Keys to al-Ghaib

A Cross-Cultural Study

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4756174
AutoresEl‐sayed El‐aswad (0000-0001-9203-7481, Bloomfield Hills Michigan, autor de correspondencia)
Año2019
Volumen28
Número2
Páginas277-295
Fecha de publicación2019-11-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaDigest of Middle East Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1060-4367 • E-ISSN: 1949-3606
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/dome.12194
OpenAlexW2971400348
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas20

The significance of religion and concepts ofal-ghaib(the invisible and unknowable) and sanctity in a materialistically oriented and globally dominant and changing world has been a nexus of current debates in Orthodox Islam. The concept ofal-ghaibis a fundamental principle in Islamic theology; however, it has a profound impact on Muslim's daily lives. Thenceforth, this study focuses on the concepts ofal-ghaib,or invisibility, sanctity, and imagination, as reflected in ordinary Muslims' views and key practices aimed at disclosing the unknown and unseen. This article presents an anthropological holistic insight incorporating objective description and subjective interpretation and as such comprises a phenomenological hermeneutic inquiry. Drawing on ethnographic studies conducted in communities belonging to Bahrain (predominantly Shi'a) and Egypt (predominantly Sunni), this inquiry aims at exploring the relationships between the Islamic sacred conviction ofal-ghaiband everyday practices of Muslim communities. These ethnographic accounts are examined and compared with scholarly literature and cross-cultural materials

Aesthetics · Art · Conviction · Epistemology · Ethnography · Invisibility · Islam · Political science · Sociology · Theology · Visual arts · Anthropology · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Education and Islamic Studies · Engineering · Gender Studies · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Philosophy