e-rhizome 2019, 1(1):72-106 | DOI: 10.5507/rh.2019.004

Curse, Possession and Other Worlds: Magic and Witchcraft among the Bosniaks

Lukáš Větrovec
Comenius University in Bratislava
Gondova 2, 814 99 Bratislava, Slovakia
Alija.Harisovic@seznam.cz

This article aims to provide the readers with both the theoretical concepts necessary for studying popular magic rituals and ideas on jinn, ghosts, magic and witchcraft in Islam and on different levels of tradition in living Islam, as well as a practical excursion into the vivid contemporary everyday reality of Muslim Bosniaks, based on studying Muslim web portals and interviewing the participants. It is focused on the theoretical realm of authoritative scriptural Islam embodied by the local and global Islamic scholarly discourse in comparison with the participants' perception of their own experience. The paper attempts to find certain parallels with the situation in the rest of Europe and the Muslim world and formulate the proper conceptualisation and contextualisation of the phenomena in the light of comparative religious studies.

Keywords: Bosnia; Muslim; Islam; Magic; Sihr; Jinn; Soothsaying; Conspiracy; Possession; Curse

Accepted: February 22, 2019; Published: February 22, 2019  Show citation

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Větrovec, L. (2019). Curse, Possession and Other Worlds: Magic and Witchcraft among the Bosniaks. e-rhizome, 1(1), 72-106. doi: 10.5507/rh.2019.004
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