Research Catalog

Title

Living Sufism : rituals in the Middle East and the Balkans / Nicolaas Biegman.

Author

Biegman, Nicolaas H.

Publication

Cairo ; New York : American University in Cairo Press, c2009.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

188 p. : chiefly col. ill.; 22 cm.

Summary

"Sufism, the mystical tradition of Islam, is as far from the strident and often violent fundamentalist strain of the religion that has so captured world attention as it is possible to be. Sufis in all parts of the Islamic world are broad-minded, tolerant, and non-violent, their quest only to find and approach God through all means, including poetry, music, and dance. Historian Nicolaas Biegman has been observing and photographing Sufi practice and ritual in different Muslim lands for many years, and here in this collection of extraordinary photographs he feels the pulse of the Sufi experience, with its enormous variety in discipline and exuberance, intellectualism and spontaneity, in Egypt, Syria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Macedonia. In accompanying texts he explores what lies behind the rituals, and explains aspects of Sufi life and practice such as the position of women."--Google Books.

Subject

• Sufism > Middle East
• Sufism > Balkan Peninsula
• Sufism > History
• Sufism > Rituals

Genre/Form

History

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Introduction: A Different Islam -- 1. Sufism and the Zikr -- 2. Sufi Orders -- 3. A Sufi on Sufism: interview with Sheikh Zahir -- 4. Dancing with God (Egypt) -- 5. Sitting with God (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Kosovo) -- 6. Standing with God Bosnia and Herzegovina) -- 7. An Iron Faith (Syria) -- 8. The Prophets Birthday (Cairo).

ISBN

• 9774162633
• 9789774162633

OCLC

310081567

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library