Download On the Use of the Islamic Formulae Basmala and Shahada Among

Our Europe. Ethnography – Ethnology – Anthropology of Culture
Vol. 2/2013
p. 211–222
Narration and identity, everyday narration
Galina Lozanova
Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in Sofia
On the Use of the Islamic Formulae Basmala
and Shahada Among the Pomaks in Bulgaria
Abstract: The subject of research in this paper is the use of the Islamic formulae shahada (the Islamic credo
lā ilāha ’illallāh, Muhammad rasūlu-llāh – ‘There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the messenger of
God’) and basmala (bismi-llāhi r-rahmāni r-rahīm – ‘In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful’) by
Bulgarian Pomaks. Historically, both formulae became part of the Pomak vocabulary after the conversion
to Islam. They permanently penetrated the basic word stock of the Pomaks and were actively used in
concrete situations.
On the basis of several examples (cases) of the use of shahada and basmala (i.e. in religious education, in
Muslim-Christian relations, in rituals of protection from demons, etc.), some conclusions are made about
the variety of their functions in specific everyday and ritual (crisis) situations, which appear not to differ
much from how these formulae function in traditional cultures of other Muslim communities.
Keywords: shahada, basmala, Pomaks, religious education, Muslim-Christian relations, religious integrity
and identity
The Pomaks, or Muslim Bulgarians, are a comparatively small community of
some 250,000 people who inhabit mainly the Rhodope Mountains on the Bulgarian-Greek
border, some of them also living in several villages around the town of Lovech in Northern
Bulgaria. The Pomaks speak Bulgarian as their mother tongue, but their religion is Islam,
and this circumstance has seriously influenced their worldview, language, mentality and
behaviour (everyday and ritual). Historically, the conversion to Islam took place over a
large span of time during the ages of Ottoman rule on Bulgarian soil, mainly in the 17th
century. The conversion was for different reasons (economic, spiritual, personal choice, etc.)
and initiated the formation of the Bulgarian Muslim community. In the course of time the
community became affiliated with those traditional societies whose value systems and stereotypes – both mental and behavioural – were based on the ideas of classical Islamic sources
– the Holy Quran and the hadiths (sayings) and the sunna (the example) of the Prophet Muhammad, as they are interpreted by Islamic scholars and as they are learned in the process
of religious education. The words of the prominent British researcher of the philosophy and
ethics of Islam, George Hourani (1985: 270), that “these sources were of predominant importance in all Muslim countries until the nineteenth century and still prevail in the more conservative countries and in all rural areas”, and that “[t]his was and is inevitable wherever
the basic education of children is the study of the Quran, with its well defined ethical perceptions and attitudes to life on earth”, have been proved true to the full extent for the Bulgarian Muslim community – even at the very end of the 20th century.1
I shall not discuss the reasons for the encapsulation and conservativeness of the Bulgarian Muslim community in the previous century; nevertheless, the assimilative state politics of several consecutive Bulgarian
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Over the course of history, a tradition of preservation, transmission and uninterrupted
reproduction of basic religious-ethical concepts and prescriptions which the basic Islamic
sources contain, established itself. This tradition to a large extent depended on the interrelations between (at least) three languages. (1) The first was Bulgarian – the language of
everyday communication, and also the language of adoption and transmission of religious
knowledge. (2) Secondly, Turkish (Ottoman Turkish) not only had been the language of
administration for almost five centuries of the Ottoman rule until early 20th century, but
also the language of literacy and education for all the Muslim subjects of the Ottoman Empire. Presumably, a great number of the Pomaks (especially men) were practically bilingual
at the time; alternatively, Turkish had, for a sufficiently long period of time, been the mediating language in the transmission of religious information for educated Muslims of different national descent, including Bulgarian-speaking Pomaks – via both personal communication and Ottoman literature (original or translated from the other two classical languages
of Islam, Arabic and Persian). In the 20th century, the role of Turkish gradually faded
and never recovered its previous significance, especially after 1989, when Islamic religious
books started to be published and disseminated on a large scale in the Bulgarian language.
