Pre-Islamic Beliefs Research Articles

Generation of Character Designs Based on Pre-Islamic Beliefs of Turks

Turkish communities had lived under the belief system of Turkic mythology, known as Tengriism, in a significant part of their history. It is noteworthy that Turkic mythology elements, which have taken such a place in the cultural life of the Turks, are not sufficiently used as visual design tools. Considering the significance of preserving cultural heritage, Turkic mythology is rarely shown in animations, video games, or movies. The primary gods, goddesses, and supernatural creatures of Turkic mythology are not directly depicted, despite the existence of some animations relating to Turkic cultures such as Keloğlan, Nasreddin Hodja, and Dede Korkut. The main concern of this article is that the elements of Turkic mythology are unable to find enough depiction. Therefore some dominant creatures belonging to Turkic mythology were transformed into character designs. As the method, two-dimensional computer-based modelling techniques were selected to compose character designs of selected Turkic mythology creatures.

Religious syncretism in the funeral and memorial rites of the Crimean Tatars in modern times

The author touches upon the funeral and memorial customs and rituals of the Crimean Tatars, in particular their content and transformation. The main purpose of the study is to examine the mutual influence of religions and identify elements of ancient pre-Islamic beliefs in the funeral culture of the Crimean Tatars during the late XVIII-early XX centuries. Based on this, the author of the work had two main tasks: 1. To highlight and characterize the main customs and rituals that formed the funeral and memorial complex during the specified period; 2. to highlight the rituals that are conditioned by religious prescriptions and rituals formed as a result of the mutual influence of ancient Turkic views with Islamic religious norms. In general, based on the fact that customs and traditions imply an inherited set of behavior, studying the ritual component will allow us to assess the stability of the development of the spiritual culture of the Crimean Tatars. An analysis of ethnographic descriptions, diaries and records of travelers published in the XIX - early XX century was carried out on this topic. The 20th century allows us to reconstruct the funeral rite and identify elements not related to religious dogmas. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that the conducted rituals are considered through the prism of Islamic doctrine, which allowed us to partially determine the degree of religious syncretism in the culture of the Crimean Tatars and identify specific elements associated with ancient pre-Islamic views. As part of the study, it can be concluded that Muslim religious norms were generally observed. Among them: the order for the speedy burial of the body, the correct corpse laying and the vestments of the deceased. At the same time, there are separate descriptions of the funeral rite, where some variability in the performance of rituals is presented, in particular, improper sitting of the corpse and the presence of inventory, which is explained by religious competence and the preservation of echoes of ancient pre-Islamic cults. The echoes of ancient cults are mainly traced in memorial rites, through a ritual meal. Cooking, especially the food that the deceased loved, refers us to the veneration of the cult of ancestors, which was represented among the Turkic-speaking tribes before the adoption of Islam. At the same time, since the meals were accompanied by the recitation of prayers for the deceased, they were firmly associated with religious norms among the inhabitants.

Культ святых и генерирование этнической идентичности казахов в Северо-Казахстанской области

