Adapting Islam's most popular tales in art and literature "Rigorous in its scholarship, engaging in its writing, and theoretically groundbreaking, The Prophet's Ascension confronts a topic critical to the history and religion of Islam and to the wider discussion of religions, boundaries, and cultural-religious contestation." —Michael Sells, University of Chicago Divinity School The tales of the mi'raj describe the prophet Muhammad's journey through the heavens, his encounters with prophets and angels, and his visit to heaven and hell. The tales are among Islam's most popular, appearing in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish literature, and in later adaptations throughout the Muslim world. Often serving as narratives designed to promote the worldview of particular Muslim groups, the tales were also a means for communities to construct rules of normative behavior and ritual practices, and were used to assert the superiority of Islam over other religions. The essays in this collection discuss the formation of this narrative, the mi'raj as a missionary text, its various adaptations, its application to esoteric thought, and its use in performance and ritual.
Christiane Gruber is Assistant Professor of Islamic Art at Indiana University Bloomington. She is author of The Timurid Book of Ascension (Mi'rajnama): A Study of Text and Image in a Pan-Asian Context and The Ilkhanid Book of Ascension: A Persian-Sunni Devotional Tale.
Frederick Colby is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Oregon. He is author of Narrating Muhammad's Night Journey: Tracing the Development of the Ibn 'Abbas Ascension Discourse.
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Distribution: World Publication date: 1/6/2010 |
