20/05/2024 14:15 - 16:30

HALL: LA PIRA - ROOM 1

Proponent: Welle J.

Chair: Welle J.

Speaker: Al-Attar M., Alshaar N., Heck P., Maggioni P.L., Paredi R., Welle J.

This panel examines the question of emotions in Islam, contributing to a new field of inquiry in Islamic Studies. The literature on emotions in Islam is sparse, with no study treating the question of emotions in Islam as a whole and no study comparing the question of emotions in Islam with emotions as a human phenomenon. One paper investigates joy and happiness, including the propriety of a believer's feelings of delight in diverse situations. A second paper draws on the speaker's doctoral thesis on sadness, exploring the connection between sadness and longing, focusing largely on medieval mystical texts. A third speaker plumbs anger in classical Sufi texts. How do Sufi masters address instinctive responses of ire and rage? How should this emotion be curbed or channeled, and are there occasions when it should be cultivated? While each of the emotions discussed hails largely from a single term (joy = surur, sadness = ?uzn, anger = gha?ab), these papers are not studies of terminology, but forays into an emotional arena involving a constellation of terms and complex emotionality. The proponent and three confirmed speakers welcome a maximum of three additional papers on the theme. Proposals could take a general approach (theory of emotions) or focus on a particular emotion; the scope of data is not restricted, but one should note that confirmed speakers will generally focus on medieval texts, especially from the formative period of Sufism.