Saturday, November 24, 2012

Sacred Spaces in Qadian and Their Roles in the Construction of Ahmadiyya Theology

Ahmad Najib Burhani, University of California, Santa Barbara


This paper studies the sacred places of Ahmadiyya in the Indian subcontinent, particularly the Minaret of the Messiah, Bahishtī Maqbarah, al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Jesus tomb, by answering these questions: What is the role of these places in the construction of Ahmadiyya theology? How they perceive the sacredness of them compared to Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem? Since the justification for the sacredness of them is taken from passages of the Qur’an, how different their interpretations of those passages compared to other Muslim exegetes? This paper argues that those places are the manifestations of Ahmadiyya’s main doctrines and the foundation of their basic beliefs on the death of Jesus in Kashmir, the descent of the Messiah in Qadian, the prophethood of Ghulam Ahmad, and the notion about Ahmadis as the chosen community. Second, the prohibition for Ahmadis for making a pilgrimage to Mecca-Medina makes those places more prominent for them

Paper presentation at the AAR Annual Meeting, Chicago, November 17-20, 2012.

A18-267
Islamic Mysticism Group and Sacred Space in Asia Group
Theme: Excavating Layers of Sacred History in Central and South Asia
Sunday - 3:00 PM-4:30 PM
McCormick Place West-194A


Vernon Schubel, Kenyon College, Presiding

Responding:
Talat Halman, Central Michigan University

Retrieved from: http://papers.aarweb.org/program_book?keys=Ahmadiyya&field_session_slot_nid=All

No comments:

Post a Comment