Suchergebnisse

In an era of instantaneous communication and ubiquitous media the global public is regularly
invited to witness history in the making, as the expression goes, through newspaper accounts and
broadcasts of events marked with special significance. In the Middle East and elsewhere, history is
said to record the fate of nations that at times is unfolding before our eyes and ears, with the
accuracy of claims resting on evidence to be observed or recovered in period documents and
artifacts. What emerges supposedly is a narrative whose eventual uncertainties can be attributed
to information gaps, inadequate archives, and difficulties in identifying or authenticating sources.

Sufism and Islamic Reform in Egypt: The Battle for Islamic Tradition. Julian Johansen. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1996. 323 pp.

The current wave of religiously motivated protest movements throughout the Islamic world has frequently been associated with popular Islam. This concept of a popular, as opposed to an official, practice has deep roots, however, extending back to the formative period of the Muslim tradition. Classically, the emergence of a clerical elite defined in terms of their functions in the fields of law, education, and administration as well as religion coincided with the rise of a parallel folk piety inspired by Sufism which adapted Islam to local circumstances. The sweeping changes of the last two centuries have undermined many of the old religious institutions belonging to both these spheres. But the overall structures of social relations have largely remained within the context of the nationstate. With few and short-lived exceptions, rural peasants and urban masses who continue to regard Islam as the primary basis for their identity have not responded positively to the summons of the current revival. On the other hand, Islamicists, despite divisions among themselves, have established their importance. Popular Islam persists therefore as a vital concept pointing in two directions.