The Genesis of Miracle Stories in Jihad

Abstract

Abstract Stories of miracles, or karamat, are ubiquitous and influential in jihad. Yet, they remain poorly understood. Current treatments are limited to descriptions of reports in individual conflicts. None have systematically studied their genesis: from whom, and where do they originate? Some, to be sure, imply origins—especially in deception. But they have done so based on impressions, and not systematic investigation. However, the question is of considerable interest and warrants closer study. Examining it would not only illuminate an understudied aspect of the movements in question but also advance scholarship on religion on the battlefield, a budding field of inquiry. This article thus traces the genesis of official and semiofficial reports of karamat, drawing on a wide range of evidence, including hundreds of reports culled from books, magazines, and video and audio recordings from multiple groups and individuals spanning decades, and interviews. The results point to origins in experience, misrepresentation, rumor, and tradition. The findings advance our understanding of karamat, and the documentary value of reports of them. More generally, they sensitize us to the significance of elusive phenomena seldom studied in the conflict literature: religious experience, propaganda about religious experience, rumor about religious experience, and folklore about religious experience.