Polyvalent, Transnational Religious Authority: The Tijaniyya Sufi Order and Al-Azhar University

Thurston, Alexander

doi:10.1093/jaarel/lfx090

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Nigerian eclecticists' intellectual and activist networks, both within Nigeria and beyond, are more idiosyncratic and less institutionalized than those of Sufis (Loimeier 1997;Thurston 2018) and Salafis (Kane 2003;Thurston 2016), or indeed Islamists. Both Sufis and Salafis operate within robust and evolving translocal frameworks.…”

Section: Nigerian Eclecticists' Translocal Encounters: Sudan's Intern...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Northern Nigerian intellectuals, Sudan, and the “eclectic style” in contemporary Islamic thought

Thurston

2022

Africa

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This article examines two northern Nigerian Muslim intellectuals – Aminu Sagagi and Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (enthroned as Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II of Kano, 2014–20) – whose approaches, in different ways, exemplify a self-consciously eclectic Islamic intellectual style. Their eclecticism breaks with categories familiar from the study of Islam in Africa and Nigeria, categories such as Sufis, Salafis and Islamists. The eclecticist style – or rather, styles – draw on northern Nigerian Islamic modernist traditions, the curriculum and atmosphere of Sudan’s International University of Africa (where both of these Nigerian intellectuals received degrees), and a wider set of global influences. Given their diverse intellectual formation, the eclecticists’ writings and careers allow for an examination of the translocal exchanges that have shaped what is sometimes perceived as a self-contained unit called ‘northern Nigeria’. The article further explores how the eclecticist style manifests in legal and political thought, analysing the critiques that Sagagi and Sanusi made of sharīʿa implementation in northern Nigerian states in the early 2000s. The article draws on Nigerian and Sudanese sources, as well as unpublished and published writings by Sagagi and Sanusi, to describe their intellectual trajectories and outlooks and offer a portrait of the eclecticist style.

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Section: Nigerian Eclecticists' Translocal Encounters: Sudan's Intern...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Northern Nigerian intellectuals, Sudan, and the “eclectic style” in contemporary Islamic thought

Thurston

2022

Africa

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“…Attended by students from south of the Sahara for centuries, Al-Azhar University in Cairo became the main actor of Egypt's diplomatic and Islamic mission in Africa (Ahmed 2001). Since the 1961 reforms, Al-Azhar has recruited ever increasing numbers of students from sub-Saharan countries (Bava 2014;Thurston 2018). North African countries including Libya, Morocco, and Algeria in addition to Egypt remained as the main international destination and funders for Islamic education until the 1980s when, following the oil boom, the Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iran entered the competition in Africa south of the Sahara (Ahmed 2001;Kane 2016).…”

Section: Islamic Learning In Africa: Transnational Actors and Ngoizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

NGOization of Islamic Education: The Post-Coup Turkish State and Sufi Orders in Africa South of the Sahara

Güner

2020

Religions

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This article analyzes the recently formed transnational networks of Islamic education between Turkey and Africa south of the Sahara through the study of the neglected case of Erenköy Cemaati. The expansion of the schools affiliated with Erenköy Cemaati cannot be divorced from Turkey’s Africa strategy and the growing importance of education within it since the late 2000s. Although Sufi orders and state institutions historically represent two divergent and conflicting streams of Islamic education in Turkey, the analysis of Erenköy Cemaati’s schools in Africa south of the Sahara reveal their rapprochement in novel ways. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Turkey, Tanzania, and Senegal, this article shows that the complex relations between the Turkish state and Sufi orders in the field of education in Africa are facilitated by a constellation of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Situating ethnographic data in historical context, it argues that the Islamic schools of Erenköy Cemaati are produced by the overlapping processes of the NGOization of Sufi orders in response to earlier state repression in Turkey and the NGOization of education in the wake of the neoliberal restructuring in Africa. While contributing to our understanding of post-coup Turkey and its evolving relations with Africa south of the Sahara, this article provides at the same time a new window into the NGOization of Islamic education on the continent.

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Analysis of the Current Situation and Prospects of China–East Africa Higher Education Cooperation

Yan

Memon

2023

SDGs and Textiles

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Polyvalent, Transnational Religious Authority: The Tijaniyya Sufi Order and Al-Azhar University

Cited by 4 publications

References 18 publications

Northern Nigerian intellectuals, Sudan, and the “eclectic style” in contemporary Islamic thought

Northern Nigerian intellectuals, Sudan, and the “eclectic style” in contemporary Islamic thought

NGOization of Islamic Education: The Post-Coup Turkish State and Sufi Orders in Africa South of the Sahara

Analysis of the Current Situation and Prospects of China–East Africa Higher Education Cooperation

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