Introduction. The formation and maintenance of Kazakh identity in the northern regions of Kazakhstan was largely associated with the specificity of historical, cultural, linguistic resources, and the religious factor played an important role therein. The shaping of ‘Kazakhness’ in the pre-Soviet period was based not only on the self-image as free nomads and language community but also on belonging to the world of Islam. Such local resources of the Kazakh ethnic identity comprise the cult of holy warriors and seers — batyr, auwliye and zhyrau, i.e. true historical heroes from the period of fierce struggle for the region throughout the seventeenth–eighteenth centuries. Goals. The study attempts an insight into the specifics of the saints’ cult among Kazakhs of Northern Kazakhstan. Real supporters of Khan Abylai and active participants of steppe wars — batyrs Kozhabergen, Kulsary and Kuleke — were included in the pantheon of saints across the designated region. Materials and methods. The work examines a wide range of sources, both published archival documents and pre-revolutionary statistical collections, as well as ethnographic material collected by the authors in the form of family trees (shezhire) and ethno-genealogical legends about the deeds of cultural heroes. The documents introduced into scientific turnover have made it possible to verify the relevance of data articulated by oral shezhire narratives and legends, which together constitute a valuable layer of sources yielding insights into the mentality and spiritual world of nomads. Results. The ethnic history of the northern Kazakh clans and tribes and the emergence of the local cult of holy warriors show a close connection between lifestyle and religious factor for the reproduction of ethnic identity. Under the conditions of constant hostilities and distrust toward alien neighbors across northern steppes, those were Genghisids — famous warlords/batyrs and charismatic leaders of mighty tribes — that became objects of veneration, rather than Muslim righteous men or descendants of the Kozha clan. The informal alliance of Genghisids and batyrhood did facilitate the preservation of “Kazakhness’ during the period of heavy defeats and severe trials in the sixteenth–eighteenth centuries. The lives of heroes served as examples to all Kazakhs regardless of tribal affiliation and as models of ideal behavior. Later, descendants would endow their ancestors with the traits of Muslim saints and pass on narratives claiming their gifts of soothsaying and healing from generation to generation. Being a local Muslim variant of saints’ worship practices which incorporated elements of pre-Islamic beliefs, the cult of the northern batyr-auwliye performed an important integrative function and contributed to the deep ethnicization of clan/tribal roots among local Kazakhs.

THE INTEREST OF THE SİN SACRIFICE, WHICH WAS SACRIFICED FOR DEAD PEOPLE IN ANATOLIA, WITH THE OLD TURK BELIEF

In different regions of Anatolia, in both Sunni and Alevi Turk communities, an animal is sacrificed under the name of sin sacrifice, on the day of death and in different periods after death. The subject of this article is the origin of the sin sacrifice, which is slaughtered for the deceased in some regions of Anatolia today. The thesis of the study argues that the origin of the sin sacrifice slaughtered for the deceased by Muslim Turk communities in Anatolia is related to the belief in the spirit and death in pre-Islamic Turks. The common practice of this sacrifice, which has no place in the Islamic religion, despite sectarian differences, indicates that it is related to pre-Islamic beliefs. Based on this finding, the study applied the method of induction, that is, the method of going back to cultural origins. While taking this method as a basis, the cultural connection between the soul, death, grave, tombstone and sacrifice was taken into consideration. According to the interpretation made on the basis of etymological information, the word sin may be related to the spirits believed to be present in human beings - namely sün-süne, sür. Based on the deductions, the origin of this sacrifice is based on the ancestor cult in old Turks. According to this cult, the spirit of the deceased continues its relationship with this world for a certain period of time. Therefore, the sacrifices made during yog and commemoration ceremonies when death occurs are linked to this conception of the spirit and death. As a result, the tradition of offering sacrifices to the souls of the deceased, which was already present among the Turks in the pre-Islamic period, continued its existence by gaining Islamic motifs after the change of religion. Keywords: History, Sin Sacrifice, Anatolia, Sunni and Alevi Turks, Old Turk Belief, Spirit and Death, Sin Stone.

Looking for Luck in Farming: Intersubjective Relationships in the Mujarobat Manuscript

This study focuses on the intersubjective relationships contained in the Mujarobat text. This study comes from the still developing local beliefs and traditions of the coastal communities of North Java which are influenced by pre-Islamic beliefs and Islamic beliefs. Among the beliefs that still exist, it is the belief in predictions and calculations to get good luck and avoid bad luck. This study specifically aims to discuss how to grow plants on pages 40, 41, 42, 49, and 50 in the Mujarobat text. This study shows that the Mujarobat text contains local knowledge and intersubjective relationships between humans and humans as well as humans and non-humans—God and nature. Thus, using the paradigm of ancestral religions, this study argues that there is an intersubjective relationship between humans and non-humans that is responsible, ethical, and reciprocal when planting plants in the Mujarobat text which aim to get lucky.

