Dr. Warren Larson delivered a lecture on festivals in Folk Islam during a CIU course. Here, Larson presents festivals per region and sects in Folk Islam and how they are understood.
Here starts the auto-generated transcription of Dr. Warren Larson Lecture: Festivals in Folk Islam.
We are going to be talking this time about the rituals and practices, but specifically about festivals. But before we get into that, this really has nothing to do with the festivals. But I, unless I forget, and don’t know where to fit it in, really, I wanted to show you I hope you can see some of this stuff. This is a Starbucks, if you can imagine. Starbucks cup, from Turkey, really a contextualized cup, just to put it mildly, with the evil eye on it.
So here is a place like Turkey and, you can buy Starbucks as as contextualized. Here’s another one, really, with all kinds of things. It’s a punch, but really another one too is remember, we’ve talked about the the, a knife under the pillow. I hope you can see this, you know, for good luck and to do all kinds of things. Pick those up somewhere in my travels or students very kindly bring them back to me.
I always appreciate it, and maybe you could, you know, if we think of me, you might do the same, though I don’t know that I’ll ever see you face to face. But another interesting thing is a is a a lighter with, horseshoe on it. You know, horseshoes. Horses are good animals. Then there’s also the, you know, the, it’s all in blue and all that kind of stuff.
Blue is special. So let’s now let’s get on to the topic at hand, festivals, lecture 36, rituals, practices, and festivals. We’re gonna talk about, you know, the different sects and regional families, stuff like that. Wanted to mention in the beginning here, which I think you know already, is that there are only 2 legitimate celebrations in Islam, only 2 legitimate ones, but Muslims have added, others, and and and folk Muslims add their own interpretations. So So in other words, even though it’s the same festival, the same celebration, Muslims do different things.
In other words, they add some folkish stuff. Here’s the first one. The the the biggest well, not the biggest one, but the one we’re gonna talk about right now is, the the one that comes at the end of the fast month. I sometimes remember it that way, fitter and fast. It comes at the end of the fast month, almost the end of it.
The 27th of the month, fast faced the fast breaking. I had a interesting discussion on Twitter. At least, I thought it was. There was a, I take it to be a Muslim who was saying that, you know, they the Muslims don’t understand our no. I’m sorry.
She she was saying that the the Muslims in the Middle East, the the the religions, different religions, know nothing about other festivals. And, so I said, well, you know, that’s that’s quite true. You don’t very often have this interaction on Twitter, but I wrote back and said, but, you know, we too here in the west don’t under often don’t understand the festivals in the Middle East, you know, Muslim festivals. And she wrote back. Well, she said, well, not don’t think it’s deliberate ignorance, is it?
And I wrote back and I said, yes. Sometimes it is deliberate. We could find out more about the festivals and celebrations of these festivals that go on in the Muslim world. I was thinking we know more about the Jewish festivals, I think. I said I don’t wanna fight with you, but it seems to me that sometimes our ignorance is, you know, we’re ignorant because we want to be.
And she wrote back and says, yes. You’re right. Probably true. So, we need to understand. Now I don’t want to you know, I’m not educating you here on the elements elements, you know, the primary stuff of Islam and going over what everyone knows, practically, at least a Muslim, of course, students in Muslim Studies, but I’m just doing this because I want to, point out that folk Muslims add their own meanings.
In other words, they get their own things out of these these stuff. Now this, of course, is the Eid al Fitr, the feast of the fast breaking. It’s during the 10th month of the Islamic year. Cards are sent and when and and and, you know, and everyone’s great celebration. What I wanted to mention was this, that after the men go to the mosque, or while they’re going to the mosque, then women go to the cemetery with fruit, flowers, and candy, and then husbands join their wives.
There’s Koranic reading, burning incense to prevent evil spirits. What at the cemetery? Ancestors. Ancestors. Now at the other one, the really the big one, you know, they they in Pakistan, we had what they call the the Chota Eid and the Burda Eid, the little festival, and the big one, this is the big one, or the, you know, it’s not just Pakistan that’s used all over the place, the big one, the little one.
