Islamic shrines

كتاب الأولياء والمزارات الإسلامية في فلسطين
تأليف د. توفيق كنعان
ترجمة د. نمر سرحان
تحرير د. حمدان طه

صدر الكتاب باللغة الانجليزية سنة 1927 عن دار نشر لوزاك في لندن. وكان قد نشر قبل ذلك كسلسلة مقالات على صفحات مجلة جمعية الاستشراق الفلسطينية، وهي المجلة التي شكلت منبراً للباحثين في الدراسات الفلسطينية في فترة ما بين الحربين العالميتين وتوقفت عن الصدور سنة 1948. أعيد نشر الكتاب سنة 1987 من قبل  دار نشر أرئيل وصدرت الترجمة العربية    لهذا الكتاب  سنة  1998 عن دار الناشر في رام الله، ضمن منشورات وزارة الثقافة الفلسطينية. .

Shrines of Sufi Saints remain a significant aspect of the religious and social structure of Pakistan. They are fundamentally functional in creating social participation, provision of entertainment in the form of devotional music and songs (qawali), educating people, distribution of food, sweets, money etc. The purpose behind the present study was to explore the notion of Mannat and its existing types and practices in different religions and sects of the existing society. To uncover the associated belief systems of people visiting Shrines.  Moreover, to understand the underlying casual factors compelling people to make Mannat. The study’s sampling frame was Shrine of Hazrat Bari Imam in village Noor Pur Shahan of Capital Territory Islamabad, from which a sample of 80 respondents was purposively selected. The study used a blend of both qualitative and quantitative tools. The results showed.

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.

A recent survey conducted by the author has revealed the presence of over 50 shrines in Dhofar. This number is significantly higher than the few discussed by others in previous reports in Dhofar (Costa 2001; Costa and Kite 1985; Oman 1983: 278). The current Dhofar landscape is dotted with shrines of many sorts, from formal buildings with cupolas associated with mosques to solitary open
air tombs. Generally speaking, these shrines commemorate the lives of admired and respected individuals, such as for example Islamic teachers (‘ulamā), pre-Islamic prophets or descendants of the Prophet Mohammad (sada). This paper will first briefly offer a preliminary categorization of shrines in Dhofar and a discussion of traditional Dhofari shrine architecture. Second, a landscape approach is utilized to study how their distribution informs the production of the cultural landscape of Dhofar in the Islamic period.
Such an approach, combined with analyses of their associated practices and traditions, sheds valuable light on shrine history and the development of local socio-political and religious institutions in the region. Five known shrines in the vicinity of the archaeological
site of al-Baleed are presented as a case study to demonstrate this landscape approach to studying shrines.

The divine status of Moula Abi Abdillah Al Imam al-Husain (as) is beyond imagination due to our limitations of Ma’arif and strength of understanding. The Imam of Ahl al-Bayt (as) is an embodiment of “Al Mawjud al-Awwal” (the First Existent). Likewise, the blessings attached with the Imam also have a divine nature. Turbah – Khak’i Shifa is the gift of Moula al-Husain (as) to his Shias hence they consume it for Shifa from all diseases and even use it for Hifazat from the Afaat (tribulations) and fears of the Duniya and A’akhirah. It is Wajib upon all Mumineen to learn the Ad’ab (manners) to use this sacred gift. The following study opens new vistas of Ma’arif (sacred wisdom) to the seekers of Sacred Literature.

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.

Within the community of Islamic scholarship, opinions are split with respect to the division between culture practices and religious orthopraxy. This is particularly true with practices of saint veneration and shrine visitation. This paper argues that within the framework of mainstream Islam, the integration of divinely guided ancestors into even the most conservatively accepted practices is essential. It further argues that similar practices that have developed within non-mainstream elements of Islam are tied to these mainstay practices, and therefore should not be considered within a binary construct of Islamic and non-Islamic practices.

