Islam and the construction of social identity in the nineteenth-century Sahara

Journal of African History

Volumn 39, Issue 3, 1998, Pages 365-388

  Cleaveland, Timothy ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

NINETEENTH CENTURY; PASTORALISM; RELIGION;

AFRICA;

EID: 0032455562     PISSN: 00218537     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0021853798007336     Document Type: Article

References (118)

1. Several scholars have documented social dynamism in the pre-colonial Sahara, and their work has informed my research. In particular I would like to thank Abdel Wedoud Ould Cheikh, Glen McLaughlin, James L. A. Webb, Ann McDougall and Raymond Taylor for their collegiality and generosity. These scholars have contributed to an emerging literature that examines the way Africans across the continent have used language to shape their societies and their own places in them. For example, in East Africa, John Berntsen, Richard Waller, John Galaty, Thomas Spear and many others have explored similar issues among the Maasai and their neighbors, as have Paul Baxter and Jonathon Glassman among the Oromo and Swahili respectively. See Thomas Spear and Richard Waller (eds.), Being Maasai : Ethnicity and Identity in East Africa (London, 1993); Paul Baxter et al. (eds.), Being and Becoming Oromo : Historical and Anthropological Enquiries (Lawrenceville, 1996); and Jonathon Glassman, Feasts and Riots: Revelry, Rebellion and Popular Consciousness on the Swahili Coast, 1856-1888 (Portsmouth, 1994).
2. Several scholars have documented social dynamism in the pre-colonial Sahara, and their work has informed my research. In particular I would like to thank Abdel Wedoud Ould Cheikh, Glen McLaughlin, James L. A. Webb, Ann McDougall and Raymond Taylor for their collegiality and generosity. These scholars have contributed to an emerging literature that examines the way Africans across the continent have used language to shape their societies and their own places in them. For example, in East Africa, John Berntsen, Richard Waller, John Galaty, Thomas Spear and many others have explored similar issues among the Maasai and their neighbors, as have Paul Baxter and Jonathon Glassman among the Oromo and Swahili respectively. See Thomas Spear and Richard Waller (eds.), Being Maasai : Ethnicity and Identity in East Africa (London, 1993); Paul Baxter et al. (eds.), Being and Becoming Oromo : Historical and Anthropological Enquiries (Lawrenceville, 1996); and Jonathon Glassman, Feasts and Riots: Revelry, Rebellion and Popular Consciousness on the Swahili Coast, 1856-1888 (Portsmouth, 1994).
3. Several scholars have documented social dynamism in the pre-colonial Sahara, and their work has informed my research. In particular I would like to thank Abdel Wedoud Ould Cheikh, Glen McLaughlin, James L. A. Webb, Ann McDougall and Raymond Taylor for their collegiality and generosity. These scholars have contributed to an emerging literature that examines the way Africans across the continent have used language to shape their societies and their own places in them. For example, in East Africa, John Berntsen, Richard Waller, John Galaty, Thomas Spear and many others have explored similar issues among the Maasai and their neighbors, as have Paul Baxter and Jonathon Glassman among the Oromo and Swahili respectively. See Thomas Spear and Richard Waller (eds.), Being Maasai : Ethnicity and Identity in East Africa (London, 1993); Paul Baxter et al. (eds.), Being and Becoming Oromo : Historical and Anthropological Enquiries (Lawrenceville, 1996); and Jonathon Glassman, Feasts and Riots: Revelry, Rebellion and Popular Consciousness on the Swahili Coast, 1856-1888 (Portsmouth, 1994).
4. For the effects of French politics on social relations in the western Saharan, see Charles Stewart, 'Political authority and social stratification in Mauritania', in Ernest Gellner and Charles Micaud (eds.), Arabs and Berbers : From Tribe to Nation in North Africa (London, 1973), 376-86, as well as Edmond Bernus, 'Nobles et religieux: l'intervention coloniale dans une rivalité ancienne', and Pierre Bonte, 'L'émir et les colonels, pouvoir colonial et pouvoir émiral en Adrar mauritanien', in Edmond Bernus et al. (eds.), Nomades et commandants: administration et sociétés nomades dans l'ancienne A.O.F. (Paris, 1993).
5. For the effects of French politics on social relations in the western Saharan, see Charles Stewart, 'Political authority and social stratification in Mauritania', in Ernest Gellner and Charles Micaud (eds.), Arabs and Berbers : From Tribe to Nation in North Africa (London, 1973), 376-86, as well as Edmond Bernus, 'Nobles et religieux: l'intervention coloniale dans une rivalité ancienne', and Pierre Bonte, 'L'émir et les colonels, pouvoir colonial et pouvoir émiral en Adrar mauritanien', in Edmond Bernus et al. (eds.), Nomades et commandants: administration et sociétés nomades dans l'ancienne A.O.F. (Paris, 1993).
6. For the effects of French politics on social relations in the western Saharan, see Charles Stewart, 'Political authority and social stratification in Mauritania', in Ernest Gellner and Charles Micaud (eds.), Arabs and Berbers : From Tribe to Nation in North Africa (London, 1973), 376-86, as well as Edmond Bernus, 'Nobles et religieux: l'intervention coloniale dans une rivalité ancienne', and Pierre Bonte, 'L'émir et les colonels, pouvoir colonial et pouvoir émiral en Adrar mauritanien', in Edmond Bernus et al. (eds.), Nomades et commandants: administration et sociétés nomades dans l'ancienne A.O.F. (Paris, 1993).
7. Many scholars have addressed the symbolic importance of the hijra for nineteenth-century jihadists in West Africa, such as Uthmān Dan Fodio and al-H(combining dot below)ājj Umar Tal. Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below)'s use of the word is somewhat different, as it refers to social formations that are not related to jihad, but there are nevertheless striking similarities. See John Hanson's discussion of hijra and fergo, the Fulfuldé equivalent, in 'Islam, migration and the political economy of meaning: Fergo Nioro from the Senegal River valley, 1862-1890', J. Afr. Hist., XXXV (1994), 37-60, and Migration, Jihad, and Muslim Authority in West Africa (Bloomington, 1996), 29-31 and 72-87.
8. Many scholars have addressed the symbolic importance of the hijra for nineteenth-century jihadists in West Africa, such as Uthmān Dan Fodio and al-H(combining dot below)ājj Umar Tal. Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below)'s use of the word is somewhat different, as it refers to social formations that are not related to jihad, but there are nevertheless striking similarities. See John Hanson's discussion of hijra and fergo, the Fulfuldé equivalent, in 'Islam, migration and the political economy of meaning: Fergo Nioro from the Senegal River valley, 1862-1890', J. Afr. Hist., XXXV (1994), 37-60, and Migration, Jihad, and Muslim Authority in West Africa (Bloomington, 1996), 29-31 and 72-87.
9. Al-Yadālī outlined this model in Shiyyam al-Zawāyā (The Character of the Scholars) and Amr al-Walī Nās(combining dot below)ir al-Dīn (History of the Saint Nās(combining dot below)ir al-Dīn), which are edited and translated in Ismael Hamet's Chroniques de la Mauritanie sénégalaise (Paris, 1911). The extant copies of these texts are not dated, but al-Yadālī probably wrote them in the latter part of his life, which ended in 1753. There is, however, some uncertainty about the authorship of Amr al-Walī Nās(combining dot below)ir al-Dīn. Muh(combining dot below)ammadun Uld Bābbāh addressed this issue in Al-Shaykh Muh(combining dot below)ammad al-Yadālī : Nus(combining dot below)ūs(combining dot below) min al-Tārīkh al-Mauritānī, (Tunis, 1990), 29-35.
10. Al-Yadālī outlined this model in Shiyyam al-Zawāyā (The Character of the Scholars) and Amr al-Walī Nās(combining dot below)ir al-Dīn (History of the Saint Nās(combining dot below)ir al-Dīn), which are edited and translated in Ismael Hamet's Chroniques de la Mauritanie sénégalaise (Paris, 1911). The extant copies of these texts are not dated, but al-Yadālī probably wrote them in the latter part of his life, which ended in 1753. There is, however, some uncertainty about the authorship of Amr al-Walī Nās(combining dot below)ir al-Dīn. Muh(combining dot below)ammadun Uld Bābbāh addressed this issue in Al-Shaykh Muh(combining dot below)ammad al-Yadālī : Nus(combining dot below)ūs(combining dot below) min al-Tārīkh al-Mauritānī, (Tunis, 1990), 29-35.
11. Al-Yadālī outlined this model in Shiyyam al-Zawāyā (The Character of the Scholars) and Amr al-Walī Nās(combining dot below)ir al-Dīn (History of the Saint Nās(combining dot below)ir al-Dīn), which are edited and translated in Ismael Hamet's Chroniques de la Mauritanie sénégalaise (Paris, 1911). The extant copies of these texts are not dated, but al-Yadālī probably wrote them in the latter part of his life, which ended in 1753. There is, however, some uncertainty about the authorship of Amr al-Walī Nās(combining dot below)ir al-Dīn. Muh(combining dot below)ammadun Uld Bābbāh addressed this issue in Al-Shaykh Muh(combining dot below)ammad al-Yadālī : Nus(combining dot below)ūs(combining dot below) min al-Tārīkh al-Mauritānī, (Tunis, 1990), 29-35.