(3) Finally, Arabic – the language of the Holy Quran – had also become a part of Pomak
everyday life not only in the sphere of religious practice (i.e. the five daily prayers), but
also by providing a multitude of religious terms and expressions (formulae). Most of them
had permanently penetrated the basic word stock of the Pomaks and were actively used in
concrete situations. Neither interpretation nor translation of these expressions was needed,
as most of the formulae were learned with the help of various ‘explanatory’ and ‘supporting’ texts (descriptive, interpretative, didactic, etc.) in Bulgarian, or acquired in specific
speech contexts. To illustrate this, below I will dwell on the use of two Islamic formulae –
shahada and basmala – in several situations and in connection with various traditional folk
beliefs.
Shahada and Basmala in the Islamic Tradition
Shahada (Arab. ‘witnessing’) in a religious sense signifies the Islamic profession of
faith (the Islamic credo), the act of declaring ‘There is no god but God, and Muhammad is
the Messenger of God’ (Arab. lā ’ilāha ’illallāh, Muhammad rasūlu-llāh). Shahada consists of
two statements (Arab. kalimatan ash-shahada, or, in the Turkish pronunciation as it is known
to the Pomaks, kelime-i shehadet), the first testifying to the Oneness and the Unity of God
(Arab. tawhid), an idea common to all adherents of monotheistic religions as opposed to
polytheists and unbelievers, and the second specific to Sunni Muslims and testifying to their
acceptance of the prophetic mission of the last of God’s messengers – Muhammad. The complete formula is not stated directly in the text of the Quran, though its two parts are present
in several suras, for example, in Q. 6: 19, 37: 35, 47: 19, 63: 1, etc. (Gimaret 1997: 201) Taken
in their unity, the two parts of shahada express the very spirit and the quintessence of the
Holy Book, as it is lengthily discussed in Islamic commentary literature (see, for example,
Ibn Kathir n.d.: Sura 3). The deep religious and philosophical meaning of shahada is probably best revealed in the second book of al-Ghazzali’s (450–505 AH /1058–1111 CE) “The Revival of the Religious Sciences (Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din)” (Ghazzali 2007).2 Shahada is the first and
governments and especially the role of atheistic propaganda during the socialist period deserve mentioning. For
more details, see Anagnostou (2005); Brunnbauer (1999: 35–50); Buchsenschutz (2000: 36–59); Gruev (2003).
2
See also Mac Donald’s translation of “A Short Creed by al-Ghazzali” (Mac Donald 1903: 300–307).
On the Use of the Islamic Formulae Basmala and Shahada Among the Pomaks in Bulgaria
213
the only indispensable principle (pillar) of Islam, and the earnest and public recitation of the
shahada in Arabic is all that is required for a non-Muslim to become a Muslim.
Due to its fundamental significance for believers belonging to the Islamic religion, shahada embraces all aspects of individual and social life of Muslims: it is whispered in the ear
of a new-born baby, and, at the end of a person’s life, it is pronounced in the ear of a dying
man; children are taught to recite it from a very early age, and later as part of their religious
education; it is a part of five daily prayers (Wensinck [Rippin] 2000: 340–341)] and determines the fate of a Muslim even in his after-life.3 In other words, as Samuel Zwemer put it,
“in the seven words of shahada [in Arabic] […] the whole system of Mohammedan theology
and philosophy and religious life is summed up” (Zwemer 1905: 15).
The second formula – basmala – is used in the Islamic tradition in two variations: complete – bismi-llāhi r-rahmāni r-rahīm (Arab. ‘In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most
Merciful’)4, and abbreviated – bismi-llāh (Arab. ‘In the name of God’). The complete form
occurs at the beginning of all Quranic suras, except for S. 9;5 it prephaces also the instructive
letter of Sulayman (Solomon) to the Queen of Sheba (Bilqis), in which he urges her to accept
his religion and the belief in the One God (Q. 27: 30). The abbreviated form of basmala is
pronounced by the prophet Nuh (Noah) when he invites his adherents to embark on the
Boat of Salvation (Q. 11: 42).
