Unveiling Modernity in Twentieth-Century West African Islamic Reforms

Erscheinungsjahr 2023
ISBN: 978-90-04-21525-2
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 14, 384 Seiten, Format (B × H): 163 mm x 241 mm, Gewicht: 794 g

Reihe: Islam in Africa

In this book Ousman Kobo analyzes the origins of Wahhabi-inclined reform movements in two West African countries. Commonly associated with recent Middle Eastern influences, reform movements in Ghana and Burkina Faso actually began during the twilight of European colonial rule in the 1950s and developed from local doctrinal contests over Islamic orthodoxy. These early movements in turn gradually evolved in ways sympathetic to Wahhabi ideas. Kobo also illustrates the modernism of this style of Islamic reform. The decisive factor for most of the movements was the alliance of secularly educated Muslim elites with Islamic scholars to promote a self-consciously modern religiosity rooted in the Prophet Muhammad’s traditions. This book therefore provides a fresh understanding of the indigenous origins of “Wahhabism.”

Zielgruppe

All those interested in the history of contemporary Islamic reforms in Africa and its relationship to European colonial education.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Kobo, Ousman

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein
• Geisteswissenschaften Islam & Islamische Studien Islam & Islamische Studien

Inhaltsverzeichnis

CONTENTS
Abbreviations. xi
Preface. xiii
Acknowlegdments. xxxiii
Maps. xxxviii
Introduction. 1
The Scope of the Study. 15
Methodology: Archives with Voices. 17
Unveiling the Discourse of Modernity in Twentieth-Century West African Reforms. 21
Radicalism and Coexistence in West Africa’s Tradition of Islamic Reform and Renewal. 32
Ahmad b. Abd al-Halim Ibn Taymiyya (1263–1328). 34
Muhammad b. Abd al-Karim al-Maghili al-Tilimsini. 37
El Hajj Salim Suwari. 41
Uthman dan Fodio. 44
Hajj Umar Tall al-Futi. 46
PART ONE
HISTORY
Introduction to Part One. 52
1 Islam Prior to the Colonial Period. 53
Islam in Burkina Faso prior to the European Conquests. 55
Islam in Ghana prior to European Colonialism: Compromises and Coexistence with the Asante. 63
2 Managing the “Islamic Menace”: Islam under British and French Rule. 71
Mahdism and the Discourse of “Islamic Fanaticism” in Colonial West Africa.

Über Autor(innen)

Kobo, Ousman
Ousman Murzik Kobo, Ph.D (2005), University of Wisconsin-Madison, is Professor of History at Ohio State University. His research and teaching interests include 20th century West African social and religious history as well as the social history of West African migrants in the United States. His publications include The Development of Wahhabi Reforms in Ghana and Burkina Faso, 1960–1990: Elective Affinities between Western-Educated Muslims and Islamic Scholars (Comparative Studies in Society and History, 2009).