Other Ways of Reading the Qur'an and the Bible in Africa

Isaiah Shembe and 'Shaykh' Ahmadu Bamba

Authors

  • Gerald O West University of KwaZulu-Natal
  • Tahir Fuzile Sitoto University of KwaZulu-Natal

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/post.v1i1.47

Keywords:

Shaykh Ahmadu Bamba, Isaiah Shembe, African Christianity, Islam in Africa, Qur'anic hermeneutics

Abstract

This article explores how religion possesses and is possessed by Africans. It does this by recognising both the power of religion to configure and of Africans as agents who reconfigure what they encounter in their African contexts. The central question of this article is how placing African agency and context in the forefront reconfigures talk of Islam and Christianity in Africa. The question is taken up through an analysis of two African religious leaders, Shaykh Ahmadu Bamba from West Africa and Isaiah Shembe from South Africa.

Author Biographies

  • Gerald O West, University of KwaZulu-Natal

    Gerald O. West is a lecturer in Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, and Director of the Ujamaa Centre for Community Development and Research in the School of Religion and Theology, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

  • Tahir Fuzile Sitoto, University of KwaZulu-Natal

    Tahir Fuzile Sitoto is a lecturer in Islam Studies and Religion Studies in the School of Religion and Theology, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and is currently studying for a PhD at the State University of New York, at Binghamton.

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Published

2005-04-28

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

West, G. O., & Sitoto, T. F. (2005). Other Ways of Reading the Qur’an and the Bible in Africa: Isaiah Shembe and ’Shaykh’ Ahmadu Bamba. Postscripts: The Journal of Sacred Texts, Cultural Histories, and Contemporary Contexts, 1(1), 47-76. https://doi.org/10.1558/post.v1i1.47

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