Islamic jurists hold different opinions as to whether basmala appearing at the beginning
of the Quranic suras should be counted as a separate verse. Followers of the school of law of
Abu Hanifa (among them Bulgarian Muslims) refuse to accept this, as the formula, on the
one hand, fulfils merely technical functions, serving as a separator between particular suras,
and, on the other hand, it is a benediction. That is why they do not pronounce the formula
during ritual worship, in contrast to the followers of al-Shafii, who hold the opposite view
(Carra de Vaux [Gardet] 1960: 1084). Nevertheless, most Muslim scholars agree that basmala
is the first verse of the first sura Fatiha – the sura ‘opening the Scripture’, called also ‘the
Mother of the Book’ (umm al-kitab – Q. 3: 7), ‘the seven repeated signs’ (al-sab al-mathani – Q.
15: 87), and ‘the praise’ (al-hamd) (Paret 1965: 841; Ali n.d.: 42). During prayer, this sura, consisting of seven verses, is repeated at the beginning of each genuflexion (rak’a), and is also
independently pronounced as a principal devotional text at all significant events in the life
of a Muslim – weddings, funerals, etc.
According to some popular hadiths: “Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him)
as saying: He who uttered these words: ‘There is no god but Allah, the One, having no partner with Him.
Sovereignity belongs to Him and all the praise is due to Him, and He is Potent over everything’ one hundred
times every day […] there are recorded hundred virtues to his credit, and hundred vices are blotted out from his
scroll, and that is a safeguard for him against the Satan on that day till evening and no one brings anything more
excellent than this […]” (Muslim n.d.: 35/6508); “[…] [T]he Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said:
He who testifies that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, Allah would
prohibit the fire of Hell for him” (Muslim n.d.: 1/45, 46, 52. etc.); cf. “Narrated Anas: The Prophet added, ‘There
will come out of Hell (Fire) everyone who says: La ilaha illal-lah, and has in his heart good equal to the weight of
a barley grain. Then there will come out of Hell (Fire) everyone who says: La ilaha illal-lah, and has in his heart
good equal to the weight of a wheat grain. Then there will come out of Hell (Fire) everyone who says: La ilaha
illal-lah, and has in his heart good equal to the weight of an atom (or a smallest ant)” (Bukhari n.d.: 9/ 93: 507).
4
For other translations, see Carra de Vaux [Gardet] (1960: 1084) and Watt (1970: 60).
5
Islamic commentators point to several reasons for the omission of the formula basmala in the 9th sura of the
Quran. Some of them presume that this sura had been revealed shortly before Muhammad’s death and he did
not leave any instructions about the formula’s place in the text. Others say that originally suras 8 and 9 were one
sura, as sura 8 is too short for its position in the text (it is well known that the Quran was ‘compiled’ according
to the length of particular suras) and together with sura 9 they form a sura that is too long for its position. What
is important, in Richard Bell’s opinion, is that both explanations consider basmala “not a mere editorial formula”
but one belonging to the time of Muhammad (Watt 1979: 60).
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The efficiency of basmala comes from the fact that it comprises the first three of the traditional 99 Beautiful Names of God in Islam – Allah, ar-Rahman and ar-Rahim – and both arRahman and ar-Rahim derive from the same triliteral root r-h-m, ‘to feel sympathy, or pity’.
Thus, basmala is an invocation or mentioning of God and its recitation is known as tasmiyya
(Arab. ‘to pronounce the Divine name’), which is in itself an act of piety, considered to be
one of the most important Muslim virtues. Similarly to shahada, basmala bears the connotation of the belief in the Oneness of God: the Muslim tradition from the early ages of Islam
used it to invalidate the customary formulae of the time of ‘ignorance’ (jahiliyya), i.e. before
the prophetic mission of Muhammad, which contained invocations of pagan deities, such as
“In the name of al-Lat” or “In the name of al-‘Uzza”, etc. (Carra de Vaux [Gardet] 1960:
1084).
