Beyond Jihad

The Pacifist Tradition in West African Islam

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Christianity, Church, Church & State, History, Africa, Middle East Religions, Islam
Cover of the book Beyond Jihad by Lamin Sanneh, Oxford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Lamin Sanneh ISBN: 9780199351633
Publisher: Oxford University Press Publication: August 19, 2016
Imprint: Oxford University Press Language: English
Author: Lamin Sanneh
ISBN: 9780199351633
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication: August 19, 2016
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Language: English

Over the course of the last 1400 years, Islam has grown from a small band of followers on the Arabian peninsula into a global religion of over a billion believers. How did this happen? The usual answer is that Islam spread by the sword-believers waged jihad against rival tribes and kingdoms and forced them to convert. Lamin Sanneh argues that this is far from the whole story. Beyond Jihad examines the origin and evolution of the African pacifist tradition in Islam, beginning with an inquiry into the faith's origins and expansion in North Africa and its transmission across trans-Saharan trade routes to West Africa. The book focuses on the ways in which, without jihad, the religion spread and took hold, and what that tells us about the nature of religious and social change. At the heart of this process were clerics who used religious and legal scholarship to promote Islam. Once this clerical class emerged, it offered continuity and stability in the midst of political changes and cultural shifts, helping to inhibit the spread of radicalism, and subduing the urge to wage jihad. With its policy of religious and inter-ethnic accommodation, this pacifist tradition took Islam beyond traditional trade routes and kingdoms into remote districts of the Mali Empire, instilling a patient, Sufi-inspired, and jihad-negating impulse into religious life and practice. Islam was successful in Africa, Sanneh argues, not because of military might but because it was made African by Africans who adapted it to a variety of contexts.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Over the course of the last 1400 years, Islam has grown from a small band of followers on the Arabian peninsula into a global religion of over a billion believers. How did this happen? The usual answer is that Islam spread by the sword-believers waged jihad against rival tribes and kingdoms and forced them to convert. Lamin Sanneh argues that this is far from the whole story. Beyond Jihad examines the origin and evolution of the African pacifist tradition in Islam, beginning with an inquiry into the faith's origins and expansion in North Africa and its transmission across trans-Saharan trade routes to West Africa. The book focuses on the ways in which, without jihad, the religion spread and took hold, and what that tells us about the nature of religious and social change. At the heart of this process were clerics who used religious and legal scholarship to promote Islam. Once this clerical class emerged, it offered continuity and stability in the midst of political changes and cultural shifts, helping to inhibit the spread of radicalism, and subduing the urge to wage jihad. With its policy of religious and inter-ethnic accommodation, this pacifist tradition took Islam beyond traditional trade routes and kingdoms into remote districts of the Mali Empire, instilling a patient, Sufi-inspired, and jihad-negating impulse into religious life and practice. Islam was successful in Africa, Sanneh argues, not because of military might but because it was made African by Africans who adapted it to a variety of contexts.

More books from Oxford University Press

Cover of the book The Ethics of Private Practice by Lamin Sanneh
Cover of the book Advances in Understanding Mechanisms and Treatment of Infantile Forms of Nystagmus by Lamin Sanneh
Cover of the book Marriage Markets by Lamin Sanneh
Cover of the book New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin by Lamin Sanneh
Cover of the book The Nature of Design : Ecology, Culture, and Human Intention by Lamin Sanneh
Cover of the book Holocaust Angst by Lamin Sanneh
Cover of the book Contemporary Health Issues on Marijuana by Lamin Sanneh
Cover of the book Southern Baptist Seminary 1859-2009 by Lamin Sanneh
Cover of the book City of Light by Lamin Sanneh
Cover of the book Cyberthreats by Lamin Sanneh
Cover of the book Theocritus of Syracuse: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide by Lamin Sanneh
Cover of the book British Atlantic World: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide by Lamin Sanneh
Cover of the book Studies in Classical History and Society by Lamin Sanneh
Cover of the book Klezmer by Lamin Sanneh
Cover of the book Venomous Reptiles and Their Toxins by Lamin Sanneh
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy