Chapter 6: Boundaries of Religious Practice
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In
addition to probing opinions about different sects, the survey asked whether
certain forms of worship – visiting shrines, reciting religious poetry and dancing
devotionally – are acceptable under Islam. The survey also asked whether the
teachings of Islam permit appeals to dead ancestors and jinn and the use of
sorcery.
In
most of the 23 countries where the question was asked, majorities endorse
visiting shrines of Muslim saints as a legitimate form of worship. This view is
especially widespread in Central Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia. Visiting
shrines is least accepted in the Middle East and North Africa where, with the
exception of Lebanon and Iraq, fewer than half think this practice is part of
Islamic tradition.
There
is also substantial approval of devotional poetry or singing as a form of worship.
In more than half of the 23 countries where the question was posed, at least
50% of Muslims say reciting poetry is part of Islamic tradition, including as
many as 91% in Lebanon and 88% in Afghanistan.
Far
fewer see devotional dancing as an acceptable practice. Indeed, Turkey is the
only country surveyed in which a majority (72%) believes such dancing falls
within the bounds of Islam – perhaps reflecting the prominence of Turkey’s
Mevlevi Sufi order, the “whirling dervishes,” known for their devotional
dances.
Appealing
to deceased relatives or ancestors for aid is generally seen as outside the
Islamic faith, although sizable numbers accept the practice in Central Asia,
Russia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Appeals to jinn and the use of sorcery are
almost universally regarded as falling outside of Islamic tradition even
though, as previously discussed, many Muslims say they believe in the existence
of these supernatural beings and in witchcraft. (See Chapter 4).
In
Azerbaijan, Iraq and Lebanon, which are home to substantial numbers of both
Sunnis and Shias, there is no clear sectarian divide over which forms of
worship or practice are accepted within Islam. On only one issue – appealing to
deceased ancestors – are Shias in all three countries more accepting than their
Sunni counterparts.
Worship Practices
Visiting Shrines
Other
than the pilgrimage to Mecca, which is one of the Five Pillars of Islam (see
Five Pillars of Islam text box in Chapter 2), the Quran does not specifically mention pilgrimages.
However, certain hadith encourage pilgrimages to shrines, including Jerusalem’s
al-Aqsa mosque in the Sunni tradition and the shrine of Imam Hussein in
Karbala, Iraq, in the Shia tradition.28
Overall the survey finds that many Muslims consider visiting the shrines of
Muslim saints an acceptable practice.
This
is especially true in Southeast Asia, where eight-in-ten or more Muslims in
Thailand (99%), Malaysia (89%) and Indonesia (81%) say visiting shrines falls
within the bounds of Islam. The acceptance of pilgrimages to shrines is also
widespread in Central Asia, with three-quarters or more endorsing the practice.
In
South Asia, the number of Muslims who believe visiting shrines is part of
Islamic tradition ranges from 96% in Bangladesh to a more modest 63% in
Pakistan. In Southern and Eastern Europe (Russia and the Balkans), too, opinion
varies considerably: 82% of Russian Muslims say the practice is acceptable, but
fewer than six-in-ten Muslims in Kosovo (57%) and Albania (55%) agree.
Acceptance
of pilgrimages to shrines is lower in the Middle East and North Africa.
Although large majorities in Lebanon (99%) and Iraq (84%) see the practice as
part of Islamic tradition, relatively few Muslims elsewhere in the region
agree, including just 6% in Egypt and 4% in Jordan.
Reciting Poetry
Many
Muslims agree that it is acceptable to recite poetry or sing in praise of God. In
17 of the 23 countries where the question was asked, roughly half or more take
this view.
Religious
poetry is embraced in much of the Middle East and North Africa, including in
Lebanon, where 91% believe this practice falls within the bounds of Islam.
Elsewhere in the region, seven-in-ten or more in Iraq (74%), Jordan (73%) and
Egypt (72%) share this view. Only in Tunisia (38%) do fewer than half agree.
