Book contents
- Miracles and Material Life
- Asian Connections
- Miracles and Material Life
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Maps and Figures
- Prologue
- Acknowledgements
- Notes on Transliteration
- Abbreviations
- An Introduction
- 1 Compendia of Forest Patois and Agrarian ‘Ilmu
- 2 Pawangs and Munshis in Muhammad’s Ricefields
- 3 The Pawang’s ‘Wonderful Nose’ for Ore
- 4 An ‘Ilmu of Violence
- 5 Gun Gurus and Sufi Shooters
- Conclusion
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
- Asian Connections
5 - Gun Gurus and Sufi Shooters
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 June 2020
- Miracles and Material Life
- Asian Connections
- Miracles and Material Life
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Maps and Figures
- Prologue
- Acknowledgements
- Notes on Transliteration
- Abbreviations
- An Introduction
- 1 Compendia of Forest Patois and Agrarian ‘Ilmu
- 2 Pawangs and Munshis in Muhammad’s Ricefields
- 3 The Pawang’s ‘Wonderful Nose’ for Ore
- 4 An ‘Ilmu of Violence
- 5 Gun Gurus and Sufi Shooters
- Conclusion
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
- Asian Connections
Summary
When I first met Wak ‘Ali in Singapore in March 2010, he was being summoned for trespassing on state land and for ‘placing a kramat (open shed)’ over the grave of the early nineteenth-century pawang, Siti Maryam al-‘Aydarus. While serving as the custodian of the miracle-working grave (keramat) over the past few decades, Wak ‘Ali had developed a larger Sufi shrine on it, covered by a zinc roof held up with wooden pillars. He had indeed done this ‘illegally’, that is, without the permission of the Singapore Land Authority. In April 2010, he was evicted from the Kallang burial ground where the shrine was located. Siti Maryam’s gravesite was cordoned off and then demolished, along with the dozens of other graves that surrounded hers, to make way for a road and a riverfront recreational hub.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Miracles and Material LifeRice, Ore, Traps and Guns in Islamic Malaya, pp. 180 - 210Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020