Elements of Shamanism in the Folk Medicine of the Siberian Tatars

The purpose of the article is to examine, on the basis of field ethnographic materials collected by the authors in the Tyumen, Omsk and Novosibirsk regions during a number of field seasons, the relics of shamanism preserved in the folk medicine of the Siberian Tatars. The relevance of the study is related to the poor knowledge of this issue. The object of the study is the relics of the pre–Islamic beliefs of the Siberian Tatars, including the categories of shamans (imce, kuremce, sihyrce, kotsle mullah, etc.). The subject is their role in the traditional healing and magical rituals. The authors believe that with the spread of Islam in Western Siberia, there is a loss or significant transformation of the early common Turkic ideas about the universe, nature and essence of man. But, despite this, some elements of the common Turkic cultural and religious practice have been preserved in the culture of the Siberian Tatars. The main conclusions of the authors are the following. Magical rituals occupied a significant place in the traditional folk medicine of the Siberian Tatars. The authors show the preservation of some relics of shamanism among the Siberian Tatars, as well as categories of shamanists, which include imce, kuremce, sihyrce. The similarities and differences in their capabilities in traditional medical practice are shown: clairvoyance (kuremce, imce, sihyrce), diagnosis of diseases, treatment (imce, kuremce, sihyrce), kamlaniya (imce, sihyrce), prediction of the future, communication with spirits (kuremce, sihyrce). In connection with the important role of Sufism in Siberian Islam, it is shown that the practices inherent in shamanism were used in the treatment of Islamic clerics - mullahs.

PROFESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVES OF ISLAMIC DIFFERENTIATION IN ANATOLIA IN THE WORKS OF AHMET YAŞAR OCAK: ‘MARGINAL ṢŪFĪS’, ‘HERETICS’, AND ‘ATHEISTS’

The issue of Islamic differentiation in Anatolia is probably the most attractive subject of Islamic history of Anatolia. This subject, on which researchers have spent a lot of time since Fuad Köprülü, has been studied mostly through the representatives of differentiation, distinctive features and the origins. The debates on the concepts preferred to characterize the difference are still alive. As a researcher who deals with almost every aspect of the subject and produces works, Ahmet Yaşar Ocak is in the position of addressing almost all these discussions. Ocak creates also a typology of Islamic differentiation while dealing with the subject through both mystical and ulama representatives. He conceptualizes the Qalandarīs, whom he treats as representatives of the profession, as marginal ṣūfīsm while evaluating the Malāmīs, Hamzavīs, Gulshanīs and some individual representatives from the ulama within the scope of heresy and atheism, with its own terminology of the Ottoman period. As the basis of this characterization, he highlights the non-Islamic and customary attitudes and even social deviance for Qalandarīs, and non-Islamic behaviours for Malāmīs, and also extreme pantheism almost common to all. Ocak also deals with the issue of where these distinctive features originate from, both through the influence of pre-Islamic beliefs and with their extensions in the Islamic period and within the framework of new formations over time.

The Motif of “Spread Out The Prayer Rug on The Water” And Its Reflections In Classıcal Turkish Poetry

“Seccadeyi suya serme” motifi destan ve halk hikâyelerinde, Alevi-Bektaşi menkıbelerinde ve Dede Korkut hikâyelerinde karşılaşılan bir motiftir. Zamanla klasik Türk şiiri metinlerinde, az da olsa modern Türk şiirinde yer alan bir metafora dönüşmüştür. Motif; Sümer, Hint, Çin, Hristiyanlık gibi inanç ve kültürlerde mitolojik çağlara uzanan, Türklerin İslam öncesi inançlarına işaret eden bir anlam derinliğine sahiptir. Motifin yapısında yer alan “seccade” ve “su” kavram ve metaforlarının bağdaştırılması, inanç ve kültürlerdeki iç içe geçmişliğin ve kaynaşmışlığın, senkretizmin dildeki cisimleşmesidir. Kimi Farsça metinlerde seccâde ber-âb efkend şeklinde geçen tabirin Türkçe metinlerdeki kullanımı daha yaygındır. Menkıbelerde, tasavvufi metinlerde, din dışı şiirlerde tabire farklı anlamlar yüklenmiştir. Klasik Türk şiirinde motifin özellikle Hızır’la ilişkilendirildiği de görülmüştür. Tabirin anlam ve muhtevasına ise tarihi kaynaklarda ve sözlüklerde değinilmemiştir. Günümüz sözlüklerinden ikisinde karşılaşılan tabire verilen anlamlar ise hatalıdır. Çalışmada motifin senkretik yapısı gereği tabirin anlam çerçevesini daha iyi çizebilmek için seccade, su, Hızır kavram ve metaforları üzerinde durulmuştur. Mitolojilerdeki, menkıbelerdeki izleri araştırılarak tabirin klasik Türk şiirindeki anlam çerçevesi beyit örnekleri üzerinden çizilmeye çalışılmıştır.

