Sufi Scholars of the Sea

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Sufi Scholars of the Sea: Family Networks in East Africa

Anne K. Bang[RoutledgeCurzon, 280pp, 2003]

Review by RAHMA BAVELAAR

Anne Bang's objective in Sufis and Scholars of the Sea is to explore the history of Islam in the northwest Indian Oceanduring the 19th and early 20th century, focusing on the scholarly exchange of ideas between Hadramawt, Yemen, andthe East African Coast by looking at the life and works of Ahmed bin Abi Bakr bin Sumayt (1861-1925), the son of aHadrami immigrant to the Swahili coast and a respected scholar and Sufi in the Yemeni and East African intellectualtraditions.

Through an empirical study of his travels to and from his ancestral Hadramawt, the family and scholarly links he forgedand maintained, and his work as a Shafiì qadi (judge) in Zanzibar under the patronage of the British-Omani state, Bangseeks to elucidate several interrelated questions which have as yet received scare attention in Western scholarship: whydid members of the Hadrami tariqaÀlawiyya become such important exponents of a new, more literate Islam in EastAfrica? What did they teach and what inspired their teachings? How did they maintain and expand their scholarly networkacross time and space? Did changes in these networks occur and, if so, why? How did the content of their teachingsrelate to simultaneous developments in the wider Islamic world? And what was their relationship to the British-Omanicolonial authorities in Zanzibar?

The great strength of Scholars of the Sea lies in its convincing use of what are often considered purely "religious"documents, such as scholarly genealogies (silsilas) and certificates (ijazas), as valuable historical sources that can helpelucidate processes of religious change and revival.

Although the overall emphasis of the work is on change, Bang challenges the previously common perspective in Westernacademia that 19th-century 'neo-Sufism' represented a fundamental break with the classical, supposedly more quietist,mystical tradition of Islam. Her highly detailed description of the historical origins and teachings of the Àlawiyyabrotherhood-which closely follows the 'canonical' version taught within the tariqa itself-she emphasizes the continuity ofits theological and spiritual tenets (vested in its members' dual genealogical and spiritual claim to descent from theProphet), in spite of the far reaching institutionalization of its educational practices in the late 19th century. She alsopoints out the continued centrality of classical mystical and legal writings to Àlawi education in the Hadramawt and EastAfrica.

If institutional changes in educational practices were hardly revolutionary in Yemen, they certainly were in East Africa,Bang argues with reference to the Àlawi scholarly class in Zanzibar, where the Hadramis' emphasis on scriptural Islamand Arabic literacy severely eroded the authority of the Swahili upper class (the Waungwana) and their monopoly, untilthen, on the primarily oral transmission of Islamic knowledge.

New religious practices, such as public dhikrs (remembrance) and mawlids (celebration of the Prophet's birth), whichwere introduced by the Àlawis and other new Sufi brotherhoods, greatly widened the general population's opportunitiesfor religious participation but seriously diminished the authority of the Waungwana who had previously monopolizedpopular religious practices. Bang persuasively argues that new ideas and practices may have radically divergentconsequences according to the specific nature of the Muslim community in which they are introduced.

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Along the same lines, Bang argues that the association of 'orthodoxy' with 'Arabness' in the East African context needsto be reconsidered: what were considered highly 'orthodox' devotional practices by the Àlawi scholars were obviouslyperceived as highly 'unorthodox' by the Waungwana, who had considered their own mawlid celebrations to berepresentative of "proper" Islamic behavior.

Bang's argument for the relativity of such loaded concepts as tradition and reform is further elaborated in her explorationof the influence of modernist and pan-Islamist thought on Hadramawt, and consequently East-Africa. Ibn Sumayt'snetwork connected him with scholars in Hadramawt, its diasporas in Mecca, Indonesia and Istanbul, as well asprominent modernist thinkers such as Mohammed Àbduh and Rashid Rida' in Egypt.

An analysis of the scholarly exchanges taking place through these contacts shows that although modernist thinkers andexponents of the tariqa Àlawiyya shared a strong interest in social and educational activism (da`wah), their intellectualfoundations were entirely different. The activism of the Àlawiyya in Hadramawt and Zanzibar was primarily an internaldevelopment, deriving its inspiration from late 18th-century Hadrami revivalists. It was expressed in the institutionalizationof religious education and an increased drive towards da`wah among non-Àlawis and in the countryside, but otherwise

remained firmly within the parameters of Àlawi Sufism. Modernist thought, on the other hand, as expounded by scholarslike Mohammed Àbduh and Rashid Rida-as embraced by a large group of Àlawi scholars in Indonesia-had its roots in amuch more thorough intellectual transformation, formulated in a context of colonial expansion and severely critical of themore esoteric aspects of Islam.

