Guests of God: Pilgrimage and Politics in the Islamic WorldOxford University Press, USA, 9 set 2004 - 358 pagine Each year, more than two million pilgrims from over 100 countries converge on the holy city of Mecca to reenact the ritual dramas that Muslims have been performing for centuries. Making the hajj is one of the most important duties in the life of a Muslim. The pilgrimage-and its impact on international politics-is enormous and growing every year, yet Westerners know virtually nothing about it. What is the hajj and what does it mean? Who are the hajjis? What do they do and say in Mecca and how do they interpret their experiences? Who runs the hajj and what are their political objectives? How does the hajj encourage international cooperation among Muslims and can it also promote harmony between Islam and the West? In Guests of God, Robert R. Bianchi seeks to answer these and many other questions. While it is first and foremost a religious festival, he shows, the hajj is also very much a political event. The Muslim world's leading multinational organization, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, has established the first international regime explicitly devoted to pilgrimage. Every large Muslim nation has developed a comprehensive hajj policy and a powerful bureaucracy to enforce it. Yet, Bianchi argues, no authority- secular or religious, national or international-can really control the hajj. Pilgrims believe that they are entitled to travel freely to Mecca as "Guests of God"-not as guests of any nation or organization that might wish to restrict or profit from their efforts to fulfill a fundamental religious obligation. Drawing on his personal experience as a pilgrim and a wealth of data gathered over the course of ten years of research, Bianchi has produced a fascinating look at the hajj filled with personal, candid stories from political and religious leaders and hajjis from all walks of life. A wide-ranging study of Islam, politics, and power, Guests of God is the most complete picture of the hajj available anywhere. |
Sommario
Introduction | 3 |
1 What Is the Hajj and How Does Anyone Survive It? | 7 |
2 What Does the Hajj Mean? | 23 |
3 Pilgrimage and Power | 37 |
Global and Regional Trends | 49 |
Why Would Our Hajjis Vote against Us? | 77 |
The Broken Piggy Bank | 113 |
The Belated Quest for Religious Tolerance | 141 |
One Nation under God | 211 |
The Hajj in World Politics and Law | 253 |
Appendix | 273 |
Notes | 311 |
Glossary | 335 |
339 | |
353 | |
Greening the Pancasila State | 175 |
Altre edizioni - Visualizza tutto
Guests of God: Pilgrimage and Politics in the Islamic World Robert Bianchi Anteprima non disponibile - 2008 |
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Abuja Africa Anwar Arab Arafat areas Arkoun Asia Ataturkists Babangida Benazir Bhutto capital central Christian civil created culture Directorate of Religious districts East economic elections Erbakan ethnic Female pilgrims figure global God’s Golkar grimage groups Haji’s hajj activity hajj management hajj participation hajj rates hajjis Hausa Holy Cities Ibrahim Indonesia international law Iqbal Iran Islamic Jakarta Java Ka‘ba Kaduna Kalimantan Kuala Lumpur Kwara Lagos leaders Mahathir Malay Malaysia Mecca military modernists mosques Muhammad Muhammadiyah Muslim League Nigeria Nurcholish O¨zal Pakistan Pancasila Pashtun People’s Party percent pilgrimage pilgrimage rates pilgrims political politicians Press provinces Punjab quotas Qur’an reforms regime region religion Religious Affairs rule rural Saudi Arabia schools secular Shari‘ati Shi‘ite Sindh Siraiki Snouck social society South Sufi Suharto Sulawesi Sumatra Tabung Haji tion Turkey Turkey’s Turkish ulama UMNO umra University urban vote voters West Western women Yoruba