The formula basmala is also an irrevocable part of Islamic verbal etiquette and Islamic
jurists have worked out detailed prescriptions of its use on different occasions.6 Basmala
must be pronounced or written at the beginning of every important deed, considered to be
recommended or pious (praiseworthy) except in the prayer which begins with the formula
Allahu akbar (Arab. ‘God is great’) and in the recitation of a dhikr (repeated mention of a divine Name) (Carra de Vaux [Gardet] 1960: 1084). Even though the two forms of basmala are
almost equal in their functionimg, it is recommended to use the complete formula at the
beginning of manuscripts, in official correspondence and for the decoration of mosques,
while the abbreviated form is pronounced before the commencement of the approved acts
of daily life, especially before eating,7 etc. (Carra de Vaux [Gardet] 1960: 1084).
The frequent use of basmala is based on a popular hadith which says that “Every act that
does not begin with basmala will be cut off (in other readings – mutilated or amputated), or,
in other words – it will be defective and denied God’s blessing; and even if it is completed
– it will remain spiritually unaccomplished” (Ibn Hanbal 1998: 102 [2: 359]; Carra de Vaux
[Gardet] 1960: 1084). Thus, basmala not only invokes Divine benediction on the relevant undertaking, but it also consecrates it and makes it legal in a religious sense.
The belief in the benedictory power of the basmala makes it extremely suitable to be used
in talismans (Turk. muska) together with shahada and short citations from the Quran, especially the suras Ihlas, al-Falaq and an-Nas (S. 112, 113, 114).
Medieval Muslim tradition has connected basmala and shahada to Islamic sacred history.
According to some ‘stories of the prophets’ (qisas an-anbiyya), shahada has been inscribed on
the Throne of God and was the first thing that Adam saw after God had inspired soul into
his body (al-Kisai 1997: 71; Wherry 1882: 303; Kister 1988: 88); it was also written on Adam’s
thigh, upon the wing of the angel Jibrail, on the seal of Solomon and on the tongue of Isa
(Jesus) (Carra de Vaux [Gardet] 1960: 1085).
Shahada and Basmala in Pomak Verbal Etiquette and in the
Oral Tradition
The religious prescriptions for the use of formulae shahada and basmala are largely
discussed among the Pomaks and, as a rule, put in differing contexts, though sometimes
with overlapping functions. Both formulae occur in different kinds of oral texts – in mere
These prescriptions are based mainly on hadiths, cf. Bukhari n.d.: 8/73: 162; 8/78: 666.
Cf. “Narrated Aisha, Ummul Mu’minin: The Apostle of Allah said: When one of you eats, he should mention Allah’s name; if he forgets to mention Allah’s name at the beginning, he should say: ‘In the name of Allah’ at
the beginning and at the end of it” (Abu Daud n.d.: 27/3758).
6
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On the Use of the Islamic Formulae Basmala and Shahada Among the Pomaks in Bulgaria
215
statements, reflecting religious attitudes of Muslims and their philosophy of life, or in larger
narrative plots. It seems that the texts illustrating the significance of basmala prevail over the
texts on shahada, as the latter has always been considered more of a matter of faith, pertaining to the fulfilment of religious obligations and to religious identification, since the acceptance of the idea of the Oneness of God and Muhammad’s mission makes a man a (true)
Muslim:
“There is a big difference from Muslim to Muslim. And when you pronounce La ilaha illal-lah
with all of your heart – then you become a true Muslim. […] It is the most important thing – to
accept these words with all of your heart”.8
The recitation of shahada is the first and indispensable step in the affiliation to Islam,
which will bring benefit in the long term by improving a man’s position in the hereafter.
Hence the widespread belief that a Christian who has accepted Islam immediately before
death will more easily enter Paradise than a Muslim, because – as a proselyte – he is
‘sinless’:
“Oh, how I envy you, Christians! If you say La ilaha illal-lah and then you die… it will be perfectly well, there will be no punishment for you [in the hereafter]. You immediately go to djennet
[Turk., ‘Paradise’], to the best place. While us [the Muslims]… You may have recited [the Quran],
prayed and went to the mosque and still be punished for your sins”.9
The religious standing of basmala is also very high among the Pomaks, but – since it is
apprehended as an invocation of God’s help and a benediction – it is also used to secure an
immediate benefit here and now – in the life on earth.
