Sufism in Africa in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries

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Periodical article

Title:	Sufism in Africa in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
Author:	Brenner, L.
Year:	1988
Periodical:	Islam et sociétés au Sud du Sahara
Issue:	2
Pages:	80-93
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	West Africa Northern Africa Northeast Africa
Subjects:	1987 Islamic history Muslim brotherhoods conference papers (form)
Abstract:	On 17-18 September 1987 a workshop was held at SOAS, University of London, with the aim of examining the development of Sufi ideas and organization in North and Sudanic Africa during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in an attempt better to understand the contributions of Sufism to the movements of renewal and reform which swept Africa, and the entire Muslim world, during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. One of the basic hypotheses was that the Sufi 'turuq' emerged as socially visible and politically active corporate groups in Sudanic Africa (as distinct from more personal devotional groupings) during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The author's summary examines the proceedings of the workshop in the context of several themes: the general historical development of the 'turuq'; doctrine, epistemology and hagiography; and relationships between the organizational structure of the 'turuq' and political power. Ann. (list of participants and papers).