International Masterclass: Shiism, Death and Funerary Material Religion cemeteries, tombstones and burial ceremonies (original) (raw)
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SET IN STONE: HOMELESS CORPSES AND DESECRATED GRAVES IN MODERN IRAN
International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies , 2012
Violence toward corpses and graves, especially the unusual practice of exhuming and burning remains, persisted sporadically through the 20th century in Iran but found new dimensions in the form of mass graves and a systematic desecration of cemeteries in the period following the 1979 Islamic Revolution. This paper seeks to explore the roots of cemetery violence by examining the dynamics of apostasy and the experiences and challenges Babi and Bahai converts faced in their interment practices in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This period witnessed a significant change in communal identities. Unconventional self-definitions expressed in religious conversions and in fluid or multiple communal affiliations and religious convictions defied traditional boundaries and led to tension between nonconformists and religious authorities. One way for Shii ulama and Jewish rabbis to reassert a conventional center was through the control of cemeteries, including by not allowing converts to be buried in these semisacred spaces.
This book is based on a German-Arab colloquium held in Amman in September 2013, where current excavation and research results on death and burial from Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt were presented. For the first time, Arab and Near Eastern scholars were able to discuss the main features and differences in the development of funerary practices of the dead in Roman, Byzantine and Islamic times, mainly based on archaeological sources. It also reports on the processing of old excavations and summary studies on local or regional burial customs. Apart from ten lectures presented in the colloquium, five other contributions by international scholars have been included. Among the more prominent places presented here are Palmyra, Beirut, Petra, Gerasa, Alexandria, Hermupolis and St. Paul's Monastery of Deir el-Bakhît (Thebes-West).
Chronology & Typology of Islamic Burial
Master Thesis. University of Haifa: Department of Archaeology(2010)., 2010
Chronology & Typology of Islamic Burial - Archaeological survey (Master Thesis). University of Haifa: Department of Archaeology(2010). Supervised by: Dr. Adrian Boas Dr. Yehoshua Frenkel تطور عمارة القبور والمدافن الإسلامية في جندي الأردن و فلسطين- مسح اثري (رسالة ماجستير). جامعه حيفا- قسم الاثار(2010). Death and burial are issues of great importance which can lead to information about human's life and thoughts. The research studies Islamic burial by examining the tombs' shape, structure, measurements, ornamentations, position (articulation) of the body and the accompanying objects, I will try to characterize the Muslim burial and illuminate the relationship between local practices and Islamic literature. As a prelude to the archeological study, a historical background studying forms and characteristics of Islamic burial, Islamic cemeteries, variety among Islamic jurisprudent schools in relation to burial, will be discussed. This research is intended, among other things, to examine if the literary proofs have an indication of inter-periodic differences. Consequently, data collection and documentation both archaeologically and historically, comes the classification of materials and setting dates of various forms of burial.
Shared Sanctity: Early Tombs and Shrines of the ‘Alid Family in the Eastern Islamic Lands
2013
This article examines some of the earliest literary evidence for Ahl al-Bayt shrines, contained in the so-called Ṭālibid genealogies. First written in the mid-to late-9th century, nearly contemporaneously with the development of the earliest shrines themselves, these sources were often written by (and perhaps mainly for) the Ahl al-Bayt themselves, providing a picture that the family itself sought to preserve and convey. According to these sources, by the end of the 9th century there clearly were burial places of the Ahl al-Bayt, and especially of the ʿAlid family, that were visited. Such sites were associated with a number of ʿAlids who were not Shiʿite imams, but "regular" members of the family; thus they were not places of pilgrimage for the Shiʿa only, but sites of veneration that could be shared and even developed regardless of sectarian affiliation. The sites, moreover, became focal points for the Ahl al-Bayt, many of whom settled around them, and came to benefit from their waqf arrangements and the pilgrimage "traffic" around them. Over all, the paper argues that the appearance of-or increased attention to-the Ahl al-Bayt shrines from the 9th century onwards had little to do with Shiʿism or Shiʿite patronage; instead, it may be seen as consistent with the wider development of the socio-religious rise of the Ahl al-Bayt: the development of "ʿAlidism". To this day, the ubiquity of mausolea and shrines in all parts of the Islamic world is striking to any traveller: from the Taj Mahal in Agra, to the grand structures in Bukhara and Samarqand, to the famous Mamluk and Ayyubid * A first version of this article was presented at the 2007 MESA conference in Montreal, as part of the panel Sharing Sanctity: Veneration of the Family of the Prophet as Non-Sectarian Social Praxis. I would like to thank the chair, the late Professor Oleg Grabar, my co-organisor Stephennie Mulder, and the other contributors and members of the audience for valuable comments on the first draft.
