Islamic Millenarianism in West Africa: A ‘Revolutionary’ Ideology?

P. B. Clarke

doi:10.1017/S0034412500012348

Islamic Millenarianism in West Africa: A ‘Revolutionary’ Ideology?

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 October 2008

P. B. Clarke

Show author details

P. B. Clarke: Affiliation:
Part-time Lecturer in Sociology of Religion, King's College, London

Article contents

Extract
References

Get access

Rights & Permissions

Extract

Social and political scientists, historians and others, have put forward a number of widely differing views concerning the ‘character’ of Islamic millenarian and/or Mahdist movements in Africa. The same is true of course with regard to the opinions ofscholars concerning the transformative capacity of Islam as an ideology. In this paper I want to look at one aspect only of Islamic millenarianism in the West African context, viz. its allegedly revolutionary character.

Type: Articles
Information: Religious Studies , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , September 1980 , pp. 317 - 339

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0034412500012348 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

^{page 317 note 1} See Hodgkin, T., ‘Mahdism, Messianism and Marxism in the African Setting’. Copy in Queen Elizabeth House/Institute of Commonwealth Studies, OxfordGoogle Scholar. Also in Hasan, Y. F., Islam in the Sudan (Khartoum University Press, 1969Google Scholar). I quote from the copy in Q.E.H./I.C.S. Oxford.

^{page 317 note 2} Ibid. p. 27.

^{page 317 note 3} Ibid. p. 27.

^{page 317 note 4} Ibid. p. 27.

^{page 318 note 1} Ibid. p. 28.

^{page 318 note 2} Ibid. p. 28.

^{page 318 note 3} Ibid. p. 29.

^{page 318 note 4} Ibid. p. 29.

^{page 318 note 5} Ibid. p. 29.

^{page 318 note 6} See Engels, F., ‘On the History of Early Christianity’ in Marx and Engels, Basic Writings on Politics and Philosophy, ed. Fever, Lewis S. (Collins/Fontana, 1969), p. 210.Google Scholar

^{page 318 note 7} Ibid. p. 210.

^{page 318 note 8} Ibid. p. 210.

^{page 318 note 9} Ibid. p. 210.

^{page 319 note 1} See Rodinson, Maxime, Islam et Capitalisme (Paris, 1966), pp. 70Google Scholar and passim.

^{page 319 note 2} Engels, F., ‘Defence of Progressive Imperialism in Algeria’, in Feuer, Lewis S., op. cit. pp. 488–9.Google Scholar

^{page 319 note 3} Lichtheim, G., ‘Marx and the Asiatic Mode of Production’, St Antony's Papers (Oxford, 1963Google Scholar), no. 14. Also Marx to Engels, on ‘Oriental Cities’ in Feuer, Lewis S., op. cit. pp. 492–4.Google Scholar

^{page 319 note 4} Blackstock, P. W. and Hoselitz, B. F. (eds), Marx, K. and Engels, F., The Russian Menace to Europe (London, 1953).Google Scholar

^{page 319 note 5} Turner, B. S., Weber and Islam (Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1975Google Scholar), chs I and 2, and passim.

^{page 320 note 1} J. Abun Nasr, ‘Islam and Socialism in Africa’, paper presented at the colloquium ‘The Contribution of Christianity and Islam to the Independence of States in Africa South of the Sahara’, Bonn, , May 1979.Google Scholar

^{page 320 note 2} See Geertz, C., ‘Islam and Market Values’, paper presented at Balliol College, Oxford, May 1979Google Scholar. See also Geertz, C., Islam Observed (New Haven and London, 1969Google Scholar). Also Goitein, S. D., ‘The Rise of the Near Eastern Bourgeoisie in Early Islamic Times’, journal of World History (1957), vol. 3Google Scholar. And Mazrui, A. A., Political Values and the Educated Class in Africa, (Heinemann, 1978).Google Scholar

^{page 320 note 3} See Turner, B. S., op. cit. p. 141.Google Scholar

^{page 320 note 4} See Levtzion, N., Ancient Ghana and Mali (Methuen, 1973).Google Scholar

^{page 321 note 1} See Mazrui, A., op. cit. pp. 139–43.Google Scholar

^{page 321 note 2} Ibid. pp. 139–43.

