E-Book Overview
This is the first in-depth study of the Malay martial art, silat, and the first ethnographic account of the Haqqani Islamic Sufi Order. Drawing on 12 years of research and practice in Malaysia, Singapore, and England, social anthropologist and martial arts expert D.S. Farrer considers Malay silat through the transnational Sufi silat group called Seni Silat Haqq, an off-shoot of the Haqqani-Naqshbandi Sufi Order.
This account combines theories from the anthropology of art, embodiment, enchantment, and performance to show how war magic and warrior religion amalgamate in traditional Malay martial arts, where practitioners distance themselves from “becoming animal” or going into trance, preferring a practice of spontaneous bodily movement by summoning the power of Allah. Silat and Sufism are revealed through the social dramas of 40-day boot-camps where Malay and European practitioners endeavor to become shadows of the Prophet, only to have their faith tested through a ritual ordeal of boiling oil. The unseen realm and magical embodiment is further approached through an account of Malay deathscapes where moving through the patterns of silat summons the spirits of ancestral heroes.
Those interested in Malaysia, Sufism, transnational Islam, and the study of religion, conversion, magic, sorcery, theatre and martial arts will find this book indispensable. "<EM>the eagerly awaited monograph on the practice of silat" Joel S. Kahn "<EM>No other work on silat<EM> has achieved this level of inside understanding" Roxana Waterson
E-Book Content
Muslims in Global Societies Series
Volume 2
Series Editors Gabriele Marranci University of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK Bryan S. Turner National University of Singapore, Singapore
For further volumes: http://www.springer.com/series/7863
D.S. Farrer
Shadows of the Prophet Martial Arts and Sufi Mysticism
1 23
ISBN: 978-1-4020-9355-5
e-ISBN: 978-1-4020-9356-2
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-9356-2 Library of Congress Control Number: 2008938182 © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009 No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Printed on acid-free paper 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 springer.com
But as there is no language for the Infinite, How can we express its mysteries In finite words? Or how can the visions of the ecstatic Be described in earthly formula? So mystics veil their meanings in these shadows of the unseen Mahmud Sa‘adu’l-Din Shabistari (quoted in al-Attas 1963: 25)
Preface
Contemporary accounts of Malay culture that focus on shamanism, dance, medicine and performance reveal only a partial view of Malay mysticism. However, given knowledge of the Malay martial art (silat) a more comprehensive understanding of Malay mysticism, religion, sorcery and magic becomes possible. Recognizing the silat master’s (guru silat) role in Malay mysticism reconfigures the social anthropology of Malay religion, sorcery and magic. Hence this account explores Malay mysticism, shamanism and sorcery from the perspective of silat, which may be considered as a kind of embodied war magic or warrior religion. Shadows of the Prophet: Martial Arts and Sufi Mysticism is based upon my doctoral dissertation (Farrer 2006b). Part I of the book, reflections, outlines the methodological and theoretical base of the research. Chapter 1 outlines the fieldwork method of performance ethnography used to investigate a transnational silat organiza