The Sound of Salvation: Voice, Gender, and the Sufi Mediascape in China (Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University)

The Jahriyya Sufis—a primarily Sinophone order in northwest China—inhabit a unique religious soundscape. The first ethnography of this order in any language, __The Sound of Salvation__ draws on nearly a decade of fieldwork to reveal the intricacies and importance of Jahriyya vocal recitation. Winner, 2023 Clifford Geertz Prize in Anthropology of Religion, Society for the Anthropology of Religion The Jahriyya Sufis—a primarily Sinophone order of Naqshbandiyya Sufism in northwestern China—inhabit a unique religious soundscape. The hallmark of their spiritual practice is the "loud" ( jahr ) remembrance of God in liturgical rituals featuring distinctive melodic vocal chants. The first ethnography of this order in any language, The Sound of Salvation draws on nearly a decade of fieldwork to reveal the intricacies and importance of Jahriyya vocal recitation. Guangtian Ha examines how the use of voice in liturgy helps the Jahriyya to sustain their faith and the ways it has enabled them to endure political persecution over the past two and a half centuries. He situates the Jahriyya in a global multilingual network of Sufis and shows how their characteristic soundscapes result from transcultural interactions among Middle Eastern, Central Asian, and Chinese Muslim communities. Ha argues that the resilience of Jahriyya Sufism stems from the diversity and multiplicity of liturgical practice, which he shows to be rooted in notions of Sufi sainthood. He considers the movement of Jahriyya vocal recitation to new media forms and foregrounds the gendered opposition of male voices and female silence that structures the group's rituals. Spanning diverse disciplines—including anthropology, ethnomusicology, Islamic studies, sound studies, and media studies—and using Arabic, Persian, and Chinese sources, The Sound of Salvation offers new perspectives on the importance of sound to religious practice, the role of gender in Chinese Islam, and the links connecting Chinese Muslims to the broader Islamic world. "While texts have long been considered the main conduit for disseminating religious ideas, in recent years the human sensorium in its totality has been harnessed to serve this purpose. Islam is not an exception to this epochal rule. For many Muslims of the twenty-first century, sound has surpassed other senses and become of prime import for their practice of piety. From the broadcast of Qur'anic recitation and televised Sufi chanting to sermons spreading via cassette tapes and the stellar success of commercially produced albums of prophetic panegyric, sound is becoming a key site for the global debate on what Islam is and how Muslims define their identity. Sound of Salvation: Voice, Gender, and the Sufi Mediascape in China examines the impact on China of this global Muslim valorization of sound. It provides a detailed and theoretically informed ethnography of the Jahriyya Sufis living in north- and southwest China. Eastern descendants of the illustrious Naqshbandiyya Sufism that encompasses the entire continent of Eurasia, the Jahriyya in China define themselves primarily through sound. As Guangtian Ha demonstrates, this sound is constitutively gendered. A set of predominantly male recitations has been capable of sustaining communal bonds and transregional links from the mid-eighteenth century to the present, he argues, because women's voices have been structurally marginalized while at the same time women's labor has been systematically recruited. The male vocal remembrances of God stand in opposition to female silence. The Jahriyya Sufi mediascape is intrinsically a genderscape"-- Provided by publisher The Jahriyya Sufis-a primarily Sinophone order of Naqshbandiyya Sufism in northwestern China-inhabit a unique religious soundscape. The hallmark of their spiritual practice is the "loud" (jahr) remembrance of God in liturgical rituals featuring distinctive melodic vocal chants.0The first ethnography of this order in any language, The Sound of Salvation draws on nearly a decade of fieldwork to reveal the intricacies and importance of Jahriyya vocal recitation. Guangtian Ha examines how the use of voice in liturgy helps the Jahriyya to sustain their faith and the ways it has enabled them to endure political persecution over the past two and a half centuries. He situates the Jahriyya in a global multilingual network of Sufis and shows how their characteristic soundscapes result from transcultural interactions among Middle Eastern, Central Asian, and Chinese Muslim communities. Ha argues that the resilience of Jahriyya Sufism stems from the diversity and multiplicity of liturgical practice, which he shows to be rooted in notions of Sufi sainthood. He considers the movement of Jahriyya vocal recitation to new media forms and foregrounds the gendered opposition of male voices and female silence that structures the group's rituals.0Spanning diverse disciplines-including anthropology, ethnomusicology, Islamic studies, sound studies, and media studies-and using Arabic, Persian, and Chinese sources, The Sound of Salvation offers new perspectives on the importance of sound to religious practice, the role of gender in Chinese Islam, and the links connecting Chinese Muslims to the broader Islamic world Introduction -- 1. Archaeology of Sound -- 2. The Sacred Circle -- 3. Tempo of Time -- 4. His Master's Voice -- 5. Labor of Faith -- Epilogue -- Ethnography and the Future of the Jahriyya Sound -- Bibliography