12. I will refer to this model of Saharan society as the 'colonial model', rather than 'al-Yadālī's model', as it is also the product of al-Yadālī's immediate successors and later interpreters, especially the early French colonial scholars. In Shiyyam al-Zawāyā al-Yadālī described the religious qualities of the zawāyā and the persecution they suffered at the hands of some of the H(combining dot below)assān, especially during the war he called Shur Bubba. Hamet, Chroniques de la Mauritanie sénégalaise, ff. 54-6 and 66-8. Additional early evidence regarding Shur Bubba is recorded in Chambonneau's 'Relation du Sieur Chambonneau, commis de la compagnie de Sénégal, du voyage par lui fait en remontant le Niger', in Bulletin de géographie historique et descriptive, II (1898), 308-21, and René Basset, Mission au Sénégal, Publications de la Faculté des Lettres d'Alger, no. 39 (Paris, 1909). For a general description of the war of Shur Bubba, see the introductory chapter of Charles Stewart's Islam and Social Order (Oxford, 1973),
13. I will refer to this model of Saharan society as the 'colonial model', rather than 'al-Yadālī's model', as it is also the product of al-Yadālī's immediate successors and later interpreters, especially the early French colonial scholars. In Shiyyam al-Zawāyā al-Yadālī described the religious qualities of the zawāyā and the persecution they suffered at the hands of some of the H(combining dot below)assān, especially during the war he called Shur Bubba. Hamet, Chroniques de la Mauritanie sénégalaise, ff. 54-6 and 66-8. Additional early evidence regarding Shur Bubba is recorded in Chambonneau's 'Relation du Sieur Chambonneau, commis de la compagnie de Sénégal, du voyage par lui fait en remontant le Niger', in Bulletin de géographie historique et descriptive, II (1898), 308-21, and René Basset, Mission au Sénégal, Publications de la Faculté des Lettres d'Alger, no. 39 (Paris, 1909). For a general description of the war of Shur Bubba, see the introductory chapter of Charles Stewart's Islam and Social Order (Oxford, 1973),
14. I will refer to this model of Saharan society as the 'colonial model', rather than 'al-Yadālī's model', as it is also the product of al-Yadālī's immediate successors and later interpreters, especially the early French colonial scholars. In Shiyyam al-Zawāyā al-Yadālī described the religious qualities of the zawāyā and the persecution they suffered at the hands of some of the H(combining dot below)assān, especially during the war he called Shur Bubba. Hamet, Chroniques de la Mauritanie sénégalaise, ff. 54-6 and 66-8. Additional early evidence regarding Shur Bubba is recorded in Chambonneau's 'Relation du Sieur Chambonneau, commis de la compagnie de Sénégal, du voyage par lui fait en remontant le Niger', in Bulletin de géographie historique et descriptive, II (1898), 308-21, and René Basset, Mission au Sénégal, Publications de la Faculté des Lettres d'Alger, no. 39 (Paris, 1909). For a general description of the war of Shur Bubba, see the introductory chapter of Charles Stewart's Islam and Social Order (Oxford, 1973),
15. I will refer to this model of Saharan society as the 'colonial model', rather than 'al-Yadālī's model', as it is also the product of al-Yadālī's immediate successors and later interpreters, especially the early French colonial scholars. In Shiyyam al-Zawāyā al-Yadālī described the religious qualities of the zawāyā and the persecution they suffered at the hands of some of the H(combining dot below)assān, especially during the war he called Shur Bubba. Hamet, Chroniques de la Mauritanie sénégalaise, ff. 54-6 and 66-8. Additional early evidence regarding Shur Bubba is recorded in Chambonneau's 'Relation du Sieur Chambonneau, commis de la compagnie de Sénégal, du voyage par lui fait en remontant le Niger', in Bulletin de géographie historique et descriptive, II (1898), 308-21, and René Basset, Mission au Sénégal, Publications de la Faculté des Lettres d'Alger, no. 39 (Paris, 1909). For a general description of the war of Shur Bubba, see the introductory chapter of Charles Stewart's Islam and Social Order (Oxford, 1973), or Ould Cheikh's Éléments d'histoire de la Mauritanie (Nouakchott, 1988), 62-91.
16. I will refer to this model of Saharan society as the 'colonial model', rather than 'al-Yadālī's model', as it is also the product of al-Yadālī's immediate successors and later interpreters, especially the early French colonial scholars. In Shiyyam al-Zawāyā al-Yadālī described the religious qualities of the zawāyā and the persecution they suffered at the hands of some of the H(combining dot below)assān, especially during the war he called Shur Bubba. Hamet, Chroniques de la Mauritanie sénégalaise, ff. 54-6 and 66-8. Additional early evidence regarding Shur Bubba is recorded in Chambonneau's 'Relation du Sieur Chambonneau, commis de la compagnie de Sénégal, du voyage par lui fait en remontant le Niger', in Bulletin de géographie historique et descriptive, II (1898), 308-21, and René Basset, Mission au Sénégal, Publications de la Faculté des Lettres d'Alger, no. 39 (Paris, 1909). For a general description of the war of Shur Bubba, see the introductory chapter of Charles Stewart's Islam and Social Order (Oxford, 1973), or Ould Cheikh's Éléments d'histoire de la Mauritanie (Nouakchott, 1988), 62-91.
17. The French employed similar Arab/Berber dichotomies and policies in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. For a summary of this literature, see Patricia Lorcin, Imperial Identities : Stereotyping, Prejudice and Race in Colonial Algeria (London, 1995), 217-37. In the late seventies, several scholars began to argue that twentieth-century notions of African ethnicity and 'tribalism' were largely a creation of colonial politics. For a review of this literature, see Terence Ranger, 'The invention of tradition in colonial Africa' in Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger (eds.), The Invention of Tradition, (Cambridge, 1983).
18. The French employed similar Arab/Berber dichotomies and policies in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. For a summary of this literature, see Patricia Lorcin, Imperial Identities : Stereotyping, Prejudice and Race in Colonial Algeria (London, 1995), 217-37. In the late seventies, several scholars began to argue that twentieth-century notions of African ethnicity and 'tribalism' were largely a creation of colonial politics. For a review of this literature, see Terence Ranger, 'The invention of tradition in colonial Africa' in Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger (eds.), The Invention of Tradition, (Cambridge, 1983).
19. Some of these colonial scholars were indigenous Muslims who co-operated with the French colonial administrations in North and West Africa. Ismael Hamet was one such scholar, and his introduction to Chroniques de la Mauritanie sénégalaise is one of the earliest colonial interpretations of al-Yadālī's work. A similar interpretation by Shaykh Sidiyya (d. 1924) was published by Paul Marty, a prolific colonial ethnographer, in 1921 under the title 'Tableau historique de Cheikh Sidia', in the Bulletin, Comité d'Etudes Historiques et Scientifiques de l'Afrique Occidentale Française. Shaykh Sidiyya's opinions on the character and identity of the zawāyā helped to shape European views of Saharan society. The relevant sections are found in Tārīkh Imārat Īdaw 'Īsh wa Mashz(combining dot below)ūf, ff. 19-22, Haroun Ould Cheikh Sidia Library, Boutilimit (HOCS), copy on microfilm at the Illinois Archives, University of Illinois, MS #736. Paul Marty eventually published about a dozen volumes on Muslim societies throughout the western Sahara, Senegal and Guinea. For his views on the zawāyā, see Marty, Etudes sur l'Islam et les tribus maures : Les Brakna (Paris, 1921). For other French views, see G. Poulet, Les Maures de l'Afrique occidentale française (Paris, 1904) and F. de la Chapelle, 'Esquisse d'une histoire du Sahara occidental', Hesperis, XI (1930), 35-95.
20. Some of these colonial scholars were indigenous Muslims who co-operated with the French colonial administrations in North and West Africa. Ismael Hamet was one such scholar, and his introduction to Chroniques de la Mauritanie sénégalaise is one of the earliest colonial interpretations of al-Yadālī's work. A similar interpretation by Shaykh Sidiyya (d. 1924) was published by Paul Marty, a prolific colonial ethnographer, in 1921 under the title 'Tableau historique de Cheikh Sidia', in the Bulletin, Comité d'Etudes Historiques et Scientifiques de l'Afrique Occidentale Française. Shaykh Sidiyya's opinions on the character and identity of the zawāyā helped to shape European views of Saharan society. The relevant sections are found in Tārīkh Imārat Īdaw 'Īsh wa Mashz(combining dot below)ūf, ff. 19-22, Haroun Ould Cheikh Sidia Library, Boutilimit (HOCS), copy on microfilm at the Illinois Archives, University of Illinois, MS #736. Paul Marty eventually published about a dozen volumes on Muslim societies throughout the western Sahara, Senegal and Guinea. For his views on the zawāyā, see Marty, Etudes sur l'Islam et les tribus maures : Les Brakna (Paris, 1921). For other French views, see G. Poulet, Les Maures de l'Afrique occidentale française (Paris, 1904) and F. de la Chapelle, 'Esquisse d'une histoire du Sahara occidental', Hesperis, XI (1930), 35-95.