The items of Islam and pre-Islamic beliefs of the Bashkirs in collection of the Museum of Archeology and Ethnography of the Institute of Ethnological Research of the Ufa Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences

The subject of this research is museum sources on the religion of Bashkir people. The goal lies in examination of the items of Islam and pre-Islamic beliefs from the ethnographic collections of the Museum of Archeology and Ethnography of R. G. Kuzeev Institute of Ethnological Research of the Ufa Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It is determined that the Museum stores over 50 items related to religion that were collected in the late XX century in the Republic of Bashkortostan, Kurgan Oblast, and Orenburg Oblast. These Islamic (Sunni Muslims) items are rather associated with the traditions and lifestyle of the Bashkir people: prayer rugs – namazlik, Quran, tasbih, tagiyah, ablution items – kumgan, dress of the Mullah. Prayer rugs are decorated with floral embroidery, with images of mosque, kumgan, crescent moon, and Arabic inscription. The collections also feature the items related to Shia Muslims – a stone used in prayer. Islam first infiltrated Bashkir culture in the X – XI centuries; by the XIII – XIV century it spread significantly; strengthening its positions with each century, it has fully integrated into life of Bashkir population by the end of the XIX century. Despite this fact, certain items pre-Islamic beliefs have retained in everyday life of the Bashkir people: amulets (amulet stones, juniper, feathers of wood grouse, goose down, etc.). Bashkirs were able to synthesize the pre-Islamic and Islamic tradition, which remain existing harmoniously in the territory of the Republic of Bashkortostan.

The 43rd Annual Session of St Petersburg Arabists

On April 19–21th, 2021, Institute of Oriental Manuscripts (Saint-Petersburg) hosted the 43rd Annual Session of St Petersburg Arabists in tribute to professor O. G. Bolshakov (1929 – 2020). The conference was held for two days under the chairmanship of Associate Professor S. A. Frantsuzov and included morning and afternoon sessions, which covered interesting reports by Arab scholars from St. Petersburg, Moscow and Kazan in person and online. Arabic messages were accompanied by scholarly discussions on various topics on the history of the Middle East and cultural linguistics. More than 35 speakers from different countries including Canada and Switzerland took part in the conference and were able not only to meet their colleagues, but also to take advantage of a spare day between the sessions and to visit unique sights St. Petersburg has to offer. MGIMO University was represented at the scientific conference by N. G. Antonova, lecturer of the Department of Middle East Languages, with a report on the topic The History of Arabisms in the Spanish Language devoted to the analysis of words borrowings, their introduction into the Spanish language, main groups and levels at which the linguistic process took place. A. O. Bolshakov and F. A. Asadullin delivered their reports about a prominent historian and Arabist O. G. Bolshakov who dedicated his life to the study of the history of Caliphate and Islam. Researchers in the field of linguistic cultural studies spoke about Moscow Arabs, development of the theory of jihad, and various aspects of the Arabic language. A lot of speakers touched upon the topic of religion, including pre-islamic beliefs, and the Quran, its translations and editions kept in the museum collections. The representatives of Saint Petersburg State University gave reports on a wide range of linguistic, historic and ethnographic issues. A. A. Mokrushina made an interactive presentation on the special aspects of commercials in Arab countries. Participation in the session of St. Petersburg Arabists served as a valuable opportunity to make a presentation of one’s current research to colleagues-Arabists, to carry out professional and scientific communication, to hold scientific discussions and to gain a deeper understanding of the history and culture of the Arabic language.

