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Original Articles

An African Muslim Saint and his Followers in France

Pages 913-927 | Published online: 05 Aug 2006
 

Abstract

In this paper, I explore the practice of Islam among a relatively understudied group of Muslim migrants in France, the Halpulaaren, some of whom have been living in France for more than three decades. Drawing on field research in Senegal, Mali and France, I consider a Halpulaaren Muslim religious leader with a reputation as a living Muslim saint and his followers in France as a way to try to understand some of the ways of being Muslim in the shadow of the global city with both its promises and constraints.

Notes

Benjamin F. Soares is a Researcher at the African Studies Centre in Leiden. Correspondence to: Dr Benjamin Soares, African Studies Centre, PO Box 9555, 2300 RB Leiden, The Netherlands. E‐mail: bsoares@ fsw.leidenuniv.nl

This is from Mustafa's (Citation2001) reading of Sassen (Citation2001).

I follow his orthographic self‐presentation. Following more recent orthographic conventions, his name would be Ceerno Mansur Baaro. Although I have written about some of his activities in Mali (e.g. Soares forthcoming Citation2005), my first meeting with Tierno Mansour was in 1998 in Bamako, Mali. I have subsequently met with him on various occasions in France in 1999, later in the same year in M'Bour, Senegal, and most recently in France in 2002 and in 2003.

See Wane (Citation1974) and Sow (Citation1986) for a discussion of Tierno Muhammad Sayyid Ba and the community he founded in Madina Gounasse. For a recent discussion of Madina Gounasse, see van Hoven (Citation1999) and N'Gaïde´ (Citation2002).

I am unable to discuss the different branches of the Tijaniyya or address differences over ritual practice and doctrine. See Seesemann and Soares (forthcoming).

I met followers from some of these places in France and in Senegal. In Senegal, I also met a few followers from Ghana and Guinea Bissau.

Breedveld and de Bruijn's (Citation1996) critique of images of the Fulbe is particularly relevant to this discussion.

On this history, see Robinson (Citation1985) and especially Sall (Citation2000) on the spread of the Tijaniyya.

See Werbner's particularly important work on South Asian saints and Sufis (e.g. Werbner Citation1995).

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