ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the Theory of Arabo-Islamic Rhythm and the Notion of Rhythm. Muslim life maintains the rhythms of nature and the rhythms of culture in a seamless whole that characterizes the community. The conceptual element of al-Jama'iyya in relationship with the other two identified earlier, al-Khususiyya and al-Qudsiyya, make up the necessary components of an Arabo-Islamic theory of rhythm. This theory consists of a new conceptual framework for a more systematic understanding of Muslim life. It builds on notions of relationality and the idea that living systems span a broad range of spheres of knowledge. There is an alternate temporality and spatiality that brings together the calendrical, the cosmological, the astronomical, and the sociocultural constructions of sacredness, privacy, and temporal-spatiality into a unified understanding. The Arabo-Islamic rhythm described in this study is marked by a temporal and spatial continuity that has proven to be successful for its people, and seems to be spreading numerically around the world.
