Falkeiana IV: The Shaykh as the Locus of Divine Self-Disclosure: A Poem in Praise of Shaykh Hamahu 'Ilah

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Title:	Falkeiana IV: The Shaykh as the Locus of Divine Self-Disclosure: A Poem in Praise of Shaykh Hamahu 'Ilah
Authors:	Soares, Benjamin Hunwick, John O.
Year:	1996
Periodical:	Sudanic Africa
Volume:	7
Pages:	97-112
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	French-speaking Africa West Africa Mali
Subjects:	ulema Sufism praise poetry (form) Literature, Mass Media and the Press History and Exploration Religion and Witchcraft
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/25653285
Abstract:	Among the manuscripts in the 'Umar Falke Collection at Northwestern University is a poem about .Ham¯ahu 'll¯ah, the 20-th century Tij¯an¯i shaykh and reputed 'wal¯i,' born c. 1883. He was exiled by the French colonial government in the 1920s, and later in 1941, and he died in France in 1943. He attracted considerable attention since his emergence as a Sufi religious leader in West Africa, particularly in Nioro du Sahel (Mali). Although a number of scholars have written about .Ham¯ahu 'll¯ah and his disciples within the socioeconomic and political contexts of French colonialism, the religious aspects of the .Hamawiyya branch of the Tij¯aniyya (in European writing often called .Ham¯aliyya) have received inadequate attention. The poem in praise of .Ham¯ahu 'll¯ah, which is included in this paper in Arabic with an English translation, provides an entry into the discourse of sainthood which surrounded .Ham¯ahu 'll¯ah. Notes, ref.