The Transmission of Learning in Islamic Africa (Islam in Africa, V. 2)

This collected volume challenges much of the conventional wisdom regarding the intellectual history of Islamic Africa. In a series of essaays ranging from early modern Africa to the present contributors explore the dynamism of the Muslim learned classes in regard to both purely intellectual pursuits and social concern. In A Series Of Essays This Collected Volume Challenges Much Of The Conventional Wisdom Regarding The Intellectual History Of Muslim Africa. Ranging From The Libraries Of Early Modern Mauritania And Timbuktu To Mosque Lectures In Contemporary Mombasa, The Contributors To This Collection Overturn Many Commonly Accepted Assumptions About Africa's Muslim Learned Classes. Rather Than Isolated, Backward And Out Of Touch, The Essays In This Volume Reveal Muslim Intellectuals As Not Only Well Aware Of The Intellectual Currents Of The Wider Islamic World, But Also Caring Deeply About The Issues Facing Their Communities.--jacket. Islam In Africa: Challenging The Perceived Wisdom / Scott S. Reese -- Sufi Networks And The Social Contexts For Scholarship In Morocco And The Northern Sahara, 1660-1830 / David Gutelius -- Inkwells Of The Sahara: Reflections On The Production Of Islamic Knowledge In Bilād Shinqīt / Ghislaine Lydon -- The Shurafā' And The 'blacksmith': The Role Of The Idaw 'alī Of Mauritania In The Career Of The Senegalese Shaykh Ibrāhīm Niasse (1900-75) / Rüdiger Seesemann -- Mass Islamic Education And Emergence Of Female 'ulamā' In Northern Nigeria: Background, Trends, And Consequences / Muhammad S. Umar -- Murtadā Al-zabīdī (1732-91) And The Africans: Islamic Discourse And Scholarly Networks In The Late Eighteenth Century / Stefan Reichmuth -- Goths In The Land Of The Blacks: A Preliminary Survey Of The Ka'ti Library In In Timbuktu / Albrecht Hofheinz -- From Wādī Mīzāb To Unguja: Zanzibar's Scholarly Links / Philip Sadgrove -- Making People Think: The Ramadan Lectures Of Sheikh Abdilahi Nassir In Mombasa (1419 A.h.) / Kai Kresse -- The Adventures Of Abū Hārith: Muslim Travel Writing And Navigating The Modern In Colonial East Africa / Scott S. Reese -- Zanzibar: Some Nineteenth-century Arabic Writings On Healing / Lorenzo Declich -- Small World: Neo Sufi Interconnexions Between The Maghrib, The Hijaz And Southeast Asia / R.s. O'fahey. Edited By Scott S. Reese. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Title Page 3 Copyright Page 4 Table of Contents 5 Abbreviations 7 Notes on Dates and Transliteration 9 Acknowledgements 11 Preface 13 Introduction: Islam in Africa: Challenging the Perceived Wisdom 15 Chapter One: Sufi Networks and the Social Contexts for Scholarship in Morocco and the Northern Sahara, 1660–1830 29 Chapter Two: Inkwells of the Sahara: Reflections on theProduction of Islamic Knowledge in Bilād Shinqīṭ 53 Chapter Three: The Shurafā’ and the ‘Blacksmith’: The Role of the Idaw ‘Alī of Mauritania in the Career of the Senegalese Shaykh Ibrāhīm Niasse (1900–75) 86 Chapter Four: Mass Islamic Education and Emergence of Female ‘ulamā’ in Northern Nigeria: Background, Trends, and Consequences 113 Chapter Five: Murtaḍā al-Zabīdī (1732–91) and the Africans: Islamic Discourse and Scholarly Networks in the Late Eighteenth Century 135 Chapter Six: Goths in the Land of the Blacks: A Preliminary Survey of the Ka’ti Library in Timbuktu 168 Chapter Seven: From Wādī Mīzāb to Unguja: Zanzibar’s Scholarly Links 198 Chapter Eight: “Making people think”: The Ramadan Lectures of Sheikh Abdilahi Nassir in Mombasa (1419 A.H.) 226 Chapter Nine: The Adventures of Abū Ḥārith: Muslim Travel Writing and Navigating the Modern in Colonial East Africa 258 Chapter Ten: Zanzibar: Some Nineteenth-Century Arabic Writings on Healing 271 Chapter Eleven: “Small World”: Neo-Sufi Interconnexions Between the Maghrib, the Hijaz and Southeast Asia 288 Notes on Contributors 303 Index 305 ISLAM IN AFRICA 323 "In a series of essays this collected volume challenges much of the conventional wisdom regarding the intellectual history of Muslim Africa. Ranging from the libraries of Early Modern Mauritania and Timbuktu to mosque lectures in contemporary Mombasa, the contributors to this collection overturn many commonly accepted assumptions about Africa's Muslim learned classes. Rather than isolated, backward and out of touch, the essays in this volume reveal Muslim intellectuals as not only well aware of the intellectual currents of the wider Islamic world, but also caring deeply about the issues facing their communities."--Page 4 de la couverture