To me, in Christianity, the big Eid is really Easter, although the celebrations are much more at Christmas. But, I mean, as far as the meaning is concerned and the significance, it’s you know, they’re both important, the birth of Christ too, but the fact that he rose from the dead is really what makes our message so glorious. Well, there’s Eid al Adha, the feast of sacrifice. While Muslims are on the pilgrimage, 2 months 9 days after Eid al Fitr, you see, after the one where they celebrate the Quran, the last month of the of the year, and Hijjah meaning the, you know, the pilgrimage, When the Muslims are in Mecca and, at least many of them doing their pilgrimage and they’re going to the plain of Arafat and on and on and on. The animal sacrifices are done there in the valley of Mina.
This is orthodox Islam, isn’t it? You can’t argue with that. They celebrate the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice Ishmael or Ishmael, as we say, Although, when you look at the Quran, it really sounds like Isaac, but, Muslims have always said Ishmael. Okay. We won’t fight with him with that.
festivals But the rich and the poor give sacrifices, they give the might meat away and they say, in the name of God, God accept this sacrifice, and then and then this is some of the other stuff that goes on. The dried eyes of that sacrificial animal are used for charms against the evil eye. Wow. Interesting question here is do you have redemptive analogies in Islam? Don Richardson, for 1, says no.
He says there are no redemptive analogies in Islam. I think he’s wrong. I think he’s wrong. I think there are different ones. This is, this is one that really, I think, a redemptive analogy.
If you look at the Quran and where this sacrifice is mentioned, I think you can it’s not easy, really, to point out to Muslims that, that really there is a bridge here. In other words, to use a bridge to the redemption because Muslims deny it, and and this Quran too with its commentary fiercely denies any type of redemption, or so on, but I think, it’s there in the Quran and in the traditions, but not just that one. There are other ones as well. Sacrifices in a mug of themselves speak, I think, of the sacrifice of Christ, but they are doing these sacrifices in Islam. They say they’re not redemptive, but, here is a here is a diagram of the pilgrimage and what they do.
Of course, they come in, you know, to Mecca from the outside into, and then they, of course, they’re in the spirit of Haram, not supposed to sin now. And if you sin, lose your temper or something, then you have to go back and start over again. But you get there and, you know, you make circles around the Kaaba, head over to Mina, then down, as we’ve mentioned before, to the plain of Arafat, sit there in contemplation and reflection that thinking that god comes down. You see? And you can see tears in the eyes of people in their sincerity, and it is a very emotional event.
Praise god that, that we in Christianity, we know that god comes down has come down, and we fellowship with him all the time. But then they way their way back to Muzdalifa, back to Minas, where there are 3 pillars, throw stones at the devil, which in itself is popular Islam in every sense of the term, I believe. Now those 2 are the only legitimate ones, really. This one, the celebration of the prophet’s birthday is, strictly speaking, not even a legitimate celebration of the prophet, the nabi. It’s a celebration of the prophet, the birthday of the prophet.
You have, at that time, recitations with the Quran and the Sunnah. I have mentioned, I believe, in this, in this course that when I first went to Pakistan in 19 68, this celebration in Pakistan was nothing. But over the years, the next 20 odd years, it grew in its magnificence. It grew, to amazing proportions, which would indicate that the veneration of the prophet is growing. And when you see things, like going on today at the moment and the uproar over, a video that was made, a tacky video that was made about Muhammad and the killings and the angry reaction.
I mean, I know that it’s, rubs against their sensibilities, but, nevertheless, it’s out of proportion. And I think it’s because, veneration of the prophet is growing. You have recitations of the Quran according to, Musk and according from the traditions. In Bukhari, they often say the birth and the death day. We celebrate both festivals.
Bukhary says this is one miracle, the birth and the death, but I wanted to point out to you something that is shocking. I hope you can see this. This is a book by the very orthodox traditional person Maulana Maududi. He’s born in India but came to Pakistan. He was the one that started the Jama’at Islam, the party of the of the Islam.
Very political, orthodox, strict, wrote about 50 books, very influential. What does he say? On page 41 of this book, what does he say about Mohammed? He says on page 41, the savior is born. See?
