The Jakhanke Muslim clerics : a religious and historical study of Islam in Senegambia

Bibliographic Information

The Jakhanke Muslim clerics : a religious and historical study of Islam in Senegambia

Lamin Sanneh

University Press of America, c1989

Available at  / 3 libraries

Search this Book/Journal

Note

English and Arabic

Includes bibliographical references (p. 293-312) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

This book attempts the first major study of the Jakhanke people. The Jakhanke have since the thirteenth century been a specialist group of Muslim clerics and teachers, living among the Serakhulle, from whom they sprang, and the Manding, whose language they speak. Despite the nineteenth-century ambience of militancy, they maintained their tradition of consistent pacifism and political neutrality which is unique in Muslim Black Africa. Their manuscripts and clan histories survive today in precious family collections and libraries. The author has drawn on these histories, present-day interviews, travellers' observations and colonial reports to weave a fascinating, comprehensive study of the Jakhanke for the first time in any language. The author traces the details of their wanderings and analyzes important themes such as their system of education, their function as dream-interpreters and amulet-makers and finally, the dark side of the coin, the dependence of their way of life on the institution of slavery. Includes photos and maps.

by "Nielsen BookData"

Details

Page Top