Salafism and Political Order in Africa

Salafism and Political Order in Africa PDF Author: Sebastian Elischer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108754783
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 468

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Book Description
Violent Islamic extremism is affecting a growing number of countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In some, jihadi Salafi organizations have established home bases and turned into permanent security challengers. However, other countries have managed to prevent the formation or curb the spread of homegrown jihadi Salafi organizations. In this book, Sebastian Elischer provides a comparative analysis of how different West and East African states have engaged with fundamentalist Muslim groups between the 1950s and today. In doing so, he establishes a causal link between state-imposed organizational gatekeepers in the Islamic sphere and the absence of homegrown jihadi Salafism. Illustrating that the contemporary manifestation of violent Islamic extremism in sub-Saharan Africa is an outcome of strategic political decisions that are deeply embedded in countries' autocratic pasts, he challenges conventional notions of statehood on the African continent, and provides new insight into the evolving relationships between secular and religious authority.

Salafism and Political Order in Africa

Salafism and Political Order in Africa PDF Author: Sebastian Elischer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108754783
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 468

Get Book

Book Description
Violent Islamic extremism is affecting a growing number of countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In some, jihadi Salafi organizations have established home bases and turned into permanent security challengers. However, other countries have managed to prevent the formation or curb the spread of homegrown jihadi Salafi organizations. In this book, Sebastian Elischer provides a comparative analysis of how different West and East African states have engaged with fundamentalist Muslim groups between the 1950s and today. In doing so, he establishes a causal link between state-imposed organizational gatekeepers in the Islamic sphere and the absence of homegrown jihadi Salafism. Illustrating that the contemporary manifestation of violent Islamic extremism in sub-Saharan Africa is an outcome of strategic political decisions that are deeply embedded in countries' autocratic pasts, he challenges conventional notions of statehood on the African continent, and provides new insight into the evolving relationships between secular and religious authority.

Salafism in Nigeria

Salafism in Nigeria PDF Author: Alexander Thurston
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316776808
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 299

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Book Description
The spectre of Boko Haram and its activities in Nigeria dominates both media and academic analysis of Islam in the region. But, as Alexander Thurston argues here, beyond the sensational headlines this group generates, the dynamics of Muslim life in northern Nigeria remain poorly understood. Drawing on interviews with leading Salafis in Nigeria as well as on a rereading of the history of the global Salafi movement, this volume explores how a canon of classical and contemporary texts defines Salafism. Examining how these texts are interpreted and - crucially - who it is that has the authority to do so, Thurston offers a systematic analysis of curricula taught in Saudi Arabia and how they shape religious scholars' approach to religion and education once they return to Africa. Essential for scholars of religion and politics, this unique text explores how the canon of Salafism has been used and refined, from Nigeria's return to democracy to the jihadist movement Boko Haram.

Salafism in the Maghreb

Salafism in the Maghreb PDF Author: Frederic Wehrey
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190942436
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
The Arab Maghreb-the long stretch of North Africa that expands from Libya to Mauritania-is a vitally important region that impacts the security and politics of Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, and the broader Middle East. As Middle East scholars Frederic Wehrey and Anouar Boukhars show in Salafism in the Maghreb, it is also home to the conservative, literalist interpretation of Islam known as Salafism, which has emerged as a major social and political force. Through extensive interviews and fieldwork, Wehrey and Boukhars examine the many roles and manifestations of Salafism in the Maghreb, looking at the relationship between Salafism and the Maghreb's ruling regimes, as well as competing Islamist currents, increasingly youthful populations, and communal groups like tribes and ethno-linguistic minorities. They pay particular attention to how seemingly immutable Salafi ideology is often shaped by local contexts and opportunities. Informed by rigorous research, deep empathy, and unparalleled access to Salafi adherents, clerics, politicians, and militants, Salafism in the Maghreb offers a definitive account of this important Islamist current.

Salafism in Nigeria

Salafism in Nigeria PDF Author: Alexander Thurston
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107157439
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 299

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Book Description
Examines how Salafism, a globally influential Muslim movement, is reshaping religious authority in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country.

