Jihad fi Sabil Allah: Its Doctrinal Basis in Islam and Some Aspects of Its Evolution in Nineteenth Century West Africa

bibliographic database
Line

Periodical article

Title:	Jihad fi Sabil Allah: Its Doctrinal Basis in Islam and Some Aspects of Its Evolution in Nineteenth Century West Africa
Author:	Willis, John R.
Year:	1967
Periodical:	The Journal of African History
Volume:	8
Issue:	3
Pages:	395-415
Language:	English
Geographic term:	West Africa
Subjects:	jihads Religion and Witchcraft History and Exploration
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/179828
Abstract:	The author places the jihads of 19th-century West Africa within the wider context of Islamic revivalist philosophy. Defining the jihad as a 3-stage process of revival, he rejects the assertion that the jihad is a single-edged instrument of violent means. The West African revivalists, seeking a return to the basic principles of Islam, made recourse - in order to rediscover and revive; and to confront the incursions of syncretism and polytheism - to the jihad fi sabil Allah. 'Uthman b. Fudi and al-Hajj 'Umar b. Sa'id tried to reproduce the career of the Prophet. Shaykh 'Uthman and Hajj 'Umar, following the Prophet, initially dispensated Islam by aggressive but peaceful exhortations, and later, also in imitation of the Prophet took the jihad into a military phase. Notes.