Pulled by God: Sound and Altered State of Consciousness in the Hälqä-Sohbät Ritual of Uyghur Sufis
European Journal of Musicology April 10, 2022 Qian Mu
Uyghur Sufi Muslims in Xinjiang, northwestern China, practice a localized samāʿ ritual called hälqä-sohbät, which includes dhikr, singing, and dancing. Participants sometimes enter an altered state of consciousness called jäzba, meaning "pulled by God." Although the ritual involves sounds like singing and instrument playing, practitioners often deny that sound is decisive, instead attributing jäzba to dhikr, especially silent dhikr. Drawing on ethnographic data from Khotan and Leman's framework for music, gesture, and embodied meaning, the author examines the relationship between sound and jäzba from three perspectives: the practitioners' first-person view; a second-person perspective of social interaction; and a third-person analysis of factors like timbre, rhythm, and movement.