ABSTRACT
Anthropologist I.M.Lewis has surveyed the scholarly literature on ecstatic religion and argues that it arises in particular kinds of social conflict. His prime example is the Sar or Zar cult of Somalia, Sudan, Egypt, and surrounding territories. The strict Islamic tradition of the dominant religious organizations prohibits women from holding positions of religious authority and prestige, and it supports the dominance of the husband in the household. However, at the same time it supports belief in a variety of spirits that may possess an individual. In daily life, a woman suffers much from her husband, including the constant threat that prosperous husbands may acquire other wives, but she depends for her survival upon his good will. Thus she cannot confront him directly, for fear he will simply cast her aside and obtain a more pliant wife in her stead. For some women, the psychological stresses become unbearable, and they express them through physical and emotional symptoms.
