ABSTRACT
Sufism at large has traditionally been associated with healing (shifā’), evidence of which is key in testing the veracity of claims to supernatural powers which are made by most potential awliyā’ (Werbner, 2005: 213). Litanies were recited in the past by Sufi shaykhs with the aim of curing diseases, 1 and healing attributions are still in vogue today. 2 In this chapter I explore healing-related issues because of the importance that ideas of health and disease have in moral systems, and thus in religiosities. Practices related to healing are frequently performed in Madāgh, to the extent that a significant dimension of the ṭarīqa's saintly legitimacy is (at least for some among those who follow Hamza) related to the healing powers of the baraka attained by him, the members of his family and the shrine complex. Health issues have come to play a major role during the course of the fieldwork on which this book is based. 3