NİZAMİ YARADICILIĞI XXI ƏSRİN AYNASINDA

The naming of 2021 as the "Year of Nizami" is a manifestation of the high value given to our literature, language and culture by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Heydar oglu Aliyev. This article talks about the immortality of the world-famous great Azerbaijani philosopher and poet Nizami Ganjavi, the antiquity of the ethnic lineage of the Azerbaijani Turks and the formation of the Azerbaijani language on the basis of the ancient Turkic language. All this is substantiated by the example of Nizami's personality and creativity, and it is concluded that Nizami Ganjavi is an Azer Turk of Albanian descent who converted to Islam. Nizami Ganjavi is a world-famous philosopher and poet. If he was not a Turk, he would not marry his Kipchak daughter Afag. Of course, they spoke Turkish at home. This Turkish language was Gargar-Kipchak dialect. The Armenian province of Caucasian Albania, reflected in the works of Nizami Ganjavi, is not present-day Armenia. The Caucasus is a province of Albania and was inhabited by Albanians. If the Armenian name existed in the 12th century, Nizami, the mirror of his time, would have told the world about the Armenians and their characteristics. Nizami considers himself a "stranger" to the philosophy of life. This is due to the fact that the people and environment that formed Nizami have just moved from fire-worship, idolatry and Christianity to Islamic thought. Therefore, Nizami was neither a Christian nor an Islamist like Islam. Therefore, standing at the crossroads of these two roads, he says that I - the double Nizami is a stranger, half the vinegar in the world, half the honey. I think he emphasized that he was as sour as vinegar because he left Christianity and that he tasted honey because he converted to Islam. Therefore, pre-Islamic beliefs and discoveries in the works of Nizami Ganjavi. Christianity, sayings and feelings about Jesus Christ are widespread. This is due to Nizami's commitment to his ethnic roots as a Christian Albanian. Nizami Ganjavi leaned on Albanian literature and culture and presented pearls to the treasury of world culture. Key words: Nizami, poet, Kipchak, Afag, Harum, Barda, Christian, Caucasus, Albanian, Albanian, Armenian, Marzankush, Marzili

An Essay on the Pre-Islamic Beliefs Narrated in the Legends of Bektashi Order in the Balkans

Türklerin dinlere karşı duydukları ilgi dünyadaki büyük dinlerden çoğunu bulundukları coğrafyaya göre, art arda ya da aynı anda benimsemelerine neden olmuştur. Türklerin diğer dinleri kabul etmeleri neticesinde eskiden kalma inançları birden kaybolmamış, bu inanç ve geleneklerin izleri ve etkileri birçok konuda merkezden taşraya doğru gidildikçe ton değiştirerek günlük hayatın içerisinde daha belirgin hale geldiği müşahede edilmektedir. Binaenaleyh eski dünyanın tanınmış ibadet yerlerindeki dinsel törenler çoğunlukla yöresel eski dinlerin kalıntılarını da yansıtır. Daha da önemlisi Fatih bir ırk veya bir misyoner örgütünün dinsel üyeleri tarafından yabancı ülkelere getirilen yeni dinsel söylemlerin gücü ile yerli dinsel törenler biçim değiştirerek yeni dinin malı olur. Türklerin evliya ile ilgili dinî düşüncelerinin kaynağı, İslâm’a kadar; ağırlıklı olarak atalar kültü, Şamanizm sonra kısmen etkili olan, Hristiyanlık, Budizm, Mazdeizm ve Maniheizm gibi inançların etkisiyle oluştuğu gözlenmektedir. İslam’ın Türk halkları arasında tasavvufi boyutuyla kabul görüp yaygınlaşması ve gelişmesi XII. yüzyıldan itibaren Müslüman Türk evliya tipini de etkilemiştir. Bundan böyle gelecekten haber veren, hastaları iyileştiren, göklerde uçabilen ve ateşte yanmayan bir evliya tipi İslam dairesi içerisinde dinî ve tasavvufi metinlerde yerini almıştır. Çalışmada, Türk kökenli halkların inanç tarihine bir nebze de olsa katkıda bulunabilmek için XVII. yüzyıl büyük Türk seyyahı Evliya Çelebi’nin Balkanlarda kayıt altına aldığı, Bektaşi menkıbelerinden hareketle, İslam öncesi inanç unsurlarını irdeleyerek kutsalın değişen morfolojisi, tarihi gelişimi ve dinler arasındaki senkretizm, ana hatlarıyla değerlendirilecektir.

