Sufis and Saints' Bodies
Mysticism, Corporeality, and Sacred Power in Islam
Scott A. Kugle
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Published: 09/2011
Pages: 368
Subject: Religion, Body, Mind and Spirit
| University of North Carolina
Print ISBN: 9.78E+12
eBook ISBN: 9780807872772
DESCRIPTION
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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