performing islamic revival in africa chanfi ahmed

8/12/2019 Performing Islamic Revival in Africa Chanfi Ahmed

1/8

Introduction to Special Issue: Performing Islamic Revival in AfricaAuthor(s): Chanfi AhmedSource: Africa Today, Vol. 54, No. 4, Performing Islamic Revival in Africa (Summer, 2008),pp. vii-xiiiPublished by: Indiana University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27666927.

Accessed: 05/06/2014 09:05

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at.http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of

content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms

of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Indiana University Pressis collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access toAfrica Today.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 134.58.253.57 on Thu, 5 Jun 2014 09:05:47 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=iupresshttp://www.jstor.org/stable/27666927?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/27666927?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=iupress


2/8

Introduction to Special Issue:Performing Islamic Revival inAfricaChanfi Ahmed

This special issue offers different case studies that pursue a set of commonpropositions in the analysis of the Islamic revival in Africa. Topics coveredinclude activities of Muslim Bible preachers in public spaces in East Africa(Ahmed), performances of collective prayer inWest African towns (Schulz),

narratives of (re-(conversion to Islam in Northern Nigerian video films(Krings), and demonstrative conversion to Islam as an instrument of strugglefor gang leaders in Southern Nigeria (M?ntelos).

First, these studies transcend the widely used distinction betweeninstrumentalist and essentialist interpretations of religious performance bylooking at their topics as means for African Muslims to internalize Islamicrevivalist ideas developed in Arabic countries. At the same time, they internalize other important features: the habitus of competition and performanceparticular to many African cultural practices, and the conversion methodsand strategies of African Pentecostal churches.

Secondly, these studies ask how these performative practices of Islamin sub-Saharan Africa have been perceived by other religious actors, Muslimsas well as Christians, who are all engaged in the African "market of religiousconversion."

From the beginning of the era of independence to the end of the 1980s,the public sphere inAfrica has been dominated almost entirely by the stateand its propaganda. The end of the Cold War, symbolically marked by thefall of the Berlin Wall, saw processes of liberalization and democratizationeverywhere in the world, including sub-Saharan Africa. Since then, nongovernmental groups?associations, foundations, NGOs, political parties,and religious organizations?have started to take over the public sphere.In particular, Islam and Christianity have established strong new publicmovements. Both religions had been present in the public sphere before,

with public ceremonies such as Christian masses and processions and theIslamic Mawlud. Celebrations for the two main Islamic holidays, 'Id al-Fitrand 'Id al-Adha, had always been an important part of the religious tradition,but in the 1980s, religious public presence began to change substantially.Currently, it is the Pentecostal churches and the Salafiyya that show thestrongest public presence.

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


3/8


4/8

to preach?a phenomenon reminiscent of the Tabligh Jamaat (or Jamaatat-Tabligh), the biggest missionary movement in Islam today. The members of the Tabligh Jamaat start preaching before acquiring wider religiousknowledge (Heuser, K?rschner-Pelkmann, and Asamoah-Gyadu 2005).Once their faith is deemed strong enough, they are encouraged to preach.Most Muslims look down on the Tabligh Jamaat because its practice goesback to the evangelical churches. Despite the contempt many Muslims Pdisplay toward it, their ideas and methods are increasingly gaining ground ?2.in the Muslim world. p

An example of this phenomenon is given by Ahmed in his article on Othe Muslim Bible scholars orMuslim preachers in East Africa, whose main 5performances consist of giving sermons in public places, like markets, bus ?stations, football stadiums, and so on. Although the public at these sessions *consists of Muslims and Christians, the sermons are directed mainly at ~z~the latter. These preachers, as former Christians having converted to Islam _(many having even been parsons or pastors before their conversion), shape ntheir sermons essentially as deconstructions of biblical texts in favor of >Islam, with the aim of converting Christians to Islam. zi

These public sermons attract huge numbers of people for several ^reasons: the Muslim Bible preachers are eloquent, they understand how to gargue, they have a remarkable knowledge of biblical texts, and their melodramatic way of performing is highly entertaining. The number of people

who convert during these public gatherings and the wide media coverage ofthese events add to their success. They are much criticized by Christians(especially church officials), for stirring up interreligious conflicts, and

by Muslims, who consider them lacking in Islamic knowledge and thusunqualified to preach Islam.Similar observations on the battle for the public sphere are made bySchulz in her contribution on a group of Muslim women inMali. These

women captured the religious public sphere by praying together with menand celebrating the Mawlud next to male fellow Muslims. During the

