Shamanism and Islam: Sufism, Healing Rituals and Spirits in the Muslim World
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Overview
Here, Thierry Zarcone and Angela Hobart offer a vigorous and authoritative exploration of the link between Islam and shamanism in contemporary Muslim culture, examining how the old practice of shamanism was combined with elements of Sufism in order to adapt to wider Islamic society. Shamanism and Islam thus surveys shamanic practices in Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and the Balkans, to show how the Muslim shaman, like his Siberian counterpart, cultivated personal relations with spirits to help individuals through healing and divination. It explores the complexities and variety of rituals, involving music, dance and, in some regions, epic and bardic poetry, demonstrating the close links between shamanism and the various arts of the Islamic world. This is the first in-depth exploration of ’Islamized shamanism’, and is a valuable contribution to the field of Islamic Studies, Religion, Anthropology, and an understanding of the Middle East more widely.
The figure of the shaman has always been a prominent motif within the Islamic world, particularly in relation to the mystical domain of Sufism.
Contents
List of Figures
List of Colour Figures
Acknowledgements
Contributors
Introduction
Vladimir Nikolaevich Basilov (1937-1998) : A Pioneer of the Study of ‘Islamised Shamanism’
Part 1 : Islamised Shamanism in Central Asia
Contextual Variations of Shamanic ‘Healing’ in South Siberia: From ‘Obtaining Luck’ to Relieving Misfortune
Healing in Central Asia: Syncretism and Acculturation
Religious Traditions among the Kazakhs and the Kirghizs
Muslim Shamans in Kazakhstan
Interrelation to the Invisible in Kirghizistan
Two Indigenous Healing Methods among Iranian Turkmen
Shamans in Afghanistan?
Part 2: From Central Asia to the Rest of the Muslim World
8. The People of the Air: Healing and Spirit Possession in South Iran
9. Shamanism in Turkey: Bards, Masters of the Jinns and Healers
10. The Bektashi-Alevi ’Dance of the Crane’ in Turkey: A Shamanic Heritage?
11. Dreaming in the practice of African Marabouts in Paris
12. Healing among Traditional Practitioners of the Algerian Sahara
Part 3: Islamised Shamanism and Other Religions
13. Shamanism among the Gypsies of Southeastern Europe
14. Spirit Healing in a Hindu/Muslim Area: Shadow Theatre in Java and Bali
Notes
Index
- Title: Shamanism and Islam: Sufism, Healing Rituals and Spirits in the Muslim World
- Authors: Thierry Zarcone, Angela Hobart
- Publisher: I.B. Tauris
- Print Publication Date: 2017
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Pages: 408
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781786721280, 1786721287
- Resource ID: LLS:9781786721280
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2025-04-22T13:21:18Z
Thierry Zarcone is Senior Researcher at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris, based at the Ecole Practique des Hautes Etudes, Paris. He has held visiting professorships at Kyoto and Fribourg, Switzerland, and is an expert on Islamic Studies and the history of systems of thought in the Turko-Iranian region.