dear all
maybe this is just something cornelius and i are interested in
the variants of islam in sub-saharan africa. mostly have avoided the
absolutisms of boko haram; i know best senegal where out of the many
brotherhoods, all but one we could call relatively, or very, tolerant.
there has been resistance to the hard-edged intolerance we want to
associate with the straight legalistic, moralizing, text bound types
like wahabi or their cousins. like the abadi in senegal.
cornelius attributes this to muslim rejection of shirk; i don't know if
i agree. there is no central core to islam; it is different wherever it
set up roots. there is a fundamental issue of shirk as well when you
have one god, and one prophet, with a semi-divine set of attributes
always joined to the prophet, despite whatever anyone says.
that is compounded when the intermediary isn't just mohammed, but also
an african, one named amadou bamba. with pilgrimages to his holy city
and shrines.
this is triply compounded with serignes who are descended, in mouridism
or in tijaniyya brotherhoods, on top of which level local marabouts also
embody spiritual powers. this is not unique to senegal or subsaharan
africa. it is true in morocco, algeria. etc.
you can lecture me till my ear falls off, and cite all the text you
want--i know that people ascribe spiritual powers to these figures, and
that it winds up, on the popular level, like the pope or the saints or
the orisha or all those other myriad incarnations of spiritual power,
whose presence clearly represent a violation of shirk, another form of
plural divine presences....
this is not specific to africa. not unique to africa. not even what
accounts for african islamic different from saudi versions.
but the anti-african prejudices are hard for n africans or middle
easterners to overcome. very hard.
and they will explain it until your ear falls off. and try to convince
you of the one, true way.
ken
On 7/24/12 5:51 PM, Cornelius Hamelberg wrote:
> Lovely La Vonda R. Staples
>
> complains, "All of this destruction is making me crazy"
> Albert Einstein wondered like La Vonda
> "A question that sometimes drives me hazy:
> am I or are the others crazy?"
>
> The solution?
> Amor vincit omnia
>
> This is serious:
> http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/519426/jewish/The-Second-Commandment.htm
>
> Supplementary to what Don Harrow says here's how it really is:
>
> >From a strictly Islamic point of view,
> history is divided into two:
>
> Pre-Islamic times known as the darkness of Jahiliyya and the period
> ushered in by the last prophet of al Islam's uncompromising
> monotheism.
>
> http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&gs_nf=1&cp=9&gs_id=7&xhr=t&q=Jahiliyya&pf=p&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&oq=Jahiliyya&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=d7232c1e4000512c&biw=1024&bih=636
>
> When Maraboutism which is widespread in West Africa, encounters the
> purifying forces of the Salafi missionaries, there is always a
> problem. The problem arises out of Islam's strict monotheism
> especially as interpreted by the Salafi, and their extreme concern
> about idolatry, a sin that the Almighty according to them, is never
> going to forgive, namely SHIRK - attributing any partner or partners
> to the Almighty or relying on any other than HIM. So, one of the
> functions that Islam's Messiah Isa ( Jesus) will fulfil according to
> Islam, is that after he arrives one sunny afternoon ( at midday to be
> precise) on the roof of the great mosque in Damascus, he will
> consequently, break the cross , destroy all the images in the churches
> and kill the swine, upon this his second coming which the Christian
> and Muslim faithful expect any day soon.
>
> To John Edward Philips : After the Ayodha fracas, Hindu fanatics will
> probably forward a claim that Westminster Abbey is an ancient Hindu
> Temple....
>
> Graves are where people are supposed to rest in peace?
>
> "more slowly in Mecca and Medina" did you say?
>
> Well, here's another dimension to the problem. "Sectarian violence",
> as the unaffiliated tend to call it:
>
> As Imam Khomeini ( r.a.) is reported to have said
>
> ""The Islamic and non-Islamic powers of the world will not admit our
> power till such time that we establish our hold over Makkah and
> Madinah because these are the centers and citadels of Islam. Hence our
> domination over these places is an essential requirement ... when as a
> conqueror I will enter Makkah and Madinah, the first thing to be done
> at that time by me would be to dig out two idols (Abu Bakr and Umar)
> lying by the side of the Prophet's grave."
