Other Ways of Reading the Qur'an and the Bible in Africa: Isaiah Shembe and Shaykh Ahmadu Bamba
Issue: Vol 1 No. 1 (2005)
Journal: Postscripts: The Journal of Sacred Texts, Cultural Histories, and Contemporary Contexts
Subject Areas: Religious Studies Islamic Studies Biblical Studies
DOI: 10.1558/post.v1i1.47
Abstract:
This article explores how religion possesses and is possessed by Africans. It does this by recognising both the power of religion to configure and of Africans as agents who reconfigure what they encounter in their African contexts. The central question of this article is how placing African agency and context in the forefront reconfigures talk of Islam and Christianity in Africa. The question is taken up through an analysis of two African religious leaders, Shaykh Ahmadu Bamba from West Africa and Isaiah Shembe from South Africa.
Author: Gerald O. West, Tahir Fuzile Sitoto