Mawlud, their leaders, who are women too, preach in public?a novelty notonly for Mali, but Islamic societies in general, where women are traditionallyconfined to the household and are forbidden to practice their faith in publicplaces. Women who attend prayer at the mosque usually have to pray in aseparate corner behind the men, curtained off by a screen. This applies to

Muslim women in Mali as much as elsewhere in the Muslim world; however, the women described by Schulz pray in public, clearly visible by male

Muslims. Like the Muslim Bible scholars, these women hope to gain widerpublic notice through new religious practices. While these practices areconsidered scandalous by many, the fact that they are talked about in publicand further transmitted through the media helps increase these groups'impact in the public sphere. The introduction of collective du'a (supplicatoryprayer) and salat (ritual of worship),4 as much as the huge public prayer meetings that bring together great numbers ofMuslims, is clearly derived from

Christian groups, in particular the Pentecostalists.



5/8

Traditionally, Muslims used to say their du'a prayers individually,regardless of whether these concerned spiritual pleas for God's mercy orforgiveness?or more worldly demands, such as for material prosperity inthis world. To do this in a public assembly, as happens nowadays inMali,

Nigeria, and other West African countries, is an entirely novel phenomenon.5Even more striking is the fact that these meetings bring together Muslim

^ men and women, and sometimes even Muslims and Christians.6 Here, prayer2. deploys its fullest economic, communicative, and sociable meaning,o3> Mass, Enactment of Violence, and Conversionen? Islamic revivalism in the public sphere of sub-Saharan Africa is also promul

gated through the circulation of videotapes (Krings). These tapes use crowds- of believers to impress the public by their numbers, and they show masses_ of "pagans" converting to Islam after succumbing to victorious Muslim^ jihadists or the persuasion of Muslim missionaries.

o The need to show masses of people converting to Islam echoes anC? (imagined or real) era in Islamic history. In that golden age, Islam, being? the dominant religion, attracted huge amounts numbers of converts. This

0 celebration of mass conversation is reflected in sura 110, al-Nasr (Victory).7^

The presentation of mass subjugationto Islam as a result of battle

> with the sword and/or the word echoes not only Islam's early golden age,^ but also the historic expansion of Islam in sub-Saharan Africa. Krings, in his^ contribution on this topic, analyzes a new film genre, which emerged aroundS 2002 within the popular video film industry of Northern Nigeria. These

3feature films depict Muslim mujahids and missionaries in their efforts to1 convert "heathen" tribes to Islam. The impact of these films is enhancedci by the press, which reports on the films' storylines and comments on the? socioreligious debates they inspire. Krings reminds us that there is a long tra1 dition of medialization, politicization, and sometimes exaggeration of mass30 conversion in Northern Nigeria, from the 19th-century jihads to the mass^ conversions led by Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto and Prime Minister^ of North Nigeria between 1954 and 1966. According to Krings, these filmsJ are but the last staging of mass conversions to Islam in Northern Nigeria,2 even if these conversions are purely fictional. One has to ask whether these> films represent a sublimated or repressed desire for jihad, which, instead of

being actually pursued are enacted on screen, or whether they are proof of ageneral sense of frustration over a glorious lost past.

Krings maintains that the emergence of these films has to be seenin the context of Islamic revivalism in Nigeria, especially in the northernregion, where Islamic law [Sharia) has been implemented. Interestingly, thenew genre is directed at a Muslim public and does not aim at convertingnon-Muslims to Islam. These films, as much as Sharia, serve above all toreinforce the religious identity of Nigeria's Muslim population, particularlyin the north of the country. Nigerian Muslims have come to feel more and



6/8

more threatened by the influence of Christians in the country, especiallythat of the PentecostalistS; they feel they are losing to the Christians muchof their former political power within the federal system. It is difficult tosay whether this sense of loss is justified or not; its consequences, however,are very real, and they have to be taken into account when dealing with thecurrent sociopolitical discontent.

However, Islamic revivalism in sub-Saharan Africa is not only happen- Ping in a sublimated form through the films described by Krings, in which ?3.religious violence is projected on screen: it is also carried out by armed parebel groups, whose leaders convert to Islam to gain a better status in local Opolitics. De M?ntelos, in his contribution, looks at a wave of conversions 5and violent clashes that have resulted from rivalry between rebel gangs in 2Niger. He focuses on Asari Dokubo (El-Hadj), leader of the armed group *Niger Delta Volunteer Force. A former Christian, Dokubo became head of -

the group after his conversion to Islam. De M?ntelos explains why many~'

Nigerian gang leaders are attracted by Islam. After their conversion, most ofthe rebel gang leaders promote a radical form of Islam. De M?ntelos raises >the question whether it is Islam that is radical or the rebel leaders' adapta- 2tion of it, with their military-political ambitions. In questioning the reasons ^for Islamic radicalism, De M?ntelos transcends the conceptual framework 3of this volume. Is radical Islam based on purely religious motivations? or isit a part of

apolitical struggle that

uses Islam? Surprisingly few people havethought it possible that the answer may lie somewhere in between. To putit in the words of Asari Dokubo himself: "The God took me to Islam, andIslam suited my revolutionary spirit/' Dokubo's rhetoric, intentions, andobjectives echo those of radical Islamists elsewhere,- however, De M?ntelosis above all concerned with the reasons why African rebel gang leaders areattracted to Islam.

De M?ntelos finds that one of the main reasons for this affinity isthat the Islamic Republic of Iran and al-Qaeda have challenged the allegedlyomnipotent U.S. hegemony?which makes Islam very appealing to many

young African rebels. Subsequently, de M?ntelos compares Asari Dokuboof the Niger Delta Volunteer Force with Ndura Waruinge (who, since hisconversion to Islam, calls himself Ibrahim), head of the Mungiki movementin Kenia. Neither case is unique or exceptional. The "religious turn" ofthese leaders?that is, their conversion to Islam?was probably politically

motivated in the beginning, but genuine religious feelings have eventuallyemerged. This refers to the nature of conversion in general: people may convert for purely mundane reasons, and yet this "opportunist" move makes

way for truly religious beliefs, thus representing amajor secret of the conversion process. The articles present in this issue point to the distinctiveness ofIslamic revivalism in sub-Saharan Africa. Although in many ways it bearsresemblance to revivalist movements elsewhere, particularly in the Arab

world, sub-Saharan Islamic revivalism is first and foremost shaped throughlocal cultures and religious particularities. In this context, the competition

between Muslim groups and Christian churches is of particular importance.



7/8

Both Muslims and Christians, especially the Pentecostalists and Charismatics, simultaneously mimic and fight each other. Moreover, both Muslimand Christian leaders in sub-Saharan Africa increasingly engage in socialmatters and politics. However, what prevails in the end for both Muslimand Christian leaders is rarely the public good but rather the need to win

more and more converts. Thus, their contribution to conflict resolution andpromotion of democracy in the region is negligible.

NOTES

1. The present volume is the outcome of a conference on "Conversion, Modernity and theIndividual with particular reference to Islam inAfrica and Asia," held in Berlin on 25 and 26

November 2005. Some of the papers given at this conference will be published) separatelyin the Journal of Religion inAfrica under the title Biographies of African Conversion. The confer

ence was organized by Tabea Scharrer, Chanfi Ahmed, and Achim von Oppen at the ZentrumModerner Orient / Centre for Modern Oriental Studies (ZMO), directed by Professor Dr. UlrikeFreitag, a Middle Eastern historian. Founded in 1996, the ZMO is the only research center inGermany that follows an interdisciplinary and comparative approach to the history of theMiddle East, Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Research focuses on Muslim societies andtheir linkages to neighboring non-Muslim regions.

