Dancing the silent dhikr: Negotiating temporality and reciting litanies in the zapin dance in Maritime Southeast Asia

One of the many Sufi practices, which utilize dhikr (recitation of the divine names or litanies) that is muted by non-verbal inward recitations, could be observed in the Zapin dance in the coastal areas of maritime Southeast Asia. Performed by Zapin dancers who are followers of Tariqat or 'way...

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Main Author: Md Nor, M.A.
Format: Conference or Workshop Item
Language:English
Published: 2010
Subjects:
Online Access:http://eprints.um.edu.my/11445/1/dancing_the_silent_dhikr-.pdf
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author Md Nor, M.A.
author_facet Md Nor, M.A.
author_sort Md Nor, M.A.
collection UM
description One of the many Sufi practices, which utilize dhikr (recitation of the divine names or litanies) that is muted by non-verbal inward recitations, could be observed in the Zapin dance in the coastal areas of maritime Southeast Asia. Performed by Zapin dancers who are followers of Tariqat or 'way' of the sharia 'at, which literally means "the road to the watering place, " dancing the silent dhikr symbolizes the broad way in which the performer practitioners find way to travel and seek God. The accompaniment of music and the physical movement of performing a structured movement system portray ephemeral permeation of Islamic aesthetics and Malay artistic conventions while negotiating the traditional mode of temporality that is diachronically and synchronically linear in form, time and space. This temporality that is curled from the past remains important in the present as the performers negotiate their togetherness as Sufis and practitioners of religious and cultural practices that are embedded in mute dhikr, which plays an important role in sustaining Malay-Islamic traditional performance practices that is essential in seeking the realm of the altered other. This paper will discuss how dichotomies of the past and the present are negotiated within the traditional mode of temporality that progresses lineally through the procession of the past (diachronic), present (extant and synchronic) and future (impending) through the silent dhikr in the Zapin dance of Southeast Asia.
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spelling um.eprints-114452014-12-08T07:43:42Z http://eprints.um.edu.my/11445/ Dancing the silent dhikr: Negotiating temporality and reciting litanies in the zapin dance in Maritime Southeast Asia Md Nor, M.A. GV Recreation Leisure One of the many Sufi practices, which utilize dhikr (recitation of the divine names or litanies) that is muted by non-verbal inward recitations, could be observed in the Zapin dance in the coastal areas of maritime Southeast Asia. Performed by Zapin dancers who are followers of Tariqat or 'way' of the sharia 'at, which literally means "the road to the watering place, " dancing the silent dhikr symbolizes the broad way in which the performer practitioners find way to travel and seek God. The accompaniment of music and the physical movement of performing a structured movement system portray ephemeral permeation of Islamic aesthetics and Malay artistic conventions while negotiating the traditional mode of temporality that is diachronically and synchronically linear in form, time and space. This temporality that is curled from the past remains important in the present as the performers negotiate their togetherness as Sufis and practitioners of religious and cultural practices that are embedded in mute dhikr, which plays an important role in sustaining Malay-Islamic traditional performance practices that is essential in seeking the realm of the altered other. This paper will discuss how dichotomies of the past and the present are negotiated within the traditional mode of temporality that progresses lineally through the procession of the past (diachronic), present (extant and synchronic) and future (impending) through the silent dhikr in the Zapin dance of Southeast Asia. 2010-07 Conference or Workshop Item NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en http://eprints.um.edu.my/11445/1/dancing_the_silent_dhikr-.pdf Md Nor, M.A. (2010) Dancing the silent dhikr: Negotiating temporality and reciting litanies in the zapin dance in Maritime Southeast Asia. In: World Dance Alliance Global Event, 12-17 July 2010, New York, USA. (Submitted)
spellingShingle GV Recreation Leisure
Md Nor, M.A.
Dancing the silent dhikr: Negotiating temporality and reciting litanies in the zapin dance in Maritime Southeast Asia
title Dancing the silent dhikr: Negotiating temporality and reciting litanies in the zapin dance in Maritime Southeast Asia
title_full Dancing the silent dhikr: Negotiating temporality and reciting litanies in the zapin dance in Maritime Southeast Asia
title_fullStr Dancing the silent dhikr: Negotiating temporality and reciting litanies in the zapin dance in Maritime Southeast Asia
title_full_unstemmed Dancing the silent dhikr: Negotiating temporality and reciting litanies in the zapin dance in Maritime Southeast Asia
title_short Dancing the silent dhikr: Negotiating temporality and reciting litanies in the zapin dance in Maritime Southeast Asia
title_sort dancing the silent dhikr negotiating temporality and reciting litanies in the zapin dance in maritime southeast asia
topic GV Recreation Leisure
url http://eprints.um.edu.my/11445/1/dancing_the_silent_dhikr-.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT mdnorma dancingthesilentdhikrnegotiatingtemporalityandrecitinglitaniesinthezapindanceinmaritimesoutheastasia