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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The 'Community of Helpers of the Sunna': Islamic Reform among the Songhay of Gao (Mali)
Author:Niezen, R.W.
Year:1990
Periodical:Africa: Journal of the International African Institute
Volume:60
Issue:3
Pages:399-424
Language:English
Geographic term:Mali
Subjects:Islamic movements
Songhai
Religion and Witchcraft
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/1160113
Abstract:This article considers the social background of factionalism in the emergence of a reform movement among the Songhay of Gao (Mali). Islamic reform in northeast Mali has established itself in a very distinct way. In Gao, the administrative capital of the region, reformers come mainly from three occupational groups: civil servants, artisans and petty merchants. They are loosely organized as a religious community, outwardly egalitarian, and have a relatively tolerant attitude towards the practices of their more traditional neighbours. In contrast, a more radical group of reformers based in the surrounding Songhay villages is marked by a venerated religious leadership which dominates community life and by an intolerant approach to religious change. The present leader of the village reform movement, Seydu Idrissa, began to establish his reputation during the initial period of confrontation between traditional and reformed Islam in the early 1970s. He created a separate Islamic organization called the Jama'a Ansar al-Sunna (Community of Helpers of the Sunna). It is precisely the organizational appeal of reformed Islam in the village setting that is decisive in accounting for the popularity of the Jama'a Ansar al-Sunna. This organizational appeal is derived principally from the impact of the institutionalization of temporary migration, the weakening of family ties, and the decline in prestige of local leadership. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in French.
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