Muslim SocietyOf all the great world religions, Islam appears to have the most powerful political appeal in the twentieth century. It sustains some severely traditional and conservative regimes, but it is also capable of generating intense revolutionary ardour and of blending with extreme social radicalism. As an agent of political mobilisation, it seems to be overtaking Marxism, arid surpassing all other religions. The present book seeks the roots of this situation in the past. The traditional Muslim society of the arid zone has, in the past, displayed remarkable stability and homogeneity, despite great political fragmentation, and the absence of a centralised religious hierarchy. The book explores the mechanisms which have contributed to this result - a civilisation in which (in the main) weak states co-existed with a strong culture, which had a powerful hold over the populations under its sway. A literate Great Tradition, in the keeping of urban scholars, lived side by side with a more emotive, ecstatic folk tradition, ill tile keeping of holy lineages, religious brotherhoods and freelance saints. One tradition was sustained by the urban trading class and periodically swept the rest of the society in waves of revivalist enthusiasm; the other was based on the multiple functions it performed in rural tribal society and amongst the urban poor. The two traditions were intertwined, yet remained in latent tension which from time to time came to tile surface. The book traces the manner in which the impact of the modern world, acting through colonialism arid industrialisation upset the once stable balance, and helped the erstwhile urban Great Tradition to become the pervasive arid dominant one, culminating in the zealous arid radical Islam which is so prominent now. The argument is both formulated in the abstract and illustrated by a series of case studies and examinations of specific aspects, and critical examinations of rival interpretations. |
Contents
Flux and reflux in the faith of men | 1 |
Cohesion and identity the Maghreb from Ibn Khaldun to Emile Durkheim1 | 86 |
Posttraditional forms in Islam the turf and trade and votes and peanuts | 99 |
Doctor and saint | 114 |
Sanctity puritanism secularisation and nationalism in North Africa a case study | 131 |
The unknown Apollo of Biskra the social base of Algerian puritanism | 149 |
Trousers in Tunisia | 174 |
The sociology of Robert Montagne 18931954 | 179 |
Patterns of rural rebellion in Morocco during the early years of independence | 194 |
Saints and their descendants | 207 |
The marabouts in the marketplace | 214 |
Rulers and tribesmen | 221 |
Notes | 231 |
247 | |
252 | |
Common terms and phrases
Algeria amongst Arab authority Ben Badis Berber Berque Biskra central centralised centre century civilisation claims clan Clifford Geertz cohesion colonial conflict contrast course cult cultural dissidence divine dominant doubt Dr Rabinow dynasty economic effective egalitarian elite European fact faith favour French Gide groups hence High Atlas holy lineages Hume Ibn Khaldun important instance interesting invoked Islam Ismailis kind Koranic leader leadership least London Maghreb Makhzen Mamluks marabouts mediation Merad modern Montagne Montagne's moral Moroccan Morocco movement Muslim Muslim societies mystical Nedroma nomads North Africa observes organisation Ottoman Ottoman Empire pastoral pastoralists perhaps political population puritan Reform religion religious ritual role rule rulers rural saintly saints scholars scripturalist seems segmentary segments Shaikh social sociological specialised spiritual style Sufi Sufism theory towns townsmen trade traditional tribal society tribes tribesmen Tunisia ulama urban whilst Wolof zawiya