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Muslim preaching has been central in forming public opinion, building grassroots organizations, and developing leadership cadres for the wider Islamist agenda. Based on in-depth field research in Egypt, Patrick Gaffney focuses on the preacher and the sermon as the single most important medium for propounding the message of Islam. He draws on social history, political commentary, and theological sources to reveal the subtle connections between religious rhetoric and political dissent.
Many of the sermons discussed were given during the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, and Gaffney attempts to describe this militant movement and to compare it with official Islam. Finally, Gaffney presents examples of the sermons, so readers can better understand the full range of contemporary Islamic expression.
List of contents
Introduction
1. THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF THE RITUAL SETTING
The Mosque in Time and Space
2. THE AUTHORITY OF PREACHERS
3· THE MOSQUE AND THE CULT OF THE SAINT
4· ISLAMIZATION
The Tarboosh and the Beard
5· THE SERMON AS PUBLIC DISCOURSE
6. SECURITY AND BELIEF IN THE RHETORIC OF THE SERMON
7· SECURITY AND BELIEF
The Transformation of Social Status
8. MORALITY AND RELIGION IN IDEOLOGY AND ACTION
9· FORMALIZATION AND STRUCTURE
The Preacher as the Affirmation of Traditional Authority
10. CREATIVITY AND ADAPTATION
The Preacher as Advocate of Religiously Inspired Modernity
11. UNITY AND COMMITMENT
The Preacher as Apologist for the Ideology of Islamic Fundamentalism
Conclusion
APPENDIXES
A. Sermon of Shaykh Mustafa, May 18, 1979
B. Sermon of Shaykh Uthman, December 15, 1978
C. Sermon of Shaykh Umar, April 6, 1979
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index
About the author
Patrick D. Gaffney is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Notre Dame.
Summary
This text focuses on the preacher and the sermon as the single most important medium for propounding the message of Islam. It draws on social history, political commentary, and theological sources to reveal the subtle connections between religious rhetoric and political dissent.
