for the unique mosque of the city of Isfahan until
its expansion in the 16th century). In time, ris-
ing populations and the consequent need for new
mosques blurred the distinctions between Friday
mosques and ordinary ones (masjids) so that now
most masjids are also used on Fridays. Given its
use, the form of the minbar has remained largely
stable, but there are fine historical minbars of
inlaid marble or wood, as well as new interpreta-
tions that update the general form.
Nuha N. N. Khoury
Further reading: Jonathan Bloom et al., The Minbar from
the Kutubiyya Mosque (New York: Metropolitan Museum
of Art 1998); Martin Frishman and Hasan-Uddin Khan,
eds., The Mosque: History, Architectural Development,
and Regional Diversity (New York: Thames and Hudson,
1994); Renata Holod and Hasan Uddin-Khan, The Mosque
and the Modern World: Architects, Patrons, and Designs
since the 1950s (London: Thames and Hudson, 1997).
miracle
Muslim
theology
typically distinguishes between
two types of miracle. One type is predicated only
of the prophets, and is for the purpose of proving
the authenticity of their prophetic mission. This
is called a mujiza, literally, something the witness
cannot imitate. The q
Uran
, believed by Muslims
to be inimitable, is in this category. The other kind
of miracle, in no way different in phenomenologi-
cal or practical terms, is called a karama, and it is
a gift, or a grace bestowed by God, generally to
the saints (awliya). While theologians downplay
the importance of this latter type of miracle, it is,
of course, much more common and much more
available to the public, and so it is widely attested
and enormously popular.
In classical Islam, the belief in the saints,
in their miracles, and in the social role played
by holy men and
Women
was largely taken for
granted. With the institutionalization of Sufi
orders, especially after the 13th century
c
.
e
., these
holy people were often associated with specific
orders, cherished and obeyed while alive, and
venerated and supplicated after
death
. The saints,
living and dead, thus played an enormously
important and well-recognized role in society, not
least of which was their ability to work miracles
of healing, fertility,
intercession
in times of need,
and the countless other areas in which the saints
could be of assistance.
There has always been a subculture that cri-
tiqued, limited, or sometimes utterly rejected this
belief in nonprophetic miracles. The Mutazila,
for whom reason was epistemologically crucial,
denied the reality of nonprophetic miracles; since
m
Uhammad
was the last prophet, this would mean
that miracles no longer occurred. They lost most
of their influence after the ninth century, and most
subsequent critics of the belief in nonprophetic
miracles came mainly from the intellectual line
descending from t
aqi
al
-d
in
a
hmad
i
bn
t
aymiyya
(d. 1328), a Hanbali preacher, reformer, and intel-
lectual of prodigious ability. Ibn Taymiyya himself
did not deny the possibility of karama-type mir-
acles, but he downplayed their importance by, on
the one hand, encouraging Muslims to “pursue
righteousness (istiqama), not miracles (karama),”
while also suggesting that such miracles were
for the novices, since those who have attained
certainty (yaqin) do not need the affirmation of
miracles. Because Ibn Taymiyya was scathingly
critical of public veneration of saints’ shrines, he
effectively opposed the manner in which miracles
were often sought and received, namely, by means
of supplication to the saints at their tombs. Ibn
Taymiyya’s ideas had a very mixed reception dur-
ing his life, but he gained renewed importance via
the Wahhabi revivalist movement (18th century
to the present) and the Salafi modernist reform-
ers who evolved from the intellectual agitation of
Sayyid J
amal
al
-d
in
al
-a
Fghani
(d. 1897). The
19th century—when imperialism brought Europe
uninvited to much of the Islamic world—intro-
duced the radical ideas of the Enlightenment,
including the rejection of superstition and irra-
K 476
miracle
tionality. This Enlightenment-inspired critique of
“irrationality,” the Salafi goal of stripping Islam
of what the reformers considered non-Islamic
accretions (a goal much in the spirit of the Prot-
estant Reformation), and the puritanical model of
the Wahhabis have combined in a very powerful
way. At present, many Muslims regard nonpro-
phetic miracles, saint veneration, and almost all
practices associated with saints and their shrines
to be both “un-Islamic” superstition and anti-
modern. Thus, the more educated members of
society reject a great deal of the old belief system,
of which saints and miracles were integral parts,
and consider their more sober and less exuberant
form of religiosity to be more “Islamic” and more
“rational.” The world of miracles has thus been
relegated, to a large extent, to that of “popular
religion,” or the religion of the lower classes.
Nonetheless, in countries such as e
gypt
,
m
orocco
, and i
ndonesia
, the belief in miracles,
and in the saints who perform them, remains
strong. Saints are expected to provide assistance,
and stories confirming their miraculous activities
abound. In many cases, even among the popular
classes, the miracles of saints are combined with
a great respect for modern science; a patient may
see a doctor and also pray to the saint. Stories of
saints performing miraculous surgeries of which
doctors are at present incapable are not uncom-
mon. Thus, for many, a world exists in which
the miracle and the modern do not conflict but
complement each other.
See also
baraka
;
reneWal
and
reForm
move
-
ments
;
saint
; s
alaFism
;
tariqa
; W
ahhabism
;
wali
;
ziyara
.
John Iskander
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