3 - Those who pray together

Summary

Chapter 3 presents and discusses the diverse prayer practices encountered in the zongos. Drawing on ethnographic descriptions and providing people’s varied interpretations of them, I discuss the diversity of Islamic prayer practices in relation to the anthropological literature on prayer. As I argue, Islamic prayer practices are fundamental to the formation of the Islamic community of the zongos, but they also provide the people of these wards with practical means to (re-)actualise their religious distinctions and dissent. The chapter first describes the separate ʿid prayers in Kokote Zongo and discusses the literature on prayer. I go on to describe the ṣalāt, the daily Islamic prayer, and discuss how the people of the zongo (re-)actualise their Islamic community and their religious differences through it. Then, I address the specific dhikr practices by which the Tijaniyya distinguish themselves from other Islamic groups and offer a panoramic view of the diverse personal prayer practices encountered in the zongos. I argue that the people of the zongo relate to the divine, the Islamic tradition, and each other as Muslims in their diverse religious practices. They are and become Muslims in diverse ways, as they (re)make, engage with, and embody the irreducible diversity of their religion.