^{page 321 note 3} See Ajayi, J. F. Ade and Oloruntimehin, B. O. in Cambridge History of Africa (ed. Flint, J. E.) vol. 5, ch. 6, (C.C.P. 1976).Google Scholar

^{page 321 note 4} Ibid.

^{page 321 note 5} See O'Brien, D. Cruise, The Mourides of Senegal (O.U.P. 1971).Google Scholar

^{page 321 note 6} See Nasr, J. Abun, op. cit. pp. 1–3.Google Scholar

^{page 322 note 1} See Levi-Strauss, Claude, Tristes Tropiques (Paris, 1958).Google Scholar

^{page 322 note 2} Ibid.

^{page 322 note 3} Khaldun, Ibn, The Muqadimmah, trans. by Rosenthal, F., edited and abridged by N. J. Dawood (Routledge and Kegan Paul, Secker and Warburg, London, 1967), pp. 257–59.Google Scholar

^{page 323 note 1} Murray, D. Last, ‘Foreword’, in Research Bulletin of the Centre of Arabic Documentation (R.B.C.A.D.), University of Ibadan, vol. 3, no. I (1967), I.Google Scholar

^{page 323 note 2} Khaldun, Ibn, op. cit. p. 259.Google Scholar

^{page 323 note 3} Clarke, P. B., ‘The Imam of the Ismailis’ in Sociology of Religion Yearbook, ed. Hill, M. (S.C.M. Press, 1975).Google Scholar

^{page 324 note 1} Khaldun, Ibn, op. cit. p. 259.Google Scholar

^{page 324 note 2} The founder of the ‘Unitarians’ (al-Muwahhidun), Ibn Tumart, proclaimed himself Mahdi in A.D. 1121/22. This movement ruled from Syrte in North Africa to the Atlantic and controlled a number of trans-Saharan commercial centres such as Awdaghost which were frequented by West African traders.

^{page 324 note 3} See Levtzion, N., op. cit.Google Scholar

^{page 324 note 4} See ‘Epître d'al Maghili a 1'Askiya Muhammad de Gao’ in Cuoq, J. M., Recueil des Sources Arabes…(Paris, Editions CNRS, 1975) pp. 399–435Google Scholar. See p. 405 concerning the renewer (mujaddid). See Hunwick, J. O., ‘Al-Soyuti’, Muslim World (Feb. 1978).Google Scholar

^{page 324 note 5} Cuoq, J. M., op. cit. p. 405.Google Scholar

^{page 324 note 6} Ibid. pp. 399 ff.

^{page 325 note 1} Geertz, C., Islam Observed.Google Scholar

^{page 325 note 2} Persons, I., Samori, Tome 1, I.F.A.N. Dakar, ch. IV, ‘Les Voies de l'Islam’, p. 133.Google Scholar

^{page 325 note 3} Quoted by Al, M. A.-Hajj, ‘The Thirteenth Century in Muslim Eschatology: Mahdist Expectations in the Sokoto Caliphate’, in Research Bulletin of the Centre of Arabic Documentation, University of Ibadan, vol. 3, no. 2 (July 1967), 106.Google Scholar

^{page 325 note 4} Hunwick, J. O., op. cit.Google Scholar

^{page 325 note 5} Africanus, Leo, Descriptions de l'Afrique, trans. Epaulard, A. (Paris, 1956), p. 467.Google Scholar

^{page 325 note 6} Hiskett, M., ‘An Islamic Tradition of Reform in the Western Sudan from the Sixteenth Century to the Eighteenth Century’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (B.S.O.A.S.), vol. 25 (1962).Google Scholar

^{page 325 note 7} Hodgkin, T., ‘Scholars and the Revolutionary Tradition: Vietnam and West Africa’ in Oxford Review of Education (1972).Google Scholar

^{page 326 note 1} Ibid. p. 120.

^{page 326 note 2} Hiskett, M., op. cit. pp. 587 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 326 note 3} Al-Hajj, M. A., op. cit. pp. 105–9.Google Scholar

^{page 326 note 4} Curtin, P., ‘Jihad in West Africa: Early Phases and Inter-relations in Mauretania and Senegal’, journal of African History (J.A.H.), XII, 1 (1971), 11–24Google Scholar, and Barry, B., Le Royaume de Waalo: Le Sénégal avant la conquéte (Paris: Francois Maspero, 1972Google Scholar), ch. III.