This paper presents the conceptual contours of the Emmy Noether Research Group project “The Bureaucratization of Islam and its Socio-Legal Dimensions in Southeast Asia”. The project views the bureaucratization of Islam not simply as a formalization, expansion, and diversification of Islamic institutions, but as a social phenomenon that far transcends its organizational boundaries and informs dynamics of social and cultural change alongside transformations of the very meaning(s) of Islam in state and society. It places the state’s “classificatory power” and its societal co-production and contestation at the centre of attention and aims to synthesize functional approaches with hermeneutic modes of analysis. While the bureaucratization of Islam is always embedded in and shaped by power-political constellations and political processes, it simultaneously produces social and doctrinal meanings that are unique to its specific discursive arenas.
The paper first introduces the anthropology of bureaucracy and elaborates on the absence of studies from this field on state-Islam relations in Southeast Asia; it also considers the potential of bringing these two streams of scholarship into a fruitful dialogue. Second, it presents a case study in Brunei, focusing particularly on Islamization policies, the bureaucratization of a national ideology, and their workings on the micro level. Third, the paper moves on to a regional comparison by illustrating how similar matters are treated very differently by Singapore’s Islamic bureaucracy, despite partially shared features. After a brief note on methodology, the paper concludes that the presented work, while anchored in Brunei and Singapore, has implications for a wider study across, and potentially beyond the region.

The site of esh-Sheikh Ahmad el-Qatrawani is located between Birzeit and Atara, ca 13 kms north of Ramallah. The site features a common Islamic saint  tomb from the Mamluk-Ottoman period. According to the local traditions, the site was named after Sheikh Ahmad el-Qatrawani, a holy person from the village of Qatara, north of Gaza. The maqam is composed of one room, with two semi-spherical domes and a small courtyard in from of it. It is built on the ruins of  a Byzantine church dating to the 5th century AD.  The Byzantine remains consisting of  a church, a cistern, a wine-press belongs to a monastery which was occupied for a short period. The plan of the monastery is more close to the laura type with the utilization of a natural grotto in front of the building. The whole monastery was surrounded by enclosure wall, part of it is still preserved on the western side of the site.

El recuerdo de la muerte puede invocarse a través de diferentes recursos materiales, discursivos o rituales no excluyentes. Este trabajo se centra en los elementos arquitectónicos, escultóricos y/o epigráficos que conmemoran el lugar de la muerte o del enterramiento. Las sepulturas, mausoleos o cementerios se convierten así en el escenario de la conmemoración; en lugares simbólicos que por su carácter pueden convertirse en polos de atracción de peregrinos, adeptos o simplemente curiosos conducidos por la evocación de personajes revestidos de algún especial protagonismo pasado; en definitiva, en espacios destinados a la memoria de los difuntos.

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.

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'.

This article is focused on the issues of cult of saints and shrines in the Samarqand province of Uzbekistan. The contribution of the author to the study of shrines of the region consists of that beside the summary of the existing material on pre-Soviet and Soviet periods, he used his own data. For this, the field material was collected from some districts of Samarqand province, which allows defining the peculiarities of shrines and saints veneration in different villages. Most of them are tombs of different saints, shakhids and etc. There is a generally acknowledged hierarchy of the saints in the minds of people. Saints of various categories became worshiped. They included Ali, prominent Islamic religious figures. Heroic epic of Arabic conquests initiated the cult of 'martyrs', e.g. those who died in 'war for the belief'. The mausoleum of Khodja Daniyar is one of the unique sacred places in Samarqand. According to legends, Khodja Daniyar represents the prophet Daniel, and this place is recognized as sacred by Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. Since Uzbekistan has become the independent state (1991), the citizens obtained freedom and possibility to worship saints. Pilgrimage to saint tombs is usually referred to as ziyara. Specific standard of ritual of pilgrimage to sacred places has been developed for many years. Islam also inherited the cult of various pre-Islamic local saints, heroes, in many cases legendary, and even local pagan deities that were transferred to Muslim saints.

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.

Syria is considered to be a part of the ancient Levant and one of the important cultural centers in the Islamic world. There are some shrines attributed to the Household of the Prophet (PBUH) and the followers of Imams (A.S.) in different parts of this country.

These shrines are destined by many Shiite pilgrims from different parts of the world. Some of the shrines are known while many others are still unknown to Shiites. This paper provides a brief review of the shrines of the Prophet’s Household and the followers of Imams in Syria.

