Sufis and Saints' Bodies: Mysticism, Corporeality, and Sacred Power in Islam (Islamic Civilization and Muslim Networks) - Softcover

Kugle, Scott

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9780807857892: Sufis and Saints' Bodies: Mysticism, Corporeality, and Sacred Power in Islam (Islamic Civilization and Muslim Networks)
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0807857890 ISBN 13: 9780807857892
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press, 2007

Synopsis

Islam is often described as abstract, ascetic, and uniquely disengaged from the human body. Scott Kugle refutes this assertion in the first full study of Islamic mysticism as it relates to the human body. Examining Sufi conceptions of the body in religious writings from the late fifteenth through the nineteenth century, Kugle demonstrates that literature from this era often treated saints' physical bodies as sites of sacred power.

Sufis and Saints' Bodies focuses on six important saints from Sufi communities in North Africa and South Asia. Kugle singles out a specific part of the body to which each saint is frequently associated in religious literature. The saints' bodies, Kugle argues, are treated as symbolic resources for generating religious meaning, communal solidarity, and the experience of sacred power. In each chapter, Kugle also features a particular theoretical problem, drawing methodologically from religious studies, anthropology, studies of gender and sexuality, theology, feminism, and philosophy. Bringing a new perspective to Islamic studies, Kugle shows how an important Islamic tradition integrated myriad understandings of the body in its nurturing role in the material, social, and spiritual realms.

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About the Author

Scott A. Kugle is author of Rebel between Spirit and Law: Ahmad Zarruq and Juridical Sainthood in North Africa. He lives in India.

From the Back Cover

Islam is often described by Orientalists as particularly abstract, ascetic, and uniquely disengaged from the human body. Scott A. Kugle refutes this assertion in the first full study of Islamic mysticism as it relates to the human body. Examining Sufi conceptions of the body in religious writings from the late fifteenth through nineteenth centuries, Kugle demonstrates that literature from this era often treated saints' physical bodies as sites of sacred power.

From the Inside Flap

Islam is often described by Orientalists as particularly abstract, ascetic, and uniquely disengaged from the human body. Scott A. Kugle refutes this assertion in the first full study of Islamic mysticism as it relates to the human body. Examining Sufi conceptions of the body in religious writings from the late fifteenth through nineteenth centuries, Kugle demonstrates that literature from this era often treated saints' physical bodies as sites of sacred power.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date
2007
Language
English
ISBN 10 
0807857890
ISBN 13 
9780807857892
Binding
Paperback
Number of pages
368
Rating
  • 4.06 out of 5 stars
    16 ratings by Goodreads

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780807830819: Sufis and Saints' Bodies: Mysticism, Corporeality, and Sacred Power in Islam (Islamic Civilization and Muslim Networks)

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  080783081X ISBN 13:  9780807830819
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press, 2007
Softcover