Sensing Islam
Engaging and Contesting the Senses in Muslim Religiosity
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Publishing:6th Mar '25
£85.00
This title is due to be published on 6th March, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
Analyses how the senses have been engaged and contested in Muslim religiosity.
How have practices and imaginaries of sensing been religiously engaged and contested by Muslims? How do contemporary Muslim practices and debates concerning religious sensing relate to historical precedents?
Analysing examples dealing with contemporary Sufism and Muslim religious oratory, this book explores how the senses have been engaged and contested in Muslim religiosity. Combining the research fields of Islamic Studies, anthropology of Islam, material religion and sensory studies, this book covers a range of materials, including writings by Muslim religious authorities, ethnographic material, audio recordings and videos.
Focusing on Western contexts, this book provides an innovative approach by foregrounding the piety practices of Western Muslims. Synthesising existing research with his own original analyses, Simon Stjernholm provides a fresh perspective on Islamic tradition, religiosity and sensing.
Sensing Islam focuses on the crucial significance of sound and its embodiment in understanding and practicing Islam. Avoiding over-emphasis on the word and its possible theological interpretations, this book provides a nuanced appreciation of how Islamic practices can attract believers through sensory means. This volume joins a small but growing body of critical literature on ways of approaching religion and the reasons for its appeal. * Niloofar Haeri, Johns Hopkins University, USA *
Sensing Islam vividly demonstrates the importance of visceral knowledge of the divine across several interacting sensory modalities. This is a brilliant accomplishment not only in the study of Islam, but the study of religion at large. * Patrick Eisenlohr, University of Göttingen, Germany *
Simon Stjernholm provides a concise and elegant study of the sensescapes of contemporary Muslim piety. This book weaves together analyses of Sufi literature, ethnographic observations, especially of the Naqshbandi-Haqqani order, and insights into Islam-themed lectures, sermons, podcasts, and audiobooks. In doing so, it demonstrates how the senses are activated and calibrated to achieve closeness to truth and the sacred. A pioneering achievement. * Christian Lange, Utrecht University, Netherlands *
In Sensing Islam, Stjernholm captures the intricacy of sensorial and aesthetic dimensions of contemporary Islam. Using rich fieldwork from Cyprus, Sweden, and England, along with digital ethnographic analysis of sonic cultural productions of Muslims in Denmark and more, we learn about the religious material life of diverse Muslims who approach the Qur’an, love the Prophet Muhammad, and honour their saintly friends. * Merin Shobhana Xavier, Queen’s University, Canada *
Sensing Islam reminds us that, for Muslims, Islam is fundamentally about God, the Prophet, the Quran, and those who are close to God and the Prophet in this life. Simon Stjernholm uses his own fieldwork as well as classic texts to bring us into contact with aspects of Islam that are often forgotten by observers but are of great importance to Muslims, and does so in a systematic way that makes this book as thought-provoking for the expert as it will be informative for the student. A real achievement * Mark Sedgwick, Aarhus University, Denmark *
ISBN: 9781350324138
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
192 pages