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Although in recent decades, substantial studies have been published on Islamic beliefs, practices and institutions, the anthropology of Islam is still a disputed, at times even a contested, task. The plausibility of the idea that Islam may constitute, per se, a category of the comparative anthropological research is still a matter of concern. Given the heterogeneity of competing and often contradictory discourses about what might be called the anthropology of Islam, as well as the multitude of practices and beliefs seen to be - more or less rightfully - as pure "Islam", Abdul Hamid el-Zein argued, four decades ago, that any attempt to define in a restrictive or isolated way a so complex set of phenomena could be absolutely questionable1.
Lately, Gabriele Marranci has tried to outline the domain of Islamic anthropology through a series of basic interrogations: "The Anthropology of Islam is a title that raises questions and certainly expectations. What is the anthropology of Islam? Why anthropology instead of theology or history? Why use the term Islam instead of Islams or Islam(s)? Why focus on Islam instead of Muslims? Is there only one anthropology of Islam or can we speak of anthropologies of Islam, or even anthropologies of Islams? How does the anthropology of Islam differ from, say, any other anthropology of religion? How...