Keys to al-Ghaib

A Cross-Cultural Study

Bibliographic Data

ID4756174
AuthorsEl‐sayed El‐aswad (0000-0001-9203-7481, Bloomfield Hills Michigan, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume28
Issue2
Pages277-295
Publication date2019-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDigest of Middle East Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1060-4367 • E-ISSN: 1949-3606
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/dome.12194
OpenAlexW2971400348
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited20

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