West African ʿulamāʾ and Salafism in Mecca and Medina : Jawāb Al-Ifrῑqῑ - The Response of the African

Chanfi Ahmed shows how West African ʿulamāʾ, who fled the European colonization of their region to settle in Mecca and Medina, helped the regime of King Ibn Sa’ud at its beginnings in the field of teaching and spreading the Salafῑ-Wahhabῑ’s Islam both inside and outside Saudi Arabia. This is against the widespread idea of considering the spread of the Salafῑ-Wahhābῑ doctrine as being the work of ʿulamāʾ from Najd (Central Arabia) only. We learn here that the diffusion of this doctrine after 1926 was much more the work of ʿulamāʾ from other parts of the Muslim World who had already acquired this doctrine and spread it in their countries by teaching and publishing books related to it. In addition Chanfi Ahmed demonstrates that concerning Islamic reform and mission (daʿwa), Africans are not just consumers, but also thinkers and designers. Biographical note Chanfi Ahmed has been trained in Islamic studies and received his PhD in Social History at the EHESS in Paris. Until 2013 he was a Research Fellow at the Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO) in Berlin. His books include Islam et politique aux Comores, Paris, 2000, Ngoma et mission islamique (Daʿwa) aux Comores et en Afrique orientale. Une approche anthropologique, Paris, 2002; Les conversions à l’Islam fondamentaliste en Afrique au sud du Sahara. Le cas de la Tanzanie et du Kenya, Paris, 2008. Readership Scholars and students of Islam in West Africa and Middle East, particularly in Saudi Arabia. Contents 5 Acknowledgments 9 List of Illustrations 11 Introduction 13 Chapter 1 Hijra on the Sudan Road (Ṭarīq al-Sūdān) 25 Hijra in Islam and West Africa: A Movement of People, Ideas, and Hope 28 Hijra, Jihād, the Mahdī, and Ḥajj in Islam and in West African Islam 29 The Hijra Related to the Mahdī 29 The Reaction of the Colonizers to the Muhājirīn 33 Chapter 2 The ʿUlamāʾ Forerunners of the Hijra and Teachers in the Mosque of the Prophet in Medina 36 Shaykh Alfā Hāshim al-Fūtī (c. 1866–1931): A Genius for Survival 36 Muḥammad ʿAbdallāh b. Maḥmūd al-Madanī (Ag Maḥmūd Abdullahi): The “Intransigent” Salafī Missionary 40 Chapter 3 The ʿUlamāʾ of the Second Generation, Heirs of the Hijra and Teachers in the First Islamic Institutes in Saudi Arabia 44 Ḥammād al-Anṣārī (1344–1418/1925–97) 44 “Riḥlat min Ifrīqyā ilā bilād al-ḥaramayn” [Traveling from Africa to the two holy cities] 45 The Anṣār al-Sunna in Sudan 51 The Legacy of Shaykh Ḥammād al-Anṣārī in West Africa 56 ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Yūsuf al-Ifrīqī 57 Al-Anwār al-raḥmāniyya li-hidāyat al-firqa al-Tijāniyya [The divine lights to save the Tijāniyya sect] 69 Jawāb al-Ifrīqī [Response of the African] 82 Tawḍīḥ al-ḥajj wa-l-ʿumra kamā jāʾa fī l-kitāb wa-l-sunna [Explanation of ḥajj and ʿumra according to the Qurʾān and the Sunna] 91 Chapter 4 The Dār al-Ḥadīth in Medina and the Ahl al-Ḥadīth 92 The Dār al-Ḥadīth in Mecca 98 The Establishment and Expansion of the Ahl al-Ḥadīth Movement in the Eighteenth Century 101 Muḥammad Ḥayāt al-Sindī (d. 1163/1750) 102 Walī Allāh Dihlawī (1703–63) 103 Ṣāliḥ al-Fullānī (1752–3/1803) 104 Muḥammad b. ʿAlī l-Shawkānī (1173–1250/1760–1832) 108 Nadhīr Ḥusayn Dihlawī (1805–1902) 110 Ṣādiq Ḥasan Khān (1834–90) 111 Ṣanāʿullāh Amristari (1868–1948) 112 The Doctrine of Ahl al-Ḥadīth as Reflected by These ʿUlamāʾ 113 A Brief Political History of the Hijaz in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries 115 Educational Institutions Founded in the Hijaz by the Ottomans and the Ashrāf 117 Nation-State or Umma-State: ʿUlamāʾ Support of the Saudi State 120 Maʿhad al-Riyāḍ al-ʿIlmī (Riyadh Institute of Islamic Religious Sciences) 123 Chapter 5 The ʿUlamāʾ of the Third Generation: Teachers and Administrators in the First Islamic Universities of Saudi Arabia 127 Shaykh ʿUmar b. Muḥammad Fallāta (1345–1419/1926–98) 127 Writings, Lectures, and Teaching of ʿUmar Fallāta 131 Muḥammad al-Amīn al-Jakanī l-Shinqīṭī (Āb Wuld Ukhtūr) (1325–93/1907–73) 135 The Writings of Shaykh Shinqīṭī 137 Chapter 6 Africa in the Islamic University of Medina 144 History of the Foundation of the University 144 Africa in the Daʿwa Policy of the Islamic University of Medina and of the Saudi State as Reflected in the Statutes and Other Texts of the University 153 Daʿwa in Africa By and With the Africans 158 Shaykh Taqī l-Dīn al-Hilālī (d. 1407/1987) 170 Chapter 7 Biography (Tarjama) in the Islamic Tradition according to the ʿUlamāʾ 188 The