A Conceptual Rearrangement of the Term Superstition in Islamic Social and Anthropological Studies

Having examined a large number of evidents of different meanings and significations of the term "superstition" in Islamic literature and analyzing the vocabulary of Muslim elites regarding the issue, the author of the article shows that this vocabulary has a pejorative content and indicates the critical and reproachful approach of the elites to the commonalty's belief and mentality. According to the existing evidents, this approach has a long record in Islamic history and is not a new product of Muslim's confrontation with western teachings.The author underlines the importance of using the more exact and obvious terms such as popular belief, popular religion and so on, instead of ambiguous and inexpressive term "superstition" in social and anthropological studies on Islam.