21. Some of these colonial scholars were indigenous Muslims who co-operated with the French colonial administrations in North and West Africa. Ismael Hamet was one such scholar, and his introduction to Chroniques de la Mauritanie sénégalaise is one of the earliest colonial interpretations of al-Yadālī's work. A similar interpretation by Shaykh Sidiyya (d. 1924) was published by Paul Marty, a prolific colonial ethnographer, in 1921 under the title 'Tableau historique de Cheikh Sidia', in the Bulletin, Comité d'Etudes Historiques et Scientifiques de l'Afrique Occidentale Française. Shaykh Sidiyya's opinions on the character and identity of the zawāyā helped to shape European views of Saharan society. The relevant sections are found in Tārīkh Imārat Īdaw 'Īsh wa Mashz(combining dot below)ūf, ff. 19-22, Haroun Ould Cheikh Sidia Library, Boutilimit (HOCS), copy on microfilm at the Illinois Archives, University of Illinois, MS #736. Paul Marty eventually published about a dozen volumes on Muslim societies throughout the western Sahara, Senegal and Guinea. For his views on the zawāyā, see Marty, Etudes sur l'Islam et les tribus maures : Les Brakna (Paris, 1921). For other French views, see G. Poulet, Les Maures de l'Afrique occidentale française (Paris, 1904) and F. de la Chapelle, 'Esquisse d'une histoire du Sahara occidental', Hesperis, XI (1930), 35-95.
22. Some of these colonial scholars were indigenous Muslims who co-operated with the French colonial administrations in North and West Africa. Ismael Hamet was one such scholar, and his introduction to Chroniques de la Mauritanie sénégalaise is one of the earliest colonial interpretations of al-Yadālī's work. A similar interpretation by Shaykh Sidiyya (d. 1924) was published by Paul Marty, a prolific colonial ethnographer, in 1921 under the title 'Tableau historique de Cheikh Sidia', in the Bulletin, Comité d'Etudes Historiques et Scientifiques de l'Afrique Occidentale Française. Shaykh Sidiyya's opinions on the character and identity of the zawāyā helped to shape European views of Saharan society. The relevant sections are found in Tārīkh Imārat Īdaw 'Īsh wa Mashz(combining dot below)ūf, ff. 19-22, Haroun Ould Cheikh Sidia Library, Boutilimit (HOCS), copy on microfilm at the Illinois Archives, University of Illinois, MS #736. Paul Marty eventually published about a dozen volumes on Muslim societies throughout the western Sahara, Senegal and Guinea. For his views on the zawāyā, see Marty, Etudes sur l'Islam et les tribus maures : Les Brakna (Paris, 1921). For other French views, see G. Poulet, Les Maures de l'Afrique occidentale française (Paris, 1904) and F. de la Chapelle, 'Esquisse d'une histoire du Sahara occidental', Hesperis, XI (1930), 35-95.
23. Some of these colonial scholars were indigenous Muslims who co-operated with the French colonial administrations in North and West Africa. Ismael Hamet was one such scholar, and his introduction to Chroniques de la Mauritanie sénégalaise is one of the earliest colonial interpretations of al-Yadālī's work. A similar interpretation by Shaykh Sidiyya (d. 1924) was published by Paul Marty, a prolific colonial ethnographer, in 1921 under the title 'Tableau historique de Cheikh Sidia', in the Bulletin, Comité d'Etudes Historiques et Scientifiques de l'Afrique Occidentale Française. Shaykh Sidiyya's opinions on the character and identity of the zawāyā helped to shape European views of Saharan society. The relevant sections are found in Tārīkh Imārat Īdaw 'Īsh wa Mashz(combining dot below)ūf, ff. 19-22, Haroun Ould Cheikh Sidia Library, Boutilimit (HOCS), copy on microfilm at the Illinois Archives, University of Illinois, MS #736. Paul Marty eventually published about a dozen volumes on Muslim societies throughout the western Sahara, Senegal and Guinea. For his views on the zawāyā, see Marty, Etudes sur l'Islam et les tribus maures : Les Brakna (Paris, 1921). For other French views, see G. Poulet, Les Maures de l'Afrique occidentale française (Paris, 1904) and F. de la Chapelle, 'Esquisse d'une histoire du Sahara occidental', Hesperis, XI (1930), 35-95.
24. The term 'indirect rule' is generally associated with the British, and yet French administration in much of West Africa relied on similar strategies. For an example of how French understandings of lineage theory affected colonial administration, see my analysis of Lieutenant Marquenet's work in 'Becoming Walātī: a study of politics, kinship and social identity in pre-colonial Walāta' (Ph.D. thesis, Northwestern University, 1995), 202-5. For a similar case in Morocco, see Dale Eickelman, The Middle East: An Anthropological Approach, (Englewood Cliffs, 1981), 96-7.
25. The term 'indirect rule' is generally associated with the British, and yet French administration in much of West Africa relied on similar strategies. For an example of how French understandings of lineage theory affected colonial administration, see my analysis of Lieutenant Marquenet's work in 'Becoming Walātī: a study of politics, kinship and social identity in pre-colonial Walāta' (Ph.D. thesis, Northwestern University, 1995), 202-5. For a similar case in Morocco, see Dale Eickelman, The Middle East: An Anthropological Approach, (Englewood Cliffs, 1981), 96-7.
26. For the early development of segmentary lineage theory, see Meyer Fortes and E. Evans-Pritchard, African Political Systems (London, 1940), and E. Evans-Pritchard, The Nuer (Oxford, 1940) and The Sanusi of Cyrenaica (Oxford, 1949). Evans-Pritchard's view of pastoral societies had been influenced by the work of W. Robertson Smith, especially his Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia (London, 1903).
27. For the early development of segmentary lineage theory, see Meyer Fortes and E. Evans-Pritchard, African Political Systems (London, 1940), and E. Evans-Pritchard, The Nuer (Oxford, 1940) and The Sanusi of Cyrenaica (Oxford, 1949). Evans-Pritchard's view of pastoral societies had been influenced by the work of W. Robertson Smith, especially his Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia (London, 1903).
28. For the early development of segmentary lineage theory, see Meyer Fortes and E. Evans-Pritchard, African Political Systems (London, 1940), and E. Evans-Pritchard, The Nuer (Oxford, 1940) and The Sanusi of Cyrenaica (Oxford, 1949). Evans-Pritchard's view of pastoral societies had been influenced by the work of W. Robertson Smith, especially his Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia (London, 1903).
29. For the early development of segmentary lineage theory, see Meyer Fortes and E. Evans-Pritchard, African Political Systems (London, 1940), and E. Evans-Pritchard, The Nuer (Oxford, 1940) and The Sanusi of Cyrenaica (Oxford, 1949). Evans-Pritchard's view of pastoral societies had been influenced by the work of W. Robertson Smith, especially his Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia (London, 1903).
30. H. T. Norris, Shinqīt(combining dot below)ī Folk Literature and Song (Oxford, 1968); Ernest Gellner, Saints of the Atlas (London, 1969); Stewart, Islam and Social Order.
31. H. T. Norris, Shinqīt(combining dot below)ī Folk Literature and Song (Oxford, 1968); Ernest Gellner, Saints of the Atlas (London, 1969); Stewart, Islam and Social Order.
32. H. T. Norris, Shinqīt(combining dot below)ī Folk Literature and Song (Oxford, 1968); Ernest Gellner, Saints of the Atlas (London, 1969); Stewart, Islam and Social Order.
33. Emrys Peters was perhaps the most important early critic of segmentary theory: Peters, 'Some structural aspects of the feud among camel herding bedouin of Cyrenaica', Africa, XXXVII, (1967), 261-82. For a summary of this critique, see Dale Eickelman, Middle East, 98-104.
34. Emrys Peters was perhaps the most important early critic of segmentary theory: Peters, 'Some structural aspects of the feud among camel herding bedouin of Cyrenaica', Africa, XXXVII, (1967), 261-82. For a summary of this critique, see Dale Eickelman, Middle East, 98-104.