The formula basmala is used by the Pomaks mainly in its abbreviated form – and this is
quite natural as they pronounce it predominantly on daily-life occasions, and in the Turkish
phonetic variant Bismillya(h). During my fieldwork research in the mid-1990s10, the formula
basmala was a phraseоlogical unit in the speech of my Pomak respondents as part of their
intra-group communication; its use was mechanical, without interpretation, but most of the
respondents knew its meaning. When asked, “When do you say Bismillya?”, their usual
answer was: “You begin everything with Bismillya.” More detailed explanations on the necessity and the benefits of the pronounciation of the formula appeared almost incidentally
while discussing other topics, i.e. when the respondents themselves put the formula in a
specific context.
Basmala and the home education of children
In the summer of 1996, I had a conversation on the religious training and education of children at home with three women of different generations from the village of Chepintsi, Smolyan region: Z.L. (aged 75), her daughter-in-law N.L. (40) and her niece F.M. (31).
The eldest of the three women – Z., went with the reputation of a good connoisseur of religious traditions in the local community, as her late father-in-law and her husband were
‘learned people’ (she even boasted that her husband spoke seven languages!) and she had
K. M., born 1966, rec. 21.08.1996, Chepintsi, Smolyan region, see АIF VIII 39, p. 17.
F. M., born 1923, rec. 23.04.1996, Polyana, Smolyan region, see AIF I 287, p. 23.
10
The fieldwork research was carried out as part of the project “Islam and Popular Traditions” (1994–1998)
and was generously supported by IMIR Foundation – Sofia.
8
9
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been regularly present аt their conversations on religious matters. N. belonged to that generation of Bulgarian Muslims who had been denied the opportunity of systematic Islamic
education, as at the time of their childhood religious education was put under a ban by the
socialist state11. The youngest of the three women – F.R. – was nearly from the same generation, but she belonged to a good Muslim family where the children were educated in secret
in the recitation of the Quran and in the rules of prayer so that they could fulfill their religious obligations. The five-year-old son of F.M. – A.M. – was also present at our conversation, but was not paying much attention to us, unlike the fourteen-year-old son of N.L., who
was listening attentively. His mother was very proud of him as he had recently ‘made his
hatim’ – he had passed the exam in the general knowledge about religion and in reciting the
whole text of the Quran, furthermore with excellent marks.
Z.L. explained that when a Muslim mother brings up her child, she teaches him to pronounce Bismillya as the opening of each action:
Z.L.: “Bismillyah is said for every one thing”.
F.M.: “When I start knitting, I say Bismillyah!”
Z.L.: “When I am standing up – Bismillya, when I am sitting down – Bismillyah! And I teach the
kid to do the same”.
F.M.: “It is the same as you teach him to wash his hands before meals, to brush his teeth – it is the
same thing”.
After the rule was enunciated, the harmful consequences of its violation (unobservance)
were pointed out – the recording angels who appear on a man’s shoulders every morning
and write down his good and bad actions, designate his luck for that day accordingly with
a white or black banner:12
Z.L.: “And when you come out of the door in the morning – if you come out as a dumb animal,
you immediately will get a black banner – you’ll have a day! When coming out of the door in the
morning you must say Bismillya!”
F.M. participated actively in the conversation as an ‘interpreter’ because she was uneasy
that her aunt spoke too fast in the melodious local dialect and I could not follow her words.
That is why she not only interpreted but explained and ‘added to’ Z.L.’s phrases in literary
Bulgarian:
F.M.: “You start for work [and you have to say]: Bismillya! so that you’ll have good luck that
day”.
Z.L.: “No, no matter where you go. Not only when you start to work. The first time you get out of
bed…”
F.M.: “In short, if you want to have luck that day when you get up you should say Bismillya – and
then you may stand up and go. And you’ll have luck”13.
N.L., who was silently listening to our conversation, all of a sudden intervened and introduced
another theme, very popular in Muslim edifying stories:
The restraint and final abolishment of basic religious rights in Bulgaria was a gradual process that took
place in 1950s – after 1958 religious education was ultimately replaced by a secular education program.
12
On the functions of the ‘recording angels’ (hafaza) in the Bulgarian Muslim tradition, see Lozanova (2000:
440–444).
13
Z.L., born 1920; F.M., born 1966, rec. 21.08.1996, Chepintsi, Smolyan region, see AIF VІІІ 39, p. 25.
