Islam and Social Change in French West Africa: History of an Emancipatory Community [Hardcover]

This book shows the relationship between religious, social and economic change in colonial French West Africa.Exploring the history of a group of Muslim Sufi mystics and their religious community in colonial French West Africa, this study shows the relationship between religious, social, and economic change in the region. It highlights the role that the people played in shaping social and cultural change and illuminates the specific religious ideas and political contexts that gave their efforts meaning. This book argues that such movements were driven by local forces and constituted only the most recent round in a set of centuries-old debates about the best way for pious people to confront social injustice.Exploring the history of a group of Muslim Sufi mystics and their religious community in colonial French West Africa, this study shows the relationship between religious, social, and economic change in the region. It highlights the role that the people played in shaping social and cultural change and illuminates the specific religious ideas and political contexts that gave their efforts meaning. This book argues that such movements were driven by local forces and constituted only the most recent round in a set of centuries-old debates about the best way for pious people to confront social injustice.Exploring the history and religious community of a group of Muslim Sufi mystics who came largely from socially marginal backgrounds in colonial French West Africa, this study shows the relationship between religious, social, and economic change in the region. It highlights the role that intellectuals  including not only elite men, but also women, slaves, and the poor  played in shaping social and cultural change and illuminates the specific religious ideas on which Muslims drew and the political contexts that gave their efforts meaning. In contrast to depictions that emphasize the importance of international networks and anti-modern reaction in twentieth-century Islamlc*