Heavenly Journeys, Earthly Concerns by Brooke Olsen Vuckovic

The Legacy of the Mi'raj in the Formation of Islam

Focusing on issues of interpretation, this book collects and translates a number of medieval mi'raj accounts. The study provides readers access to the documentation and translation of these lesser-known Arabic texts, and uncovers their role in building a meaningful, cohesive and coherent Muslim community in medieval times. This book examines how an elite group of traditionalists, historians and theologians shaped Muslims' perceptions of their prophet, their community and their behaviour by retelling and interpreting the story of Muhammad's ascent to heaven (the mi'raj). Although the 'facts' surrounding Muhammad's ascent are lost to historians, the legacy of his journey remains, and has contributed greatly to the construction of shared Islamic history, memory and meaning. Focusing on issues of interpretation, this book collects and translates a number of medieval mi'raj accounts. The narratives of Muhammad's heavenly journey offer a prism through which to view the medieval elite's communal, political and theological motives. These accounts reveal the historiographic process in which a single event becomes a focal point for those struggling to define the past and establish a communal, confessional and political identity by reporting the apparant facts about a particular moment in time. In other words, these tales have real stakes for both their authors and their audiences, and shed light on Muslim communal concerns from the late eighth through to the fourteenth century. Brooke Olson Vuckovic's groundbreaking study provides readers access to the documentation and translation of these lesser-known Arabic texts, and uncovers their role in building a meaningful, cohesive and coherent Muslim community in medieval times.
`Author(s) :` Brooke Olsen Vuckovic	`Format :` Hardback Book
`ISBN-10 :` 0415967856	`ISBN-13 :` 9780415967853
`RRP :` £45.00	`Best available price :` £ / $
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Product Details:

Series Title : Religion in History, Society & Culture

Country Publication : United Kingdom

Publication Date : 01/12/2003

Publisher : Taylor & Francis Ltd

Page Length : 176mm

Page Size : 216mm