Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Note on Sources
Chronology
About the Companion Website
Introduction
Chapter 1: Exceptionality and Equality
Chapter 2: Ethics over Ritual
Chapter 3: Odyssey by Sea: Sanctity of Suffering I
Chapter 4: Odyssey by Land: Sanctity of Suffering II
Chapter 5: Service for Salvation
Conclusion
Notes
Sources and Bibliography
Index
Fallou Ngom is Professor of Anthropology and Director of the African Studies Center at Boston University. His research interests include the interactions between African languages and non-African languages, the adaptations of Islam in sub-Saharan Africa, and 'Ajami literatures-records of African languages written in Arabic script. He has held Fulbright, ACLS/SSRC/NEH, and Guggenheim fellowships.
"[T]he book is essential reading for advanced scholars of the
Muriýdiyya or Islam in Africa and it will be key to the scholar who
constructs the regional odyssey of Ajamiý that is, the
sociohistorical emergence of West African vernacular language
literacy in Muslim contexts."--Religious Studies Review
"For those who wish to make sense of recent events in West Africa,
Ngom's book is an excellent place to begin. He corrects many false
images of Africa as a continent without writing and demonstrates
the dangers of relying exclusively upon oral culture and
colonialist-written sources alone. Ngom's book has set a new
standard for African studies."--Reading Religion
"Fallou Ngom lifts us a giant step toward decolonizing what
'literacy' can mean, while giving writing in Wolof, the dominant
language of Senegal, its rightful place among Muslim literatures of
the world. 'Ajami is the modification of Arabic script to
accommodate local languages, and for centuries it has been used to
communicate people's own senses of purpose, place, and divine
province, as it does for Murids and other Senegalese Sufis. Ngom's
evocative pages
make abundantly clear what has been lost to most Africanist
scholars who have ignored the richly self-reflexive resources of
'Ajami."-Allen F. Roberts, Professor of World Arts and Cultures,
University of
California, Los Angeles
"Fallou Ngom's Muslims beyond the Arab World is a brilliant
demonstration that Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa is not peripheral to
a Muslim world centered on Arab societies: it is its own center and
has produced throughout the centuries an important literature in
Arabic, but also often in 'Ajami, that is, texts written in the
local languages adapting and using the Arabic script. Fallou Ngom's
work is centered on the 'Ajamization of Islamic
sciences and literature by Muslim scholars who authored important
texts in Wolof, in poetry and in prose, following the
recommendation of Shaykh Ahmadu Bamba, the founder of the Muridiyya
Sufi order. Ngom's book makes
manifest that Islam is one and plural, that it speaks Arabic, the
language of the Qur'an, but other Islamic languages as well, Wolof
being one great example eloquently presented here as a language of
written erudition."-Souleymane Bachir Diagne, author of African Art
as Philosophy: Senghor, Bergson and the Idea of Negritude
"This 'Ajami odyssey makes a signal contribution to the study of
Islamic thought in Africa and beyond. Ngom skillfully illustrates
how the Muridiyya Sufi order has used African languages materials
to make meaning and history, thereby becoming one of the most
dynamic Islamic movements in the world today. By focusing on how
Murids have articulated and embodied a unique vision of the past
deeply rooted in humanistic values of peace, service, and ethics,
Ngom also
casts precious light on the development of vernacular languages,
cultures, and historicities throughout the Muslim world."-Rudolph
T. Ware, Associate Professor of History, University of Michigan
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