Reciting
poetry in praise of God is also endorsed by roughly half or more Muslims in
most of the nations surveyed in Central Asia and across Southern and Eastern
Europe. Indeed, more than six-in-ten affirm this practice in Russia (79%),
Turkey (77%), Kazakhstan (65%), Azerbaijan (64%) and Bosnia-Herzegovina (61%). Uzbekistan
is the only country in the two regions where fewer than one-in-five Muslims
(17%) say religious poetry is part of Islamic tradition.
Attitudes
toward reciting poetry vary considerably in South Asia and Southeast Asia: more
than seven-in-ten in Afghanistan (88%) and Malaysia (73%) voice acceptance,
while only about a third approve in
Pakistan (35%), Thailand (32%), Indonesia (28%) and Bangladesh (28%).
In
a number of countries, religious commitment, as measured by frequency of prayer,
is linked with attitudes toward religious poetry. For example, in Russia, 91% of those who pray
more than once a day believe reciting poetry is acceptable, compared with only 74%
of those who pray less often. Similar gaps are found in Azerbaijan (+14 points among
those who pray more than once a day), Kyrgyzstan (+14), Turkey (+12), Malaysia
(+11) and Indonesia (+9). In Egypt and Pakistan, by contrast, those who pray
multiple times a day are less likely to
believe poetry is permissible, by 18 and 11 percentage points, respectively.
Devotional Dancing
Unlike
visiting shrines or reciting religious poetry, relatively few Muslims endorse
devotional dancing as a form of worship.29
In all but one of the countries surveyed, fewer than four-in-ten say this
practice is part of Islamic tradition. The exception is Turkey, where 72% of
Muslims believe devotional dancing falls within the bounds of Islam. That
Turkish Muslims depart from other Muslims on this question is perhaps not
surprising given the prominence of the so-called “whirling dervishes” in
Turkish culture.
In
Turkey, Muslims who pray several times a day are more likely to say that
devotional dancing is acceptable (+16 percentage points). The same pattern holds in Russia and
Lebanon, but with even larger gaps (+23 percentage points each).
Appeals to Spirits,
Jinn and Sorcery
Appealing to the Deceased
Relatively
few Muslims in the countries surveyed believe it is permissible to appeal to
dead relatives or ancestors for aid. However, views on this question vary by
region.30
Muslims
in Central Asia tend to be the most accepting of the practice, with more than
three-in-ten in Kazakhstan (51%), Uzbekistan (38%), Kyrgyzstan (35%) and
Tajikistan (32%) saying appeals to spirits of the dead are part of Islamic
tradition.
Across
Southern and Eastern Europe, about a third of Muslims in Bosnia-Herzegovina
(36%) and Russia (34%) believe appeals to deceased relatives or ancestors are
acceptable, but fewer than one-in-five in Albania (16%) and Kosovo (5%) agree.
Acceptance
of the practice is relatively rare in South Asia and Southeast Asia, with less
than a fifth of Muslims in these regions saying it is part of Islamic
tradition. Meanwhile, in most countries in the Middle East and North Africa,
only a handful of Muslims say appeals to the deceased fall within Islam. The
two exceptions are Iraq and Lebanon, where 28% and 22% of Muslims, respectively,
say the practice is acceptable, perhaps reflecting the Shia tradition of
honoring forebears, such as Hussein and Ali.31
Appeals to Jinn
The
Quran states that God created non-human creatures, referred to as jinn and, as
discussed earlier in this report, many Muslims affirm that jinn exist (see Jinn in Chapter 4). However, few
Muslims believe it is an accepted part of Islamic tradition to make offerings
or appeals to these supernatural beings.32
Among
the countries surveyed, only in Bangladesh do more than a fifth of Muslims
(28%) say this practice is part of Islamic tradition. In Russia (18%),
Kazakhstan (15%), Bosnia-Herzegovina (12%) and Afghanistan (10%), one-in-ten or
more also share this view. But
elsewhere, very low percentages of Muslims believe appeals to jinn are
acceptable.
