Islamic Sufi networks in the western Indian Ocean (c. 1880-1940) : ripples of reform / by Anne K. Bang.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bang, Anne K., author.

Series:

Islam in Africa

Islam in Africa ; volume 16

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sufism--Africa, Southern--History.

Sufism.

Sufism--Madagascar--History.

History.

Madagascar.

Southern Africa.

Physical Description:

xi, 227 pages : illustrations, map ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Leiden : Brill, [2014]

Summary:

In the period c. 1880-1940, organized Sufism spread rapidly in the western Indian Ocean. New communities turned to Islam, and Muslim communities turned to new texts, practices and religious leaders. On the East African coast, the orders were both a vehicle for conversion to Islam and for reform of Islamic practice. The impact of Sufism on loan communities is here traced geographically as a ripple reaching beyond the Swahili cultural zone southwards to Mozambrique, Madagascar and Cape Town. Through an investigation of the texts, ritual practices and scholarly networks that went alongside Sun expansion, the book places religious change in the western Indian Ocean within the widely framework of Islamic reform. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Introduction 1

The Ripple and the Reef: Perspectives and Objectives 2

2 The Luminescent Sun and Brilliant Rays of Light: Towards a Geography of Reform 20

Towards a Geography of Reform: A Web of Centres 22

The Haramayn: The Blessed and the Radiant 26

The Hadramawt: Home of the Luminescent, Encompassing Mid-Day Sun 29

Zanzibar: The Brilliant Star of East Africa 32

Lamu and the Riyadha Mosque 35

The Comoro Islands: Moon Islands in a Sea of Sun 37

Rays of Light and Hierarchies 45

3 The Branches of the Qadiriyya and the Shadhiliyya in Northern Mozambique: Silsilas to the South 47

The Tariqa Qadiriyya in Zanzibar 48

The Qadiriyya in Mozambique: Multiple Routes South 54

Muhammad Al-Ma'ruf and the Spread of the Shadhiliyya in Northern Mozambique 67

The Emergence of Sufi Orders in Norhern Mozambique 70

4 The Shadhiliyya in Northern Madagascar c. 1890-1940: The Planting of a Garden and the Growing of Malagasy Roots 72

Islam in Northern Madagascar 73

Family, Religion and Trade on Madagascar: East African-Comorian Networks and the Shadhiliyya 74

Ahmad al-Kabir: The Great Shaykh of the Tariqa Shadhiliyya of Northern Madagascar 79

Reform and the Emergence of a Malagasy Sufi Order 88

5 The Cape Town Muslim Community and East African Sufi Networks: Beyond the Monsoon 90

Islam in South Africa and Cape Town 90

Muhammad Salih Hendricks; From Periphery to Centre to the Network 93

Other Travellers - More Da'wa 101

6 Travelling Texts: Arabic Literate Learning in Coastal East Africa, c. 1860-1930 108

Textual Transmission and Religious Authority 109

Book Knowledge in the Age of Manuscripts: 1860s into the Twentieth Century 111

From Manuscript to Print: Parallel or Converging Authorities? 130

Manuscripts, Printed Books and Religious Authority 139

7 Ritual of Reform - Reform of a Ritual: Ratib al-Haddad in the Southwestern Indian Ocean, c. 1880-1940 143

Ratib Al-Haddad as Sufi Reform 143

Ratib al-Haddad in East and South Africa 148

The Ratib in Writing: Textualization of Charisma 153

The Ratib Performed: Reform of a Ritual? 156

The Ratib al-Haddad: New Reform of a Reformist Ritual? 161

8 Consolidating the Network: Waqf Distribution and New Organizations in Zanzibar, c. 1900-1930 163

Scholarly Networks and the Zanzibari "Meccan Waqfs", c. 1880-1940 164

Waqf Distribution within Intellectual Networks: Consolidating Reform through Waqf Funds 179

From Networks to Organizations: The Rise of the Jam'iyya, c. 1900-1930 181

9 Conclusions 191

On Ripples and Reefs: Agency in a Translocal World 191

Sufi Reform on the Move 192

The Ecumene that wasn't - yet? 196.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 212-224) and index.

ISBN:

9789004251342

9004251340

OCLC:

892527877