A Flame of Learning in the Winds of Change: Notes on the History of the Majādhīb of al-Qaḍārif (original) (raw)

“Continuity and change” is the theme that John Voll (1982) placed at the center of attention in one of his most influential books on Islam in the modern world. The present piece investigates elements of this theme as it unfolded in the country where John Voll did his first fieldwork: the Sudan, in particular the eastern parts of it. Rather than painting a broad picture, however, it attempts to preserve what has come down to us of the local history of a particular group of people during the nineteenth century, a time and place where religious leaders who may be characterized as conservative representatives of Islam sought to preserve both their tradition and their social position in the face of dramatically changing circumstances. Highlighting local microhistory should serve to redress a perspective on Sudanese history that is still all too often focused on the center, the capital. Attention to regional nuances and diversity has always characterized Voll’s work, even in his masterly attempts at a synthesis. This chapter also pays homage to another field where John Voll has done pioneering research: the reconstruction of scholarly networks that connected individual religious specialists with a wider world of learning both through direct contact and through their introduction to a shared scholarly corpus that was held to be authoritative in understanding and defining Islam (Voll 1975, 1980, 2002). My contribution is based largely on oral and manuscript material that I collected during fieldwork in the Sudan in 1986–88 but that was not included in my doctoral dissertation (Hofheinz 1996), which focused on one particular reformer rather than chronicling the history of his family, the Majādhīb, over four centuries.

Sign up for access to the world's latest research.

checkGet notified about relevant papers

checkSave papers to use in your research

checkJoin the discussion with peers

checkTrack your impact