Saḥir and Muslim Moral Space

Bibliographic Data

ID8967779
AuthorsAbdullahi Ali Ibrahim (University of Khartoum, corresponding author)
Year1991
Volume23
Issue3
Pages387-399
Publication date1991-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal Middle East Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-7438 • E-ISSN: 1471-6380
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s002074380005635x
OpenAlexW2054271194
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited13

Metaphors of the evil eye ( sahir ) are interpreted as posing a threat to the Muslim Arab Rubāṭāb 1 of the Sudan. A common situation in which these metaphors are used is when the speaker (saḥḥār) attempts to cast or “shoot” a sahir metaphor at persons or objects by comparing them to something else. A victim may then try to counteract the shot by uttering protective invocations. The victim's later account of the event in which the evil eye was cast upon him will include subsequent misfortunes and perhaps justifications for personal failure. For example, a sahhār likened someone eating a green onion to somebody speaking into a microphone. The man threw away the onion, cursed the sahhār , and complained thereafter that his hand had never been the same. The audience evaluates the metaphors. Good comparisons evoke much laughter. “He is really evil,” or “He killed him,” are often pronounced by the audience both in appreciation of the theoretical powers of the metaphor shooter and in anticipation of the harm that may come in the shot's wake. The audience later reports the interaction as a joke or legend

Aesthetics · Art · Harm · Joke · Laughter · Legend · Linguistics · Literature · Metaphor · Nonsense · Shot (pellet · Space (punctuation) · Islamic Studies and History · Middle East and Rwanda Conflicts · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence

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