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On the Use of the Islamic Formulae Basmala and Shahada Among the Pomaks in Bulgaria
217
“Even Christians believe in the beneficial effects of basmala”
“We had a team-work leader – Katya Glushkova – in our dressmaking and tailoring shop.
(I worked as a tailor for ten years, but five months ago I moved to a cosmetics factory). We had a
team-work leader Katya Glushkova and every time we started a new dress design she told us:
“Chant your… [Muslim prayers].” And she wanted us to say Bismillya. But she is Bulgarian!
A Christian! […] So that our work proceeded smoothly when we started a new design because
sometimes we had difficulties… We had an Austrian boss who had sent us cut details in different
boxes. It was not easy to fit them… And then she always told us to say Bismillyah! – to make our
work easier”.14
This story comprises the respondent’s memories about repeated situations from her life
experience – the team-work leader ‘always’ asking Muslim women to refer to Islamic prayers
for help to prevent, or to cope with, difficulties that might occur in their work. Thus, on the
one hand, the story, approached from a formal point of view, reminds of a life story. But, on
the other hand, the motif of the ‘Christian’ (the Bulgarian), who as a rule is either not very
religious or does not in the least accept the prescriptions of Islam and nevertheless is convinced – in this specific case – of the efficiency of the Islamic religious formula, resembles
functionally the didactic stories of ‘religious disputes’ between a Muslim and a Christian.
These stories are usually structured as dialogues in which both parties expose their arguments in favour of their religion in the ‘question – answer’ form. The Muslim always wins
the verbal contest and the Christian has to acknowledge accordingly the excellence of the
Muslim religion. Interestingly, when such stories are told, the dispute from the plot is often
transferred and duplicated in the reality: the story-teller holds the active position of the
Muslim party, while the audience stands in the passive position of the Christian who has to
be convinced of the superiority of Islam. This is especially relevant when part of the audience is of a Christian (or non-Muslim) origin indeed. In this particular case, N.L., who did
not feel very well educated in the rules of the Islamic etiquette, but nevertheless believed in
the beneficent efficiency of the basmala, based her argumentation on the opinion of Katya
Gluskova in order to convince me – the outsider in the Muslim community.
Shahada and Basmala Help in the Protection from Demons
And in the Treatment of Diseases Caused by Them
The next text, referring to the functions of basmala in every-day life of the Pomaks, was
also incidentally recorded at the home of F.R. – a serious young woman whose life motto
could easily be regarded as “My home is my castle”, as her true vocation was to be a wife
and a mother. She was a typical modern Muslim woman whose daily round was distributed
between prayer, looking after her husband and the children (using all kinds of modern
household appliances), TV-series and garden work. At the same time, F.R. was an excellent
connoisseur of the oral Muslim tradition and helped our research team a lot – whenever it
was necessary she refined our questions and let other people talk while herself remaining
tactfully silent. She had invited several women visitors from the neighbourhood and the
conversation was about local demonic creatures – their names, features and means of protection from their evil effect. And, as it frequently happened on similar occasions, visitors
illustrated their explanations with stories from personal experience or hearsay about en-
14
N.L., born 1956, rec. 21.08.1996, Chepintsi, Smolyan region, see AIF VІІІ 39, p. 26.
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counters with people with nastrel, morava, djinn,15 etc. Suddenly the hostess announced:
“When you get sick at an evil place [inhabited by demons] Bismillyah and Lya illyahe16
could help…”.
R.D. – a smooth-tongued owner of a small coffee-shop in the village – immediately illustrated F.R.’s statement with a personal experience story:
“When I was pregnant with Kyursa [her daughter] I fell down from a plum-tree – I fell down
together with the branches, with the leaves, with everything. I had just collected a big bag of
plums. And then my mother came and helped me.