35. Ernest Gellner, 'Introduction to Nomadism' in Cynthia Nelson (ed.), The Desert and the Sown (Berkeley, 1973), 3-6. For a similar discussion of the 'disjuncture' between ideology and social practice, see Pierre Bourdieu, Esquisse d'une théorie de la practique, précédé de trois études d'ethnologie kabyle (Geneva, 1972), which was translated as Outline of a Theory of Practice (Cambridge, 1977), 17-22 and 30-71. See also Pierre Bonte, 'Segmentarité et pouvoir chez les éleveurs nomades sahariens: éléments d'une problématique', in Le Groupe Écologie et Anthropologie des Sociétés Pastorales (ed.), Production pastorale et société (Paris, 1979), 171-200. Dale Eickelman summarised the general view of this literature: '[t]here is no question that segmentary ideologies provide a native model of tribal society, but the question remains regarding the extent to which it is an accurate analytical model of the social order of societies so characterized'. Eickelman, Middle East, 100.
36. Ernest Gellner, 'Introduction to Nomadism' in Cynthia Nelson (ed.), The Desert and the Sown (Berkeley, 1973), 3-6. For a similar discussion of the 'disjuncture' between ideology and social practice, see Pierre Bourdieu, Esquisse d'une théorie de la practique, précédé de trois études d'ethnologie kabyle (Geneva, 1972), which was translated as Outline of a Theory of Practice (Cambridge, 1977), 17-22 and 30-71. See also Pierre Bonte, 'Segmentarité et pouvoir chez les éleveurs nomades sahariens: éléments d'une problématique', in Le Groupe Écologie et Anthropologie des Sociétés Pastorales (ed.), Production pastorale et société (Paris, 1979), 171-200. Dale Eickelman summarised the general view of this literature: '[t]here is no question that segmentary ideologies provide a native model of tribal society, but the question remains regarding the extent to which it is an accurate analytical model of the social order of societies so characterized'. Eickelman, Middle East, 100.
37. Ernest Gellner, 'Introduction to Nomadism' in Cynthia Nelson (ed.), The Desert and the Sown (Berkeley, 1973), 3-6. For a similar discussion of the 'disjuncture' between ideology and social practice, see Pierre Bourdieu, Esquisse d'une théorie de la practique, précédé de trois études d'ethnologie kabyle (Geneva, 1972), which was translated as Outline of a Theory of Practice (Cambridge, 1977), 17-22 and 30-71. See also Pierre Bonte, 'Segmentarité et pouvoir chez les éleveurs nomades sahariens: éléments d'une problématique', in Le Groupe Écologie et Anthropologie des Sociétés Pastorales (ed.), Production pastorale et société (Paris, 1979), 171-200. Dale Eickelman summarised the general view of this literature: '[t]here is no question that segmentary ideologies provide a native model of tribal society, but the question remains regarding the extent to which it is an accurate analytical model of the social order of societies so characterized'. Eickelman, Middle East, 100.
38. Ernest Gellner, 'Introduction to Nomadism' in Cynthia Nelson (ed.), The Desert and the Sown (Berkeley, 1973), 3-6. For a similar discussion of the 'disjuncture' between ideology and social practice, see Pierre Bourdieu, Esquisse d'une théorie de la practique, précédé de trois études d'ethnologie kabyle (Geneva, 1972), which was translated as Outline of a Theory of Practice (Cambridge, 1977), 17-22 and 30-71. See also Pierre Bonte, 'Segmentarité et pouvoir chez les éleveurs nomades sahariens: éléments d'une problématique', in Le Groupe Écologie et Anthropologie des Sociétés Pastorales (ed.), Production pastorale et société (Paris, 1979), 171-200. Dale Eickelman summarised the general view of this literature: '[t]here is no question that segmentary ideologies provide a native model of tribal society, but the question remains regarding the extent to which it is an accurate analytical model of the social order of societies so characterized'. Eickelman, Middle East, 100.
39. Ernest Gellner, 'Introduction to Nomadism' in Cynthia Nelson (ed.), The Desert and the Sown (Berkeley, 1973), 3-6. For a similar discussion of the 'disjuncture' between ideology and social practice, see Pierre Bourdieu, Esquisse d'une théorie de la practique, précédé de trois études d'ethnologie kabyle (Geneva, 1972), which was translated as Outline of a Theory of Practice (Cambridge, 1977), 17-22 and 30-71. See also Pierre Bonte, 'Segmentarité et pouvoir chez les éleveurs nomades sahariens: éléments d'une problématique', in Le Groupe Écologie et Anthropologie des Sociétés Pastorales (ed.), Production pastorale et société (Paris, 1979), 171-200. Dale Eickelman summarised the general view of this literature: '[t]here is no question that segmentary ideologies provide a native model of tribal society, but the question remains regarding the extent to which it is an accurate analytical model of the social order of societies so characterized'. Eickelman, Middle East, 100.
40. Ahmed Baba Miské, 'al-Wasit: tableau de la Mauritanie à la fin du xixème siècle, Bulletin de l'I.F.A.N., sér. B, XXX (1968), 117-64. Miské's work is a critical analysis of Ahmed Lamine ech-Chinguite's 1911 study of Saharan culture and society entitled Al-Was(combining dot below)īt (Saint Louis, 1953). See also Norris, 'Znāga Islam during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries', B.S.O.A.S., XXXII (1969), 496-526.
41. Ahmed Baba Miské, 'al-Wasit: tableau de la Mauritanie à la fin du xixème siècle, Bulletin de l'I.F.A.N., sér. B, XXX (1968), 117-64. Miské's work is a critical analysis of Ahmed Lamine ech-Chinguite's 1911 study of Saharan culture and society entitled Al-Was(combining dot below)īt (Saint Louis, 1953). See also Norris, 'Znāga Islam during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries', B.S.O.A.S., XXXII (1969), 496-526.
42. Ahmed Baba Miské, 'al-Wasit: tableau de la Mauritanie à la fin du xixème siècle, Bulletin de l'I.F.A.N., sér. B, XXX (1968), 117-64. Miské's work is a critical analysis of Ahmed Lamine ech-Chinguite's 1911 study of Saharan culture and society entitled Al-Was(combining dot below)īt (Saint Louis, 1953). See also Norris, 'Znāga Islam during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries', B.S.O.A.S., XXXII (1969), 496-526.
43. Philip Curtin, 'Jihad in West Africa', J. Afr. Hist., XII (1971), 13.
44. In 1973, Charles Stewart stated that '[i]ndeed, the event of Shurr Bubba has taken on the importance of a foundation myth in the Moors' conception of the origins and functions of social classes in their society. The fact that a similar hierarchy most probably existed prior to Shurr Bubba, or that this rigid post-Shurr Bubba hierarchy glosses over numerous exceptions to the Mauritanians' own model of their social stratification, presents little challenge to the model...' Stewart, Islam and Social Order, 16. Similarly, in 1982, H. T. Norris wrote that, '[s]ome H(combining dot below)assānī Arab groups had their own equivalent of the Zawāyā from among their kinsmen, so that a clear-cut distinction between Zawāyā/Berber and Military Aristocracy/Arab can only be made in the broadest terms'. Norris, The Berbers in Arabic Literature (London, 1982), 196.
45. In 1973, Charles Stewart stated that '[i]ndeed, the event of Shurr Bubba has taken on the importance of a foundation myth in the Moors' conception of the origins and functions of social classes in their society. The fact that a similar hierarchy most probably existed prior to Shurr Bubba, or that this rigid post-Shurr Bubba hierarchy glosses over numerous exceptions to the Mauritanians' own model of their social stratification, presents little challenge to the model...' Stewart, Islam and Social Order, 16. Similarly, in 1982, H. T. Norris wrote that, '[s]ome H(combining dot below)assānī Arab groups had their own equivalent of the Zawāyā from among their kinsmen, so that a clear-cut distinction between Zawāyā/Berber and Military Aristocracy/Arab can only be made in the broadest terms'. Norris, The Berbers in Arabic Literature (London, 1982), 196.
46. Charles Stewart argued that this special leadership drew much of its power from Sufism and the charisma of the Sufi shaykh. Stewart, Islam and Social Order, 12-20, 151-3. Stewart's analysis was very insightful, especially considering its relatively early date. Although he accepted the segmentary model as 'traditional', he nevertheless had opened the door to a more radical rethinking of the model's relevance in Saharan history. Indeed, several scholars wrote during this period about the social power of Sufi organizations. See Jamil Abun-Nasr, The Tijaniyya : A Sufi Order in the Modern World (Oxford, 1965); Lucy Behrman, Muslim Brotherhoods and Politics in Senegal (Cambridge, 1970); and Donal Cruise O'Brien, The Mourides of Senegal : The Political and Economic Organization of an Islamic Brotherhood (Oxford, 1971).
47. Charles Stewart argued that this special leadership drew much of its power from Sufism and the charisma of the Sufi shaykh. Stewart, Islam and Social Order, 12-20, 151-3. Stewart's analysis was very insightful, especially considering its relatively early date. Although he accepted the segmentary model as 'traditional', he nevertheless had opened the door to a more radical rethinking of the model's relevance in Saharan history. Indeed, several scholars wrote during this period about the social power of Sufi organizations. See Jamil Abun-Nasr, The Tijaniyya : A Sufi Order in the Modern World (Oxford, 1965); Lucy Behrman, Muslim Brotherhoods and Politics in Senegal (Cambridge, 1970); and Donal Cruise O'Brien, The Mourides of Senegal : The Political and Economic Organization of an Islamic Brotherhood (Oxford, 1971).
