Toshihiko Izutsu (1967 2:19, cited by Girardot 1983:82) suggests that singing and dancing here and in Zhuangzi refers to shamanic trance-inducing ceremonies, "the monster is said to be a bird, which is most probably an indication that the shamanistic dancing here in question was some kind of feather dance in which the shaman was ritually ornamented with a feathered headdress."
The Institute of Islamic Studies has had numerous famous faculty members, including, Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Toshihiko Izutsu, Niyazi Berkes, Muhammad Abd-al-Rahman Barker, Fazlur Rahman Malik, Issa J. Boullata, Sajida Alvi, and Wael Hallaq.