ABSTRACT
Officially within both historic and contemporary Islam, the use of relics as aids to devotion is considered innovatory and lacking Qur'anic authority. Particular traces or athar left by the Prophet Muhammad have been collected and respected over the centuries by Muslims: hairs, a tooth, a footprint, a garment, an item of armour or weaponry are all to be found. Among the Sufi influenced Sunni faithful, the Ahl I Sunnat wa Jama'at resident in the UK and among my respondents in Nottingham the names of Imam Ahmad Raza Khan and Jama'at 'Ali Khan of Alipur are held in great respect as pirs. Lawrence's 1974 study of race relations in Nottingham revealed that the vast majority of Indians and Pakistanis in the city were from relatively small areas of the Subcontinent. Patterns of devotion nourish spiritualities and in turn often involve elements of a human body, an article of clothing, some item that belonged to and was used by a revered person.
