Imbuing the World with Scriptural Color: An Ethnographic Analysis of The Production of Phantasms in a Tablighi Jamaat Gathering in Birmingham, UK

This paper ethnographically explores the potential of understanding the citation of Islamic texts in terms of the production and circulation of “phantasms” that affect the senses and soften the heart in the context of a three-day jamaat (gathering) in Birmingham, UK.  This paper turns to Mary Carruthers to glimpse the role that sensation and imagination play in the tradition that informs this Muslim community’s understanding of how they engage with texts, and then proceeds to provide two ethnographic examples that highlight this. Ultimately, the paper argues that approaching textual engagement in terms of the production of phantasms provides a capacious understanding of “text,” that allows us to understand the intimate fusion of textual citation and the environment in which that citation takes place. This simultaneously allows for the enrichment and specification of the emotional and embodied dimensions of Muslims’ engagement with texts.