Use of Sorcery
As
discussed earlier in this report, substantial numbers of Muslims believe in the
existence of witchcraft (see Witchcraft in Chapter 4). Nevertheless, across the nations surveyed, there is near
universal agreement that the use of sorcery is not permissible within Islam.33
In only three countries – Thailand (22%), Albania (12%) and Kazakhstan (10%) –
do one-in-ten or more say the use of sorcery falls within the bounds of Islam.
Sunni and Shia Views on
Boundaries of Practice
In
Azerbaijan, Iraq and Lebanon, which are each home to substantial numbers of
Sunni and Shia Muslims, the survey finds no clear sectarian divide regarding
the boundaries of acceptable worship or practice. That is not to say that
members of the two groups always agree on what is permitted within Islam, but
the degree, and direction, of disagreement varies more by country than by sect.
In
Lebanon, Sunnis and Shias generally concur that visiting shrines and reciting
poetry in praise of God are accepted within Islam. And on the question of devotional dancing,
similarly low percentages of Shias and Sunnis approve.
Among
Shias and Sunnis in Azerbaijan, there is general agreement that visiting
shrines is permitted within Islam, but many fewer in both sects say the same
about devotional dancing. The sects do diverge on reciting religious poetry,
but only slightly.
In
Iraq, Shias and Sunnis do not differ greatly on the acceptance of religious
poetry. And although the two groups do significantly diverge (33 percentage
points) on the question of shrine visitation, a majority of Iraqi Sunnis (65%)
still endorse the practice – unlike their counterparts in nearby countries such
as Jordan and Egypt, where only 3% and 4% of Sunnis, respectively, share this
view.
Iraqi
Sunnis are more inclined (12 percentage points) to approve of devotional
dancing than are Shias, although this gap is largely due to the fact that Sunni
Kurds – who are concentrated in the country’s north, where Sufi traditions tend to be stronger – are twice as likely as the country’s Sunni Arabs to endorse
devotional dancing.
In
all three countries, Shia and Sunni Muslims differ little when it comes to
rejecting the use of sorcery within Islam. And in Lebanon and Azerbaijan,
members of both groups hold similar views on the acceptability of making
appeals to jinn.34
The
survey finds a consistent pattern of sectarian differences on only one
practice: appealing to deceased relatives or ancestors. Across all three countries, significantly
more Shias than Sunnis approve of this practice. Again, this may reflect the widespread
tradition of venerating and appealing to figures such as Ali and Hussein in the
Shia tradition.35
Footnotes:
28 For more on pilgrimages to shrines in the Sunni tradition, see Sahih Muslim
7:3218 and Elad, Amikam. 1999. “Medieval Jerusalem and Islamic Worship, second
edition.” Leiden: E.J. Brill, page 65. For more on pilgrimages to shrines in
the Shia tradition, see a hadith of the eighth Shia Imam, Ali al-Rida, as
cited in Nakash, Yitzak. 1995. “The Visitation of the Shrines of the Imams and
the Shi‘i Mujtahids in the Early Twentieth Century.” Studia Islamica, vol. 81,
page 155. (return to text)
29 Devotional dancing tends to be more common among some Sufi orders. These orders
uphold that it is a form of dhikr (also transliterated as zhikr), literally
meaning “remembrance of God.” Dhikr is prescribed in the Quran (13:28; 33:41;
87:14-15), and a common form is performed by reciting the 99 names of God. For
more on dhikr and Sufism, see the Pew Forum’s 2010 report “Muslim
Networks and Movements in Western Europe.” (return to text)
30 The Quran states that prayers should be offered to God alone (108:2). (return to text)
31 Ali was the son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad and, according to Shias, the
rightful successor (Imam) to the Prophet. Hussein, one of Ali’s sons, was the
third Imam in Shia Islam. (return to text)
32 The Quran states that prayers and sacrifices should be made to God alone (108:2). (return to text)
33 The Quran condemns sorcery (2:102), and one hadith refers to it as one of the
seven destructive sins (Sahih al-Bukhari 51:28). (return to text)
34 The results of this item
are not available for Iraq due to an administrative error. (return to text)
35 See footnote 31. (return to text)
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