Zachary Wright
The study of Islam in Africa still pays too little attention to the words of scholars. With some notable exceptions, the story of African Sufism in particular is often told from the colonial archive or from ethnographic observations. Certainly, the writings of scholars are not the only paths to knowledge about African Sufi movements, but ignoring the contents of the vast scholarly corpus that has given such movements their unique vitality is a problem. In this historiography, great shaykhs are often seen—depicted as mystics, spiritual trainers, and charismatic figures—but seldom heard. The near absence of their authorial voices leaves a void at what should be the heart of an intellectual history. This volume, building on a new generation of research that continues to explore the rich Arabic source material of Islamic Africa, aims not just to give voice to this Islamic scholarship in Africa, but to pass it the microphone.
Ongoing work to catalogue the rich textual tradition of Islamic Africa is important to document the breadth of intellectual production, but some have tended to fetishize the presence of manuscripts over the content of those manuscripts.1 For Sufism in Africa, the content of these writings acquires heightened significance. For many, Sufism remains representative of an oral, emotive religious identity against which the more scholarly textual production was recorded. Discussing global Islamic movements in sub-Saharan Africa, one academic wrote:
A second type of pan-Islamic network which has been [and still is] influential [in Africa] is that created by the Sufi ‘congregations’ (tariqas), that stress spiritual rather than intellectual knowledge, a feature that has enabled them to become mass movements—in a sense the ‘churches’ of Islam.2
Besides racialized assumptions about the inherent emotional disposition of black African Muslims, such unfortunate perceptions depend on ignoring the vibrant intellectual exchange of African Sufi scholars, most of which was written in flawless classical Arabic prose or poetry. This volume collects some of the key sources relating to Sufism in Africa, and forces researchers to consider Sufi scholars at the center of Islamic intellectual history in West Africa.
This is of course not the first collection of Arabic source material relating to West African Islam.3 But it is one of the few to offer multiple writings of African Muslim scholars, side by side with each other. The reader will quickly notice that the seminal Sufi sages of Africa were influenced by a similar intellectual tradition rooted both in global Islamic scholarship and more regional writings. Recurrent names include the likes of Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (d. 1111, Khurasan), Ibn ‘Ata’-Allah (d. 1309, Egypt), Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (d. 1505, Egypt), Muhammad al-Yadali (d. 1753, Mauritania), and Mukhtar Kunti (d. 1811, Mali/Mauritania). West African scholars were also interested in similar questions. Notable themes shared by the writers in this volume include the importance of etiquette (adab), reflection on education (tarbiya), love and emulation of the Prophet Muhammad, the remembrance (dhikr) of God, and the acquisition of divine knowledge (ma‘rifat Allah). While contemporary writers rarely mentioned each other by name, they clearly read each other’s works and were inspired by them. This volume allows readers to consider the complementary insights of writers in dialogue with each other, and thus to perceive the broader currents of Islamic intellectual history in Africa.
Four Saintly Biographies
Between them, ‘Uthman bin Fudi, ‘Umar Tal, Ahmadu Bamba, and Ibrahim Niasse founded the largest Muslim communities in West African history. Together, they command the allegiance of a majority of Muslims in the region to this day—and are at least partly responsible for the continued flourishing of Sufism in Africa when it has sometimes become marginalized elsewhere in the Muslim world. While the full biographies of each are available elsewhere, their writings deserve to be situated in a few words of introduction on their saintly biographies. Certainly, the personality and physical presence (dhat) of the saint, said to transmit knowledge to disciples beyond words and even beyond death,4 endow his writing with deeper meaning for students. The personal struggle (jihad) of each saint also contextualizes his ideas. These brief sketches thus give focus to the notions of saintly authority that these scholars articulated and their individual missions that framed their students’ understanding of their writings.
‘Uthman bin Fudi (1754–1817)5 is best known for having established the Sokoto Caliphate that still survives as a political entity in northern Nigeria today. In 1804, the “Shehu” declared the armed struggle that established this polity, mostly in response to Gobir’s King Yunfa’s forcible enslavement of Muslims.6 But Shehu ‘Uthman’s scholarship extended far beyond writing justifications for holy war, and in fact he never directly participated in combat. His numerous writings cover classical Islamic knowledge disciplines including Islamic law, theology, and Sufism.7 His followers came to revere him as the scholarly “renewer” (mujaddid) of the twelfth century after the establishment of Islam, based in part on the shehu’s own statement: “We praise God because He has rendered us fit in the time of the renewing of His religion.”8 He had also clearly developed a reputation for saintliness during his own lifetime, with reports circulating that he could talk to the unseen jinn, that he could fly, or that he could traverse vast distances with one step.9
The shehu’s saintly authority was partly substantiated through visionary encounters with the Prophet Muhammad and past saints such as ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (d. 1166, Baghdad). In one such vision he received his own set of litanies (wird), which he found written on his ribs.10 In another vision, the Prophet clothed him with a green robe and turban through the intermediary of al-Jilani; the latter named him “Imam of the Saints” and girded him with “the sword of truth to unsheathe against the enemies of God.”11 While this vision demonstrated ‘Uthman bin Fudi’s enduring commitment to the Qadiriya Sufi order, here his authority within its ranks appears second only to that of al-Jilani himself. The shehu’s followers have since considered themselves a distinct branch of the Qadiriya, and today are found beyond Nigeria to Sudan and America.
‘Umar bin Sa‘id Futi Tal (1797–1864)12 likewise achieved fame both through scholarship and armed struggle, as well as his saintly reputation. Unlike the British preservation of the Sokoto Caliphate through indirect rule, the French quickly moved to dismantle the “Umarian Caliphate” following al-Hajj ‘Umar’s death. But for a brief time, it covered substantial portions of the modern countries of Mali, Senegal, and Guinea: encompassing a land mass as large as Western Europe. ‘Umar accomplished the pilgrimage to Mecca in the late 1820s, and returned to West Africa as the leading figure of the newly founded Tijaniyya Sufi order in the region, having been deputized by Muhammad al-Ghali in Mecca, one of the closest students of Ahmad al-Tijani (d. 1815, Fez). Similar to Shehu ‘Uthman, al-Hajj ‘Umar’s writing demonstrated a wide learning in the disciplines of law, theology, and Sufism. His students certainly considered his saintly authority unrivaled in his time, and flocked to this hand “charged with Baraka.”13 His miracles included successful prayers for rain and victory in battle, the divine chastisement (drought, plague) of those who stood against him, and resistance to harm in battle despite never carrying a weapon.14
Al-Hajj ‘Umar’s own statements concerning his spiritual authority establish him as one of the elite saints of the Tijaniyya, connected directly to the Prophet Muhammad. He declared, “I am in God’s service, holding fast to the Sunna of Muhammad . . . and presenting the Prophet’s merits to the people. I am one of the heirs of the Prophet, and one of those closest to him.”15 As “heir to the Prophet” (khalifat al-rasul), al-Hajj ‘Umar’s legacy was assured through the continued popularity of the Tijaniyya in West Africa, including in some communities in northern and eastern Senegal, such as Medina Gounass, that still perceive him as the unrivaled Tijani shaykh in West Africa.16 His conflict with the French authorities in the later years of his life has also endowed Sufism with a broader reputation for anti-colonial resistance in the region, something that no doubt contributed to its later spread.
Ahmadu Bamba Mbacké (1855–1927)17 established the influential “Mouride” community in Senegal, called the Muridiyya, or “path of discipleship” or “the seeker’s path.” Together with