48. Charles Stewart argued that this special leadership drew much of its power from Sufism and the charisma of the Sufi shaykh. Stewart, Islam and Social Order, 12-20, 151-3. Stewart's analysis was very insightful, especially considering its relatively early date. Although he accepted the segmentary model as 'traditional', he nevertheless had opened the door to a more radical rethinking of the model's relevance in Saharan history. Indeed, several scholars wrote during this period about the social power of Sufi organizations. See Jamil Abun-Nasr, The Tijaniyya : A Sufi Order in the Modern World (Oxford, 1965); Lucy Behrman, Muslim Brotherhoods and Politics in Senegal (Cambridge, 1970); and Donal Cruise O'Brien, The Mourides of Senegal : The Political and Economic Organization of an Islamic Brotherhood (Oxford, 1971).
49. Charles Stewart argued that this special leadership drew much of its power from Sufism and the charisma of the Sufi shaykh. Stewart, Islam and Social Order, 12-20, 151-3. Stewart's analysis was very insightful, especially considering its relatively early date. Although he accepted the segmentary model as 'traditional', he nevertheless had opened the door to a more radical rethinking of the model's relevance in Saharan history. Indeed, several scholars wrote during this period about the social power of Sufi organizations. See Jamil Abun-Nasr, The Tijaniyya : A Sufi Order in the Modern World (Oxford, 1965); Lucy Behrman, Muslim Brotherhoods and Politics in Senegal (Cambridge, 1970); and Donal Cruise O'Brien, The Mourides of Senegal : The Political and Economic Organization of an Islamic Brotherhood (Oxford, 1971).
50. Abdel Wedoud Ould Cheikh, Éléments d'histoire, 64-7. See also Ould Cheikh's 'La tribu comme volonté et comme représentation. Le facteur religieux dans l'organisation d'une tribu maure : les Awlād Abyayri', in Pierre Bonte et al. (eds.), al-Ansāb : la quēte des origines : anthropologie historique de la société tribale arabe (Paris, 1991), and 'Nomadisme, Islam et pouvoir politique dans la société Maure précoloniale (Xlème siècle-XIXème siècle): essai sur quelques aspects du tribalisme' (Thèse de Doctorat d'État, Université de Paris V, 1985).
51. Abdel Wedoud Ould Cheikh, Éléments d'histoire, 64-7. See also Ould Cheikh's 'La tribu comme volonté et comme représentation. Le facteur religieux dans l'organisation d'une tribu maure : les Awlād Abyayri', in Pierre Bonte et al. (eds.), al-Ansāb : la quēte des origines : anthropologie historique de la société tribale arabe (Paris, 1991), and 'Nomadisme, Islam et pouvoir politique dans la société Maure précoloniale (Xlème siècle-XIXème siècle): essai sur quelques aspects du tribalisme' (Thèse de Doctorat d'État, Université de Paris V, 1985).
52. Abdel Wedoud Ould Cheikh, Éléments d'histoire, 64-7. See also Ould Cheikh's 'La tribu comme volonté et comme représentation. Le facteur religieux dans l'organisation d'une tribu maure : les Awlād Abyayri', in Pierre Bonte et al. (eds.), al-Ansāb : la quēte des origines : anthropologie historique de la société tribale arabe (Paris, 1991), and 'Nomadisme, Islam et pouvoir politique dans la société Maure précoloniale (Xlème siècle-XIXème siècle): essai sur quelques aspects du tribalisme' (Thèse de Doctorat d'État, Université de Paris V, 1985).
53. Raymond Taylor, 'Warriors, tributaries, blood money and political transformation in nineteenth-century Mauritania', J. Afr. Hist., XXXVI (1995), 419-20. Taylor elaborated on this argument in 'Of disciples and sultans: power, authority and society in the nineteenth century Mauritanian Gebla', (Ph.D. thesis, University of Illinois, 1996).
54. Raymond Taylor, 'Warriors, tributaries, blood money and political transformation in nineteenth-century Mauritania', J. Afr. Hist., XXXVI (1995), 419-20. Taylor elaborated on this argument in 'Of disciples and sultans: power, authority and society in the nineteenth century Mauritanian Gebla', (Ph.D. thesis, University of Illinois, 1996).
55. Taylor, 'Of disciples and sultans', 247. Taylor also described the process by which people of various social and ethnic origins coalesced into H(combining dot below)assānī communities in the eighteenth century.
56. H(combining dot below)aswa, HOCS, MS #1275. All my citations refer to this copy. I thank Charles Stewart, who microfilmed and catalogued the Haroun Ould Cheikh Sidia Library and aided me in using this remarkable collection. I also thank the Center for African Studies at the University of Illinois for funding a month of research in the Cheikh Sidia Collection in 1993. For a review of genealogical (nasab) literature from an anthropology perspective, see Pierre Bonte et al. (eds.), al-Ansāb, 7-136.
57. H(combining dot below)aswa, HOCS, MS #1275. All my citations refer to this copy. I thank Charles Stewart, who microfilmed and catalogued the Haroun Ould Cheikh Sidia Library and aided me in using this remarkable collection. I also thank the Center for African Studies at the University of Illinois for funding a month of research in the Cheikh Sidia Collection in 1993. For a review of genealogical (nasab) literature from an anthropology perspective, see Pierre Bonte et al. (eds.), al-Ansāb, 7-136.
58. H. T. Norris credited Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below) with eight major treatises. Norris, The Arab Conquest of the Western Sahara (Beirut, 1986), 268. I do not have access to these texts, nor do I have many specifics on Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below)'s life. He barely figures in the two most important nineteenth-century historical texts written in Walāta, which are described below. Two students at Mauritania's Ēcole Normale Supérieure wrote short Mémoirs on his life and work. Al-H(combining dot below)ajj ibn Muh(combining dot below)ammad, 'S(combining dot below)ālih b. 'Abd al-Wahhāb, H(combining dot below)ayātuhu wa āthāruhu' (Nouakchott, 1983), and Ah(combining dot below)mad b. Mah(combining dot below)fūd(combining dot below), 'Al-H(combining dot below)aswa albaysāniyya fi 'ilm al-ansāb al-h(combining dot below)assāniyya: tah(combining dot below)līl wa tah(combining dot below)qīq' (Nouakchott, 1984).
59. H. T. Norris credited Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below) with eight major treatises. Norris, The Arab Conquest of the Western Sahara (Beirut, 1986), 268. I do not have access to these texts, nor do I have many specifics on Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below)'s life. He barely figures in the two most important nineteenth-century historical texts written in Walāta, which are described below. Two students at Mauritania's Ēcole Normale Supérieure wrote short Mémoirs on his life and work. Al-H(combining dot below)ajj ibn Muh(combining dot below)ammad, 'S(combining dot below)ālih b. 'Abd al-Wahhāb, H(combining dot below)ayātuhu wa āthāruhu' (Nouakchott, 1983), and Ah(combining dot below)mad b. Mah(combining dot below)fūd(combining dot below), 'Al-H(combining dot below)aswa albaysāniyya fi 'ilm al-ansāb al-h(combining dot below)assāniyya: tah(combining dot below)līl wa tah(combining dot below)qīq' (Nouakchott, 1984).
60. H. T. Norris credited Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below) with eight major treatises. Norris, The Arab Conquest of the Western Sahara (Beirut, 1986), 268. I do not have access to these texts, nor do I have many specifics on Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below)'s life. He barely figures in the two most important nineteenth-century historical texts written in Walāta, which are described below. Two students at Mauritania's Ēcole Normale Supérieure wrote short Mémoirs on his life and work. Al-H(combining dot below)ajj ibn Muh(combining dot below)ammad, 'S(combining dot below)ālih b. 'Abd al-Wahhāb, H(combining dot below)ayātuhu wa āthāruhu' (Nouakchott, 1983), and Ah(combining dot below)mad b. Mah(combining dot below)fūd(combining dot below), 'Al-H(combining dot below)aswa albaysāniyya fi 'ilm al-ansāb al-h(combining dot below)assāniyya: tah(combining dot below)līl wa tah(combining dot below)qīq' (Nouakchott, 1984).
61. Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below) received much of his information from informal conversations with various individuals of H(combining dot below)assānī descent resident in Walāta or the region, some of whom he names in his text. This suggests that his view of H(combining dot below)assānī society is a synthesis of the views of many others.
62. There are three collections of essays that describe the social and economic relations between nomadic and settled peoples: W. Irons and N. Dyson-Hudson (eds.), Perspectives on Nomadism (Leiden, 1972); Cynthia Nelson (ed.), The Desert and the Sown (Berkeley, 1973); and Philip Salzman (ed.), When Nomads Settle (Berkeley, 1980).
