From Sinful Bodies To Reference Bodies: a Sociological Evaluation on the Body Perception in Islam

Abstract

As body, on the one hand, constitutes corporeal part of the organic body with its organic structure, shape, mass and color; it represents, on the other hand, the position of many identies which are identified as social gender, race and sexuality. Every state of body bears the trace of experiences we got and causes a new social organization. Body perceptions are embedded in discourses of varieties of religion, culture, ethnicity, ideology etc. Religious norms, which occupy an important place in those discourses, express themselves in a way in which they discipline the bodies. Bodies are expected to act conformingly to the norms prescribed by religion. The acts or behavior patterns, which oppose to these norms, are coded as sinful and become reasons of sanctions for the body. The bodies that respect to or obey the norms of religion are elavated to a reference point and tied with a sacred tie. In the article, it will be shown how bodies, which go around the borders between evil (sin) and good deed, beauty and ugliness, to take shape in the religious habitus.