Permanent pilgrims : the role of pilgrimage in the lives of West African Muslims in Sudan / C. Bawa Yamba.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Yamba, C. Bawa, author.

Series:

International African Library

International African Library : IAL

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Muslim pilgrims and pilgrimages.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (240 p.)

Place of Publication:

Edinburgh, Scotland : Edinburgh University Press, [1995]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

West African pilgrims in Sudan believe that walking across the savannas and desert is the only proper way of performing the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca. However, their journey appears to stop halfway in Sudan, where many of them reside in stranger enclaves as fourth- and fifth-generation immigrants. Describing themselves as transients, they see these villages as temporary stations on their way to Mecca. This book examines life in a set of pilgrim villages to show how the concept of pilgrimage is maintained. It examines why these people allow themselves to live in a state of permanent transition, and argues that here pilgrimage is a symbolic journey analogous to life itself.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

List of illustrations

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 2 The history of West African migration to Sudan

Chapter 3 The rural dwellers: moral virtues, secular constraints

Chapter 4 The urban dwellers: landlords, clients, fakis and beggars

Chapter 5 The Islamic pilgrimage and the West African subculture in Sudan

Chapter 6 Divine design and its consequences for the achievement of pilgrimage in this life

Chapter 7 The pilgrimage as a paradigm for life

Appendix I: In the field

Appendix II: Some brief biographical notes on the key informants quoted in the test

Glossary

Notes

References

Index

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-4744-7369-5