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Devotional Literature and Songs of Worship as Complementary Texts for the Ismaili Muslim Community View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Fahim Dhalla, Arif Babul, Shaheeza Lalani
The Qur’an is the primary foundational text of Islam. It is supported by practices and sayings (Sunnah & Hadith) of the Prophet Muhammad. These form the basis for various schools of thought, law and theology that have developed within Islam over time since the passing of the Prophet. In addition, for the Shi’a branch of Islam over history, these have been supplemented by the discourse of the Imams as well as leaders of the different communities and traditions. This paper takes specific examples of devotional songs of the Ismaili community, to explore their function as complementary texts, in supplementing the foundational texts and differentiating this tradition from others by providing a basis for specific rituals, practices as well as used as pedagogical tools in religious education. It explores how these devotional songs are used to recall specific religious histories, celebrate religious events and convey teachings based on the foundational texts. Amongst the Shi’a, the Shi’a Imami Nizari Ismailis (Ismailis for short), are the second largest Shi’a community, led by their 49th Imam, His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV, the hereditary Imam in direct lineal descent from the Prophet Muhammad. The Ismailis have historically spread over North Africa, the Middle East, Persia, Central Asia and South Asia. As a result, religious education, different rituals and congregational practices were conducted in the vernacular, and adapted to local cultures. With this, a broad corpus of devotional songs developed in these regions, becoming a body of complementary texts for the community.
Nature Worship: From Idolatry to Modern Paganism and Eco-spirituality View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Pavel Horak
How do you make sense of contemporary nature- or eco-spiritualities and nature revering currents like modern Paganism or the new animism? The paper addresses the human relation to nature on the example of its worship as a peculiar topic within European religious history. The methodology involves comparing the ethnographical data from my fieldwork among modern Pagans in Europe between 2014–2017 with the history of ideas perspective and analysis of primary and secondary literature on nature worship. The paper explores nature worship topos as an idolatrous act in early Christianity. It analyses its later transformations throughout the Enlightenment, Romantic period, the rise of modern sciences in the 19th century until the utilization of this concept by various New Age, Pagan, or eco-spiritual or animistic movements in the 20th- and 21st-century. Next, it juxtaposes the historical analysis with fieldwork data focusing on the modern Pagan understanding of nature reverence or worship. It addresses the immanent notion of the divine as a way of challenging the Christian, transcendental notion of the divine. The paper argues that despite alternative religions like modern Paganism opposing Christianity, the Christian topoi of nature worship still shapes beliefs and practices within these religions. In conclusion, the paper offers conceptual tools to understand nature worship and human-nature relations. Also, it brings attention to possible Christian lenses in the way we understand human-nature relations in currently very popular indigenous or pre- or non-Christian ontologies.
