The Mytjical Ghoul in Arabic Culture из жанра Востоковедение - Скачать бесплатно полную версию

The Mytjical Ghoul in Arabic Culture

Востоковедение, Мифы. Легенды. Эпос

Автор: Al-Rawi Ahmed

Год: 2015

Добавил: Admin 2 Сен 25

Проверил: Admin 2 Сен 25

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Аннотация

For a long time, the idea of the ghoul preoccupied the lives of many people from different cultures and religions. Though the ghoul has origins as old as the Mesopotamian civilization, Arabs were largely responsible for popularizing it. Because Islam incorporated this being in its doctrine, the ghoul remained a source of fear and mystery in the Arab culture.

Peter M. Holt and Ann Katherine argue in The Cambridge History of Islam that Islam came about as a ‘revolt’ and as a ‘protest against’ the old Arabs’ beliefs, but that it could not change all their existing convictions. Instead, it ‘integrated’ some old practices like the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca (1997, 17). This study argues that Islam could not change the belief in supernatural beings such as genies and ghouls, because they were an integral part of Arab culture. This essay sheds light on the Arabic origins of the Arabian Nights and suggests possible written sources for some tales as a complement to existing arguments that certain tales were orally transmitted and later written down. In relation to the ghoul, the paper also discusses the fact that some Arabian Nights tales contain Islamic elements and motifs, and feature plots that are clearly similar to older written accounts found in various Arabic books. This work traces its evolution from the past to modern times in an attempt to give an overall understanding of the ghoul, and an idea of how and why its concept changed from one culture to another.