And then in the same evening I knew that I was sick. [When I was asleep] something raised
me in the air and said: “Pat, pat, pat.” It was something like a gigantic bird. It jumped up and
cried: “I’m gonna eat you!” Then I recited three times La illahe illal-lah: I sang it two times – nothing happened; and when I started to recite it the third time – then the bird little by little [started
to fade away]… and finally disappeared! I had not even finished reciting [the formula] when it
disappeared and I got down …
Those words [the shahada] are the most efficient – even when you pass a cemetery…
I got sick from the blood, from my own blood, because the wound on my shoulder was bleeding. And when I came back home in the evening I saw a big animal in my dream. Then I went
there [to the plum-tree] and I gathered some sweepings and burnt them with Bismillyah. You
may do it yourself, but you may also ask an old woman to do it. It is even better to go to an old
woman. […] You must do it three times in order to completely recover”.17
Not taking into account the almost complete set of “demonological” components of the
story, which display local (Rhodopian), common Bulgarian, Slavic and mostly typological
characteristics – such as getting sick at an ‘evil (unclean) place’ as a result of coming into
contact with spilled blood (in this particular case the blood of the respondent herself), being
treated by an old woman burning sweepings from the evil place, etc. – we could get the
impression that both formulae – shahada and basmala – when used simultaneously, fulfilled
different functions: the role of the shahada being to banish the demonic ‘gigantic bird’, while
basmala consecrating (making legal from the Muslim point of view) the magical treatment
and contributing to its auspicious result. This is not quite true, however, as there are ample
examples when basmala displays the same exortic and protective functions, as in the excerpt
below told by H.M., a retired mine worker:
“Well, talking about djinns… I wish our forest-guard could tell you his story himself… It happened nearby – in the outskirts of the village of Ogled.
And he went here down by the river to return home. He reached a small clearing – it was a
snowy night – and there he saw some people sitting on the earth, eating, drinking, meat-balls
[put] in front of them and so on. They were sitting on the snow. They invited him to share their
dinner, but he was scared a little.
“Sit down!”
But he was afraid and wondered what to do. Eventually, he decided to join the company. It
crossed his mind that old people had said to him: ‘When you meet a djinn you should recite ‘La
ilaha illal-lah – there is no God but Allah – and the djinn would vanish”.
And so he did – those people disappeared immediately and he saw on the earth little pieces
of excrements on the very place where previously the meat-balls were.
Later he told us that djinns were just like ordinary people, but there were no women among
them.”18
On local demons in the Rhodope mountains, see Troeva-Grigorova (2003).
This practice may be supported by a hadith, cf. “Narrated Ibn ‘Abbas: The Prophet used to say at the time
of difficulty, La ilaha il-lallah Al-‘Alimul-Halim. La-ilaha il-lallah Rabul-Arsh-al-Azim, La ilaha-il-lallah RabusSamawati Rab-ul-Ard; wa Rab-ul-Arsh Al-Karim’” (Bukhari n.d.: 9/93: 523; 8/356, 357).
17
F.R., born 1968; R.D., born 1944, rec. 34.08.1996, Chepintsi, Smolyan region, see AIF VІІІ 39, p. 70.
18
H.M., born 1946, rec. 25.08.1996, Chepintsi, Smolyan region, see АIF VIII 39, p. 101.
15
16
On the Use of the Islamic Formulae Basmala and Shahada Among the Pomaks in Bulgaria
219
In these situations, based on the belief in human beings’ encounters with demons, both
Islamic formulae – shahada and basmala – are nearly functionally synonimous. Their protective and banishing effect on the evil forces is due, on the one hand, to the mentioning of God
(God’s name) and the invocation of his benevolence toward endangered believers (mainly
with basmala); and, on the other hand, to the verbalisation of the affiliation to the religion of
Islam – as it seems this circumstance in itself is considered sufficient to draw the border-line
between the world of humans and the demonic world. Of course, the same type of ‘popular’
religiosity is practiced by Christian believers as well – in similar situations they often turn to
liturgical means of protection.
The next didactic story on the use of basmala was told again by H.M., who was a brilliant
story-teller with a never-failing sense of humour. In his repertoire he always showed a preference for long, blood-freezing stories of demons who were then found to be cows lost by
the dairy-farmer, hay-stacks forgotten by the house-wife who had hung out the washing,
etc. Another beloved theme of his were relations between wives and husbands, or between
men and women generally. He often described ‘realistic’ situations when men usually appeared to be credulous simpletons, in contrast to women, who were always cunning, untrustworthy and boring creatures, whose only purpose was to harass and cheat their husbands. But in the short story cited below, H.M. chose another favourite motif from Muslim
exempla – the motif of a righteous woman and her sinful husband. The distinguishing traits
of the female character in the story are that she is pious, virtuous and patient; she humbly
endures her husband’s bad temper and often uses the formula basmala.
