The Sufi Brotherhoods and the Muslim ‘Cleric’

Returning to the theme of Islam’s progress in sub-Saharan Africa during the colonial era, it seems to this writer that improved communications, the expansion of the economy and the creation of new towns facilitated that progress.

So also did the reliance on and protection afforded Islam in certain instances by colonial governments, arising from the fact that there existed in some areas an established Muslim state with a ready pool of literate Muslims, many of whom were trained in the Muslim way as clerks, administrators and teachers and were, therefore, useful to the colonial regime. But this last point is in need of qualification for, as we have seen, colonial governments also placed obstacles in the way of Islam’s development.

Equally, if not more important in the spread of Islam in this period and since, were the Sufi brotherhoods, notably the Qadariyya and Tijaniyya in West Africa as a whole from the first half of the nineteenth century, while others, emerging in the twentieth century, were to gain large numbers of followers in particular countries, the Mouride brotherhood in Senegal being a case in point.

The role of the Muslim ‘cleric’, often a trader as well, was also crucial as was that of the charismatic leader such as the Senegalese Shaykh Ibrahim Niass, who perhaps did more than anyone else in the twentieth century to popularise the teachings of the above-mentioned Tijaniyya brotherhood throughout West Africa, and through his international links to connect his followers with Muslims in the rest of the world. The Muslim cleric was the principal carrier of Islam. Known by different names in different societies, for example malam in Hausa-speaking areas and marabout in parts of French-speaking Africa, he wandered from village to village and town to town, living with the people wherever he went and often came to play the role of teacher, philosopher and guide of the local community.

His Christian counterpart would be the catechist whose role in spreading Christianity has been discussed elsewhere in this volume.

By the time the colonial era began to draw to a close in much of sub-Saharan Africa in the late 1950s, Islam had penetrated and established itself in areas which it had previously hardly even touched, the Tabora district of Tanzania and the southern region of the Ivory Coast being but two of many examples. By the 1950s an estimated 34 per cent of the total population of West Africa was Muslim, and all of this was accomplished without the aid of a Western school system, which Muslims for a variety of reasons opposed, chiefly because they saw it as an instrument of Christian evangelisation, and Western hospitals. Muslims, of course, did have their

Islam in Tropical Africa in the 20th Century own schools, their trading networks and their physicians which many people found relevant and appropriate to their needs.

Islam in Tropical Africa since Independence Already by independence Muslims in parts of Africa had become better organised and more integrated as a community and had begun once again to strengthen their links with the rest of the Muslim world, and these trends continue to be among the most striking aspects of Islam’s development in tropical Africa in the post-colonial period. However, though numerous national, regional and interregional organisations have been set up, as far as integration and organisation are concerned the pace has been uneven and the results patchy, from one region of the continent to another.

Links with the wider Muslim world have been strengthened by the increase in the number of African Muslims performing the hadj (pilgrimage)—over 100,000 Nigerians left for Mecca in 1977, making them after the Indonesians the largest group of pilgrims in that year—and through such organisations as the Islamic Conference Organization, the Arab League and the Organization of African Unity.

It is, however, difficult to see in what way these contacts have influenced the foreign policies of African states, nor is it clear to what extent if any Islamic resurgence in recent years in Iran and elsewhere in the Muslim world has affected the life and attitudes of the majority of ordinary Muslims in tropical Africa.

On the other hand, educated Muslims, and less convincingly some heads of government, Nimeiri in the Sudan before he was forced to resign being an example, have tried to extend the scope of Islamic law, Shari¹ a, and turn their societies into thoroughgoing Islamic states. Somewhat less marked, gradual changes are also occurring in other spheres, including the political sphere. For example, in South Africa there are signs that the Muslim community is becoming more politically conscious and prepared to join in the struggle against apartheid. Elsewhere Islam presents itself as embodying a form of socialism which is not only in keeping with the allegedly classless character of pre-colonial African society but also provides a genuine, relevant and up-to-date alternative to the Western, capitalist world and what is referred to as ‘other godless socialisms’ found in the Soviet Union and elsewhere.

The move towards greater unity amongst themselves and with the wider Muslim world and the drive to present Islam as the most relevant political, social, economic and cultural option available to Africans—which, of course, could end by making it simply one more option among many to be rejected like others if it fails—these are some of the main trends in contemporary Islam in tropical Africa. Muslims, however, are far from constituting a community characterised by rigid uniformity. As in the past there are also today a variety of strands to Islam south of the Sahara

and a variety of responses to the wider world.

While, therefore, significant changes are taking place in African Islam, which is on the whole more confident of itself and of its rights and relevance, as was seen in the Shari'a debate in Nigeria in 1977-8, there is also much that remains more or less unchanged since the colonial period. And this last point is as true of the ways in which this religion advances as it is of the reasons why it continues to appeal and attract converts in ever-increasing numbers.

The Sufi Brotherhoods and the Muslim ‘Cleric’

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