In this paper the author explores the strategy of politics of memory in Samarkand, the hometown of the First President of Uzbekistan I.A. Karimov, in the post-Soviet period. The analysis concerns the traditions of Samarkand's memory culture chosen, invented or forgotten in independent Uzbekistan, to form ideas about the past using historical figures, monuments, holy places and renamed streets in Samarkand as examples. In this complex process it is important to take into consideration how the central authorities interacted with the local cultural elite of Samarkand. President Sh.Mirziyoyev formulated new trends in Uzbekistan's foreign policy, which was reflected in the politics of memory in Samarkand. These changes have become symbolic in the new politics of memory in Samarkand aimed at demonstrating the historical roots of the ethnic and religious tolerance in the society and highlighting Samarkand as a key place in the history of the Islamic world and the birthplace of the First President of Uzbekistan I. Karimov.

The Emamzadeh Yahya at Varamin, a tomb-shrine located south of Tehran, is well known for supplying global museums with iconic examples of Ilkhanid-period luster tilework. After providing a historiography of the site, including its plunder in the late nineteenth century, we explore its current (2018–20) “life” in order to illuminate the many ways that it can be accessed, used, perceived, and packaged by a wide range of local, national, and global stakeholders. Merging past and present history, art history and amateur anthropology, and the academic, personal, and popular voice, this article explores the Emamzadeh Yahya’s delicate and active existence between historical monument, museum object, sacred space, and cultural heritage.

(Музей антропологии и этнографии им. Петра Великого (Кунсткамера) РАН, Международный центр исламских исследований: Российская Федерация, 199034, г. Санкт-Петербург, Университетская наб., д. 3) Аннотация. В статье на примере рассказов об осквернении святынь исследуется про-цесс конструирования сакральных пространств, создаваемых на месте мазаров-усы-пальниц мусульманских подвижников, мавзолеев правителей и других мест паломниче-ства в Центральной Азии. Одним из основных антропогенных элементов, составляющих структуру сакрального пространства мазара, служат нарративы о них, в том числе рассказы об их осквернении и возмездии высших сил за содеянное. В статье утверждает-ся, что данная группа преданий и легенд, как и весь корпус текстов, сложившихся вокруг мазаров, выполняет ряд прагматических целей, одна из которых-конструирование са-крального. Предложен вариант объяснения структуры данного типа фольклорного тек-ста и функционального значения ее частей в рамках теории В. Я. Проппа. Сакральное пространство представлено как результат синергии божественного и антропогенного факторов, для обозначения которых используются два предложенных А. М. Лидовым по-нятия: иерофания и иеротопия. Рассказы об осквернении святынь рассматриваются как элемент «иеротопического проекта» по конструированию сакрального пространства. Ключевые слова: сакральное пространство, нарратив, «святое» место, аулийа Ал-лах, иерофания, иеротопия. Дата поступления статьи: 10 февраля 2020 г. Дата публикации: 25 июня 2020 г. Для цитирования: Панков И. А. Легенды об осквернении святынь как элемент структу-ры сакрального пространства мазара // Традиционная культура. Кто кружит вокруг хима 1 , обязательно туда попадет Арабская пословица УДК 398.2 ББК 82.3(5) 1 Хима (араб. 'заповедник')-пастбище с источником воды, запретное для человека и скота. В доисламской Аравии угодье для личных нужд знатного представителя рода. Пророк Мухам-мад пресек подобную практику, объявив, что заповедные угодья принадлежат лишь Аллаху и его САКРАЛЬНОЕ ПРОСТРАНСТВО: СИНЕРГИЯ ИЕРОФАНИИ И ИЕРОТОПИИ Для традиционного восприятия про-странство гетерогенно и представляет-ся сложно организованной структурой с центром и периферией. Оно содержит в себе две дихотомии: «сакрального-про-фанного» и «чистого-нечистого». «Са-кральное и чистое» отделено от мира «про-фанного и нечистого» четкими граница-ми, нагружено определенными смыслами,

[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)].