Mecca and Eden
Subtitle: ritual, relics, and territory in Islam
By: Brannon Wheeler.
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 2006
Place of publication: Chicago
Language: eng
Number of pages: 333
Subjects: Reliquaries, Islamic; Islam -- Rituals; Civilization, Islamic
Description: "Nineteenth-century philologist and Biblical critic William Robertson Smith famously concluded that the sacred status of holy places derives not from their intrinsic nature but from their social character. Building upon this insight, Mecca and Eden uses Islamic exegetical and legal texts to analyze the rituals and objects associated with the sanctuary at Mecca. Integrating Islamic examples into the comparative study of religion, Brannon Wheeler shows how the treatment of rituals, relics, and territory is related to the more general mythological depiction of the origins of Islamic civilization. Along the way, Wheeler considers the contrast between Mecca and Eden in Muslim rituals, the dispersal and collection of relics of the prophet Muhammad, their relationship to the sanctuary at Mecca, and long tombs associated with the gigantic size of certain prophets mentioned in the Quran."--Provided by publisher.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Ritual and social order; title: Ritual, relics, and the Meccansanctuary; title: Chapter outline; title: Treasure of the Kaʻbah; title: Temple implements and treasure of the Kaʻbah; title: Swords and the origins of Islam; title: Conclusions: swords and the origins of civilization; title: Utopia and civilization in Islamic rituals; title: Touching the penis; title: Adam and Eve's genitals; title: Conclusions: taboo and contagion; title: Relics of the prophet Muhammad; title: Relics of the prophet Muhammad; title: Relics and civilization; title: Conclusions: relics and portable territory; title: Tombs of giant prophets; title: Long tombs; title: Giants; title: Conclusions: technology and human size; title: Conclusions: the pure, the sacred, and civilization; title: Status and power; title: Symbol and agency; title: General conclusions.