Miracles and Material Life: Rice, Ore, Traps and Guns in Islamic Malaya [Hardcover]

Sevea reveals a universe of miracle-workers in Islamic Malaya, connecting the supernatural to material life, socioeconomic activities and production.Through a close textual analysis of hitherto overlooked Malay Islamic manuscripts, Teren Sevea reveals the economic, environmental and religious significance of Islamic miracle workers (pawangs) across the Indian Ocean world and on the frontier of the British Empire in the nineteenth and twentieth century.Through a close textual analysis of hitherto overlooked Malay Islamic manuscripts, Teren Sevea reveals the economic, environmental and religious significance of Islamic miracle workers (pawangs) across the Indian Ocean world and on the frontier of the British Empire in the nineteenth and twentieth century.In this ground-breaking new study, Teren Sevea reveals the economic, environmental and religious significance of Islamic miracle workers (pawangs) in the nineteenth- and twentieth-century Malay world. Through close textual analysis of hitherto overlooked manuscripts and personal interaction with modern pawangs readers are introduced to a universe of miracle workers that existed both in the past and in the present, uncovering connections between miracles and material life. Sevea demonstrates how societies in which the production and extraction of natural resources, as well as the uses of technology, were intertwined with the knowledge of charismatic religious figures, and locates the role of the pawangs in the spiritual economy of the Indian Ocean world, across maritime connections and Sufi networks, and on the frontier of the British Empire.The magic of Islam and modern Malaya: an introduction; 1. Compendia of forest patois and agrarian 'Iimu; 2. Pawangs and Munshis in Muhammad's ricefields; 3. The Pawang's 'wonderful nose' for ore; 4. An 'ilmu of violence: the elephant bomohs of modern Malaya; 5. Gun gurus and Sufi shooters; Conclusion.This is a truly remarkable book. Combining empathy for Malay miracle-workers (pawl³†