Folk Islam
Further information: Islamic mythology, Druze, Alevi, and AlawiFolk Islam is an umbrella term used to collectively describe forms of Islam that incorporate native folk beliefs and practices. Folk Islam has been described as the Islam of the "urban poor, country people, and tribes", (Ridgeon, 2003) in contrast to orthodox or "High" Islam (Gellner, 1992; Malesevic et al., 2007). Sufism and Sufi concepts are often integrated into Folk Islam.
Various practices and beliefs have been identified with the concept of "folk Islam". They include the following:
- belief in traditional magic systems and ecstatic rituals
- the use of shrines and amulets (Chelkowski et al., 1988)
- veneration of saints
- incorporation of animistic beliefs
Read more about this topic: Folk Religion
Famous quotes containing the words folk and/or islam:
“Do you know what a soldier is, young man? He’s the chap who makes it possible for civilised folk to despise war.”
—Allan Massie (b. 1938)
“During the first formative centuries of its existence, Christianity was separated from and indeed antagonistic to the state, with which it only later became involved. From the lifetime of its founder, Islam was the state, and the identity of religion and government is indelibly stamped on the memories and awareness of the faithful from their own sacred writings, history, and experience.”
—Bernard Lewis, U.S. Middle Eastern specialist. Islam and the West, ch. 8, Oxford University Press (1993)