Sensing Islam - (Bloomsbury Studies in Material Religion) by Simon Stjernholm (Hardcover)

About the Book

Analyses how the senses have been engaged and contested in Muslim religiosity.

Book Synopsis

How have practices and imaginaries of sensing been religiously engaged and contested by Muslims? How do contemporary Muslim practices and debates concerning religious sensing relate to historical precedents?

Analysing examples dealing with contemporary Sufism and Muslim religious oratory, this book explores how the senses have been engaged and contested in Muslim religiosity. Combining the research fields of Islamic Studies, anthropology of Islam, material religion and sensory studies, this book covers a range of materials, including writings by Muslim religious authorities, ethnographic material, audio recordings and videos.

Focusing on Western contexts, this book provides an innovative approach by foregrounding the piety practices of Western Muslims. Synthesising existing research with his own original analyses, Simon Stjernholm provides a fresh perspective on Islamic tradition, religiosity and sensing.

Review Quotes

Sensing Islam focuses on the crucial significance of sound and its embodiment in understanding and practicing Islam. Avoiding over-emphasis on the word and its possible theological interpretations, this book provides a nuanced appreciation of how Islamic practices can attract believers through sensory means. This volume joins a small but growing body of critical literature on ways of approaching religion and the reasons for its appeal.
Niloofar Haeri, Johns Hopkins University, USA

Sensing Islam vividly demonstrates the importance of visceral knowledge of the divine across several interacting sensory modalities. This is a brilliant accomplishment not only in the study of Islam, but the study of religion at large.
Patrick Eisenlohr, University of Göttingen, Germany

Simon Stjernholm provides a concise and elegant study of the sensescapes of contemporary Muslim piety. This book weaves together analyses of Sufi literature, ethnographic observations, especially of the Naqshbandi-Haqqani order, and insights into Islam-themed lectures, sermons, podcasts, and audiobooks. In doing so, it demonstrates how the senses are activated and calibrated to achieve closeness to truth and the sacred. A pioneering achievement.
Christian Lange, Utrecht University, Netherlands

About the Author

Simon Stjernholm is Associate Professor of the History of Religions at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.