Divine Flood

Ibrahim Niasse and the Roots of a Twentieth-Century Sufi Revival
Erscheinungsjahr 2011
ISBN: 978-0-19-538432-1
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 352 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 751 g

Until recently, academic studies of Sufism have largely ignored the multiple ways in which Islamic mystical ideas and practices have developed in the modern period. For many specialists, Sufism was "on the way out" and not compatible with modernity. The present study of a twentieth-century Sufi revival in West Africa offers overdue corrections of this misconception. Seesemann's work evolves around the emergence and spread of the "Community of the Divine Flood," established in 1929 by Ibrahim Niasse, a leader of the Tijaniyya Sufi order from Senegal. Based on a wide variety of written sources and encounters with leaders and ordinary members of the movement, the book analyzes the teachings and practices of this community, most notably those concerned with mystical knowledge of God. It presents a vivid and intimate portrait of the community's formation in Senegal and its subsequent transformation into a flourishing transnational movement in West Africa and beyond. Drawing on letters, poetry, hagiography, and testimonies of opponents of the movement, the book traces Niasse's spectacular ascension as the widely acclaimed "Supreme Saint of His Era" and shows how the various stages of his career intersect with the development of his mystical teachings. Seesemann makes a compelling case for studying Sufis and their literary production in their social and historical contexts, throwing light on a little-known chapter of the intellectual and social history of Islam.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Seesemann, Rudiger

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Islam & Islamische Studien Islamische Gruppen: Sufis
• Geisteswissenschaften Islam & Islamische Studien Islam: Spiritualität & Mystik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- Prologue: "A Flood Shall Come Upon My Companions"

- Introduction: Studying Sufism in Context

- Perceptions and Interpreters of Sufism - Islam and Africa - Sufism in Context - The Setting - Scope and Structure of the Book

- 1: Beginnings: Ibrahim Niasse and the Advent of the Flood

- Birth, Childhood, and Adolescence - Early Career - Fayda - A Short History of the Terminology - Niasse as Bringer of the Flood - Reception and Resonance

- 2: Spiritual Training: The Way to Mystical Knowledge

- Tarbiya: An Overview - Spiritual Energy and the Mystical State - Justifying tarbiya - The Three Stations of Religion - Annihilation - The Special Litanies - "The Cup Makes its Round"

- 3: Seeing God: The Nascent Community

- Internal Tensions - Discord in Léona - Hijra to Medina - New Attacks - The Rejoinders - Visions and Ecstatic Utterances

- 4: Crossing Borders: Expansion in Senegal and Beyond

- Consolidation in Senegal - The Supreme Saint - Spiritual Authority and Social Inequalities - Passage to Mauritania - Redrawing Gender Boundaries

- 5: "The Supreme Saint of His Time": A Prophecy Fulfilled

- Consequential Encounters - First Visit to Kano - The Conakry Trip - Reception of "The Conakry Trip" - Returning to Kano and the Hijaz

- Epilogue: After the Flood

- Niasse's Legacy - Patterns of Conflict and Expansion

- Glossary

- Sources and Bibliography

- Archival Sources - Interviews Cited - Writings by Ibrahim Niasse - Primary Sources in Arabic and African Languages - Secondary Literature

Über Autor(innen)

Rüdiger Seesemann teaches Religious Studies at Northwestern University Evanston and specializes in the study of Islam in Africa. He has done fieldwork in various West and East African countries and has published extensively on Sufism, Islam and politics, Islamism, Islamic education, as well as theories and practices of Islamic knowledge.