Abstract

Abstract:

The focus of this essay is narratives of miraculous doings and sayings, that is, Karāmāt of the first two Wālīs (lit. translated as “Friends of Allah,” meaning religious leaders here) of a Chinese Islamic Sufi Order, Jahriyyah. My purpose is to look at a possible sense-making process of Karāmāt narratives applying a folkloric approach. I study Karāmāt as counternarratives challenging the authoritative voices in state-order power relation and their power in defining and redefining the sufferings of the Order followers or even the whole world in their eyes in terms of miraculous deeds, without drawing a sweeping conclusion on how these narratives should be perceived.

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