Until We All Rise: Aspects of Traditional Muslim Burial Practices and Ceremonies in Tajikistan
Issues in Ethnology and Anthropology, 2019
Islam, which spread out to Central Asia after its conquest by the Arab armies in early 8th century, has expanded and taken roots in the spiritual and everyday life of each ethnic group of the region in its own way. In its Central Asian geo-cultural contexts, similar to other regions where it came to be the faith of majority, it is more prone to integrated characteristics, including traditional ethnic beliefs and ritualistic elements. The study of Islam among other things in the context of local traditional rituals, particularly the funerary traditions and observances, which has also kept many cultural elements pre-existing the arrival of Islam, has profound meaning in many aspects; such as re-interpretation of the afterlife views and development of cycle of observances and ceremonies that are performed in the hope of earning merit on behalf of deceased and a hope for the day when all who died rise again. The focus of this paper is to present the funerary ritual cycle of Tajik Muslim...
A Stylish Burial: Tracking the Socio- Technical Aspects of Death in Iran
The Journal of Development Studies
With the rapid population growth and the inevitable increased mortalities in Iran, the introduction of the automatic corpse washer in line with religious rituals has been a local response to the traditional burial process. This technology has, however, faced criticism from both religious scholars and ordinary people. The current study attempts to explore the underlying challenges of how the novel corpse washer technology finds its way into local communities. The findings point to the complex relationship between religion and technology and the invisible role of ordinary people.
Iranian Journal of Archaeological Studies , 2021
Human burials in cemeteries have mostly been observed since the beginning of the third millennium BCE in areas of Southeast Iran and South Uzbekistan. The emergence of Urban Societies brought specific economic, social and cultural traits such as social classes, elites, craft specialization, long-distance trade, etc. Some of the latter traits can be traced in the archaeological evidence from cemeteries on the Iranian Plateau and the Oxus Civilization (also known as Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex, BMAC. Although the evidence discovered from the graves informs us about objective issues, it also offers valuable information about subjective issues and ritual practice. The aim of this article is two-folded: firstly, to analyse comparatively the graves without skeletons found at two sites (i.e. Shahr-i-Sokhta and Djarkutan) in the above-mentioned areas and dated to the third millennium BCE; and secondly, to assess commons aspects in this kind of the graves at both sites. Many scholars have named this kind of the graves as "Cenotaph", while in this article they are labelled as "Memorial Grave".
The Cairn Burials of Harat-azizi
Ancient Iranian Studies, 2024
Throughout the history, one of the concerns of human beings has been death. The death and the rituals associated with it have created enduring traditions in human societies, with each having its own unique rite based on prevailing cultural and historical characteristics. One of the important traditions related to death is burial practices with varying rituals. Dif-ferent faiths and religions recommend different commands and traditions for the disposal of a deceased body, with one being burial in the ground. Burial methods, too, differ in different religions, and throughout history, various methods of burial have been performed based on the prevalent rituals and religions of the time. In Zoroastrian, due to the reverence of the four elements (water, earth, fire, and air), any direct contact with a human corpse, which is consid-ered impure, is forbidden. Followers of the Zoroastrian faith have adopted various methods for burying their deceased, including placing them in astōdān (ossuary), towers of silence, and constructing large stone graves (dakhmas/ cairn burials). This paper introduces the cairn burials (khereft-khaneh) and an astōdān (sotōdān) that were found during the archaeological survey of Harat district of Yazd province in 2021. In the archaeological survey of Harat, various cultural and historical sites from different periods were identified. Most of the identified sites in this survey belonged to the Islamic era, but some are referred to historical period, such as cairn burials and an astōdān (ossuary), which will be discussed in this study. Based on compar-ative studies and similar burial methods found in central Iran, Fars, and Kerman, these sites are dated back to the historical period (Parthian/Sasanian).