Shamanism and Islam : Sufism, Healing Rituals and Spirits in the Muslim World, edited by Thierry Zarcone and Angela Hobart

Shamanism and Islam : Sufism, Healing Rituals and Spirits in the Muslim World, edited by Thierry Zarcone and Angela Hobart (London & New York: I. B. Tauris in association with Centro Incontri Umani, 2013), xli+360 pp., ISBN: 978-1-84885-602-8, $104.50 (hb) (First paragraph) This work must be considered a major work in studies not only of shamanism but also of certain contemporary Muslim cultures. While the term “shamanism„ commonly refers to a wide range of practices in various Muslim and non-Muslim parts of the world, a catch-all category for many different cults and belief systems, a certain unity can however, be perceived between the shamanic practices of North Asia and Muslim Central Asia. Zarcone, Hobart, and others examine how shamanism, Islam, and especially Sufism have interrelated over the centuries, and are still interrelating today.