Muslim proselytization as purification: religious pluralism and conflict in contemporary Mali

TitleMuslim proselytization as purification: religious pluralism and conflict in contemporary Mali
Publication TypeBook Chapter
Year of Publication1999
AuthorsB.F. Soares
EditorA.A. An-Nai'im
Secondary TitleProselytization and communal self-determination in Africa
Pagination228 - 245
Date Published1999///
PublisherOrbis Books
Place PublishedMaryknoll, NY
Publication Languageeng
KeywordsAfrica, biographies (form), Islam, Mali, religious conversion
Abstract

This chapter first discusses the nature of religious pluralism in Mali, highlighting some of the practices that many Muslims find objectionable and that, therefore, are a major source of tension between Islam and Muslims, on the one hand, and traditional religions and their practitioners, on the other. The author then considers the proselytization activities of one of Mali's most celebrated, contemporary Muslim religious leaders, Sidy Modibo Kane (1925-1996), examining the actual mechanisms of his campaigns in the 1980s and 1990s to spread Islam among non-Muslims and to extirpate allegedly un-Islamic practices, most notably spirit possession, as well as some of the intended and unintended consequences of such proselytization efforts. Bibliogr., notes, ref

IR handle/ Full text URLhttp://hdl.handle.net/1887/9709
Citation Key1141