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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | The Mystical Theology of Tijani Sufism and its Social Significance in West Africa |
Author: | Ryan, Patrick J. |
Year: | 2000 |
Periodical: | Journal of Religion in Africa |
Volume: | 30 |
Issue: | 2 |
Pages: | 208-224 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | West Africa |
Subjects: | Sufism elite Religion and Witchcraft Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) theology Tijaniyya |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/1581801 |
Abstract: | The TijŻaniyyah Sufi order, founded in the 18th century by a mystic known as A.hmad al-TijŻanŻi (1737-1815), first made its presence felt in the 19th century over a wide range of West Africa from Mauritania to Nigeria. Having seen the prophet Mu.hammad in daylight in 1782, A.hmad al-TijŻanŻi claimed for himself a rank among saints more or less parallel with the rank in prophecy ascribed to Mu.hammad. The social effects of this direct mystical linkage to the Prophet Mu.hammad and to God through A.hmad al-TijŻanŻi can be seen in various instances studied by sociologists, anthropologists and political scientists. The present author briefly sums up a few of these studies and points out how the basic mystical theology of A.hmad al-TijŻanŻi and his later imitators has contributed to and even molded forms of elitism in West Africa. Bibliogr., notes, ref. |