^{page 326 note 5} Barry, B., ‘La guerre des Marabouts dans la région du Fleuve Sénégal de 1673 à 1677’, Bulletin de l'Institut Fondamental de l'Afrique Noire, tome XXXVIII, sér. B. no. 3 (1971Google Scholar), (B.I.F.A.N.). And Ritchie, Carson I. A., ‘Deux textes sur le Sénégal (1673–1677)’, B.I.F.A.N. xxx, sér B, no. 1 (1963), 289–353.Google Scholar

^{page 326 note 6} Chambonneau, Louis Moreau de, ‘L'Histoire de Toubenan, ou changement de Royes, et Reforme de Religion des Négres du Sénégal Coste d'Afrique depuis 1673 qui est son origine, jusqu'en 1677’Google Scholar in Ritchie, Carson I. A., op. cit. p. 339.Google Scholar

^{page 327 note 1} Ibid. p. 338.

^{page 327 note 2} Ibid. p. 339.

^{page 327 note 3} Ibid. p. 339.

^{page 327 note 4} Barry, B., ‘Le Royaume de Wallo’, op. cit.Google Scholar ch. 3.

^{page 327 note 5} Al-Hajj, M. A., op. cit. pp. 109 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 327 note 6} Ibid. p. 109.

^{page 327 note 7} Ibid. p. 110.

^{page 328 note 1} Ibid. p. 110.

^{page 328 note 2} Ibid. p. 111.

^{page 328 note 3} ‘The Wathiqat Ahl Al-Sudan: a manifesto of the Fulani Jihad’, trans. Bivar, A. D. H., J.A.H. XI, 2 (1961), 235–43.Google Scholar

^{page 329 note 1} Quoted in AI-Hajj, M. A., op. cit. p. 1111.Google Scholar

^{page 329 note 2} For example, Jibril Gaini attempted to establish a Mahdist state in N. E. Nigeria. See Lavers, J. E., ‘Jibril Gaini: a Preliminary Account of the Career of a Mahdist Leader in North Eastern Nigeria’ in R.B.C.A.D. vol. III, no. 1 (1967Google Scholar). See also Nzeuma, M. Z., ‘Adamawa and Mahdism’ in J.A.H. XII, 1 (1971).Google Scholar

^{page 329 note 3} Nzeuma, M. Z., op. cit. p. 64.Google Scholar

^{page 329 note 4} See Chamberlin, J., ‘The Development of Islamic Education in Kano City, Nigeria, with emphasis on legal education’, Ph.D. thesis, University Microfilm (Michigan, 1975) p. 144.Google Scholar

^{page 329 note 5} Martin, B. G., ‘A Mahdist Document from Futa Jalon’ in B.I.F.A.N. xxv, sér. B. 1–2 (1965).Google Scholar

^{page 330 note 1} Nzeuma, M. Z., op. cit. p. 70.Google Scholar

^{page 330 note 2} See Adeleye, R., ‘Mahdist Triumph and British Revenge: Satiru 1906’, journal of Historical Society of Nigeria, vol. 6, no. 2 (1972).Google Scholar

^{page 330 note 3} See Tomlinson, G. F. and Lethem, G. J., A History of Islamic Propaganda in Nigeria (London: Waterlow, 1927).Google Scholar

^{page 330 note 4} See Tomlinson, and Lethem, , op. cit. p. 25.Google Scholar

^{page 331 note 1} Ibid.

^{page 331 note 2} Document in Lethem files, House, Rhodes, Oxford, MSS British Empire S 276 Lethem 13/3 H 1–65.Google Scholar

^{page 331 note 3} Cited in Paden, J., Religion and Political Culture in Kano (Berkeley: California University Press, 1973).Google Scholar

^{page 331 note 4} See Last, D. Murray, The Sokoto Caliphate (Longman, 1967).Google Scholar

^{page 331 note 5} Lugard, Lord, Annual Reports, N.A.I. (National Archives Ibadan), 879–80, 24 April 1903.Google Scholar

^{page 331 note 6} See Thrupp, S. L. (ed.), ‘Millennial Dreams in Action’, Comparative Studies in Society and History (C.S.S.H.), supplement 11 (1962), p. 14.Google Scholar

^{page 332 note 1} This information and most of what follows is based on research carried out by the author in Nigeria between September 1974 and July 1978. I do not cite the names of interviewees, and refer to the material as Research Material – Nigeria 74–78, giving date and place of interview.

