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8. Soufisme
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Fabrizio Speziale. Le médecin des rêves. Culte des saints et guérison onirique chez les musulmans du Deccan

Mauro Valdinoci
Bibliographical reference

Fabrizio Speziale. « Le médecin des rêves. Culte des saints et guérison onirique chez les musulmans du Deccan », in : Ines Zupanov et Caterina Guenzi, éds., Divins remèdes. Médecine et religion en Asie du sud. Paris, Editions de l’EHESS, 2008, p. 163-190. (Collection Puruṣārtha, 27)

Full text

1This study deals with three Sufi shrines (sing. dargāh) in the Deccan that are renowned for healing dreams. The author examines a wealth of ethnological material, relating it to both Sufi literature and Islamic scriptural sources. The first part sheds light on the importance of dreams in the Islamic tradition, the medical sciences and the experience of Sufi saints. Dreams are seen as a means of communication between the living and the dead, between people and the spiritual and divine realms, on the one hand, or, on the other, evil spirits. In Sufism, a saint’s power of healing through dreams is an aspect of his mastery of the spiritual realms described in Sufi cosmologies. The second part of this text concentrates on the dreams of a few devotees who worship at these shrines. The patients, suffering from various diseases, dwell at the shrines for a long time in order to obtain healing dreams.

2The healing rituals performed by patients are based on Islamic traditions and on rituals of devotion to Sufi saints, such as the pilgrimage (ziyāra), circumambulation (awāf) and ablutions. This study highlights recurring themes in healing dreams. These themes are related to Islamic dream symbolism and the shrine’s ritualism. A primary aim of this chapter is to demonstrate that patients’ dreams at the Sufi shrines in the Deccan are based on an imitation, reconstruction and accommodation of archetypal models. The author argues that these models replicate the traditional heroes, places and rituals of the cult of saints. Traditional symbols, such as Sufi saints, their therapeutic practices and their shrines as places of healing, mold the themes that crop up in healing dreams; and the visions of devotees strongly confirm the authority of these symbols.

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References

Electronic reference

Mauro Valdinoci, Fabrizio Speziale. Le médecin des rêves. Culte des saints et guérison onirique chez les musulmans du DeccanAbstracta Iranica [Online], Volume 32-33 | 2013, document 380, Online since 01 July 2016, connection on 29 March 2024. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/abstractairanica/40328; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/abstractairanica.40328

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Copyright

The text and other elements (illustrations, imported files) are “All rights reserved”, unless otherwise stated.

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