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The House of the Prophet: Devotion to Muhammad in Islamic Mysticism is a historical survey of the centuries of theological arguments centered around the metaphysical terms, “Reality of Muhammad” and the “Family of Muhammad.” Those influential interpretations served to defend a vast range of personal and public devotional practices (such as intercessory prayers, the birthday and Mi’raj of the Prophet, or Sunni understandings of the “people”/Family of Muhammad). Eventually they also helped to explain the widespread devotional practices surrounding the “Friends of God” (awliya’), such as the visitation of tomb-shrines, related annual festivals, and serving as intermediaries in our personal interactions with the spiritual world.

This magisterial study of the centuries-long, slowly unfolding intellectual backdrop to those omnipresent spiritual practices and beliefs offers a progressive historical “mirror” reflecting the creative spread of all these popular practices and institutions.