29. Bodies and Becoming: Mimesis, Mediation, and the Ingestion of the Sacred in Christianity and Islam

Embracing precarity across species: Muslim ethics and care for stray dogs in Russia

“…Bodily purification rituals, proper handling of objects, and proximity to others allow a Muslim to demarcate boundaries between herself and other humans and animals, contact with whom might 'contaminate' her purity, tahara (Gauvain 2007). Hence, observant Muslims often seek the kinds of touch that would bestow blessings upon them, while refusing to touch humans or objects that might 'compromise' their striving for purity (Flood 2014). In this regard, dogs are highly ambiguous figures in mainstream Islamic tradition because their fur and saliva are often considered dirty and capable of invalidating one's ablution.…”

Los efectos del afecto: el encuentro con ruinas y estatuas en contexto islámico

“…Las estatuas no afectaban por igual a todo el mundo, una idea que aparece reflejada en algunas fuentes. Según el autor iraní al-Bīrūnī (m. 442/1050) el poder de las imágenes y su respuesta por parte de la audiencia debía considerarse no tanto en términos religiosos, fuesen o no musulmanes, sino en base a la condición económica y al nivel educativo de las personas 69 .…”

Senses of Belonging: Materiality, Embodiment, and Attunement at Sufi Shrines in India

“…"In a manner comparable to the prasād offered to Hindu deities at their shrines, edible substances that absorb some of the sanctity of the deities who partake of them before they are redistributed for ingestion by the pious, such instances of 'sensuous media' enchain presence across space and time, linking the proven piety of the dead, or the sacred substance of deities, with the devotional aspirations of the living." 52 Flood further argues that contact and consumption allow for incorporation by the desiring devotee of some measure of the desired object of devotion:…”