The Making of Salafism

The Making of Salafism PDF Author: Henri Lauzière
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231540175
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
Some Islamic scholars hold that Salafism is an innovative and rationalist effort at Islamic reform that emerged in the late nineteenth century but gradually disappeared in the mid twentieth. Others argue Salafism is an anti-innovative and antirationalist movement of Islamic purism that dates back to the medieval period yet persists today. Though they contradict each other, both narratives are considered authoritative, making it hard for outsiders to grasp the history of the ideology and its core beliefs. Introducing a third, empirically based genealogy, The Making of Salafism understands the concept as a recent phenomenon projected back onto the past, and it sees its purist evolution as a direct result of decolonization. Henri Lauzière builds his history on the transnational networks of Taqi al-Din al-Hilali (1894–1987), a Moroccan Salafi who, with his associates, participated in the development of Salafism as both a term and a movement. Traveling from Rabat to Mecca, from Calcutta to Berlin, al-Hilali interacted with high-profile Salafi scholars and activists who eventually abandoned Islamic modernism in favor of a more purist approach to Islam. Today, Salafis tend to claim a monopoly on religious truth and freely confront other Muslims on theological and legal issues. Lauzière's pathbreaking history recognizes the social forces behind this purist turn, uncovering the popular origins of what has become a global phenomenon.

Political Parties in Africa

Political Parties in Africa PDF Author: Sebastian Elischer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107033462
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 341

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Book Description
This book examines the effects of ethnicity on party politics in ten African countries. Sebastian Elischer finds that five party types exist: the mono-ethnic, the ethnic alliance, the catch-all, the programmatic, and the personalistic party. He uses these party types to show that the African political landscape is considerably more diverse than conventionally assumed.

West African ʿulamāʾ and Salafism in Mecca and Medina

West African ʿulamāʾ and Salafism in Mecca and Medina PDF Author: Chanfi Ahmed
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004291946
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
This book brings a new perspective on the history of the spread of the Salafῑ-Wahhābῑ doctrine since the conquest of the Ḥijāz by Ibn Saʿūd in 1926. It also shows the contribution of a network of ʿulamāʾ from West Africa, South Asia and Egypt in the spread of the Salafῑ-Wahhābῑ doctrine inside and outside Saudi Arabia since 1926.

Jihadists of North Africa and the Sahel

Jihadists of North Africa and the Sahel PDF Author: Alexander Thurston
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108488668
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
Offers unique insights into the inner workings of jihadist organisations over the past three decades in North Africa and the Sahel.

Localising Salafism

Localising Salafism PDF Author: Terje Østebø
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004217495
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 406

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Book Description
The political transition in 1991 and the new regime’s policy towards the ethnic and religious diversity in Ethiopia have contributed to increased activities from various Islamic reform movements. Among these, we find the Salafi movement which expanded rapidly throughout the 1990s, particularly in the Oromo-speaking south-eastern parts of the country. This book sheds light on the emergence and expansion of Salafism in Bale. Focusing on the diversified body of situated actors and their role in the process of religious change, it discusses the early arrival of Salafism in the late 1960s, follows it through the Marxist period (1974-1991) before discussing the rapid expansion of the movement in the 1990s. The movement’s dynamics and the controversies emerging as a result of the reforms are discussed, particularly with reference to different understandings of sources for religious knowledge and the role of Islamic literacy.

Salafism in Jordan

Salafism in Jordan PDF Author: Joas Wagemakers
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316776816
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
Since the events of 9/11, Salafism in the Middle East has often been perceived as fixed, rigid and even violent, but this assumption overlooks the quietist ideology that characterises many Salafi movements. Through an exploration of Salafism in Jordan, Joas Wagemakers presents the diversity among quietist Salafis on a range of ideological and political issues, particularly their relationship with the state. He expounds a detailed analysis of Salafism as a whole, whilst also showing how and why quietist Salafism in Jordan - through ideological tendencies, foreign developments, internal conflicts, regime involvement, theological challenges and regional turmoil - transformed from an independent movement into a politically domesticated one. Essential for graduate students and academic researchers interested in Middle Eastern politics and Salafism, this major contribution to the study of Salafism debunks stereotypes and offers insight into the development of a trend that still remains a mystery to many.