Realizing Islam

Zachary Valentine Wright

Description

The Tijaniyya is the largest Sufi order in West and North Africa. In this unprecedented analysis of the Tijaniyya's origins and development in the late eighteenth century, Zachary Valentine Wright situates the order within the broader intellectual history of Islam in the early modern period. Introducing the group's founder, Ahmad al-Tijani (1737–1815), Wright focuses on the wider network in which al-Tijani traveled, revealing it to be a veritable global Islamic revival whose scholars commanded large followings, shared key ideas, and produced literature read widely throughout the Muslim world. They were linked through chains of knowledge transmission from which emerged vibrant discourses of renewal in the face of perceived social and political corruption.
Wright argues that this constellation of remarkable Muslim intellectuals, despite the uncertainly of the age, promoted personal verification in religious learning. With distinctive concern for the notions of human actualization and a universal human condition, the Tijaniyya emphasized the importance of the realization of Muslim identity. Since its beginnings in North Africa in the eighteenth century, the Tijaniyya has quietly expanded its influence beyond Africa, with significant populations in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and North America.
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Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Islam in Africa
• Islamic Golden Age
• Sufism
• Religion
• Islam
• History

Informations

• Publié par: The University of North Carolina Press
• Date de parution: 01 juillet 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781469660837
• Langue: English

Extrait

REALIZING ISLAM
ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION AND MUSLIM NETWORKS
Carl W. Ernst and Bruce B. Lawrence, editors

Highlighting themes with historical as well as contemporary significance, Islamic Civilization and Muslim Networks features works that explore Islamic societies and Muslim peoples from a fresh perspective, drawing on new interpretive frameworks or theoretical strategies in a variety of disciplines. Special emphasis is given to systems of exchange that have promoted the creation and development of Islamic identities-cultural, religious, or geopolitical. The series spans all periods and regions of Islamic civilization.
A complete list of titles published in this series appears at the end of the book.
Realizing Islam

