Book contents
- Encounters with Islam
- Encounters with Islam
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Plates and Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Note on Transcription
- Introduction
- Part I Expressive
- Part II Legal
- 2 Tribal Law as Islamic Law
- 3 The Meaning of the Gift
- 4 Islamic Conceptions of the Rule of Law
- Part III Political
- Part IV Critical
- Envoi
- Bibliography
- Index
- Plate Section (PDF Only)
3 - The Meaning of the Gift
from Part II - Legal
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 September 2023
- Encounters with Islam
- Encounters with Islam
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Plates and Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Note on Transcription
- Introduction
- Part I Expressive
- Part II Legal
- 2 Tribal Law as Islamic Law
- 3 The Meaning of the Gift
- 4 Islamic Conceptions of the Rule of Law
- Part III Political
- Part IV Critical
- Envoi
- Bibliography
- Index
- Plate Section (PDF Only)
Summary
A gift, my grandmother used to say, is just a loan. And certainly in many parts of the world gifts, far from being merely free-will offerings, are what bind people together in relationships of felt indebtedness. As one traces the meaning and forms of gift-giving in the Middle East and North Africa, one appreciates that the lines along which gifts flow and the meanings that are attached to them are, like the traces of one’s passing, an indicator of the bonds of obligations formed. In a sense, the running imbalance of gifts thus underscores the nature of many social ties and their negotiation in this part of the world and with them a keener appreciation of how they inform the encounters that sustain the social order.
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- Encounters with IslamStudies in the Anthropology of Muslim Cultures, pp. 52 - 60Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023