"Their Fires shall not be Visible": The Sense of Muslim Difference
"Their Fires shall not be Visible": The Sense of Muslim Difference
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DOI：
10.1080/17432200.2017.1417215
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发表时间：
2018-01-01
影响因子：
0.4
通讯作者：
Patel, Youshaa
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Patel, Youshaa
This article examines the nexus of Islam, difference, and the senses. Amidst the diverse ethno-religious landscape of post-conquest Islam where communal boundaries often blurred, religious and state authorities defined belonging in the Muslim community through differences; they felt compelled to set apart Muslims from non-Muslims and other wayward Muslims by disciplining the physical body, including the sensorium. Building upon a robust theory of the senses advanced by Abbasid Muslim litterateur JhiZ (d. 868/9), I demonstrate how pre-modern (7th - 14th centuries CE) Muslim discourses and practices of difference configured the senses in specific ways, transforming body, object and landscape into material signs of collective identity in public life. Drawing upon literary and material sources, I narrate four episodes set in the pre-modern Islamic Middle East where Muslim authorities defined ritual and everyday quotidian practice along lines of communal difference. Together, the episodes highlight the multisensoriality of Muslim difference: the visibility of Christian crosses; acoustic memories of the adhn (audible call to prayer); the expensive taste of gold and silver metalware; and, finally, sensory overload at commemorative public gatherings (ds)holiday celebrations, tomb visitations, and funerals.