^{page 332 note 2} RM Nigeria, 74–78Google Scholar, Information from Mahdi's writings. N.A.I. Ije Prof, 2.c. 138.Google Scholar

^{page 332 note 3} Ibid.

^{page 332 note 4} Ibid.

^{page 333 note 1} See Clarke, P. B., ‘Politics in Nigeria in the context of World War II: a case study in Independence strategy’, Nigerian journal of International Affairs, forthcoming.Google Scholar

^{page 334 note 1} RM Nigeria, 74–78, interview: Ijebu-Ode, April 1977.Google Scholar

^{page 335 note 1} Ibid. interview: Ibadan, July 1978.

^{page 335 note 2} See Nasiru, W. O., ‘Islamic Learning Among the Yoruba: 1896–1963’Google Scholar, Ph.D. thesis, University of Ibadan (August 1977), p. 147.Google Scholar

^{page 335 note 3} Macaulay Papers, Box 80, University of Ibadan.

^{page 335 note 4} N.A.I. Oyo Prof 1/662.Google Scholar

^{page 335 note 5} Ibid.

^{page 335 note 6} Ibid.

^{page 336 note 1} Ibid.

^{page 336 note 2} Odubanjo, Pastor, The End of the Age: Christ is Coming Soon (Lagos, 1947).Google Scholar

^{page 336 note 3} N.A.I. Ije Prof 2Google Scholar C/18.

^{page 336 note 4} Ibid.

^{page 336 note 5} Ibid.

^{page 336 note 6} N.A.I. Blue Book, Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria (1919).Google Scholar

^{page 336 note 7} N.A.I. Yoruba News, 3 (10 August 1926).Google Scholar

^{page 337 note 1} Ibid. (29 October 1929).

^{page 337 note 2} See Adegbola, E. A. A., ‘Ifa and Christianity among the Yoruba’, Ph.D. thesis University of Bristol (1976), p. 122.Google Scholar

^{page 337 note 3} N.A.I. Oke Papers.

^{page 337 note 4} Asuni, T., ‘Socio-Medical Problems of Religious Converts’, Psychopathologie Africaine (1973), IX, 223 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 338 note 1} See Vieillard, G., ‘Notes sur les Peuls du Futa Djallon’, B.I.F.A.N. vol. 2 (1940), 200 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 338 note 2} Ibid.

^{page 338 note 3} See Gaye, S. and Sylla, A., ‘Les Sermons de Seydina Mouhamadou Limamou Lahi et de son fils Seydina Issa Rohou Lahi’, B.I.F.A.N., XXXVIII, sér B, (1976), 391.Google Scholar

^{page 338 note 4} RM Nigeria, 74–78Google Scholar, Mosque service, ljebu–lgbo, May 1978.Google Scholar

^{page 338 note 5} Ibid.

^{page 339 note 1} See Bivar, A. D., Wathiqat, op. cit. pp. 235–46.Google Scholar

^{page 339 note 2} See Peters, R. S., ‘Hegel and the Nation state’, in Political ideas, (ed. Thompson, D.) (Pelican, 1964), pp. 130 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 339 note 3} See Rousseau, J.-J., Du Contrat Social (Geneva, 1947), p. 206Google Scholar and passim. See also for Watt's, Islam W. MontgomeryIslam and the Integration of Society (London, 1961CrossRef Google Scholar), and Islamic Philosophy and Theology (Edinburgh, 1962), pp. 53 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 339 note 4} Ibid.

Article contents

Islamic Millenarianism in West Africa: A ‘Revolutionary’ Ideology?

Extract

Access options

References

Save article to Kindle

Save article to Dropbox

Save article to Google Drive

Reply to: Submit a response

Your details

You have entered the maximum number of contributors

Conflicting interests