Sufism in Ottoman Damascus: Religion, Magic, and the Eighteenth-Century Networks of the Holy

Sufism in Ottoman Damascus analyzes thaumaturgical beliefs and practices prevalent among Muslims in eighteenth-century Ottoman Syria. The study focuses on historical beliefs in baraka, which religious authorities often interpreted as Allah’s grace, and the alleged Sufi-ulamaic role in distributing it to Ottoman subjects.

This book highlights considerable overlaps between Sufis and ʿulamā’ with state appointments in early modern Province of Damascus, arguing for the possibility of sociologica...