Concept and Tradition of Tarjama (Biography) according to ʿUmar Fallāta and ʿAṭiyya Sālim 188 ʿAṭiyya Muḥammad Sālim with al-Ifrīqī and al-Shinqīṭī 188 The Teaching Method of al-Ifrīqī (Manhaj al-Ifrīqī) 191 ʿAṭiyya Muḥammad Sālim with Shaykh al-Amīn al-Shinqīṭī (Āb Wuld Ukhtūr) 194 The Tarjama according to Shaykh ʿUmar Fallāta in His Conference Paper on Shaykh ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Ifrīqī 195 An Interpretation 198 Conclusion 201 Bibliography 209 Works and Primary Sources in Arabic 209 Works in Other Languages 212 Index 217 Table of contents Acknowledgments Introduction 1 Hijra on the Sudan Road (Ṭarīq al-Sūdān) Hijra in Islam and West Africa: A Movement of People, Ideas, and Hope Hijra, Jihād, the Mahdī, and Ḥajj in Islam and in West African Islam The Hijra Related to the Mahdī The Reaction of the Colonizers to the Muhājirīn 2 The ʿUlamāʾ Forerunners of the Hijra and Teachers in the Mosque of the Prophet in Medina Shaykh Alfā Hāshim al-Fūtī (1866–1931): A Genius for Survival Muḥammad ʿAbdallāh b. Maḥmūd al-Madanī (Ag Maḥmūd Abdullahi): The “Intransigent” Salafī Missionary 3 The ʿUlamāʾ of the Second Generation, Heirs of the Hijra and Teachers in the First Islamic Institutes in Saudi Arabia Ḥammād al-Anṣārī (1344–1418/1925–97) “Riḥlat min Ifrīqyā ilā bilād al-ḥaramayn” [Traveling from Africa to the two holy cities] The Anṣār al-Sunna in Sudan The Legacy of Shaykh Ḥammād al-Anṣārī in West Africa ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Yūsuf al-Ifrīqī Jawāb al-Ifrīqī [Response of the African] Tawḍīḥ al-ḥajj wa-l-ʿumra kamā jāʾa fī l-kitāb wa-l-sunna [Explanation of ḥajj and ʿumra according to the Qurʾān and the Sunna] 4 The Dār al-Ḥadīth in Medina and the Ahl al-Ḥadīth The Dār al-Ḥadīth in Mecca The Establishment and Expansion of the Ahl al-Ḥadīth Movement in the Eighteenth Century Muḥammad Ḥayāt al-Sindī (d. 1163/1750) Walī Allāh Dihlawī (1703–63) Ṣāliḥ al-Fullānī (1752–3/1803) Muḥammad b. ʿAlī l-Shawkānī (1173–1250/1760–1832) Nadhīr Ḥusayn Dihlawī (1805–1902) Ṣādiq Ḥasan Khān (1834–90) Ṣanāʿullāh Amristari (1868–1948) The Doctrine of Ahl al-Ḥadīth as Reflected by these ʿUlamāʾ A Brief Political History of the Hijaz in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Educational Institutions Founded in the Hijaz by the Ottomans and the Ashrāf Nation-State or Umma-State: ʿUlamāʾ Support of the Saudi State Maʿhad al-Riyāḍ al-ʿIlmi (Riyadh Institute of Islamic Religious Sciences) 5 The ʿUlamāʾ of the Third Generation: Teachers and Administrators in the First Islamic Universities of Saudi Arabia Shaykh ʿUmar b. Muḥammad Fallāta (1345–1419/1926–98) Writings, Lectures, and Teaching of ʿUmar Fallāta Muḥammad al-Amīn al-Jakanī l-Shinqīṭī (Āb Wuld Ukhtūr) (1325–93/1907–73) The Writings of Shaykh Shinqīṭī 6 Africa in the Islamic University of Medina History of the Foundation of the University Africa in the Daʿwa Policy of the Islamic University of Medina and of the Saudi State as Reflected in the Statutes and Other Texts of the University Daʿwa in Africa By and With the Africans Shaykh Taqī l-Dīn al-Hilālī (d. 1407/1987) 7 Biography (Tarjama) in the Islamic Tradition according to the ʿUlamāʾ The Concept and Tradition of Tarjama (Biography) according to ʿUmar Fallāta and ʿAṭiyya Sālim ʿAṭiyya Muḥammad Sālim with al-Ifrīqī and al-Shinqīṭī The Teaching Method of al-Ifrīqī (Manhaj al-Ifrīqī) ʿAṭiyya Muḥammad Sālim with Shaykh al-Amīn al-Shinqīṭī (Āb Wuld Ukhtūr) The Tarjama according to Shaykh ʿUmar Fallāta in his Conference Paper on Shaykh ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Ifrīqī An Interpretation Conclusion Bibliography Works and Primary Sources in Arabic Works in Other Languages Index Chanfi Ahmed shows how West African ʻulamāʼ, who fled the European colonization of their region to settle in Mecca and Medina, helped the regime of King Ibn Saʻūd at its beginnings in the field of teaching and spreading the Salafī-Wahhabī's Islam both inside and outside Saudi Arabia. This is against the widespread idea of considering the spread of the Salafī-Wahhābī doctrine as being the work of ʻulamā from Najd (Central Arabia) only. We learn here that the diffusion of this doctrine after 1926 was much more the work of ʻulamā from other parts of the Muslim World who had already acquired this doctrine and spread it in their countries by teaching and publishing books related to it. In addition Chanfi Ahmed demonstrates that concerning Islamic reform and mission (daʻwa), Africans are not just consumers, but also thinkers and designers--Back cover