Pointing to examples of educational, agricultural and medical reforms proposed by Ibn Sumayt, challenges overtly staticnotions of reform, arguing that reform should not be understood as a mere theoretical ideal that is necessarily rooted inideology (as with the Egyptian reformers), but is primarily about the will to change concrete aspects of society: actionwhich may be rooted in social, political and personal circumstances without implying an intellectual shift. Ibn Sumayt mayhave shared certain reformist tendencies with modernist thinkers, but this does not mean that he shared their intellectual

foundations.

Some critical footnotes may be placed here regarding the theoretical framework in which Bang places reform within theÀlawiyya tradition which she defines, following previous scholarship, as a shift from the imposition of an external moralcode to an internally motivated code for life conduct, i.e. a shift from doctrine to praxis, rather than a shift from apathy toactivism. This change of emphasis may circumvent the problematic political implications of the term activism but doesnothing to explain why this shift took place, apart from the tenuous implication that previous generations of Muslims didnot 'internalize' or 'practice' Islam to the same extent. The well-traveled Hadrami sayyids were doubtlessly aware of theexpanding influence of the Western world (an entire generation of Hadramis studied with Zayn ad-Din ad-Dahlan inMecca, who taught subjects in European History and was a supporter of Ottoman pan-Islamism). Could it be, then, thatthe expansion of da`wah and popular education had more to do with external influences than Bang concedes to? Could

the shift also reflect a new need for self-affirmation in the face of the rapid penetration of foreign and non-Islamicinfluences into the Muslim heartlands? The consolidation of Sufi tariqas was central to the spread of Islamic teachingsamong the 'masses' and in many places pursued highly political (often anti-colonial) objectives during the late 19thcentury, regardless of the non-political nature of their essential teachings.

Furthermore, Bang's conclusion that the shift that took place was not an intellectual one may be premature. The long-term effects of the expansion and institutionalization of education may not have been evident in the early 20th century,but they certainly are today. Unprecedented popular access to religious knowledge has today led to radical shifts in thedistribution of religious authority and increasingly eclectic attitudes towards Islamic knowledge. Many other drasticchanges on the local and global level have obviously played a role in the increasing 'democratization' of religiousknowledge, but expanded access to Islamic education from the late 19th century, as exemplified by the ribats inHadramawt, certainly formed part of the groundwork for future shifts of a more intellectual nature.

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Nonetheless, Bang's research presents powerful illustrations of the complex and intricate dialectics of political, social andintellectual developments.

The example of Ibn Sumayt, who was utterly steeped in Hadrami scholarly and Sufi tradition but did not hesitate to asklegal advice from Mohammed Àbduh, promoted the translation of the Qur'an into Swahili, and shared the judge's benchwith Ibadi scholars, shows the infinite complexity of the modes of intellectual evolution across space and time and poses

a powerful rebuttal of those who would like to compartmentalize Islamic thought and practice according to sharplydefined ideological categories.

Overall, the themes raised in Sufis and Scholar of the Sea offer many leads for future inquiry. In the 20th century therevolutionary expansion of modern communication technology and mass media have both empowered and fragmentedreligious discourse, generally undermining the traditional authority of scholarly classes such as the Àlawis. Yet, newtechnological tools also present entirely new avenues for the propagation of their 'brand' of Islam. In fact, the tariqaÀlawiyya seems to have greatly expanded its global network since the early 20th c., growing branches into Europeanand American Muslim communities as well as building a considerable presence in Islamic broadcasting and cyberspace.Many of the questions posed by Anne Bang can be newly asked about the continued role of the Àlawiyya in the modernworld: How have the networks described in Scholars and Sufis of the Sea evolved and changed since the early 20th

century? What have been the effects of modern communication technology, mass media, and new global audiences onthe content of Àlawi teachings and the methods of its transmission (da`wah)? How is Àlawi Sufism indigenized (as itonce was in East Africa) in the Western world, where its discourse is now informing new Muslim identities, politicalopinions, and ideas about what constitutes normative Islamic 'tradition'?

To conclude, Sufis and Scholars of the Sea offers all that is expected from an historical study of intellectual history:profound knowledge of the classical canon of Islamic scholarship, highly relevant research questions, and thoroughengagement with pertinent theoretical approaches to Sufism. It certainly deserves attention from scholars and laymenalike.

RAHMA BAVELAAR is Book Editor at Islamica Magazine

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Sufi Scholars of the Sea