Electricity within: Islam, pre-Islamic traditions and secular forms of belief in contemporary Kyrgyz cinema

ABSTRACT Although post-Soviet Central Asian societies self-identify as Muslim, spiritual identity is a highly contested subject in the region and one influenced by Russian imperialism and Soviet atheist ideology. In Kyrgyzstan, a transnational Islamic movement, the Tablighi Jama’at Network (TJN) calling for a purification of Islamic practices, competes not only with the practitioners of ‘Soviet traditional Islam’ deeply rooted in Kyrgyz ethnic customs and traditional culture, but also with the proponents of the pre-Islamic beliefs of Tengriism, all against the background of deeply-ingrained Soviet notions of modernity. On the basis of a close analysis of two Kyrygz films, Ernest Abdyzhaparov’s Saratan. Village Authorities (2004) and Aktan Arym Kubat’s Centaur (2017), this article examines negotiations of spiritual identity in contemporary Kyrgyz cinema at the intersection of global and local Islam, pre-Islamic traditions, and Soviet-imparted spiritual secularism as a complex process navigated by the Soviet generation of filmmakers who are apprehensive of Islamic global movements and emerging dominant religious narratives as an ‘alien’ ideology aiming to suppress Central Asians’ cultural diversity and authenticity. Responding to Russo-Soviet ideological imperialism and Islamic fundamentalism, these artists negotiate their culture’s multiplicity and ambivalence while drawing on regional diversity and nomadic roots.

ЮВЕЛИРНЫЕ УКРАШЕНИЯ КАЗАХОВ XIX - НАЧАЛА XX В.: АНАЛИЗ МУЗЕЙНЫХ КОЛЛЕКЦИЙ

The article considers the period of formation and flourishing of the Kazakh jewelry school. The main material for studying is women's jewelry. The classification of jewelry is given on the example of objects of museum collections of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation and includes complexes of products for the head, neck-chest, waist and hand jewelry. The semantic meaning of both individual manufacturing materials and independent products is noted. The influence of pre-Islamic beliefs and the Islamic religion is also considered semantically. Special attention is paid to the local features of jewelry and the cultural influence exerted by neighboring nations. The main techniques, material and ornamentation, and the identification of the magico-religious function as the dominant one are considered. The methodological basis of the article is culturological and semiotic approaches, as well as methods of comparative analysis and historical analysis. Keywords: jewelry art, kazakhs, semantics, amulet, ethnographic collections, museum

GENESIS AND EVOLUTION OF THE DEIFIED HOLY MATZEL
 (the question of pre-Islamic beliefs of the Ingush)

The purpose of the research is to verify the hypothesis of the origin of the cult of Mjatzel in ancient times as a sacred ancestor-patron of the Falkhanoy clan and its subsequent evolution into one of the Ingush national "senior" deified saints.
 To achieve this goal sets the objective: to prove that other tribal groups in mountainous Ingushetia were not the Holy Mjatzel his ancestral patron; to argue that Mjatzel was originally an ancestor-patron of the tape Falhanoy; justify the General scheme of evolution Mjatzel in one of the five Ingush "older gods".
 Common tribal, communal, rural and family deities have been identified for all tribal and rural-community groups of the Kistins society of mountainous Ingushetia. The main source is the material of the work of the archaeologist D. Chakhkiev "Antiquities of mountain Ingushetia". It is established that none of the mentioned groups had shrines dedicated to Saint Mjatzsel, had their own ancestral patrons, and did not consider Myintsela their family patron.
 The paper provides a system of evidence that the deified Saint Mjatzel was originally the ancestor-patron of the teip Falhanoy and remained in this capacity for them even after the transformation into a all-Ingush deified Saint. Because of this, all the priests of the Mjatzeli sanctuary and its associated temples in Beini and Falhan (Mjat-Selash) were necessarily from Falhan. According to Falhanoy, the souls of their fathers were located at the highest point of the sacred Table mountain, where there were three shrines, including one dedicated to the rebel, which was originally patronymic in nature.
 According to the scheme described in the ethnographic literature by B. Dalgat, B. Alborov, the evolution of the Mjatzel from the family patron of the Falkhanoy family to the Ingush deified Saint is justified.
 As a result of comprehensive analysis of the complex archaeological, historical, toponymic and ethnographic data, it was concluded: having originated in ancient times as the cult of the sacred ancestor, the patron Saint of clans Falhanoy, in the subsequent evolution Mattel has naturally become one of the five all-Ingush deified saints.

