Superstition in Islamic tradition
As such both orthodox and folk popular domains of Islamic religious performance build on the power of baraka (divine blessing or charisma) derived through sacred matter.
So, various expressions of Quranic theurgy, from charms and amulets to inscriptions on bowls and garments are as much pervasive, converging with ancient attitudes toward divine language and sacred writing.
Anti-plague talismans known as the "Garden of Names", Quranic scrolls and amulets were worn around the neck or otherwise attached to the body, believing that physical contact with the object would unlock the enclosed blessings or life force, known as baraka in Arabic.
In the modern period, Muslim societies, faced with varied discourses of demystification, the domains of the magical and the enchanted went through substantial reconfiguration in the expressions of Islamic piety, devotion, and learning.
[7] Zadeh says the process of modernization in Muslim world, with its grounding in European colonialism and post-Enlightenment thought, as well as in Islamic reformism, has contested and reconfigured many historical and traditional practices, often viewed them as being ignorance and superstitious.
[11] Simiyya is a doctrine found commonly within Sufi-occult traditions that may be deduced upon the notion of "linking the superior natures with the inferior...", and broadly described as theurgy.
[15] While analyzing beliefs in unseen and supernatural angels like Munkar and Nakir visits to tombs in Islamic eschatology, John MacDonald says that origination of such ideas is likely to be then contemporary folklore or superstition.
According to the Quran they frequently assault heaven but are warded off by angels throwing meteors on them, therefore some Muslims curse the shayatin when seeing a shooting star, believing it was thrown at a shaitan.
In the technical vocabulary of Islamic religious sciences, the singular form karama has a sense similar to charism, a favor or spiritual gift freely bestowed by God.
[30] It is claimed by some experts that first minerals, fruits, mountains and seas that accepted Islam, Prophet Mohammed and Shia Imam Ali Velayat include eggplant, gold, fresh water oceans, mount agate.
[39] Among Muslims in India and Pakistan, magical thinking pervades as many acts and events are attributed to supernatural and ritual, such as prayer, sacrifice, or the observance of a taboo are followed.
The penchant for faith healers and black magicians spans society, from the rich landlords of the rural areas to the urban classes of Hyderabad Deccan, Bangalore, Lahore and Karachi.
Some of the popular superstitions in India and Pakistan included that black cats crossing one's path will bring bad luck, a crow's cawing announces the surprise arrival of guests,[43][irrelevant citation][44] consuming dairy products with seafood will cause skin diseases, itchy palms means presage monetary gains, resting under trees after dark carries the risk of demonic possession, twitching of the left eye is an ill-omen, and sneezing can be caused by being in another's thoughts.
Throughout the history, Mu'tazilite theologians and philosophers have always attempted to answer the questions of miracles, jinn, supernaturalism and superstition in Islam through rational and dialectical methods.
[56][57] Furthermore, a Mu'tazila scholar and biologist, Al-Jahiz, formulated the scientific reasons why people can suffer from epilepsy, mental illness, and innate fear from a biological and psychological perspective, which is far from understanding the majority of orthodox schools of thought that it is all caused by jinn possession or magic.
[61] In their research paper, Jafar Nekoonam, Fatemeh Sadat, and Moosavi Harami discuss the verity of interpretations about the Quranic concept dealt in verses 15:16-18, 37:6-10, 72:8-9, 67:5 of stone throwing devils with meteors.
[62] According to Jafar Nekoonam et al, 2016, various interpretations for what the Quran means by stone throwing devils with meteors have been put forward by Muslim exegetes over the centuries.
[62] According to Jafar Nekoonam et al, some commentators considered the idea of stone throwing devils with meteors in relation to the immaterial world, presumed beyond human understanding; hence, they would refrain from interpreting it.
But according to Jafar Nekoonam et al, such attitude does not explain how mentioning an incomprehensible idea would have functioned as a response to the accusations of Meccan disbelievers of the time of the Prophet.
Interpreting the Quran to say in fact states in the form of that familiar idea, is that devils are supposed to be incapable of ascending to the spiritual world of angels to receive heavenly guidance.
Thus, in this theory, such interpretation, both the literal meaning of the verses in question, which was what Muslim understanding in the past fourteen centuries, and the purity of the Quran from unscientific claims can be preserved.
