Approaches to the History and Society of the Southwestern Sahara

The Study of Sufi Culture as an Alternate Paradigm

Authors

  • Mohamed Lahbib Nouhi Ibnou Zohr University, Agadir Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/rsth.v32i1.31

Keywords:

Sub-Saharan Africa, Sufism, Zwâya culture, Islamic political power, Islamic religious authority

Abstract

Western modernist theories conjectured that an inevitable shift in the location of decision-making from religious leaders and institutions claiming divine authority to agencies legitimating their authority by reference to different sources of power would bring about secularization of society and state in the modern world. They anticipated that the intervention of religious leaders in politics would no longer happen in modern societies; they held that this shift would bring about a separation between politics and religion relegating the latter to the private sphere. That this has not occurred, at least in Islamic contexts, undermines the paradigm. This article argues that the study of Sufi history and society in Southwestern Sahara points to alternate paradigms. These allow us to suggest that Islamic cultures may operate according to distinctive models in the relationship between political power and religious authority that may well have wider application.

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Published

2013-12-12

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Articles

How to Cite

Nouhi, M. L. (2013). Approaches to the History and Society of the Southwestern Sahara: The Study of Sufi Culture as an Alternate Paradigm. Religious Studies and Theology, 32(1), 31-56. https://doi.org/10.1558/rsth.v32i1.31