Baraka without Boundaries: The Christian-Muslim Encounter at Shared Shrines in West Bank Palestine

This chapter explores the spiritual meanings and political powers of the haptic phenomenon of baraka (“holy blessing”). Building on previous studies regarding sainthood and politics in the Middle East, the study investigates the shared shrines of Saint George and the Virgin Mary (two important intercommunal saints) in West Bank Palestine and argues that their shared veneration contributes to a sense of religious unity and national belonging. As a concept found in both Christianity and Islam, the religious dynamics surrounding baraka reflect the continuation of a longstanding and pre-colonial common religious culture grounded in shared shrines, shared religious figures, and a shared tactile piety, that has long remained resilient to processes of aggressive nationalism, and the changes wrought by modern missions from Europe, Russia and North America. Due to the decline of rural communities on the one hand, and the growth of reformist ideas, sectarianism and religious radicalization on the other, the processes pertaining to shared saint veneration have come under pressure. However, this study shows that, in contrast to doctrinal and institutional distinctions between Christianity and Islam, there yet remains a great deal of religious overlap at the level of everyday religiosity based on longstanding religious coexistence.