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The Jahriyya Sufis-a primarily Sinophone order in northwest China-inhabit a unique religious soundscape. The first ethnography of this order in any language,
The Sound of Salvation draws on nearly a decade of fieldwork to reveal the intricacies and importance of Jahriyya vocal recitation.
List of contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Archaeology of Sound
2. The Sacred Circle
3. Tempo of Time
4. His Master’s Voice
5. Labor of Faith
Epilogue: Ethnography and the Future of the Jahriyya Sound
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Guangtian Ha is assistant professor of religion at Haverford College. He is coeditor of Ethnographies of Islam in China (2020) and The Contest of the Fruits (2021).
Summary
The Jahriyya Sufis—a primarily Sinophone order in northwest China—inhabit a unique religious soundscape. The first ethnography of this order in any language, The Sound of Salvation draws on nearly a decade of fieldwork to reveal the intricacies and importance of Jahriyya vocal recitation.
Additional text
This is a substantial, unpretentious, and compelling ethnographic study focused on Jahriyya liturgical recitation in northwest China. Marked by expository clarity and absence of jargon, it is a wide-ranging and thoughtful, even wise, book that evidences the author’s impressive linguistic, historical, ethnographic, and theoretical sophistication. Whether exploring technical issues of multilanguage terminology, gender discrimination, or musicality and textual content of recitation, Ha always keeps larger questions about methodology and historical context, as well as the Jahriyya tradition (and its severely threatened survival), admirably in focus.
