Review of Samuli Schielke, The Perils of Joy: Contesting Mulid Festivals in Contemporary Egypt

Excerpt

The book, The Perils of Joy: Contesting Mulid Festivals in Contemporary Egypt, deals with the very debatable topic concerning the status and role of the mulid, or mawlid, a street carnival associated with the birthday celebrations of Muslim saints, known as friends of God (awliya’ Allah), in contemporary Egypt. According to the author, the ‘Egypt presented in this book is the Egypt of the late years of the Mubarak regime – a time marked by a rising wave of Salafi-style religiosity, neoliberal entrenchment of the economical and the political, great economic pressure, and repressive and brutal police state’ (p. 8). Within the book and considering the current social climate, the author convincingly addresses the mulid within the core concepts of blessing (baraka), joy (farah), invocation of God (dhikr), Sufi pilgrimage, mysticism, sainthood and festivity. Of note, however, the author uses the word ‘miracle’ as central to mulids (p. 24). Egyptians and Muslims, in general, do not use the word ‘miracle’ (mu‘jiza), but rather the word ‘wonder’ (karama) to refer to the extraordinary deeds of saints. …