The story of the righteous woman and her drunkard husband
“There was a man. He was… drinking a lot, didn’t love his wife. But she always repeated Bismillyah. Takes something – Bismillyah; takes another thing – again Bismillyah.
And once he told her:
“What do you get from that Bismillyah of yours?” – And he took her purse and threw it into
the well. Her own purse.
She started to look for her purse and couldn’t find it. He said:
“Why don’t you ask your Bismillyah to help you to find the purse?”
And – lo! – the purse appeared at the place she had last put it. But it was dripping with water.
The husband was astonished at the scene and said:
“Maybe there is something [about Bismillyah] that I know nothing about.”19
The plot of this story is one of a typical Muslim miracle tale about local saints – evliya20
– who appear to live as ordinary people do, their daily life not differing from the rest of the
community: they marry and have children, they farm, and they practice various occupations. What makes them different is their great devoutness (as is the case with the righteous
wife) and possession of some supernatural qualities, the most important of which is miracle
working (the miraculous appearance of the purse). At the same time the story about the
righteous woman follows generally the scheme of stories of prophetic miracles21, which aim
at convincing unbelievers about a single all-powerful God. Only in the example discussed
here, instead of the conflict between the prophet and his nation of unbelievers, the opposition is between the quiet wife, strictly following the prescriptions of the Islamic etiquette,
H.M., born 1946, rec. 25.08.1996, Chepintsi, Smolyan region, see АIF VIII 39, p. 137.
On the beliefs in evliya and the basic narrative plots of stories of evliya, see Lozanova 2001: 470–489.
21
On the content and form of these stories in the Qur’an, see Piotrovski (1991: 44), and Watt (1970: 127–153),
and in Bulgarian Muslim oral tradition – Lozanova (2002: 36–52).
19
20
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Galina Lozanova
and her sinful husband. Another typical motif is the husband’s verbal ridicule of his virtuous wife, which reaches its climax in an insult by action when he throws her purse into the
well. Eventually a demonstration of a miracle follows and a happy outcome – the sinner
hesitates (at least in this particular case) about whether his wife is not right when she uses
the religious formula basmala as recommended by religious authorities. Of course, in spite
of the formal similarity of this story to the stories of prophetic miracles, it would be an exaggeration to see in it the global confrontation between belief and disbelief. Rather, the story
tells about the ever-present Divine in the daily lives of ordinary believers.
Probably all these illustrative texts do not exhaust all the possible narrative types – edifying, descriptive, interpretative and didactic – which have led to the adoption and automatization of the use of formulae shahada and basmala by the Pomaks. Yet they are representative of the role of the oral tradition in the processes of learning, rationalization and
reproduction of the basic religious concepts and norms of conduct. Together with lessons in
religion and religious homilies, based principally on the text of the Quran and the hadiths
of the Prophet Muhammad, folklore has had a contribution of its own to these processes by
drawing on plots from various daily-life situations and by using well-known – which means
comprehensible and easy to perceive – narrative forms. The stable penetration of the two
formulae – shahada and basmala – into the language and verbal etiquette of the Pomaks was
most probably backed by ‘concomitant’ oral texts. Similar conclusions apply to the broad
range of functions of the two formulae, which do not differ much from their use in the traditional cultures of other Muslim societies. One of these functions has to be emphasized –
shahada and basmala contribute to the preservation of the religious integrity of the Pomaks;
although they are specific for the discourse of the believers, they are also used – or at least
they are recognized as Islamic – even by people who were raised in the tradition but are not
practicing their religion.
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Abbreviations
AIF – Archive of the Institute of Folklore, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
Biographical note: Dr Galina Lozanova is Associate Professor at the Department of
Comparative Folklore Studies of the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in Sofia.
Email: [email protected]
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