63. There are three collections of essays that describe the social and economic relations between nomadic and settled peoples: W. Irons and N. Dyson-Hudson (eds.), Perspectives on Nomadism (Leiden, 1972); Cynthia Nelson (ed.), The Desert and the Sown (Berkeley, 1973); and Philip Salzman (ed.), When Nomads Settle (Berkeley, 1980).
64. There are three collections of essays that describe the social and economic relations between nomadic and settled peoples: W. Irons and N. Dyson-Hudson (eds.), Perspectives on Nomadism (Leiden, 1972); Cynthia Nelson (ed.), The Desert and the Sown (Berkeley, 1973); and Philip Salzman (ed.), When Nomads Settle (Berkeley, 1980).
65. Both verbs, 'to migrate' and 'to emigrate', may describe a movement into a new territory that results in settlement there. However, in common usage the word 'migrant' often carries the connotation of regular, almost nomadic, movements. Therefore this essay will exclusively use the words 'to emigrate' and 'emigrants' to refer to movements into new territories that result in resettlement.
66. While this essay focuses on how Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below) perceived H(combining dot below)assānī social change, and not on the scale of sedentarization, southern emigration or the transition from camel to cattle pastoralism, there is strong evidence for these trends. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, three trading towns were founded by formerly nomadic H(combining dot below)assān. The Awlād Billa established Agrayjīt; the Awlād Allūsh seized a small village called Bassikūnū and turned it into a trading town; and the Awlād Nās(combining dot below)ir, from whom Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below) claimed descent, founded the town of Timbedra. See Ould Cheikh, Éléments d'histoire, 41-51; Cleaveland, 'Becoming Walātī', 95-104 and 140-205; and Webb, Desert Frontier, 3-67. (See Map 1.)
67. While this essay focuses on how Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below) perceived H(combining dot below)assānī social change, and not on the scale of sedentarization, southern emigration or the transition from camel to cattle pastoralism, there is strong evidence for these trends. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, three trading towns were founded by formerly nomadic H(combining dot below)assān. The Awlād Billa established Agrayjīt; the Awlād Allūsh seized a small village called Bassikūnū and turned it into a trading town; and the Awlād Nās(combining dot below)ir, from whom Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below) claimed descent, founded the town of Timbedra. See Ould Cheikh, Éléments d'histoire, 41-51; Cleaveland, 'Becoming Walātī', 95-104 and 140-205; and Webb, Desert Frontier, 3-67. (See Map 1.)
68. While this essay focuses on how Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below) perceived H(combining dot below)assānī social change, and not on the scale of sedentarization, southern emigration or the transition from camel to cattle pastoralism, there is strong evidence for these trends. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, three trading towns were founded by formerly nomadic H(combining dot below)assān. The Awlād Billa established Agrayjīt; the Awlād Allūsh seized a small village called Bassikūnū and turned it into a trading town; and the Awlād Nās(combining dot below)ir, from whom Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below) claimed descent, founded the town of Timbedra. See Ould Cheikh, Éléments d'histoire, 41-51; Cleaveland, 'Becoming Walātī', 95-104 and 140-205; and Webb, Desert Frontier, 3-67. (See Map 1.)
69. Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below) used the word muhājirūn and its derivatives more than any other social category. See, for example, the H(combining dot below)aswa, ff. 18, 23, 26-8, 35-6, 46, 55, 63, 64, 70-4, 78, 81, 83, 85-6, 88, 90-5, 98, etc.
70. Mukhtār Wuld H(combining dot below)amidun (d. 1993), a Mauritanian scholar who studied the H(combining dot below)aswa extensively, defined muhājirūn as an eastern Mauritanian term referring to a H(combining dot below)assānī or tributary who had become zawāyā or t(combining dot below)olba (scholars). Norris, Shinqiti Folk Literature, 105. Ould Cheikh considered the word muhājirūn to mean the 'penitent' or the 'exiles', and to be roughly equivalent to the term tā'ibūn (s. tawba). Ould Cheikh, Eléments d'histoire, 58, 106. Shaykh Sidiyya (d. 1924) used the terms muhājirūn and tā'ibūn in a way similar to Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below). Shaykh Sidiyya, Tārīkh Imāratayn Idaw 'Ish wa Mashz(combining dot below)ūf, ff. 12, 14, and 20. HOCS, MS #736. For a translation see Norris, Saharan Myth and Saga, 178, 180, 190.
71. Mukhtār Wuld H(combining dot below)amidun (d. 1993), a Mauritanian scholar who studied the H(combining dot below)aswa extensively, defined muhājirūn as an eastern Mauritanian term referring to a H(combining dot below)assānī or tributary who had become zawāyā or t(combining dot below)olba (scholars). Norris, Shinqiti Folk Literature, 105. Ould Cheikh considered the word muhājirūn to mean the 'penitent' or the 'exiles', and to be roughly equivalent to the term tā'ibūn (s. tawba). Ould Cheikh, Eléments d'histoire, 58, 106. Shaykh Sidiyya (d. 1924) used the terms muhājirūn and tā'ibūn in a way similar to Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below). Shaykh Sidiyya, Tārīkh Imāratayn Idaw 'Ish wa Mashz(combining dot below)ūf, ff. 12, 14, and 20. HOCS, MS #736. For a translation see Norris, Saharan Myth and Saga, 178, 180, 190.
72. Mukhtār Wuld H(combining dot below)amidun (d. 1993), a Mauritanian scholar who studied the H(combining dot below)aswa extensively, defined muhājirūn as an eastern Mauritanian term referring to a H(combining dot below)assānī or tributary who had become zawāyā or t(combining dot below)olba (scholars). Norris, Shinqiti Folk Literature, 105. Ould Cheikh considered the word muhājirūn to mean the 'penitent' or the 'exiles', and to be roughly equivalent to the term tā'ibūn (s. tawba). Ould Cheikh, Eléments d'histoire, 58, 106. Shaykh Sidiyya (d. 1924) used the terms muhājirūn and tā'ibūn in a way similar to Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below). Shaykh Sidiyya, Tārīkh Imāratayn Idaw 'Ish wa Mashz(combining dot below)ūf, ff. 12, 14, and 20. HOCS, MS #736. For a translation see Norris, Saharan Myth and Saga, 178, 180, 190.
73. Mukhtār Wuld H(combining dot below)amidun (d. 1993), a Mauritanian scholar who studied the H(combining dot below)aswa extensively, defined muhājirūn as an eastern Mauritanian term referring to a H(combining dot below)assānī or tributary who had become zawāyā or t(combining dot below)olba (scholars). Norris, Shinqiti Folk Literature, 105. Ould Cheikh considered the word muhājirūn to mean the 'penitent' or the 'exiles', and to be roughly equivalent to the term tā'ibūn (s. tawba). Ould Cheikh, Eléments d'histoire, 58, 106. Shaykh Sidiyya (d. 1924) used the terms muhājirūn and tā'ibūn in a way similar to Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below). Shaykh Sidiyya, Tārīkh Imāratayn Idaw 'Ish wa Mashz(combining dot below)ūf, ff. 12, 14, and 20. HOCS, MS #736. For a translation see Norris, Saharan Myth and Saga, 178, 180, 190.
74. For the importance of hijra, see Muh(combining dot below)ammad Khalid Masud, 'The obligation to migrate: the doctrine of hijra in Islamic law', in Eickelman and Piscatori (eds.), Muslim Travellers, (Berkeley, 1990), 31-2. For a general discussion of the role of marriage in alliance formation, see Pierre Bonte et
75. For the importance of hijra, see Muh(combining dot below)ammad Khalid Masud, 'The obligation to migrate: the doctrine of hijra in Islamic law', in Eickelman and Piscatori (eds.), Muslim Travellers, (Berkeley, 1990), 31-2. For a general discussion of the role of marriage in alliance formation, see Pierre Bonte et al. (eds.), al-Ansāb, 13-50, and Jack Goody, Production and Reproduction : A Comparative Study of the Domestic Domain (Cambridge, 1976), 1-22. Pierre Bonte devoted an essay to marriage alliance among Saharan Arabs entitled 'Donneurs de femmes ou preneurs d'hommes: les Awlād Qaylan, tribu de l'Adrar mauritanien', L'Homme, XXVII (1987), 54-79.
76. For the importance of hijra, see Muh(combining dot below)ammad Khalid Masud, 'The obligation to migrate: the doctrine of hijra in Islamic law', in Eickelman and Piscatori (eds.), Muslim Travellers, (Berkeley, 1990), 31-2. For a general discussion of the role of marriage in alliance formation, see Pierre Bonte et al. (eds.), al-Ansāb, 13-50, and Jack Goody, Production and Reproduction : A Comparative Study of the Domestic Domain (Cambridge, 1976), 1-22. Pierre Bonte devoted an essay to marriage alliance among Saharan Arabs entitled 'Donneurs de femmes ou preneurs d'hommes: les Awlād Qaylan, tribu de l'Adrar mauritanien', L'Homme, XXVII (1987), 54-79.
