Islam through Objects

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: Thinking with Islamic Things / Anna Bigelow -- Part I. Tracing Images: 1. Clothes of Righteousness: The MGT Uniform in the Twentieth Century / Kayla Renée Wheeler -- 2. The Masonic Muhammad: Modern Franco-Iranian Visual Encounters in Prophetic Iconography / Christiane Gruber -- 3. Repetition and Relics: Tracing the Lives of Muhammad's Sandal / Richard McGregor -- Part II. Identifying Objects: 4. "The Greatest and Only Flag Known": The Lapel Pin in American Islam / Michael Muhammad Knight -- 5. Tasbih in West African Islamic history: spirituality, aesthetic, politics, and identity / Ousman Murzik Kobo -- 6. Caps, Heads, and Hearts / Scott Kugle -- Part III. Objects in Practice: 7. What Comes to Light When a Lamp is Lit in Bektashi Tradition / Mark Soileau -- 8. The Agency of the Material Taviz (Amulet) in a South Indian Healing Room / Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger -- 9. The Life of a Tablet / Aomar Bou -- Part IV. Circulatory Systems: 10. Coins and Fish: Sovereignty, Economy, and Religion in the Islamicate Indian Ocean / Roxani Eleni Margariti -- 11. The Aljibe del Rey in Granada / D. Fairchild Ruggles -- 12. Zamzam Water: Environmentality and Decolonizing Material Islam / Anna M. Gade -- List of Contributors -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.

"Islam through Objects represents the state of the field of Islamic material cultural studies. With contributions from scholars of religion, anthropologists, art historians, folklorists, historians, and other disciplines, Anna Bigelow brings together a wide range of perspectives on Islamic materiality to debunk myths of Islamic aversion to material aspects of religion. Each chapter focuses on a single object in daily use by Muslims - prayer beads, coins, amulets, a cistern well, clothing, jewellery, bodily and domestic adornments - to consider both generic and particular aspects of the object in question. These narratives will engage the reader by describing and analyzing each object in terms of its provenance, materials, uses, and history, as well as the broader history, variety and uses of the object in Islamic history and cultures. Temporal, regional, and sectarian variations in the styles, uses, and theological perspectives are also considered. Framed by an introduction that assesses the various approaches to Islamic material culture in recent scholarship, Islam through Objects provides a template for the study of religion and material culture, which engages current theory, subtle and nuanced narratives, and the creative and imaginal capacities of Muslims through history"-- Provided by publisher.