Includes bibliographical references (p. [197]-210) and index.

Preliminary Material -- Introduction -- CHAPTER I ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jaelani and ritual reading in West Java -- CHAPTER II Situating tales in ritual: Graves, ancestors and karamat tales -- CHAPTER III Karamat in Bandung: Four practitioners -- CHAPTER IV Pangaosan Layang Seh: Prayers are solemn; Tales are fun -- CHAPTER V Nguningakeun maksad: Seeking mediation from urang luhung -- CHAPTER VI Tawassul: Seeking mediation from wasilah -- CHAPTER VII: Ritual tale-telling -- CHAPTER VIII Talking about karamat: Khāriq al-‘āda anecdotes -- CHAPTER IX Reading karamat in public: The manakiban besar of Suryalaya -- CHAPTER X PLS and the Sundanese canon: Rustana performs wawacan -- Conclusion -- APPENDIX A Tanbih: A translation -- APPENDIX B Wawacan Layang Seh: Hikayat 53 -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Index.

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Sanctity is a concept recognized by Muslims throughout the Islamic world, and often motivates observances with highly localized characteristics. Julian Millie spent a year attending a supplication ritual in which Muslims of West Java directed their prayers to Allah through ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jaelani (d. 1166). This man, whose tomb even today is a popular pilgrimage site in Baghdad, is widely considered the most powerful intercessor of all the saints of Islam. The supplication takes the form of reading or singing the narrative proofs of ‘Abd al-Qadir’s saintliness in a ritual context. The ritual has deep roots in the Sundanese culture of West Java. The book captures the variety of understandings that participants bring to the ritual when it is held in various contexts, including Java’s largest Sufi order, religious schools and private homes. This first, book-length study of intercession through ritual reading in Indonesia will be of interest to scholars of Indonesian religions, Sufism and the anthropology of Islam. It expands our knowledge of Sufism and sanctity, and seriously considers the liturgical forms of village Islam, paying special attention to the use of Arabic supplications in localized ritual practice.

Appendices include English translations of the Sundanese texts Tanbih and Wawacan Layang Seh, Hikayat 53.