Contesting Sufis' Quietism: The role of Sufism in the Islamization of West Africa
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Abstract
This qualitative, historical study challenges the dominant view of West African Sufism as an apolitical and passive spiritual tradition. It examines the active, reformist, and at times militant roles of Sufi orders in Islamization, state formation, and social transformation during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Using a descriptive-analytical and historical approach, the study draws on an in-depth review and thematic analysis of secondary sources, including academic books, peer-reviewed articles, and historical references. Its scope covers the Dyula trading networks, the Almoravid movement, the Jakhanke clerical tradition, and the jihad movements of Usman dan Fodio, Umar al-Futi Tall, and Samori Touré. The findings show that Sufism operated as a dynamic framework linking spirituality with socio-political action. Sufi orders functioned as key institutions for Islamic education, legal reform, economic networking, and political mobilization. Sufi-led jihad movements are interpreted not merely as territorial expansion, but as responses to perceived moral decay and political failure aimed at establishing a just, Sharīʿah-based social order. The study is limited by its reliance on secondary sources, the breadth of its historical and geographical scope, and limited access to primary West African manuscripts. It recommends that policy and academic discourse move beyond simplistic portrayals of Sufism as apolitical and recognize Sufi communities as potential partners in education, conflict mediation, and community development. The study contributes empirically by documenting Sufi political agency, theoretically by proposing the framework of “Embedded Religious Mobilization” to deconstruct the Sufism–politics dichotomy, and methodologically by demonstrating the value of historical-qualitative analysis in studying complex religious phenomena.
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