2. Reinhard Bonnke, born in 1940 in Kaliningrad (K?nigsberg), belongs to the Pentecostal istmovement. He studied theology at the Bible College of Wales in Swansea before working asa pastor ina small municipality innorthern Germany for seven years. In 1974, he founded hisown mission, the Christus f?r alle Nationen (Christ for All Nations) in Frankfurt-am-Main. Hismission isentirely financed through donations. It ismost active inAfrica, especially southernNigeria. Itsmain activities consist of'crusades," which assemble hundreds of believers. Duringthese events, Bonnke preaches and produces miracles, ranging from the healing of sick peopleto exorcism through the laying on of hands. These practices, and the fact that Bonnke mostlychooses regions with a strong Muslim population for his crusades, have been much criticized,especially since they often incite interreligious clashes, which have so far led to the death ofa dozen people.

3. On the methods of this Islamic missionary movement, see Gaborieau 2006; Masud 2000; Reetz2006; Sikand 2002; van der Veer 2004.

4. For the different meanings of prayer in Islam, see Bowen 2000; Parkin 2000.5. During the ZMO conference in Berlin, Amidu Sani gave a paper on the new phenomenon of

Muslim prayer groups. These are organized public prayers inwhich believers, both men andwomen, gather at huge public places to ask God for his benefaction in this world and the next.Sometimes they are joined by Christians, who pray to the god of Islam to accord them prosperity.These prayers closely resemble prayers inPentecostal prayer assemblies and exemplify the

Pentecostal theology of prosperity.6. Surprisingly, discussions on the emergence of a new Islamic public sphere have so far neglectedthis phenomenon. Similarly, no research has been done on the rise of "tele-Islamist" preachers,such as the Egyptian 'AmrKhaled.To take but one example, there isno mention of these issuesina recently published book on the Islamic public sphere (Salvatore and Eickelman 2004).



8/8

7. "When God's help and victory come, and you see men embrace God's faith inmultitudes,give glory to your Lord and seeks His pardon. He is ever disposed to mercy." Sura 110: 1-3,The Koran 1995:603.

REFERENCES

Asamoah-Gyadu Johnson Kwabena. 2005. African Charismatics: Current Developments within Independent Indigenous Pentecostalism inGhana. Leiden: Brill.

Bowen, John R. 2000. Imputations of Faith and Allegiance: Islamic Prayer and Indonesian PoliticsOutside the Mosque. In Islamic Prayer across the Indian Ocean: Inside and outside the Mosque,edited by David Parkin and Stephen Headley. Richmond: Curzon.

Gaborieau, Marc. 2006. What is left of Sufism in Tablighi Jamaat? Archives de Sciences des Religions135:53-72.

Heuser, Andreas. 2006. Doing Crusade or: Defining "Good" Christianity on Stage: A Case Study fromGhana. Paper presented at the VAD conference of 2006 in Frankfurt-am-Main.

The Koran. 1995. N. J.Dawood, trans. London: Penguin Books.K?rschner-Pelkmann, Frank. 2002. Die Theologie Reinhard Bonnkes: Ein Pfingstprediger und seine

Mission?eine kritische Analyse. Hamburg: Breklumer Druckrei.Masud, Muhammad Khalid, ed. 2000. Travellers inFaith: Studies of the Tablighi Jama atas a Transnational

Islamic Movement for Faith Renewal. Leiden: Brill.Parkin, David. 2000. Invocation: Salaa, Dua, Sadaka and the Question of Self-Determination. In Islamic

Prayer across the Indian Ocean: Inside and outside the Mosque, edited by David Parkin andStephen Headley. Richmond: Curzon.

Reetz, Dietrich. 2006. Sufi Spirituality Fires Reformist Zeal: The Tablighi Jamaat inToday India andPakistan. Archives de Sciences des Religions 135:33-51.

Salvatore, Armando, and Dale F. Eickelman. 2004. Public Islam and the Common Good. Leiden: Brill.Sikand, Singh Yoginder. 2002. The Origins and Development of the Tablighi Jamaat (1920-1990). Delhi:

Orient Longman,van der Veer, Peter. 2004. Secrecy and Publicity in the South Asian Public Arena. InPublic Islam and the

Common Good, edited by Armando Salvatore and Dale Eickelman. Leiden: Brill.

This content downloaded from 134.58.253.57 on Thu, 5 Jun 2014 09:05:47 AM
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

performing islamic revival in africa chanfi ahmed

Documents