On Some Pre-Islamic Beliefs among the Gidatli-Avars

The paper describes several interesting details from the rich repository of folk beliefs, cults, rites and ceremonies of obviously pre-Islamic nature, recorded among the Gidatlis. The latter are a sub-ethnic group of the Avars living in the Shamil region of Dagestan.

AKULTURASI ISLAM DAN BUDAYA JAWA: Kajian Pada Ritual “Pengesahan” Warga Baru Persaudaraan Setia Hati Terate

Kehadiran Islam ke wilayah Indonesia meniscayakan terjadinya dialektika antara Islam dengan kebudayaan nusantara. Dialektika ini kemudian melahirkan beberapa varian keagamaan Islam di Indonesia. Setiap varian keagamaan memiliki ritual yang khas sebagai hasil akulturasi Islam dan budaya. Di antara ritual-ritual yang ada, terdapat suatu bentuk ritual “pengesahan” yang dilaksanakan oleh suatu komunitas yang tergabung dalam Persaudaraan Setia Hati Terate (PSHT). Tulisan ini menyoroti simbolisme yang ada pada ritual pengesahan warga baru PSHT yang merupakan satu bentuk ekspresi keagamaan masyarakat (jawa) yang tergabung di dalamnya. Di dalam ritual itu terjadi pergulatan antara Islam dan kepercayaan pra-Islam, negosiasi Islam dan budaya lokal, serta proses saling mempengaruhi satu sama lain yang kadang berwujud dalam pola sinkretis, konflik, atau pola-pola lain yang kadang sulit untuk didefinisikan. Dalam konteks ritual pengesahan ini, simbolisme yang terdapat di dalamnya, serta proses ritual itu sendiri menunjukkan ekspresi keberagamaan anggotanya yang menambah ragam keagamaan Islam di Indonesia.

