Consciously unmodern: situating the self in Sufi becoming of contemporary Egypt
Sufi becoming is conditioned on finding a master who could take one through the spiritual journey for attaining Ultimate Truth. In contrast, Islamic reformism since the late eighteenth century calls for the significance of establishing a direct and autonomous relationship to God and denies the roles...
| Published in: | Culture and religion |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic/Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis
[2017]
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| In: |
Culture and religion
Year: 2017, Volume: 18, Issue: 2, Pages: 149-164 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Egypt
/ Modernity
/ Conversion (Religion)
/ Sufi
/ Self-giving
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| RelBib Classification: | BJ Islam |
| Further subjects: | B
selfless
B Agency B Modernity B Islamic Reformism B Conversion B Shadhili order |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Sufi becoming is conditioned on finding a master who could take one through the spiritual journey for attaining Ultimate Truth. In contrast, Islamic reformism since the late eighteenth century calls for the significance of establishing a direct and autonomous relationship to God and denies the roles of charismatic authority who could mediate between Him and a Muslim. This paper examines how Egyptian Sufi theorists tackled the issue of individualised faith and personal connection to their masters by looking at the conversion narrative of ‘Abd al-Halim Mahmud (1910-1978), the French-educated Egyptian scholar of Sufism. He vividly depicted in his work the encounters with the Shadhili masters, whether in person or in ru’ya (dream-like vision), and demonstrated his firm connection to them. In spite of publicly disclosing his Sufi becoming, he managed to gain the status of a Sufi celebrity by performing the selfless Self who aspires to gain access to transcendental reality. |
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| ISSN: | 1475-5610 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Culture and religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/14755610.2017.1326691 |