The Tijaniyya in North Africa and the Eighteenth-Century Muslim World

Zachary Valentine Wright
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS CHAPEL HILL
2020 The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved
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Manufactured in the United States of America
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Wright, Zachary Valentine, author.
Title: Realizing Islam: the Tij niyya in North Africa and the eighteenth-century Muslim world / Zachary Valentine Wright.
Other titles: Islamic civilization & Muslim networks.
Description: Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2020. | Series: Islamic civilization and Muslim networks | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020010716 | ISBN 9781469660813 (cloth: alk. paper) | ISBN 9781469660820 (pbk.: alk. paper) | ISBN 9781469660837 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH : Tij n , Ab al- Abb s A mad ibn Mu ammad, 1737 or 1738-1815. | Tij n yah-Africa, North. | Sufism-Africa, North. | Islam-History-18th century.
Classification: LCC BP 189.7. T 5 W 75 2020 | DDC 297.4/8-dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020010716
Cover illustration: Zawiya ceiling. Photograph by author.
Portions of this book were previously published in a different form as On the Path of the Prophet: Shaykh Ahmad Tijani and the Tariqa Muhammadiyya (master s thesis, American University in Cairo, 2005) and Secrets on the Muhammadan Way: Transmission of the Esoteric Sciences in 18th Century Scholarly Networks, Islamic Africa 9, no. 1 (May 2018): 77-105. Both are used here with permission.
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Note on Orthography
Introduction The Tij niyya and the Verification of Islamic Knowledge
CHAPTER ONE Sufism and Islamic Intellectual Developments in the Eighteenth Century
CHAPTER TWO Portrait of a Scholar: An Intellectual Biography of Shaykh al-Tij n
CHAPTER THREE The Actualization of Humanity on the Mu ammadan Path
CHAPTER FOUR The Seal of Mu ammadan Sainthood and Hidden Pole
CHAPTER FIVE Abundant Blessing in an Age of Corruption
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Al amdulill h wa al t wa sal m ala ras lill h . I have been honored in completing this work by the assistance of many guides, mentors, and scholars better than myself. First and foremost, my gratitude to the late Shaykh asan Ciss and the current Imam of Medina-Baye Senegal, Shaykh al-Tij n Ciss , who graciously provided me access to their knowledge and archives. Scholars of the Tij niyya who also helped me with this work include Shaykh Mu ammad al-M Ciss of Senegal, the late Dr. Abdelaziz Benabdallah of Morocco, the late Shaykh A mad b. Mu ammad al- fi of Egypt, and Shaykh Mu sin Shalaby of Egypt.
I am graced by a supportive academic community, many of whom gave substantive feedback on this manuscript. I thank Ousmane Kane, R diger Seesemann, Rudolph Ware, and Mark Sedgwick for reading this work or earlier versions of it, and for their invaluable comments, resources and mentorship over the years. I also thank Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Andrea Brigaglia, Oludamini Ogunnaike, Khaled El-Rouayheb, John Voll, Joseph Hill, Ahmad Dallal, Louis Brenner, Zekeria Ould Salem, Said Bousbina, Nelly Hanna, Carl Petry, Mohamed Serag, Justin Stearns, Omar Edward Moad, Erin Pettigrew, Mamadou Diouf, Ismail Warcheid, Farah El-Sharif, Amir Syed, Sean Hanretta, Will Caldwell, and Brannon Ingram for pointed interventions in the development of my research on the Tij niyya and the eighteenth-century Islamic world. I am grateful to UNC Press editors Elaine Maisner, Carl Erst, and Bruce Lawrence for their invaluable feedback through the revision process, and for supporting the publication of this book.
I am honored by a rich research network, with Sohaira Siddiqui, Jonathan Brown, Abdel Rahman Azzam, Joseph Lumbard, Gavin Picken, Mauro Nobili, Ibrahim Abusharif, Alexandre Caeiro, Henry Lauziere, Rebecca Shereikis, Ousman Kobo, Rasul Miller, Samiha Rahman, Patrick Laude, Jonathan Glassman, David Schoenbrun, Nate Matthews, Rogaia Abusharaf, Anto Mohsin, and Sami Hermez deserving special mention for sharing their insights on Islamic intellectual history, and African and Middle East Studies more broadly. I also thank the Muslim intellectuals and readers who gave feedback and provided resources on various parts of this research: Fakhruddin Owaisi (South Africa), Mu ammad al- Ir q and his uncle Anas b. Idr s al- Ir q (Morocco), Ibr h m Khal l al-Tij n (Morocco), Mu afa San (Senegal), Ashaki Taha-Ciss (USA), the late Sayyid Abdussalam (USA), Selma Bennani (Morocco), Abu Bakr Kindi (Ghana/Morocco), Talut Dawud (USA/Mexico), Ibrahim Dimson (USA), Hicham Hall (USA), Abd al- amad Uruzzi (Italy), Yahya Weldon (USA/ Qatar), and Khal fa al-Khulayf (Qatar).
This research has been supported by a number of grants and institutions over the years: Fulbright Hayes and IIE grants in Senegal and Morocco, Northwestern in Qatar research grants, and visiting fellowships at Northwestern s Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought in Africa and Harvard s Divinity School. For hosting my presentation of various sections of this book, I especially thank Northwestern s ISITA and Middle East and North Africa programs, the Harvard Divinity School, Columbia University s Institute for African Studies, Georgetown s Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, the University of Michigan s IKHLAS initiative, NYU-Abu Dhabi s Arab Crossroads program, and Hamad Bin Khalifa s College of Islamic Studies. During my time at Northwestern in Qatar, I am especially indebted to the support of Marwan Kraidy, Hariclea Zengos, Craig LaMay, Kathleen Hewett-Smith, Elizabeth Lance, Iman Khamis, Mark Paul, Everette Dennis, and Sandra Richards. I must also recognize the generosity of the Qatar Foundation, and especially the vision of Shaykha Moza bint Nasser and Shaykha Hind Al Thani, in the ongoing support for research and scholarship in Qatar s Education City.
Lastly, I am grateful for the support of my family, without whom this book would not have been possible. To my children: this work is for you.
NOTE ON ORTHOGRAPHY
Transliteration of Arabic words complies with the system utilized by Cambridge s International Journal of Middle East Studies . This system is reproduced for reference purposes below.
Place names rely on the French spelling (thus Oujdah, not Wijda), unless the name has been previously Anglicized (thus Fez, not F s). Family names from sub-Saharan Africa are preserved as earlier represented in literature for the sake of continuity. Thus Niasse, Sy, and Ciss appear as they would on government passports and in earlier academic literature, rather than the Wolof spelling aas, Sii, and Seesay or the Arabic transliteration Any s, Sih, and S si. I have otherwise opted for the Arabic transliteration of first names in most cases (thus Tij n rather than Tidiane, asan rather than Assane, A mad rather than Amadou).
All dates mentioned in the text have been converted to Common Era ( CE ). Translations from Arabic and French into English are my own, unless otherwise indicated.
Arabic Transliteration Chart Arabic letter Transliteration Phonetic equivalent talk b boy t table th bath j joy - kh - d day dh then r run z zebra s sun sh shine - - - - - gh - f feast q - k key l love m mother n none h health w/ weather/food y/ yes/street (glottal stop) -/t (silent)/hat a bag i big u bug
REALIZING ISLAM
Muslim Africa and the Middle East in the eighteenth century.
Introduction
The Tij niyya and the Verification of Islamic Knowledge
W HAT IS THE REALITY of