THE FIRE CULT AND ISLAM IN THE KAZAKH SYSTEM OF BELIEFS

Abstract. In this paper, we consider various viewpoints on the extent to which the Islamic religion and pre-Islamic beliefs influenced Kazakh society. It describes the traditional religious of the Kazakh-nomads, including non-Moslem elements, such as the Fire Cult. Moreover, the paper assesses the impact of Zoroastrianism on this ritual. It demonstrates that the nomadic Kazakhs were less affected by alien ideologies because of their mode of life. During the whole period under consideration, Kazakh religiousness was distinguished by its vivid syncretism that involves the combination of traditional creeds and the Moslem faith. The analysis refers to the period when the Kazakh territories were the part of the Russian Empire. The authors rely on the historical concept of Arnold Toynbee, especially on his formula 'call-and-answer'. We were also guided by the ideas of Edward Shils and Anthony Giddens about the role of traditions. Keywords: Islamization, Russian Empire, syncretistic Muslims, geo-cultural factors, Ot-Ana, Fire Cult, evil spirits, ethnic identity 1. Introduction Kazakhs, as bearers of the knowledge of their own heritage, are once again entering the arena of world history, and they are worthy of the interest and attention of the world's mainstream cultures. An understanding of the religious beliefs and practice of the Kazakh people is essential for any analysis of their sociopolitical, spiritual, and cultural life; it lies at the spiritual and historical roots of their ethnic self-identity and national ideology. Here, we have chosen to focus on the Fire Cult traditions to reveal syncretism of Kazakh religiousness that is currently lacking in the literature. In our work, we rely on the ideas of Edward Shils and Anthony Giddens. According to Shils, tradition is anything that is transmitted or handed down from the past to the present (Shils 2006:12). Anthony Giddens, discussing tradition in relationship to modernity, regards the former as something bound to ritual, where ritual guarantees the continuation of tradition (Giddens 1994:64). However, we also share Nathan Light's belief that cultural analysts must understand the motivations that lead people to preserve or change their cultures. He writes, People transmit culture through time, but this process has to be analyzed in terms of cultural reproduction: people are actively engaged in experiencing and recreating traditional practices (Light 2007:488). Thus, as Alexandre Papas points out, one cannot understand political and religious history as a consequence of ideas and adopted from abroad: historical events arise from processes deeply rooted in local society (Papas 2005:16-9). To understand the genesis of the spiritual component of Kazakh society, Arnold Toynbee's concepts of incentives strokes, pressure and prejudice by the environment or external forces as a call and society's reaction as an answer are applicable (Toynbee 2000:120). Relying on these concepts, we assume that the spiritual component of Kazakh society was based on a combination of endogenous and exogenous factors that affected it during its historic journey. Cultural factors, operating mainly in the temporal dimension, combined with environmental factors, operating in that of space. Recent publications thus speak of geo-cultural factors. In general, modern historians, despite the deeper study of documentary material, have not formed general concepts to assess the influence of Islam on Kazakh society. A historiographical analysis of the literature on Islamic issues suggests the presence of conflicting viewpoints and polemical discourses that emerge from differing values. 2. Viewpoints on the religiosity of the Kazakhs Almost all of the nineteenth century travelers who visited the region and regions adjacent to it were unanimous in stating that the commitment of the Kazakhs to Islam was only nominal (Georgi 1799:140, Levshin 1832:53-5, Bronevsky 1830:170-71, Herman 1822:219, Sotnikov 1872:771-90, Fredericks 1869: 690-7, Gaines 1874:42). …

IRANIAN HERESIOGRAPHY

This essay is a review of The Nativist Prophets of Early Islamic Iran: Rural Revolt and Local Zoroastrianism (2014), the last book that Patricia Crone wrote before she died, as well as an overview of her career and a tribute to her as a great historian of Islam. In Crone's subaltern history of the Persian plateau, the “nativist prophets” are a series of Iranian divines, seers, and hooligans whose resentment against Arab domination was expressed in recourse to pre-Islamic Persian ideals and beliefs. Islamic orthodoxy was undefined in the early eighth century, Crone shows, and the law had not yet entered every corner of daily life. There was, moreover, no clerical class at the time to correct heresiarchs on the fringes of the empire. Hence, according to the reviewer, one can easily imagine the situation as Crone does, with the truths of the new faith, in the eastern extremities of the caliphate, mixing with the Zoroastrian, Christian, and Manichaean truths already rooted there. Crone bleeds the categories of “Islamic” and “pre-Islamic” into each other, and thus her history is composed less of blocks of time and well-defined identities than of mutable compounds of belief and usage. The reviewer argues that Crone's sense of an unruly proliferation of popular beliefs is confirmed by the latest archaeology, and then he closes with an extended meditation on the relevance of this early Arab-Persian divide to the contemporary political situation of Islam and the Middle East.

Performance Art as an Instrument of Spiritual Contemplation: The Case of the Malay Wayang Kulit (Shadow Play)

This article offers an interpretation of the wayang kulit (Malay shadow play) as a type of traditional art, in which the art forms are conceived within the broader cosmology derived from religious tradition. To this end, it focuses on three aspects of the play, namely, the rituals, mythology and symbolism in the setting to uncover their meanings and how these relate to the tradition in which it was conceived. As the play predates Islam and was immersed in animistic and Hindu-Buddhist milieu, it underwent reinterpretation to accommodate the coming of Islam and in fact was utilised to convey Islamic message by building on the people’s pre-Islamic beliefs, thereby offering an instance of intercultural dialogue through art.