The Materiality of Sound, Mediation, and Practices of Listening: Observations from Historic and Contemporary Muslim Practices

In his book on the etiquette of listening, the eleventh-century scholar Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī develops a scenario which includes the context, the performer, and the listener who all contribute to turn listening into a transformative experience by which the soul of the listener is moved, his or her i...

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Main Author: Ines Weinrich
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: CERES / KHK Bochum 2020-03-01
Series:Entangled Religions - Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of Religious Contact and Transfer
Subjects:
Online Access:https://er.ceres.rub.de/index.php/ER/article/view/8555
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spelling doaj-4e1c6d25c0f44351b1f6cf8c83d221132020-11-25T03:55:44ZengCERES / KHK BochumEntangled Religions - Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of Religious Contact and Transfer 2363-66962020-03-0111310.13154/er.11.2020.8555The Materiality of Sound, Mediation, and Practices of Listening: Observations from Historic and Contemporary Muslim PracticesInes Weinrich0Universität Münster, Germany In his book on the etiquette of listening, the eleventh-century scholar Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī develops a scenario which includes the context, the performer, and the listener who all contribute to turn listening into a transformative experience by which the soul of the listener is moved, his or her inner qualities are revealed, and his or her transactions with the Divine are set in motion. This paper explores in what way these elaborations are relevant for contemporary performers of religious chanting in Arab Sunni communities in the Eastern Levant. It understands chanting in Muslim religious practice as “sensational forms” (Birgit Meyer) that serve religious mediation. These sensational forms are both authorised and contested, and al-Ghazālī’s ideas constitute an eminent reference for many practitioners. The paper captures al-Ghazālī’s elaborations in two aspects: first, his conditioned licence of listening to music and singing as a way to engage with the Divine and earn religious merits. Second, an understanding of music’s materiality that is not necessarily bound to sonic properties but becomes evident in the effect music has on listeners. Taking the concept of sorrow (ḥuzn) as an example, I show how al-Ghazālī’s understanding of mediating sorrow, rooted in the appropriation of ancient Greek music philosophy, has given way to a broader understanding of how to convey and evoke sorrow among contemporary performers. https://er.ceres.rub.de/index.php/ER/article/view/8555soundmaterialityIslamal-Ghazālīinshādchanting
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Ines Weinrich
spellingShingle Ines Weinrich
The Materiality of Sound, Mediation, and Practices of Listening: Observations from Historic and Contemporary Muslim Practices
Entangled Religions - Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of Religious Contact and Transfer
sound
materiality
Islam
al-Ghazālī
inshād
chanting
author_facet Ines Weinrich
author_sort Ines Weinrich
title The Materiality of Sound, Mediation, and Practices of Listening: Observations from Historic and Contemporary Muslim Practices
title_short The Materiality of Sound, Mediation, and Practices of Listening: Observations from Historic and Contemporary Muslim Practices
title_full The Materiality of Sound, Mediation, and Practices of Listening: Observations from Historic and Contemporary Muslim Practices
title_fullStr The Materiality of Sound, Mediation, and Practices of Listening: Observations from Historic and Contemporary Muslim Practices
title_full_unstemmed The Materiality of Sound, Mediation, and Practices of Listening: Observations from Historic and Contemporary Muslim Practices
title_sort materiality of sound, mediation, and practices of listening: observations from historic and contemporary muslim practices
publisher CERES / KHK Bochum
series Entangled Religions - Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of Religious Contact and Transfer
issn 2363-6696
publishDate 2020-03-01
description In his book on the etiquette of listening, the eleventh-century scholar Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī develops a scenario which includes the context, the performer, and the listener who all contribute to turn listening into a transformative experience by which the soul of the listener is moved, his or her inner qualities are revealed, and his or her transactions with the Divine are set in motion. This paper explores in what way these elaborations are relevant for contemporary performers of religious chanting in Arab Sunni communities in the Eastern Levant. It understands chanting in Muslim religious practice as “sensational forms” (Birgit Meyer) that serve religious mediation. These sensational forms are both authorised and contested, and al-Ghazālī’s ideas constitute an eminent reference for many practitioners. The paper captures al-Ghazālī’s elaborations in two aspects: first, his conditioned licence of listening to music and singing as a way to engage with the Divine and earn religious merits. Second, an understanding of music’s materiality that is not necessarily bound to sonic properties but becomes evident in the effect music has on listeners. Taking the concept of sorrow (ḥuzn) as an example, I show how al-Ghazālī’s understanding of mediating sorrow, rooted in the appropriation of ancient Greek music philosophy, has given way to a broader understanding of how to convey and evoke sorrow among contemporary performers.
topic sound
materiality
Islam
al-Ghazālī
inshād
chanting
url https://er.ceres.rub.de/index.php/ER/article/view/8555
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