Galina Evstatieva
Sofia University
https://doi.org/10.53656/for2024-02-01
Abstract. The present study draws on texts from the classical Muslim exegetical tradition discussing the houries (ḥūr ʻīn) – one of the eschatologically central, but insufficiently defined Qur’ānic concepts referring to key notions of the heavenly virgins. Unlike other aspects of Islamic doctrine, early eschatology entails a more emotional and sensual sacred imagery system subsequently turning into a rich source of motifs and allusions for various interpretations not only in Muslim tradition
itself but also in the cultural perceptions of the Other among non-Muslims. The
article aims to reveal the Bulgarian uses of the term houries as one of the realia in
Bulgarian literature from the period of the nineteenth-century National Revival and
to comparatively and imagologically trace the artistic representations of the images
of the heavenly virgins. The analysis is focused on the approaches of Sofroniy
Vrachanski, Georgi S. Rakovski, and Hristo Botev to the presentation of the somatic
and the sexual in the notions of afterlife characterizing the religious Other, as well
as the reasons for their desacralization, which have formed sustainable attitudes in
the context of the emerging modern Bulgarian nationalism.
Keywords: Islam; houries; Bulgarian Revival literature; Sofroniy Vrachanski; Georgi S. Rakovski; Hristo Botev
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