Sufi Bodies

Religion and Society in Medieval Islam

Shahzad Bashir

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English

Columbia University Press
23 August 2011

Middle Eastern history; Medieval history; Sufism & Islamic mysticism; Islamic studies

Between 1300 and 1500 C.E. a new form of Sufi Islam took hold among central Islamic peoples, joining individuals through widespread networks resembling today's prominent paths and orders. Understanding contemporary Sufism requires a sophisticated analysis of these formative years. Moving beyond a straight account of leaders and movements, Shahzad Bashir weaves a rich history around the depiction of bodily actions by Sufi masters and disciples, primarily in Sufi literature and Persian miniature paintings of the period.

Focusing on the Persianate societies of Iran and Central Asia, Bashir explores medieval Sufis' conception of the human body as the primary shuttle between interior (batin) and exterior (zahir) realities. Drawing on literary, historical, and anthropological approaches to corporeality, he studies representations of Sufi bodies in three personal and communal arenas: religious activity in the form of ritual, asceticism, rules of etiquette, and a universal hierarchy of saints; the deep imprint of Persian poetic paradigms on the articulation of love, desire, and gender; and the reputation of Sufi masters for working miracles, which empowered them in all domains of social activity.

Bashir's novel perspective illuminates complex relationships between body and soul, body and gender, body and society, and body and cosmos. It highlights love as an overarching, powerful emotion in the making of Sufi communities and situates the body as a critical concern in Sufi thought and practice. Bashir's work ultimately offers a new methodology for extracting historical information from religious narratives, especially those depicting extraordinary and miraculous events.

By: Shahzad Bashir
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 539g
ISBN: 9780231144902
ISBN 10: 0231144903
Pages: 296
Publication Date: 23 August 2011
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Acknowledgments Note on Transliteration Abbreviations Chronology Introduction and Shaking Hands 1 Framing Sufi Ideas and Practices 1. Bodies Inside Out 2. Befriending God Corporeally 3. Saintly Socialites 2 Sufi Bodies in Motion 4. Bonds of Love 5. Engendered Desires 6. Miraculous Food 7. Corpses in Morticians' Hands Epilogue Notes Bibliography Index

Shahzad Bashir is the Lysbeth Warren Anderson Professor in Islamic Studies at Stanford University. He is the author of Messianic Hopes and Mystical Visions: The Nurbakhshiya Between Medieval and Modern Islam and Fazlallah Astarabadi and the Hurufis.

Reviews for Sufi Bodies: Religion and Society in Medieval Islam

An immensely rich resource for persons interested in medieval Islamic civilization. Choice February 2012 A groundbreaking work in the study of Sufism. -- Laury Silvers International Journal of Middle East Studies Vol 45, 2013 A remarkable study of embodiment in a Sufi and Islamic idiom. -- Scott Kugle Journal of Sufi Studies Vol 1, 2012