77. For the importance of hijra, see Muh(combining dot below)ammad Khalid Masud, 'The obligation to migrate: the doctrine of hijra in Islamic law', in Eickelman and Piscatori (eds.), Muslim Travellers, (Berkeley, 1990), 31-2. For a general discussion of the role of marriage in alliance formation, see Pierre Bonte et al. (eds.), al-Ansāb, 13-50, and Jack Goody, Production and Reproduction : A Comparative Study of the Domestic Domain (Cambridge, 1976), 1-22. Pierre Bonte devoted an essay to marriage alliance among Saharan Arabs entitled 'Donneurs de femmes ou preneurs d'hommes: les Awlād Qaylan, tribu de l'Adrar mauritanien', L'Homme, XXVII (1987), 54-79.
78. This was the most common interpretation of the Maliki madhhab, which dominated the western Sahara. The Hanafi madhhab differed on some points. For a general discussion of this issue, see Masud, 'The obligation to migrate', 30-9. Masud is drawing on Abu Ja'far Muh(combining dot below)ammad b. Jarīr al-Tabarī, Jamī'al-bayān 'an ta'wīl āyāh al-Qur'ān, vol. XXIV (Cairo, 1958) 199; Abu Bakr Ah(combining dot below)mad b. 'Alī al-Rāzī Jassās, Ah(combining dot below)kām al-Qur'ān, vol. II (Istanbul, 1916), 241; and the Qur'ān, 8: 75.
79. This was the most common interpretation of the Maliki madhhab, which dominated the western Sahara. The Hanafi madhhab differed on some points. For a general discussion of this issue, see Masud, 'The obligation to migrate', 30-9. Masud is drawing on Abu Ja'far Muh(combining dot below)ammad b. Jarīr al-Tabarī, Jamī'al-bayān 'an ta'wīl āyāh al-Qur'ān, vol. XXIV (Cairo, 1958) 199; Abu Bakr Ah(combining dot below)mad b. 'Alī al-Rāzī Jassās, Ah(combining dot below)kām al-Qur'ān, vol. II (Istanbul, 1916), 241; and the Qur'ān, 8: 75.
80. This was the most common interpretation of the Maliki madhhab, which dominated the western Sahara. The Hanafi madhhab differed on some points. For a general discussion of this issue, see Masud, 'The obligation to migrate', 30-9. Masud is drawing on Abu Ja'far Muh(combining dot below)ammad b. Jarīr al-Tabarī, Jamī'al-bayān 'an ta'wīl āyāh al-Qur'ān, vol. XXIV (Cairo, 1958) 199; Abu Bakr Ah(combining dot below)mad b. 'Alī al-Rāzī Jassās, Ah(combining dot below)kām al-Qur'ān, vol. II (Istanbul, 1916), 241; and the Qur'ān, 8: 75.
81. This was the most common interpretation of the Maliki madhhab, which dominated the western Sahara. The Hanafi madhhab differed on some points. For a general discussion of this issue, see Masud, 'The obligation to migrate', 30-9. Masud is drawing on Abu Ja'far Muh(combining dot below)ammad b. Jarīr al-Tabarī, Jamī'al-bayān 'an ta'wīl āyāh al-Qur'ān, vol. XXIV (Cairo, 1958) 199; Abu Bakr Ah(combining dot below)mad b. 'Alī al-Rāzī Jassās, Ah(combining dot below)kām al-Qur'ān, vol. II (Istanbul, 1916), 241; and the Qur'ān, 8: 75.
82. Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below) provided several stories in which families emigrated and ended tributary relationships, such as the account of the Awlād 'Abd al-Wāhid. See Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below), H(combining dot below)aswa, ff. 45-7.
83. The H(combining dot below)aswa's stories of 'emigrants' almost always involved sedentarization, though Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below) never stated that muhājirūn could not remain nomadic. Once, however, he came close, stating 'Amar b. Ah(combining dot below)mad b. Henūn b. Li 'baydī and his descendants are emigrants (muhājirūn) and there are no 'arabs among them'. See Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below), H(combining dot below)aswa, f. 70.
84. This stereotype closely resembles Ibn Khaldūn's fourteenth-century dichotomy between nomadic and settled peoples. Ibn Khaldūn, The Muqaddimah, trans. by Fran Rosenthal (Princeton, 1989), 91-100 and 118-21. Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below) was familiar with Ibn Khaldūn's work and the stereotype, which local scholars had been using to discriminate legally against nomads. For example, in 1800 a Walātī biographer named T(combining dot below)ālib Muh(combining dot below)ammad al-Bartaylī described two mid seventeenth-century Walātī scholars who argued that charging interest to nomads was legal because of their predatory behavior. Al-Bartaylī, Fath(combining dot below) al-Shakūr (Beirut, 1981), 114.
85. This stereotype closely resembles Ibn Khaldūn's fourteenth-century dichotomy between nomadic and settled peoples. Ibn Khaldūn, The Muqaddimah, trans. by Fran Rosenthal (Princeton, 1989), 91-100 and 118-21. Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below) was familiar with Ibn Khaldūn's work and the stereotype, which local scholars had been using to discriminate legally against nomads. For example, in 1800 a Walātī biographer named T(combining dot below)ālib Muh(combining dot below)ammad al-Bartaylī described two mid seventeenth-century Walātī scholars who argued that charging interest to nomads was legal because of their predatory behavior. Al-Bartaylī, Fath(combining dot below) al-Shakūr (Beirut, 1981), 114.
86. Fred Donner, Early Islamic Conquests (New Jersey, 1981), 77-81.
87. Ibid. See also Masud, 'The obligation to migrate', 30-1.
88. Ibid. See also Masud, 'The obligation to migrate', 30-1.
89. For examples of Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below)'s use of the term tolba al-'ilm, or the shortened form t(combining dot below)olba, see the H(combining dot below)aswa, ff. 31, 32, 34, 37, 39, and 42. While al-Yadālī made little use of the term t(combining dot below)olba in Shiyyam al-Zawāyā, he used it much more often than the category zawāyā in Amr al-Walī Nās(combining dot below)ir al-Dīn.
90. Judging by Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below)'s usage of these terms, it seems that he believed all nomads ('arab) were ahel ibel, but not all ahel ibel were 'arab. That is, being 'arab signified something more than the basic characteristics common to peoples who herded camels. For examples, see the H(combining dot below)aswa, ff. 48, 51, 86. Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)̄lih(combining dot below) did not describe settled families as ahel bagar, though all wealthy Walātī families owned substantial cattle herds. Interview with Neh Wuld Abd al-Rahmān al-Walātī.
91. For the specific identification of the zawāyā with the Tashumsha, see Al-Yadālī, Shiyyam al-Zawāyā, ff. 1-7, in Hamet, Chroniques. For more on the t(combining dot below)olba, see Stewart, Islam and Social Order, 14, n. 3.
92. For the specific identification of the zawāyā with the Tashumsha, see Al-Yadālī, Shiyyam al-Zawāyā, ff. 1-7, in Hamet, Chroniques. For more on the t(combining dot below)olba, see Stewart, Islam and Social Order, 14, n. 3.
93. For the specific identification of the zawāyā with the Tashumsha, see Al-Yadālī, Shiyyam al-Zawāyā, ff. 1-7, in Hamet, Chroniques. For more on the t(combining dot below)olba, see Stewart, Islam and Social Order, 14, n. 3.
94. Interview with Neh Wuld Abd al-Rahmān al-Walātī. James Webb stated that the name t(combining dot below)olba referred to nomads of tributary status, a term comparable to 'talāmīdh'. Webb, Desert Frontier, 20-1. This was not the case in Walāta, where scholarly families claiming various origins, H(combining dot below)assānī and non-H(combining dot below)assānī, claimed to be t(combining dot below)olba. These scholarly Walātī families were tributary only in the sense that zawāyā were sometimes tributary. For an example of H(combining dot below)assȧnī families that became assimilated into a non-H(combining dot below)assānī group in Walāta, see the story of the Awlād Yūnus. Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below), al-H(combining dot below)aswa, ff. 17-8.
95. Interview with Neh Wuld Abd al-Rahmān al-Walātī. James Webb stated that the name t(combining dot below)olba referred to nomads of tributary status, a term comparable to 'talāmīdh'. Webb, Desert Frontier, 20-1. This was not the case in Walāta, where scholarly families claiming various origins, H(combining dot below)assānī and non-H(combining dot below)assānī, claimed to be t(combining dot below)olba. These scholarly Walātī families were tributary only in the sense that zawāyā were sometimes tributary. For an example of H(combining dot below)assȧnī families that became assimilated into a non-H(combining dot below)assānī group in Walāta, see the story of the Awlād Yūnus. Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below), al-H(combining dot below)aswa, ff. 17-8.
96. Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below) reckoned that Dāwūd, the eponymous ancestor of the confederation, was the great-grandson of H(combining dot below)assān. Dāwūd and his sons lived in the Tagānit among the Īdaw al-H(combining dot below)ājj, though it is not clear whether they were tributary to them. After a generation or two, most of the families claiming descent from Dāwūd moved eastward into the H(combining dot below)awd(combining dot below). Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below), H(combining dot below)aswa, ff. 1-5 and 20-4. Paul Marty recorded oral accounts from the western Sahara that attribute the separation of the children and grandchildren of Dāwūd to a shadowy 'black' sultan. Marty, Etudes sur l'Islam et les tribus du Soudan, vol. III (Paris, 1921), 15.
97. Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below) reckoned that Dāwūd, the eponymous ancestor of the confederation, was the great-grandson of H(combining dot below)assān. Dāwūd and his sons lived in the Tagānit among the Īdaw al-H(combining dot below)ājj, though it is not clear whether they were tributary to them. After a generation or two, most of the families claiming descent from Dāwūd moved eastward into the H(combining dot below)awd(combining dot below). Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below), H(combining dot below)aswa, ff. 1-5 and 20-4. Paul Marty recorded oral accounts from the western Sahara that attribute the separation of the children and grandchildren of Dāwūd to a shadowy 'black' sultan. Marty, Etudes sur l'Islam et les tribus du Soudan, vol. III (Paris, 1921), 15.
98. I have combined Bū Radda's names to form 'Būradda', in order to distinguish the corporate group from its patriarch.
99. The identity of Bu Radda's wife is unknown. Paul Marty wrongly stated that Khira Mint Krich (Akarīshāt) was his wife. Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below) described Khira as the wife of Bū Radda's grandson Sīdī Muh(combining dot below)ammad. Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below), H(combining dot below)aswa, f. 45-6.
100. Sīdī Muh(combining dot below)ammad's biography is in al-Bartayli's Fath(combining dot below) as-Shakūr, bio. #119, 132-3. 'Abd Allah al-Hajj was buried at a place called Dhalayl, south of Walāta. He was succeeded by his son Sīdī Muh(combining dot below)ammad who led the Būradda from 1750 until his death in 1774. Sīdī Muh(combining dot below)ammad was in turn succeeded by the eldest of his four sons, Sīdī al-Mukhtār, who led the group from 1774 until 1825. Marty, Etudes sur l'Islam et les tribus du Soudan, 40-52.
101. Marty, Etudes sur l'Islam et les tribus du Soudan, 40-52.
102. The Berabish claim H(combining dot below)assānī descent, and they have long lived among the Tuareg Berbers in the desert east of Walāta.
103. Marty described the different elements of the Būradda in terms of khayma or ' tents', each tent representing one nuclear family. Marty, Etudes sur l'Islam et les tribus du Soudan, 40-52. See also Ould Cheikh, Éléments d'histoire, 58 and 106.
104. Marty described the different elements of the Būradda in terms of khayma or ' tents', each tent representing one nuclear family. Marty, Etudes sur l'Islam et les tribus du Soudan, 40-52. See also Ould Cheikh, Éléments d'histoire, 58 and 106.
105. Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below), H(combining dot below)aswa, ff. 20-1.
106. Corroborating evidence for this story is found in two untitled manuscripts which I will refer to as the Tārīkh Walāta-I and Tārīkh Walāta-II. The Tārīkh Walāta-I states that al-H(combining dot below)ājj Sīdī Muh(combining dot below)ammad died in 1756/7 and Tārīkh Walāta-II states that his father al-H(combining dot below)ājj H(combining dot below)asan died in 1710/11. Tārīkh Walāta-I, 565 and Tārīkh Walāta-II, f. 4. (trans. 357). The Tārīkh Walāta-II was written (or edited) by T(combining dot below)ālib Būbakar al-Mah(combining dot below)jūbī (d. 1917) and was translated by Paul Marty in 'Les Chroniques de Oualata et de Néma' in Revue des Etudes Islamiques, I (1927). MS KLM 272, Faculté des Lettres, Université Muh(combining dot below)ammad V, Rabat. The author of the Tārīkh Walāta-I is unknown and the chronicle is currently only available in translation under the title 'Fragment des anciennes chroniques de Oualata' in Marty's 'Les Chroniques de Oualata et de Néma'.
107. Corroborating evidence for this story is found in two untitled manuscripts which I will refer to as the Tārīkh Walāta-I and Tārīkh Walāta-II. The Tārīkh Walāta-I states that al-H(combining dot below)Tārīkh Walāta-II states that his father al-H(combining dot below)ājj H(combining dot below)asan died in 1710/11. Tārīkh Walāta-I, 565 and Tārīkh Walāta-II, f. 4. (trans. 357). The Tārīkh Walāta-II was written (or edited) by T(combining dot below)ālib Būbakar al-Mah(combining dot below)jūbī (d. 1917) and was translated by Paul Marty in 'Les Chroniques de Oualata et de Néma' in Revue des Etudes Islamiques, I (1927). MS KLM 272, Faculté des Lettres, Université Muh(combining dot below)ammad V, Rabat. The author of the Tārīkh Walāta-I is unknown and the chronicle is currently only available in translation under the title 'Fragment des anciennes chroniques de Oualata' in Marty's 'Les Chroniques de Oualata et de Néma'.
108. Dakār's death is noted in the Tārīkh Walāta-II without details of the conflict, f. 4. (trans. 357). Tārīkh Walāta-I states that Shaykh al-Nās b. al-Hājj H(combining dot below)asan al-Zaydī died in 1773/4 and also gives a reference for the town of Fayt or Foit. See the Tārīkh Walāta-I, 567-571.
109. Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below), H(combining dot below)aswa, f. 22.
110. The emigration of this prominent Tishītī family to Masina apparently repeats a tendency which had existed a long time and was preserved in oral histories and finally recorded by al-Sa'dī, Tārīkh al-Sūdān, 22 (trans. 38).
111. Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below), H(combining dot below)aswa, ff. 22, 46 and 72-3. Notice also that muhājirūn could 'emigrate' into scholarly families of H(combining dot below)assānī descent, such as al-H(combining dot below)ajj H(combining dot below)asan's, as well as non-H(combining dot below)assān who did not claim a nomadic past.
112. The relations between the people of Tishīt and Masina in Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below)'s account recalls the story of the Tishītī origins of the Masina people, which al-Sa'dī recorded in his Tārīkh al-Sūdān, f. 22.
113. For a discussion of these market forces, see Cleaveland, 'Becoming Walātī', 307-14.
114. T(combining dot below)ālib Būbakar al-Mah(combining dot below)jūbī, Minah̄ al-rabb al-ghafūr fī ma ahmala s(combining dot below)āhib Fath(combining dot below) al-Shakūr, c. 1915, f. 105. The Minah(combining dot below) is a chronicle and a biographical dictionary of regional scholars, and a manuscript copy is stored at the Centre de Documentation et de Recherches Scientifiques Ahmed Baba (formerly CEDRAB) at Timbuktu, MS 669. There seems to have been a similar tendency in regard to trade from Ijil. See E. Ann McDougall, 'Camel caravans of the Saharan salt trade,' in C. Coquéry-Vidrovitch and P. Lovejoy (eds.), The Workers of African Trade (Beverly Hills, 1985), 106-10.
115. T(combining dot below)ālib Būbakar al-Mah(combining dot below)jūbī, Minah̄ al-rabb al-ghafūr fī ma ahmala s(combining dot below)āhib Fath(combining dot below) al-Shakūr, c. 1915, f. 105. The Minah(combining dot below) is a chronicle and a biographical dictionary of regional scholars, and a manuscript copy is stored at the Centre de Documentation et de Recherches Scientifiques Ahmed Baba (formerly CEDRAB) at Timbuktu, MS 669. There seems to have been a similar tendency in regard to trade from Ijil. See E. Ann McDougall, 'Camel caravans of the Saharan salt trade,' in C. Coquéry-Vidrovitch and P. Lovejoy (eds.), The Workers of African Trade (Beverly Hills, 1985), 106-10.
116. See al-Mah(combining dot below)jūbī, Tārīkh Walāta-II, ff. II, 17, 25, and my interview with Neh Wuld 'Abd al-Rah(combining dot below)mān. The Būraddīs seem to have been less likely to accompany caravans traveling north from Walāta into the deep desert where salt was mined. The caravans that plied the northern side of the trade were called imersal, while the southern caravans were called ravga.
117. Al-Mah(combining dot below)jubī described attacks occurring in 1838-9, 1844-5, 1862-3, and in 1868-9. Al-Mah(combining dot below)jūbī, Tārīkh Walāta-II, ff. 11-13, 21-2.
118. Muh(combining dot below)ammad S(combining dot below)ālih(combining dot below), H(combining dot below)aswa, f. 1.