Al-Hajj Salim Suwari

Edit links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Islamic scholar) who focused on the responsibilities of Muslim minorities residing in a non-Muslim society. He formulated an important theological rationale for peaceful coexistence with the non-Muslim ruling classes called the Suwarian tradition, which survives to this day despite the pressures of modernism.[1]

Background

The spread of Islam throughout West Africa was a concomitant of long-distance trade by

pagan" lands (dar al-kufr
).

Suwarian tradition

Sheikh Suwari formulated the obligations of

proselytizing), instead contending that Allah would bring non-Muslims to Islam in His own way; it was not a Muslim's responsibility to decide when ignorance should give way to belief: (g) Muslims must ensure that, by their commitment to education and learning, they keep their observance of the Law free from error.[2]

Influence of the Suwarian tradition

Suwarians articulate an ideological level, without straying from

animist rulers.[4]

The Suwarian tradition was a realistic rationale for Muslims living in the woodland and forest regions of West Africa over the past five or six centuries. It was not without tension that came in part from the missionary dimension of Islam itself; it was challenged by Muslim reformers in recent centuries. Its neat compartments were obscured by occasional intermarriage between merchants and rulers. But the Suwarian tradition was resilient and useful, and it is probably similar to the positions of many African Muslim communities who found themselves in situations of inferior numbers and force, took advantage of their networks for trade, and enjoyed good relations with their "pagan" hosts.[5]

Spread of the Suwarian school

Al-Hajj Salim's scholarly activity was centered on the town of Jagha in the bilâd as-sûdân (Western Sudan), but his influence was greatest along the southern fringes of the Manding trade network, and corresponds to the period of the disintegration of the old Malian empire. From the accounts of Ivor Wilks and Lamin Sanneh it is difficult to date the lifespan of Salim Suwari. Wilks dates his life around the late 15th century, while Sanneh thinks he lived two centuries earlier, around the late 13th century. Differences notwithstanding, Wilks intimates that his teachings were nurtured by his followers in Niger, Senegal and middle section of the Niger river from where they conveyed the tradition to the Voltaic region in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Wilks describes it as "pacifistic and quietist in content," implying a tolerant and respectful approach to non-Muslims, while in the words of Sanneh, one of the imperatives of the tradition is its "travel or mobility (al-safar) involving the penetration of distant lands for the purposes of religion."[6]

Scholarly legacy

The Suwari school of thought was a scholarly discipline that enjoyed a substantial number of

Kong, Côte d'Ivoire
to Sa’id bin Abd al-Qadir, of Wa.

It may not be stretching the point to suggest that the same tradition of ulema, especially the

Nigerian
origin. And His great grandson Shiek Alhaj Baba Suwari of Wenchi in Ghana also contributed to massive spread of Islam in the sub-region.

The

Jakhanke people also trace their spiritual ancestry to al-Hajj Salim Suwari, and since they believed that the spirits of dead saints kept guard over their followers and interceded for them before Allah, the graves of al-Hajj Salim and other great teachers were centers for pilgrimage.[7]

Notes

  1. ISBN 9781317463993
    .
  2. ^ See Wilks in Levtzion and Pouwels 2000:98
  3. ^ N. Levtzion, Eighteenth Century Renewal & Reform in Islam, Syracuse University Press, 1987, p. 21.
  4. ^ Launay, R., Beyond the Stream: Islam & Society in a West African Town. Berkeley, 1992
  5. ^ David Robinson, Muslim Societies in African History
  6. ^ See Wilks, "Wa and the Wala," p. 98, and also Sanneh, "The Crown and the Turban," p. 37
  7. ^ Ira M. Lapidus, A History of Islamic Societies

References

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Al-Hajj_Salim_Suwari&oldid=1220783381"