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Mauritania
Index
The religious movement known as Sufism arose in the
thirteenth century in reaction to the orthodox emphasis on law
and its denial of the mystical or emotional needs of the human
spirit. Sufism stressed the intuitive and emotional discovery of
Allah by the faithful, and it interpreted the Quran as providing
a key to the mystic union or personal friendship of individuals
with God. The mystical elements of Sufism also facilitated the
blending of Islamic beliefs and pre-Islamic religious concepts.
With the rise of Sufi concepts came acceptance of the role of
"intercessors" between the individual and God, which led to the
formation of brotherhoods (tariqas, or "ways") and
recognition of holy men (marabouts). From the thirteenth century,
the brotherhoods and the marabouts were perhaps the most
important elements in the growth and development of Islam in West
Africa.
Essentially stemming from the combination of Sufi mysticism
and orthodox Sunni intellectualism, the Islamic brotherhoods have
also been important as a unifying cultural and religious force.
Because membership in a brotherhood cut across ethnic and tribal
lines, it contributed to the development of a broad communal
identity.
The brotherhoods are all extremely hierarchical. Each has a
chief who initiates all members and delegates certain
responsibilities and authority to other leadership levels.
Brotherhood members generally live in the secular communities of
their tribes rather than in a central location, although they may
live in separate communities while they are undergoing
instruction. Thus, the religious community is more spiritual than
physical for most brotherhood members, even though there is a
central territory (zawiya; pl., zawaya) for an
order or for its important branches.
The leaders of the brotherhoods are believed to have
baraka, a supernatural gift that has been defined
variously as "blessing" or "mystical power." In a general sense,
baraka is more than a spiritual force or power. It is a
complex of positive personal traits--moral, intellectual, and
emotional--with which only some men are endowed and which sets
these men apart from others in their group. Originally it was
believed that baraka was invested only in the descendants
of Muhammad. With the rise of Sufism and the growth of the
brotherhoods, however, it became a quality that could be
transmitted to other religious leaders or to anyone judged
particularly worthy.
In the 1980s, two brotherhoods, the Qadiriya and the
Tijaniya, accounted for nearly all the brotherhood membership in
Mauritania. The Qadiriya and Tijaniya were essentially parallel
"ways," differing primarily in their methods of reciting the
litanies. Their Islamic doctrines and their religious obligations
were basically similar. Two smaller brotherhoods also existed--
the Chadeliya, centered in Boumdeït in Tagant Region, and the
Goudfiya, found in the regions of Tagant, Adrar, Hodh ech
Chargui, and Hodh el Gharbi.
Data as of June 1988
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