Roman Loimeier

Dialectics of Religion and Politics in Senegal

When I visited Senegal for the first time in the summer of 1981, I came to see a country that was very much under the bane of Leopold Sedar Senghor1 and the influence of two major Sufi orders, the Muridiyya and the Tijaniyya. Political discussions were dominated by the hegemonic Parti Socialiste (PS), and Le Soleil was Senegal’s major and only daily paper. Contemporary mondialisation (globalization) had not yet really reached Senegal. In many respects Senegal made a museum-like impression: Railway stations, in particular, looked as if frozen in time. Senegal still was a predominantly rural country and a rural society. Despite the effects of the Sahel droughts of the 1980s, groundnuts were the major cash crop; and even if Dakar and the Cap Vert metropolitan area had become a sizable agglomeration, most of Senegal’s 5.6 million people continued to live in the countryside and some few urban centers such as Thies, Saint-Louis, Ziguinchor, Louga, or Kaolack. Most villages were not yet connected to tap water, electricity, or even a road; and in some hinterland areas such as Kountouata, a small village on the border of The Gambia where I stayed for some time as a cooperant (volunteer) for the Service Civil International (International Civil Service), life could be imagined to be pretty much as in early colonial times. There was no television, only one old, battery-driven radio, no newspapers, and transport relied on ox- or horse-drawn carriages.2

Perceptions of Marginalization: Muslims in Contemporary Tanzania

African countries with Muslim populations can be divided into three categories. In countries of the first kind, such as Senegal, Muslims form a clear and undisputed majority of the population. Religion (Islam) is an accepted part of daily life, and there are no major conflicts between Muslims and non-Muslims. National conflicts are mostly related to political, economic, social, ethnic, or communal issues and do not necessarily acquire religious connotations. Religious disputes among Muslims are largely over matters of ritual and the interpretive authority of religious scholars or competing Islamic religious movements.

Der dhikr: Zum sozialen Kontext eines religiösen Rituals

Abstract Einleitung Die Feier des maulid, des Prophetengeburtstages, und der Heiligengeburtstage; die ziyâra, die Wallfahrt zu den Heiligen und ihren Gräbern; der dhikr, die Meditation der Sufis und seine verschiedenen Spielarten; die Praxis des tawassul, der Fürbitte an den Heiligengräbern; das Amulettwesen, magisch-religiöse Handlungen wie das „Trinken der Schrift”, die Wundertaten der Heiligen (karamât) und der Glaube an ihre Segenskraft (baraka) wie auch an ihre besondere Vermittlerrolle; diese und viele andere religiösen Riten und Bräuche und Formen islamischer Religiosität werden seit Jahrhunderten von islamischen Gelehrten als bidac (unislamische Neuerungen) und manchmal sogar als ṣihr (Zauberei) oder als kufr (Unglaube) angegriffen und verurteilt. Dennoch haben viele dieser Riten und Bräuche in vielen islamischen Gesellschaften bis heute eine erstaunliche Vitalität behalten. Im Folgenden möchte ich am Beispiel des dhikr zeigen, wie sich diese Persistenz erklären lassen könnte.