Location
Monserrat
Start Date
25-6-2026 3:30 PM
End Date
25-6-2026 4:30 PM
Description
This presentation examines the characteristics of Sufism and Islamic way of spirituality within the Islamic religious market, focusing on the activities of the shaykhs who serve as spiritual guides for Egyptian Islamic tour operators. Within the Islamic religious market in Egypt, religious practices have become products and services for religious market consumption amid the rise of neoliberalism and market economies. Within this context, spiritual guides in Islamic tour operators have emerged as an occupation that offering pilgrimages (hajj and umrah) and religious visits (ziyara) as packaged religious tours. These spiritual guides are distinctive feature of Egyptian society, who are graduates of al-Azhar University, and emphasise the significance of mystical experiences in religious tours in conjunction with traditional Islamic knowledge in al-Azhar educational system. In this situation, religious products and services within the religious market can be understood as both decontextualizing Sufi discourse from traditional tasawwuf and, conversely, embedding Sufi discourse within contemporary neoliberal piety in Egyptian Islamic society. This occurs within the context of enriching people’s spiritual fulfilment through Sufi discourses and Islamic spiritual capital, as well as self-enlightenment and self-development for their customers.
Thus, this presentation argues that the development of religious tourism in Egypt can be understood as arising from the neoliberal social environment sweeping through Islamic societies, which has energised the movements of the masses and market actors seeking spiritual requirements and fulfilment in the form of Islamic spirituality in corporation with traditional Islamic knowledge and educational system. Additionally, Islamic spirituality within the religious market represents a facet of contemporary Sufism, spreading among the masses in a form distinct from the traditional framework of Sufism as tasawwuf.
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Included in
E2) Religious Tourism as Neoliberal Piety: Islamic Spirituality and Sufism in Egyptian Islamic Tour Operators
Monserrat
This presentation examines the characteristics of Sufism and Islamic way of spirituality within the Islamic religious market, focusing on the activities of the shaykhs who serve as spiritual guides for Egyptian Islamic tour operators. Within the Islamic religious market in Egypt, religious practices have become products and services for religious market consumption amid the rise of neoliberalism and market economies. Within this context, spiritual guides in Islamic tour operators have emerged as an occupation that offering pilgrimages (hajj and umrah) and religious visits (ziyara) as packaged religious tours. These spiritual guides are distinctive feature of Egyptian society, who are graduates of al-Azhar University, and emphasise the significance of mystical experiences in religious tours in conjunction with traditional Islamic knowledge in al-Azhar educational system. In this situation, religious products and services within the religious market can be understood as both decontextualizing Sufi discourse from traditional tasawwuf and, conversely, embedding Sufi discourse within contemporary neoliberal piety in Egyptian Islamic society. This occurs within the context of enriching people’s spiritual fulfilment through Sufi discourses and Islamic spiritual capital, as well as self-enlightenment and self-development for their customers.
Thus, this presentation argues that the development of religious tourism in Egypt can be understood as arising from the neoliberal social environment sweeping through Islamic societies, which has energised the movements of the masses and market actors seeking spiritual requirements and fulfilment in the form of Islamic spirituality in corporation with traditional Islamic knowledge and educational system. Additionally, Islamic spirituality within the religious market represents a facet of contemporary Sufism, spreading among the masses in a form distinct from the traditional framework of Sufism as tasawwuf.