islamic world, North Africa, and the Mediterranean. This unique account is presented by Josef Meri in a meticulously annotated English translation along with the parallel Arabic text, and an accessible introduction that explores al-Harawî's life and times. Among the pilgrimage sites included are the Dome of the Rock and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the tombs of the Companions of the Prophet Muh'ammad in Medina, the shrine of the Prophet's cousin and son-in-law 'Alî at Najaf in Iraq and that of the Prophet Ezekiel outside Baghdad. Also mentioned are Jewish and Christian sites and the antiquities of ancient Egypt and Byzantium. A Lonely Wayfarer's Guide affords the reader a rare glimpse into the popular pietistic practices, rituals, and beliefs of the inhabitants of the medieval Mediterranean basin and the Islamic world in general. This guide testifies to the author's reverence for the holy places not just of Sunnî and Shî'î Muslims, but also those of Jews and Christians.

Since the beginning of the 1960s, cultural heritage has become a crucial issue in Chinese political rhetoric, recognizing both the dynastic and historical sites as well as the "culture ethnic minorities". This process led to the emergence of the protection of some Muslims shrines. Previously used as places for "popular religion" and often labelled as "illegal" (非法宗教) or "superstitious" (迷信) practices by the Chinese authorities, these places are being reclaimed through patrimonialization, resulting in many structural and ideological changes. How this new discourse about religious monuments, in particular about Islamic one, emerged in China? For what purposes? My discussion will be grounded in an ethnographic case study from south China: the mausoleum of Sa'ad ibn Waaqas in Guangzhou (Guangdong Province), which is seen as the first entry point of Islam in China during the 7 th century. This site has been recognized and classified as national cultural heritage site in 2013, and is inscribed on the tentative list of the UNESCO as part of the Maritime Silk Routes since 2012. Through these multilayered heritage processes, I will explore how religious heritage has emerged and has been framed and managed through local, national and international policies.

Islam in Africa is deeply connected with Sufism, and the history of Islam is in a significant way a history of Sufism. Yet even within this continent, the practice and role of Sufism varies across the regions.

This interdisciplinary volume brings together different histories and experiences of Sufism in various parts of Africa, offering case studies on several countries that include Morocco, Algeria, Senegal, Egypt, Sudan, Mali, and Nigeria. It uses a variety of methodologies ranging from the hermeneutical, through historiographic to ethnographic, in a comprehensive examination of the politics and performance of Sufism in Africa. While the politics of Sufism pertains largely to historical and textual analysis to highlight paradigms of sanctity in different geographical areas in Africa, the aspect of performance adopts a decidedly ethnographic approach, combining history, history of art and discourse analysis. Together, analysis of these two aspects reveals the many faces of Sufism that have remained hitherto hidden.

Furthering understanding of the African Islamic religious scene, as well as contributing to the study of Sufism worldwide, this volume is of key interest to students and scholars of Middle Eastern, African and Islamic studies.

Figure: the Popular and the Political in Pakistan deconstructs the common belief that figurative representation is forbidden in Islam. the book argues that the blasphamous implications associated with the representation of the figure are a contemporary socio-political phenomenon. the puritanical orthodox movements in the subcontinent resisted imperialism with an attempt to establish differences from the other i.e the British as the imperialist and the Hindus as the religious Others. This puritanical belief system implicates the cultural identity of Pakistan when analysed against the continuation of the presence of figurative forms in the shrines and religious posters within popular cultural practices of Lahore.

This study is a critical investigation of the cult of saints among Muslims and Jews in medieval Syria and the Near East. Through case studies of saints and their devotees, discussion of the architecture of monuments, examination of devotional objects, and analysis of ideas of "holiness", Meri depicts the practices of living religion and explores the common heritage of all three monotheistic faiths. Critical readings of a wide range of contemporary sources - travel writing, geographical works, pilgrimage guides, legal writings, historical sources, hagiography, and biography - reveal a vibrant religious culture in which the veneration of saints and pilgrimage to tombs and shrines were fundamental.