Toward Understanding Islam. This is the name of the book, Toward Understanding Islam. That, to me, is is a strange thing because he’s making Mohammed out to be way, way more than he than he should be. And and in other words, how could this guy who who is so strict and religious and orthodox say something like that? The savior.
Mohammed never claimed to be the savior, but here he is calling him the savior is born. That’s quite a term. It’s blasphemous, it’s sacrilegious, and it shows you that Islam, is, you know, is going way, way too far and and, Islam is at war with itself. Muslims are at war with themselves. I have mentioned before that this kind of thing is disallowed in Saudi Arabia, you know, where they claim to be, better Muslims, the protectors, guardians of Islam.
There’s an article in the Atlantic Monthly, May 3rd. I I I no. I’m sorry. In 2003, page 53 to 62 called the fall of the house of Saud. Well, a lot of, disunity within Islam, obviously, But, another one is the 10th of Muharram, and that is a Shiite celebration.
Great theological differences here between Sunnis and Shi’ites. And the video, if you ever get a chance, you can Google it. Just Google ASHRA. You can go from country to country to country, even, in in done in some western countries, but mainly, you know, you can look at Lebanon, Pakistan, Syria, and so on where the Shiites take out their processions. And on 10th of Muharram, they mourn and they grieve and they cry and they beat themselves, and they sort of make Hussein into be into sort of a sacrificial person who was, you know, who had the atonement for, for our sins.
That’s what he goes now, moving on then, there is of course, there are 3 special dates. These are in relation to the what we’ve just talked about. There’s the Laylat al Qadr Qadr, sorry, the power night, the night of power, 26th to 27th of Ramadan, and the angels shower peace and blessing on those who stay awake all night. And then you have the maulids or mollids, however you wanna spell it, the birthday and the death day of the local saints. You have other holidays like, you know, the spring harvest festivals in Bekaa Valley and Lebanon, fertility rights, all kinds of stuff.
Then you have those 3 nights that we’ve talked about that that, folk Muslims, you know, put their own meaning into. I wanted to talk a little bit about the Akika sacrifice festival. The Middle East, not aware of this in South Asia. Hard to to trace, but often the 7th day of of a male child. In other words, when the male the little boy is 7 days old, and they say redeemed by his comes from the word true or, you know yeah.
True is is good. And the Arabic denotes the first hair. Zramer says originally, things about this in his book, but the religious ceremony is sort of kicking this thing off. In pre Islamic practice, the child was smeared with blood, and then, Egypt took it up, in other words, a 100 years ago, taken up by the cops, the sacrifice of an unblemished sheep or goat offered. Meat is given away.
The head of the little boy is shaved, but they do leave a lock of hair in some cases. And, in Morocco and and oftentimes, the child is then named. There’s blood sprinkling on the land and the foundations, and the tradition says that the blood was shed to avert evil from the child. Where did it come from? Well, Donaldson and others would say that it seemed to have its origins from the Jews, but I guess the question here is redemptive.
In other words, back to this topic of of, trying to find bridges to preach the message of redemption. And close with this, but Zwemer says Samuel Zwemer says that if Paul had the chance Paul had the chance, and he certainly did preach every chance he got, didn’t he? He would preach at the Akika ceremony or he said he visited the great feast at Ida Latha. What would he preach? He’d preach the redemption of Christ.
Yes. I believe he would. Paul, every chance he got, he would preach, the, you you know, the redemption. Look at the Ephesians 1 and verse 7. I like don’t you like Paul, his directness, his love for the gospel?
In him, he says in verse 7 of chapter 1 in Ephesians, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. And then, going over to Colossians 114, It says that in he in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, and, lastly, Romans 511. God help us to preach the gospel too at every chance we get and to use every bridge. Not only this so, we rejoice in god through our lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received reconciliation. So you see, it’s not just redemption, but it’s reconciliation, to God.
And we we this is what we would hope for Muslims, that they would see that, Christ is the redeemer. It’s certainly there’s no saving through Mohammed.