>
> (The anti-Shia propaganda versions I read during the war that Iraq
> imposed on Iran added that after digging them up they would both be
> either crucified or hanged from the nearest tree)
>
> http://www.discoveringislam.org/shia_mahdi.htm
>
> 6. Digging up the graves of the Prophet's Sahabahs (Companions)
>
> وأجيء إلى يثرب فأهدم الحجرة وأخرج من بها وهما
> طريان فآمر بهما تجها البقيع وأمر بخشبتين يصلبان عليهما
> بحار الأنوار ج 53/104-105
>
> "(When Shia's Mahdi) Will come to Yathrib (Medina's old name), and
> destroy the Al-Hujra Al-Nabawiyya (the Room of Aisha in which Prophet
> Mohammad (s.a.w.) was buried and later Abu Bakr and Omar were also
> buried there) and will dig out who is in it while they are lean and
> will order them to be sent to Al-Baqi and order two pieces of wood to
> be crucified on them…" (Al-Majlisi, Bihar al-Anwar, Vol. 53, p. 104
> -105)
>
> The graves of Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq (r.a.) and Umar bin al-Khattab (r.a.)
> (Prophet Mohammad's companions and successors as Caliphs) are to be
> dug up, and they are to be crucified and flogged in front of the
> crowds. Both of them will be resurrected to receive their sentences.
> (Ni'matullah Al-Jazairi, Al-Anwar Al-Numaniyah, Vol.2, p. 85 and Baqir
> Al-Majlisi, Haq al-Yaqeen, Vol. 2, p. 242)
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 24 Juli, 01:51, "La Vonda R. Staples" <lrstap...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Cornelius! All of this destruction is making me crazy(er). What is the
>> point? Can't someone reach out and touch these folks? What do you think
>> the solution for the destruction of the world's monuments could be?
>>
>> Was there a solution for the world's ancient cultures when the Christians
>> came?
>>
>> On Mon, Jul 23, 2012 at 6:40 PM, Cornelius Hamelberg <
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> corneliushamelb...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> is it yes or no or
>>> am i supposed or
>>> permitted to beat
>>> about the bush
>>> to the point
>>> of indecision?
>>> I x-pect all the militant, holier than thou
>>> Afrikanists
>>> to at least
>>> be honest:
>>> holler or
>>> scream and shout :
>>> Say it ain't so! The Great Pyramids of Egypt in danger?
>>> http://www.thelocal.se/blogs/corneliushamelberg/2012/07/22/say-it-ain...
>>> Website for this image
>>> Could be one of the signs of the approaching last days ?
>>> Next : The pyramids of Egypt ?
>>> First the Buddhist sculptures in Afghanistan,
>>> then the desecration of Sufi shrines in Mali
>>> and now this improbable news: Arab Muslim Clerics Issue Call to
>>> Destroy Egypt's Great Pyramids
>>> The UNESCO World Heritage Centre could not ever be happy with these
>>> world heritage sites facing eternal destruction. But this is unlikely
>>> to happen in Egypt, since the Great Pyramids are a great tourist
>>> attraction and therefore a great source of contributing to Egypt's
>>> economy….and moreover the pyramids are not objects of worship, not
>>> even by the mushrikeen….
>>> Should the United States ever become fully Islamized, whichever Caliph
>>> or Supreme Leader that could then be ensconced in the White House will
>>> probably either have to call out the National Guard to protect the
>>> sculptures of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt
>>> and Abraham Lincoln at The Mount Rushmore National Memorial …or order
>>> their effacement…..
>>> --
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa
>>> Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.
>>> For current archives, visit
>>> http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
>>> For previous archives, visit
>>> http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
>>> To post to this group, send an email to
>>> USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
>>> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-
>>> unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
>> --
>> *La Vonda R. Staples, Writer*
>> *BA Psychology 2005 and MA European History 2009*
>> *www.lavondastaples.com*
>> *
>> *
>> *"If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough."*
>>
>> Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, *This Child Will Be Great; Memoir of a Remarkable
>> Life by Africa's First Woman President*.
--
kenneth w. harrow
distinguished professor of english
michigan state university
department of english
east lansing, mi 48824-1036
ph. 517 803 8839
harrow@msu.edu
--
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.
For current archives, visit http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
For previous archives, visit http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-
unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment